Today is April 1st. But this is true.

Eleven years later. Racing driver Damon Hill in May 2012.

Today is April 1st.

But what follows is true.

I was thinking of pulling a stunt with a comedian today, but did not have time to set it up. And I am out meeting people most of today.

So, as I sometimes do, I had a look through my old e-diaries and what I did on this day in previous years.

On this day in 2001, I went round to the home of someone who had connections to a fairly well-known English criminal.

This person had a friend. That friend had a mother.

The mother was obsessed by Formula 1 motor racing driver Damon Hill. I do not think the word ‘obsessed’ is too strong.

In her living room (I saw it) she had a tyre from a Formula 1 racing car, signed by Damon Hill, which she had made into a coffee table by simply putting a sheet of glass on top of it.

She occasionally talked to the wheel and, when the family went out in their car, she had a life-size cut-out of Damon Hill which sat in the front passenger seat (with a seat belt round it) while she drove. Her husband and daughter sat in the rear seat.

That is true.

It is not an April Fool’s joke.

Life is strange.

People are stranger.

Which is good.