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I've No Idea whether he was genuine or not. But he took the time to write a fairly lengthy email to me, and gave me his name and email address, so I kind of think he might have been for real.

He started off 'I am not insane, I'm pretty sure, but I do know that I think in different terms than other people'.

And promptly proved just that by explaining to me : 'The idea I have for a bet is one where I amputate by electric chainsaw - or similar electrical cutting tool - my left leg just above the knee.'

At this point I was thinking that I probably didn't want to read much more of this email, but a morbid curiosity persuaded me to do so:'

'I have evaluated and researched the details regarding this idea for some years and have carefully considered the Pros and Cons of doing it'

There are Pros? You could have fooled me.

''My motivation - mainly - is money, as I have certain plans for business to finance and this would be a far more direct route than others - and considering some long standing (ahem- gs) health problems, I feel I'm not risking very much to gain a great deal.

'My plans involve measures to prevent my accidental death from exsanguination as there's a major artery involved, and to combat the pain/shock generated.

Salted supercooled ice-water bucket, leg soaked in such until limb is properly hypothermic...........trauma......tourniquets........' I think you've got the idea by now.

I have read in the past about people who do actually remove limbs from their bodies for no apparent reason, but have no wish to be part of the method by which they manage to secure this odd ambition.

So I wrote back to my correspondent, whose initials were J.W. - ' Dear Mr W. If we accepted this bet there would be two of us without a leg to stand on - in your case an actual one, and in ours a moral one.'

He probably thought this a limp response.

That wasn't the only slightly off-beat bet request I have received of late. There was the chap who wrote to tell me how miffed he was that despite having 'told my children that Princess Di would have an accident' a week before her tragic death, he hadn't tried to get a bet on. So, given that he was now privy to two more of 'these feelings'which apparently he gets quite frequently - he wanted to have a double that both Hugh Hefner and Michael Schumacher will
expire during 2010.

A lady called Zoe got in touch, wanting to bet that she will be quarantined in Singapore and Thailand - 'for any reason' and asking 'what proof would you require?'.

Oh, yes, and a gentleman from Birmingham is convinced that the next Pope will be - er, the last one, John Paul II.

The bet request from 'Chris' was short and to the point: 'What are the odds in Swine Flu wiping out the whole of Glasgow?'

Another happy little soul enquired: 'What are the odds of me being involved in two major disasters?'

Still more correspondents wanted odds about Gordon Brown committing suicide; Elton John dying and World War III breaking out.

I trust you will not be remotely surprised that I never for one moment considered taking any of these proferred punts.

***

I had few autobiography books on the go over the festive period - Ozzy Osbourne's and Ronnie Woods' were the aniticipated rock n roll mayhem memoirs - but even these two noted oddballs had to give best to 'Method In My Madness' by former champion jockey Richard Dunwoody in which Thomas Brightman-published tome, he reveals himself to be a complicated character, to say the least.

For example, he tells how on a Grand National day shortly af his retirement he opted to be at Southampton FC for a match - and that at half time, when virtually everyone else in the ground headed for a tv screen or grabbed a radio to follow the Nonal, Dunwoody sat stubbornly in his seat reading the match programme, pretending to be not remotely interested in goings on at Aintree.

Dunwoody is clearly a most complex chap and you can't help but come away from reading about his exploits, including walking to the South Pole, competing in Strictly Come Dancing, clambering up lofty peaks, leading riding tours in far flung lands that this is a man who has struggled for a focus since packing in - well, being forced to pack in - the one thing at which he truly excelled.

He has also seemed reluctant to commit himself completely in his personal relationships and it is difficult to imagine him happy to sit at home watching the racing whilst devoting himself to raising a family - but you never know and you hope he will eventually find fulfillment.

A couple of other books to mention - the wonderful red-shirted Jack Berry also retired from racing in 2000 - and he had certainly found himself a role in life - raising money for the Injured Jockeys' Fund, and the profits from his latest book, Better Late Than Never, his fourth volume, will be donated to that worthy cause. And don't think that it is only worthy buying to make the donation - there is plenty of entertainment value to be had from Jack's seemingly inexhaustible supply of racing anecdotes and yarns.

He'll even sign it to you personally if you send him your dosh - all proceeds will go directly to the IJF and help fund Jack's vision of building another Oaksey House in the North of England so please purchase your very own copy of this excellent book by sending a cheque for £14.95 made out to the Injured Jockeys Fund to the following address:

The Injured Jockey Fund
F.A.O Jack Berry
C/O Sun Hill Farm
Constable Burton
Nr Leyburn
North Yorkshire
DL8 5RL

Don't forget to include a U.K postal delivery address and contact telephone number with your remittance. A better spent fifteen quid you'll struggle to find this year.

***

I was  at the Horse Race Writers' Association annual lunch, which I always regard as the true start of the festive season. This year's was notable for the entirely peaceful intervention of two well know racing characters who gatecrashed Lord Derby's speech at the start of the event to register their disapproval of his involvement with a controversial plan to build new houses in Newmarket.

Given the genuinely contentious nature of this proposal it was somewhat disconcerting that, in my section of the room, at least, the protestors received almost no moral support from the assembled hacks, who seemed to believe they had a blasted cheek for interrupting his Lordship.

In fact, the only verbal support uttered in their favour came from the often maligned John McCririck.

I have no in-depth understanding of the arguments involved and no strong opinion about the ultimate outcome, but felt that the somehow quintissentially English feel to this very polite and restrained protest deserved rather more than the patronising and condescending reception given to it - rather as though the journos present feared that if they were seen to support it they would risk offending His Lordship - and that would never do.