Torvald Alexander, who had been celebrating the New Year, returned to his Edinburgh home to find that his house had been broken into - and the culprit was still on the premises.

Alexander did what most of us would do in such a situation - he ran at the intruder, who, terrified, leaped from a first floor window to escape, leaving his shoes behind. This rather dramatic action was probably due to the fact that Alexander was still in fancy dress - as Thor, the Norse god of Thunder. He was dressed in a red cape, breast plate and horned silver helmet.

Our modern day incarnation of the hammer-wielding thunder god works as a mild-mannered builder by day. When asked why his intruder made such a dramatic escape, Thor said "He probably would not have expected to meet a strong builder, especially dressed in tinfoil and silver."

No, quite. And, going by the photograph, the muscles might have had something to do with it too.