Sutton TV star hails Captain Tom and all the superheroes of lockdown

You may know him as the winner of The Best Thing from 2020.

Admittedly, there wasn’t a lot of competition – he only had to be better than Tiger King on Netflix and sour dough bread.

In the first lockdown Captain Tom, as he was then, raised £33 million for the NHS by walking 100 laps of his garden.

It was an inspiring act especially when you remember he was just about to turn 100 years old.

It was an uplifting news story when we really needed it and it also took away our excuse to be idle.

If he could do a sponsored walk, we could all get off the sofa and stop feeling sorry for ourselves.

Now we have a second lockdown we have a second effort from Sir Tom.

He wants to get people walking to help support those who feel lonely and frightened during lockdown.

His challenge encourages people to log their walking activity on social media using the hashtag #WalkWithTom.

The genius of this is that it will be similar to all of the social media posts you see from people who have taken up running but it will be far less annoying.

Most days my Twitter is full of red-faced sweaty people boasting about how quickly they did a 5k.

Some of them helpfully post a map of their route so we know where to avoid.

Boastful joggers also help with the issue of loneliness, in that seeing their Instagram photos of them in Lycra makes me happy to be on my own.

Tom’s plan comes at exactly the right time.

For those of us who have lost a relative this year the bereavement can be hard to cope with but knowing that we’re all coming together to offer support can help.

Good luck to you if you are taking part or even if you are just making sure that your neighbours, friends and relatives aren’t left feeling lonely, waving through the window to say hi, like I have to with my elderly dad, or taking round some shopping and talking through someone’s letter box.

The only thing that Captain Tom hasn’t mentioned is that the weather isn’t as good this time, so be sure to wrap up.

Not all heroes wear capes but they should wear a scarf and gloves.

Steve N Allen is a comedian and broadcaster who was raised in Sutton-in-Ashfield.