The locals call it Transvestite Tuesday. But the Vikings, looking ravishing in blue velvet frocks and sumptuous sealskin capes, prefer its real name: Up Helly Aa – the ancient fire festival that has been celebrated in the Shetland Islands since the days when marauding hordes ruled the seas.

Held in the main town of Lerwick on the last Tuesday of every January, the festival is probably best remembered – or not remembered – by the islanders, as an evening when they consume immeasurable quantities of alcohol and dance until they fall down. Usually at around 9am the following day.

However, for "the south mouthers", referring to those curious tourists from mainland Britain, and anybody else of foreign descent, the highlight comes between 7.30 and 8.30 in the evening, when the band of Vikings known as the Jarl Squad proudly march their dragon-headed galley through the streets of the town, followed closely by 900 ‘guisers’ – squads of men in various disguises, carrying flaming torches.