I LISTENED with interest to Polar explorer Robert Swan talk movingly on radio last week about his battle with alcoholism.

The Boys' Own-style adventurer from County Durham, who now makes his living giving inspirational talks to business people about leadership, courage and heroism, confessed to Sue Lawley on Desert Island Discs that he reached breakdown point.

His life may have been a mess and his marriage blown apart by his drinking, but few people would have known it because, he says, he was able to continue functioning perfectly normally between the hours of 9am and 9pm.

I know this is true, because I interviewed him at his home during this period, just after his son was born. He was as articulate and charming as ever, and spoke passionately about his part in the campaign to help save the Ozone layer and protect our environment.

Shortly afterwards, recovering from his usual morning hangover as he faced his young son over the breakfast table, he realised he couldn't go on like this.

"I looked at my son and thought, you don't deserve this." Swan admitted he had a problem and asked for help.

On hearing this story, Sue Lawley couldn't help musing: "I wonder what the businessmen you talk to would think if they knew what you'd been through.''

The truth is that some of them, their friends, colleagues or family will have struggled, or still be struggling with, similar problems themselves. Many may be kidding themselves nothing is wrong because they, too, can function normally throughout the day.

But when a tough action man like Swan makes the very unmacho-like confession that he had a drink problem and desperately needed help, it could be truly inspirational. His battle to recovery will have taken every bit as much courage, drive and conviction and will have drawn on the same absolute determination to succeed as the most treacherous of Polar expeditions.

Those business people who listen to Swan speak now may not just be inspired to be better managers but perhaps, in some cases, better people.

THE news that German football hero Franz Beckenbauer has a four-month-old child by his secretary after a one-night stand at a Christmas party has come just at the right time. Over-enthusiastic office party-goers may now just think twice before rushing into the stationery cupboard with a colleague.

THE North-East busman who handed in a pensioner's purse containing £870, left behind on his bus, should of course be commended for his honesty. But some reports called him a "hero", pointing out not many people would have done the same. It is a sad indictment of our society when such basically decent behaviour appears so surprising. We cynical grown-ups may accept this as harsh reality, but perhaps it's worth reminding our children that taking something which clearly doesn't belong to us is stealing. And depriving a struggling pensioner, or anyone else, by doing so is simply wrong.

THE wife of Middlesbrough FC supporter Gary Thorburn, who has flown more than 100,000 miles since August on seven trips from the States to see his team play can console herself. Gary says going to the match enables him to "let himself go" after a demanding working week. He may have spent a fortune on flights, but just think what he's saving on therapy.

A SUPERMARKET has developed a large, "easy-eat" pea which saves children struggling to scoop them up with a fork. "Chasing peas around a plate is too much hassle,'' says a Tesco spokesman. Why not make it even easier and produce drip feed meals for youngsters to cut out the hassle of eating altogether? Perhaps, one day, we could even hook them up for tea without disturbing them on the PlayStation.