The world's biggest passenger liner took a detour to a seaside town yesterday after a request by veteran TV presenter Sir Jimmy Savile.

The 78-year-old arranged for Queen Mary 2 to sail past his home in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, on its way to the Norwegian Fjords.

Thousands of people lined the shores to watch as the ship made its way slowly into the bay.

As the 150,000-tonne ship came into view, Sir Jimmy, dressed in a blue tracksuit, red string vest and gold jewellery, said he was relieved that his latest "Fix It" had come off.

He said: "As the ship came over the horizon, the happiest person in Scarborough was me because if it hadn't turned up, I would have had to have left out of the back door under a blanket to avoid all these people."

He added: "To see a ship of that size come round the corner is tremendous."

Sir Jimmy arranged the visit earlier this year at a naming ceremony in Southampton to celebrate the succession of Queen Mary 2 over Queen Elizabeth 2 as the flagship of Cunard's fleet.

He said: "They owed me a favour for an off-the-record project so I called it in.

"I said, 'I want you to sail the QM2 out of the shipping lane and turn left into Scarborough Bay.' They said, 'Why there?' and I said, 'Because I live there.'

"This is probably my heaviest Fix It yet at 150,000 tonnes."

Holidaymakers and local residents crowded the seafront to watch the huge ship head towards the coast.

After passing Scarborough, the QM2 moved up the coast and was visible from Whitby, Redcar, Hartlepool, Sunderland and Tynemouth.

The £540m ship, which entered service in January, is the first transatlantic liner to be built since QE2.

It is the biggest, longest, tallest, widest and most expensive passenger ship in history.