When I was at school, we had to go through a ritual torture on Thursday afternoons that they called the CCF. (Combined Cadet Force).

Every year there was a ceremonial parade where we would be inspected by a Brigadier or such like. If it was a hot afternoon, many of the assembled cadets would keel over.

When we were in the first and second form you didn't have to join yet and would just watch the parade from a grassy bank. It was quite fun to try to predict which would be the next skittle to keel over, especially so considering the rather boring nature of the spectacle, but we of course knew that our turn would come when we got into the upper school.

Many of us picked up the tip that by tensing the muscles at the back of the calves, the blood could be forced up , as the fainting was actually caused by the blood not pumping up into the brain, the assuming of a horizontal position being nature's way of correcting this.

Thus I managed to get through without keeling over. Health and safety would have a field day nowadays!