ONE year ago Steven Hall had a routine nine-to-five job as a telecommunications engineer – a career he loved.

Today the madcap dancer, who wowed the nation with his zany dance routines on Britain’s Got Talent, is preparing to quit the day job and launch himself into showbusiness full time.

Steven admits he never expected to reach the final, watched by 12 million people, but his success has catapulted him into the national spotlight.

“It never ever occurred to me that I’d get through,” said Steven. “I didn’t go with any aspirations other than to say I had been there, done it, and survived.”

Steven will leave BT in January. But he is very aware how precarious the industry is.

“I like to think that confirms how committed I am – that I’m taking this step without any concrete future – it’s like a test of my commitment,” said Steven, 53, who was born at Sleagill, near Appleby, but now lives in Kendal.

Looking back on his Britain’s Got Talent experience, Steven described it as ‘like going to Narnia’.

“When you’re in your 50s, you lose the inhibitions you might have had up until then. You think: ‘Just go for it’,” said Steven, who kept impressing judges Amanda Holden, Michael McIntyre, David Hasselhoff and Simon Cowell.

“I kept thinking it was a lack of ambition that was getting me through because, all around me, there were all these people that were hungry for fame and I wasn’t bothered,” he added.

“I was leaning up against all these walls and each one I leaned against opened – it was like going into Narnia!”

After finishing seventh in the show, Steven completed a 14-date Britain’s Got Talent tour, enjoying lavish hotels, late-night parties and touring the country.

“It was absolutely brilliant and all that I have ever wanted. We would party all night long – I felt like Keith Richards!” laughed Steven.

He was also snapped up by Butlins and performed at numerous private functions.

And a wedding booking saw him share the same bill as music legends Bobby Womack and Lisa Stansfield. At other functions he met rock band Whitesnake and 2008 X Factor winner Alexandra Burke.

But how does he cope with being recognised in public?

“When I walk into a hotel there is usually one person that recognises me but, by the time you have been there for a day, everyone knows who I am,” he said. “There’s nothing better – it’s like having friends wherever you go.”