A man in Britain has pushed conviction records to a new high after he was convicted for the 500th time.

Alexander Duncan, 66, has reached the landmark by pleading guilty to being drunk and disorderly.

"It's a quite astonishing list," The Mirror quoted a Crown Prosecution source, as saying.

Hertford magistrates, who heard Duncan's record stretched back 47 years, have ordered him to spend a day in the cells.

His convictions since 1959 include shoplifting, breach of the peace, damage and failing to surrender to bail by claiming mistaken identity.