The blue touchpaper was lit and everyone retired immediately, just as the trusted Firework Code recommends.

That is, except for the squaddie recently returned home from a tour of duty in Iraq who thought Bonfire Night needed enlivening.

The soldier was on all fours with his trousers down and a certain part of his anatomy pointing at the stars with a black cat thunderbolt rocket firmly in place.

The stunt, which mimicked a scene in the controversial film Jackass: The Movie, went off with a bang at the end of the display in Sunderland but it backfired on the the intrepid squaddie.

Named locally as Andrew Tilley, aged 22, he did not take off and land in the adjoining county of Northumberland but ended up in his local hospital where he is being treated for a scorched colon and other injuries.

In the under-statement of the year, safety experts warned yesterday that launching a rocket from the backside is a practice that contravenes the Firework Code.

Police and paramedics were called to the Monkwearmouthon area of city on Bonfire Night.

A spokeswoman for the North East Ambulance Service said: "We received a call at 9.38pm and a crew was sent out. The report stated there was a male who had a firework in his bottom and it was bleeding. He was attended to and taken to Sunderland Royal Hospital."

Witness Daniel Kassim, 16, said: "There were around 40 of us at a bonfire on Dundas Road.

"After the fire had finished we were hanging around setting off fireworks. The lad was saying, ‘This is boring, what can we do?’ He then decided to put a rocket up his backside and set it off.

"Everyone was just laughing and didn’t believe he would do it but he pulled his trousers down, placed the firework and someone lit it.

"It exploded within a few seconds and he fell to the ground. No one thought he was hurt, we all thought it was hilarious.

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