The receptionist who has landed the job of playing video

game heroine Lara Croft won the role thanks to the moves she

learnt at her gymnastics club.

Former Edenham High pupil Alison Carroll trained with the

Shirley Gymnastics Club from the age of 12.

At her audition she used the athletic moves she has learnt

over the years to leave the casting panel in no doubt she was

ideal for the role.

"The room was tiny and I had to show off my stunts," she

told the Advertiser. "But not before I jumped up to touch the

ceiling to make sure I wasn't going to hit it."

The 23-year-old will now have the task of fulfilling one of

the tallest orders in showbiz – promoting the Tomb Raider game,

of which Lara Croft is the star, all over the world.

She says her sudden rise to fame has been a "daunting"

experience after a week in which she has made national

headlines.

"I've played the game, but I'm better at being the real

thing," she said.

"My brother has all the console games and he is loving it –

he's so proud his sister has become the iconic gaming hero that

is Lara."

The role demands she keeps up with a gruelling training

schedule.

But having done gymnastics since she was seven she is taking

it in her stride.

"I train six days a week – going to the gym, going running

and gymnastics training," she said.

"On top of all that I am going to be taking on SAS training

and a firearms course in Eastern Europe.

"In order to capture all of Lara's elements and bring her to

life I have to do all the training that her character

does."

At the audition, Alison beat hundreds of other girls.

"They were all dressed in their own versions of Lara's

outfit," she recalled.

After landing the part, Alison couldn't tell any of her

friends.

As recently as last month she was still donating some of her

time to coaching at Shirley Gymnastics Club.

She said: "Nobody knew. So I got all these random phone

calls and text messages coming in.

"They had all opened the paper and seen me and they asked me

if it was just a coincidence or whether I really was Lara

Croft.

"But I love the whole rehearsal process and I'm enjoying all

the photo shoots.

"Everyone wants to meet her and all women want to be

her."

Alison, whose ambition when at school was to be a PE

teacher, will soon travel to places including South Africa,

Germany, Dubai and Singapore under her new identity.

She has abandoned her job as a receptionist at a London

leisure firm and will now appear in character at promotional

events and on television advertisements around the globe. She

will be promoting the game Tomb Raider: Underworld, which is

released on November 21.

Because of her gymnastic ability wherever she appears she

will be required to do a mixture of back flips and somersaults

– just like her character does in the computer game.

Alison is following in the footsteps of Nell McAndrew, who

modelled as Lara Croft, and Angelina Jolie, who took the role

in the Tomb Raider film.

Alison has represented Great Britain as a professional

display gymnast and has performed in front of Prince Charles at

the Royal Albert Hall.

As for the prospect of being recognised in the street, she

said: "I haven't been yet, but I'm probably just oblivious to

it."