THEY inhabit very different worlds. One is a TV star and celebrity chef who describes himself as a gourmet adventurer with a lifelong love affair with food.

The other is a politician who has spent a sizeable proportion of the past quarter of a century down at York's Guildhall, most recently as leader of City of York Council.

But a reader has contacted the Diary to point out the startling similarities between Steve Galloway and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, of the Channel 4 programme Beyond River Cottage.

The reader, signing himself only as "Interested of York," wrote: "I could not help noticing an uncanny resemblance between our beloved leader of the council and the doyen of the organic food industry, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. Has anyone else spotted the similarities? Should we know more?"

The Diary can see what our reader means, although we think Steve needs to develop some long tumbling locks before he could find work posing as Hugh's double (and possibly polish up on his cooking skills too).

However, on contacting Steve we made the astonishing discovery that he really was Hugh, and had secretly been running a double life for years. Steve exclusively revealed: "It was always going to come out into the open. I couldn't keep it a secret for ever."

Questioned more closely, he confessed that he didn't actually watch the programme. Presumably far too busy down in committee room one.

New Year's Eve revellers outside York Minster were taken aback by the sight of a group of youngsters frantically stuffing grapes into their mouths as the bell tolled the start of 2005.

It turned out the peckish partygoers were turistas from Spain, who had brought with them a popular New Year's Eve tradition.

One chico explained: "People do this in Spain every year. You have to eat 12 grapes for the New Year, one each time the bell rings at midnight. If you do not do it, it is very bad luck."

There was just one problem - York's oversized grapes. "We found only these fat red grapes in the shops, and they are harder to eat fast than the small green ones we have normally. It was very difficult."

An exclusive Diary investigation revealed that eating one grape every two seconds, 12 times in a row, is no mean feat, and presents a very real choking hazard. You have been warned, should you wish to come over all Spanish next New Year's Eve.

Updated: 09:07 Tuesday, January 04, 2005