The Burning Question: Peter Duncan

When I was making my Duncan Dares TV series we ‘borrowed’ my mate's mum's VW Beetle with the intention of sailing it across the English Channel. We adapted the car by welding a propeller to the crankshaft, extending the exhaust above the roof and filling the boot with foam to help it float.

After a few trials we were banned from the crossing the Channel as we were a hazard to the tankers. So instead we chose to cross the Irish Sea from Portpatrick to Bangor. Our first proper sailing to Ireland ended prematurely as the bemused AA patrol man informed us that seawater had seeped into the petrol tank – much to the delight of the locals.

The next day in a gale force wind we tried again. Accompanied by an RNLI lifeboat we encountered a submarine which surfaced to confirm what they had seen in their periscope, suspicious looking Russian fishing boats and a ramming from the chasing media vessel who were hoping for a catastrophe. When our bilge pumps failed we sank not far from our destination, but the car made it as it was towed underwater into the harbour. On the flight home nearly every national newspaper covered the story in pictures or cartoons. That’s how my mate's mum found what had happened to her car.