Family favourite Dick Van Dyke has told of his recent brush with the uncertain, after falling asleep on his surfboard and waking to find himself miles from anywhere.

The veteran star of such musical greats as Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Mary Poppins told of his ordeal:

‘I woke up out of sight of land…and I started paddling with the swells and I started seeing fins swimming around me and I thought “I’m dead!”‘

Luckily for the 84 year old legend (and us!) his suspicions were wrong, ‘They turned out to be porpoises,’ he said ‘And they pushed me all the way to shore’

So we can all breathe a sigh of relief. Dick Van Dyke is safe and sound and it’s all thanks to the benevolence of some porpoises (apparently). However it does beg the question, where’s Chitty when you need him?