I was travelling to work this morning whilst listening to Chris Evans on't radio (as they say in Yorkshire).
Regular listeners will know he has a feature called "Top Tenuous" in which people text in their associations with a celebrity in the news that day; the looser the connection, the more chance the listener has of getting a mention on air.
Today's (albeit dead) celeb was Benny Hill on account of him being name-checked by a silent Frenchman at last night's BAFTAs.
I tell you all of this because it reminded me of the best random personal fact I've ever heard.
It was 12 years ago and I was on one of those team building days that never achieve anything unless there's free drink at the end (and you get to achieve the feeling of being pissed). As an "ice breaker," each of us was asked to reveal a simple piece of information about ourselves that no-one else present would be likely to know.
One by one, we went round the room and rhymed off the normal old rubbish people come out with on these pointless occasions.
"I can do the splits," was one I recall (in truth, this was hardly a surprise given the reputation of the girl in question).
"I'm a twin," was another (prompting a collective silent response of, "gosh, there's really someone out there who's just as dull as you?")
"I've failed my driving test three times," was yet another (ironically not from me as I didn't manage to fail my driving test three times until 2006).
I genuinely can't remember what guff I came out with, although I really hope I made it up.
Anyway, the seemingly endless journey finally came to an end with my line manager who, whilst a decent sort, was very strait-laced and not expected (certainly by me) to come out with something of this quality.
"My grandfather was the little bald bloke who used to have his head slapped every week on the Benny Hill Show."
An absolute show stopper in my book. It's magnificent, it's wonderful, it's hilarious.
Indeed, for me, it's unbeatable.
I do hope you agree. If not, I apologise for stealing a whole minute of your life whilst you read this far. You'll never get that back, you know.
