I, like Arsenal, chased Lionel Messi all day without success

ISN’T it funny how often, a seemingly innocuous trigger like the distinctive scent of drying paint will, without warning, jerk you back to a certain time and place.

The first well-worn bars of an old, familiar song half heard above the bustle in a busy high-street shop sends memories tumbling uninvited into your head. A stranger’s turn of phrase brings to mind an old friend. Whatever.

For me it’s Neil Delamere’s voice. I once sat in a college canteen (in fact, I sat in a few, and for longer than I should have, kids) watching a lunch-time performance by the midlands comedian and voice of the Lotto ads.