Bizarrely, I think the Great White Shark story was the one that actually made most of us have sympathy with the lad.

He'd booked a fortnight off in the summer to go to Weston Super Mare with his Mum n Dad. He explained that the first day there he'd gone into the sea and then felt something grab his leg. He was then pulled through the water kicking and screaming. He eventually felt his leg be released. He made it out of the sea onto the beach and his right lower leg was pouring with blood. His calf muscle was hanging off. He then fainted and woke up in intensive care.

The docs explained that they'd had experts to look at his injuries and there was no doubt ... the bite pattern was a Great White Shark ( I know ... we were also thinking there aren't any Great White Sharks off Britain ).

He explained that he'd had reconstructive surgery on his leg and blood transfusions and so on. After two weeks he'd insisted he was released from hospital as he had to go back to work. The docs had told him there would be no work for him for several months. He said that he couldn't let his workmates down and would be in next Monday.

Now the golden rule during all of these stories was that no one contested the stories. We all knew they were nonsense but they were so funny that no one wanted to stop the magic. On all other occasions as crazy a the stories were, there was no actual proof that they didn't happen. On this occasion one engineer said " I've always wanted to see a shark attack wound ... Let's have a look at your leg ". Oh no ... the room went silent. What was this bloke thinking? The story teller explained that the docs had said to keep the leg covered. This other guy kept insisting. So ... to our surprise, he lifted his foot onto a desk and started to lift up his trouser leg. What was going to happen? Well he lifted his trouser up to the knee exposing a perfectly normal and healthy lower leg. The room was silent. I was expecting him to suddenly burst out laughing and exclaim " HA HA HA I've had you guys going for the last few months with these crazy stories " and we'd all fall about laughing.

Instead, he used the tip of his index finger to point out the various details ... " You can see the teeth marks there and there and there ... and that's the line where my calf was sewn back on ... and there are all the stitch marks ... the doctors were amazed at my healing rate ". There was absolutely nothing there. He'd continued with the story despite him being undone ... the story remained real in his mind. He pulled down his trouser leg and hobbled out of the room on his stick. I think that's when we realised he wasn't just a bulls hitter ... he really wasn't quite right.