Meet Kris, the first man on shortlist to be top nanny Year

A male nanny has been nominated for the first time in the childcare world's equivalent of the Oscars.

American-born career "manny" Kris Pohl, who works for a family in Wandsworth, is on a shortlist of four for the Professional Nanny of the Year competition.

The nomination is being seen as a breakthrough in a career in which men are still sometimes viewed as oddities or even with outright suspicion. There are thought to be at least 115,000 full-time nannies in Britain, but only a few are men.

The 46-year-old, who came to London in 1990, specialises in looking after babies and toddlers up to nursery school age.

He said there were no reason for men not to make first-class nannies although "there are some things I have to work harder at, especially with the very little ones. Baby talk does not come as naturally to a man but it's essential".