Comedian Terry Garoghan was bored by geography lessons as a boy. He certainly never expected to be part of the syllabus himself.

But geography teacher Anthony Rogers was such a big fan of Brighton The Musical, written by Terry, he introduced it to his students' AS-level course.

The show features Terry performing popular songs with rewritten lyrics about places in Brighton and Hove.

Terry wrote it as a tongue-in-cheek tribute and was amazed to see it described as an "urban study", taking up three pages of the syllabus at Brighton, Hove and Sussex Sixth Form College (Bhasvic).

Pupils are being told to study the show as part of their course called Settlement Processes And Patterns, which examines people's differing perceptions of places.

Songs being studied include All You Need Is Hove, Businessman In Whitehawk (to the tune of Sting's Englishman In New York) and Brighton: The Anthem.

Terry said: "I couldn't believe it when I heard. It's just incredible to think pupils are studying my show like this."

Terry used to attend Brighton Hove and Sussex Grammar School, which Bhasvic has now replaced. He said: "It feels particularly poignant, having gone to school there, to now be part of the syllabus."

Mr Rogers, head of geography, leisure and tourism at the college in Dyke Road, Hove, said: "The students listen to the songs and the lyrics, then we send them out to the places mentioned so they can judge the reality.

"Using music and comedy makes it easier for students to remember what they're learning - it creates a stronger impression. It's a fun start to what becomes a set of serious issues."

Terry is not worried by the fact his act is being studied as an example of stereotyping.

He said: "It is stereotyping, because that's what comedy is. You can't be too specific in what you say or people won't think it's funny.

"People get upset at some of the things I come out with about their areas. The lyrics are often rude, the judgments are unfair but, hey, that's live comedy for you."

He admitted he was far from being a model pupil during his own schooldays.

He said: "I was nothing special at geography - I did enough to get an O-level. I just used to like drawing the maps, but I didn't care much about things like rice distribution in the southern part of China.

"I couldn't work out why that was important to know and I still haven't."