|PIC1|Alison Wooding prayed for fellow evangelists, friends and family during her stint on the fourth plinth in the tourist hotspot between 2am and 3am.

She also used her time to publicise Church Army’s Life to the Full campaign and a new interactive website Make Jesus Famous, where Christians can post suggestions and tips on how to share the Gospel creatively.

“I am fascinated by the spirituality of the Desert Fathers and people who did wild and wacky things for God,” she says.

“In the desert and at the margins of society the Desert Fathers and Mothers, sought God – a solitary way of life that has puzzled people down the ages.”

Ms Wooding told BBC Radio Sheffield she wanted to send out the message to people to sit still and just “be with God”.

She added that her time on the plinth had felt like minutes rather than a whole hour and that it was remarkable how the noise – and occasional heckling – died down halfway through her prayer time.

One passerby repeatedly heckled at Ms Wooding to “do something”. She told BBC Radio Sheffield: “I thought to myself, ‘Thank God I’m not doing anything!'"