Another tale of a courtroom wardrobe malfunction, this time from Clive Gladstone of Northumberland County Council. He recalls being called to defend an application with only a few minutes’ notice: ‘As I hastened across, a seagull scored a direct hit right across the front of my dark suit jacket. The clerk gave me a cloth to wipe it, which only made it much, much worse.

Because the court was waiting to proceed, I had little choice but to walk straight in and I immediately apologised to the judge for the state of my attire and then I told him the reason. To my relief, he laughed louder than everybody else in the court put together.’