CONGRATULATIONS to Lewis Hamilton on matching Michael Schumacher’s all time Formula One pole positions in the world of Grand Prix racing.

While watching him being interviewed on the TV, I was slightly mystified to notice that he now seems to have an American accent, which baffled me because he was born in Stevenage, but that should not really confuse me at all, in all honesty.

I remember a time when I was having a drink with my old mucker, Dave Adams, in the William Stead pub in town, and he started to talk in an American accent too, but I blame that on the fact that he had consumed several pints of Old Rosie that particular evening. Mind you, I can’t speak.

I was later seen asking for some fish and chips in the Grey Horse on Haughton Green, with a barmaid trying to explain to me that the chippy is located around the corner.

At least I eventually made it back home, but God only knows where Dave ended up? Probably in Bellefonte in Pennsylvania.

Christopher Wardell, Darlington