John Noakes and Shep (Who loved his Yorkie bars)

He wasn’t quite sure when it started, and the first couple of times he managed to dismiss it with a shrug, re-assuring himself that in reality he looked nothing like him.

But when fifteenth or twentieth person independently mistook Andrew for Blue Peter host John Noakes, he had to accept that there was either at least some small element of truth to it - or he was the victim of a remarkably elaborate and extensive conspiracy trying to trick him into believing there was a resemblance between them.

And when Andrew’s local Indian newsagent became the latest random person to mistake him for the kids’ presenter, he simply went along with it. Perhaps he couldn’t be bothered to correct him, or simply chose to adopt a Zen Buddhist attitude of acceptance that day - or more likely, wanted some amusement.

The friendly newsagent asked how Shep was, and gave Andrew a free chocolate bar for perhaps the most famous telly dog at the time (after Lassie). Shep was doing well, Andrew said, and thanked him for the chocolate.

Soon, the newsagent was keeping a chocolate bar aside for Shep every day, and Andrew was keeping him up to date on Shep’s latest antics before later eating the Mars bar or Yorkie with raisins (one of Shep’s favourites) while reading his daily paper.

This went on for months, until, one day it came to a messy end. Andrew had been on the wine. He went in to get his paper a little worse for wear, and told the friendly newsagent that Shep had been killed in a terrible accident