[EDIT: It seems that I may have to be using my inexperience, youthful enthusiasm and the resulting lack of good journalistic research which should have accompanied this story as an excuse for my rather embarrassing discovery that whilst Johnson may have described the feat in rather strange terms, they did ACTUALLY wipe rhubarb onto the wood which  sweeps around my favourite Olympic venue. Although one assumes the process was at least a little more scientific than a quick ‘wipe’ with a few sticks of rhubarb , it is rather lovely that such a strange sounding thing is actually true]

I am afraid that this little nugget of craziness only Boris Johnson could come up with is as usual not a fake, even if it is quite funny.

At the opening of the Velodrome on Tuesday the 22nd when speaking about the cladding around the stadium he said:

“The secret to that rosy hue is that it is achieved by rubbing it with rhubarb. It is lovingly rubbed with rhubarb. Therefore it creates jobs for the British rhubarb industry and also helped to create a new craft — that of English rhubarb rubbing, that will go on and on, So it represents a fantastic investment for sport and society.”

Perhaps I’ve got my facts wrong and they really did rub rhubarb into the wood, in which case I can only wonder at what he said next in an attempt to out do the unbelievable reality in someway.