NED Boulting told us at The Argus that he was hoping to bring a bit of France in July to Sussex in November on his tour.

Tough job I thought. It will be hard to bring us the warm Mediterranean breeze of the Cote D’Azur, the bright, wide blue skies of Brittany and the sun peeking over the peaks of the Pyrenees and the Alps.

But he pulled it off and delivered it with a side serving of history, comedy and joy at the Capitol in Horsham.

The crowd cheered loudly on his appearance and Ned came out with a beaming smile, setting the tone for a happy night. He was on to a winner with this crowd, clearly some were fans of his Tour de France commentary on ITV, his podcasts and his books. But if you were unaware of any of those then his Retour De Ned show is still a great night.

I loved the way he took us through amusing stories from the history of the Tour and interspersed it with modern, contrasting detail, playing the role and even dressing up as the tour’s founder Henri Desgrange.

I saw the Tour of Britain when it came here and am a fan of the Tour de France. I would love to go and see it in person one day.

As I left the Capitol I felt more than ever like I had been transported to Alpe d’Huez, walked through the partying, the noise and the atmosphere at night and seen the sun rise over the peaks before hearing the whirring of the TV helicopter and seeing the world’s best riders race up the mountain.