His unique case baffles doctors and thrills tabloids such as the National Enquirer which once persuaded him to

His unique case baffles doctors and thrills tabloids such as the National Enquirer, which once persuaded him to pose covered in ice cubes in the penguin enclosure at Sea World in Florida. The licence plate on the back of his ‘96 Lincoln Town Car reads “NO COAT”. Deal says: “I’ve been outside when it’s 14 degrees below zero, wearing nothing but shorts. Soaking in a tub of ice water gives me a relaxed, pleasant feeling.” The lightning that struck Deal in 1969 short- circuited the part of his brain that regulates the ability to determine temperature.

Dr Cooper believes that since numbness is a major symptom of lightning-strike victims, Deal’s case, though extreme, is not implausible. But while never having to worry about winter clothes may sound convenient, Deal’s body is still susceptible to frostbite. And anyway, for Hughie Gallacher the sounds of glory were long gone, and all he could hear was the sound of an oncoming train.. BACK IN THE good old days, when Zeus was the big man in the cosmos and thunderbolts were a godly form of angry e-mail, any Roman struck down by lightning was typically left unburied. He was seen by several people, but he ignored their greetings and kept walking.Finally, he headed up the hill towards the railway track and up on to the little bridge. From there it would have been possible to look across the river and see the huge ramparts of the old St James’s Park stadium, the place where had given and received so much all those years ago.But it was a weekday, and the stadium would have been silent. After posting the letter he began to wander aimlessly through the streets.

Days before his trial, scheduled for 12 June at the local magistrates court, he met a local journalist pal who reported that he looked like a man walking in a dream, glassy-eyed and traumatised.”It’s no good fighting this thing now,” said Hughie “They’ve got me on this one My life is finished. It’s no use fighting when you know you can’t win.” And on the morning of 11 June he scrawled a short note, addressed to the office of the Gateshead Coroner, in which he expressed his regrets at the trouble he had caused, adding that if he had lived to be 100 he would never be able to forgive himself for having hurt Matthew. Later Gallacher apologised, said his son, but by then Matti had probably told some friends of the incident and an unknown neighbour may have telephoned the NSPCC.It wasn’t until the next day, when police and social workers called to take the boy away, that Gallacher realised he was about to be charged with an offence that could mean losing custody of his children. For several weeks, according to his friends, the shattered man spent hours wandering the streets Many people spoke to him during this time. Even players and officials from Newcastle came to see him, offering their support and assuring him that nobody would believe he had done such a thing intentionally. Many offered to give evidence on his behalf.But for a man like Gallacher, bred in a Scottish culture where cruelty to a child is worse than murder, the looming court appearance and the fact that he could not see his son was driving him closer and closer to the edge. When he persisted his father lifted an ashtray, a small plastic dish and threw it across the room in exasperation It struck the boy on the temple and he ran from the house There was no injury, not even a cut.

For a man as depressed as he was, and who was so proud of his achievements, the hints and the innuendoes were more than he could bear. It just destroyed him.” Hughie Junior’s account of the incident in the house, told to him by the alleged victim, Matti, is that Matti had been misbehaving and had been told off by his father several times. But the shame contained in the very accusation of child abuse and neglect was too much for him. He did a variety of jobs, often menial types of things, just to keep the family together And by all accounts it was a comfortable and happy home. What happened was so sudden and stupid and trivial that it should have stayed a domestic affair, but somehow the details got out and the authorities acted out of all proportion. Then the newspapers blew it all up, implying there had been drunkenness and persistent abuse in the house.”People who knew him were convinced that it was all nonsense They knew that he would never harm his lads. The real reason for the tragedy was the death of his wife some years earlier She had a heart complaint and she died suddenly And it seemed that the whole of Hughie’s life was shattered.

Over the following years he became a very depressed and lonely man, but according to his sons he did the very best he could in looking after them.”He hadn’t saved any money from his footballing days, but he was willing to go out and earn a living to keep his family together. Hughie adored his kids and he never laid a hand on any of them. Hughie Junior has now left the Gateshead area, and his whereabouts are unknown, but the story he told Joannou was vastly different from that hinted at in the press reports.”Stories of abuse and neglect inside that family were a complete nonsense,” said Joannou “If anything it was the opposite. And if what he says is true then history and fate dealt a very unfair and savage final blow to Hughie Gallacher.Paul Joannou, a Newcastle-born author and sports historian who now lives in Edinburgh, spent years researching Gallacher’s life and became a friend of Hughie Gallacher Jr, the oldest of his three sons.