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Which is where American Bill Kipp comes in. He's a martial arts expert who came up with the idea of training people while under adrenal stress.

The theory is that if you learned your moves during a red mist, you'll still be able to remember and use them when that scary fog descends again during a real moment of crisis.

Wood was introduced to Kipp while training in the United States.

A full-time martial arts instructor who is a fourth dan - three stages up from a black belt - in tae kwon do (a Korean take on karate) and proficient in ju-jitsu and karate itself too, he could see the value of Kipp's methods.

Now Wood is trained up and ready to share the secrets of Adrenal Stress Conditioning - his classes in Plymouth are the first in the UK.

A beginner's course typically lasts four hours but Wood gave me a two-hour taster.

For the first hour I did nothing but watch and listen and role play.

I didn't throw a punch. But I did learn the most important bit about self-defence - the only fight you are guaranteed not to lose is the one that doesn't start.

Take the loudmouth in the pub and the scary-looking drunk in the street as a couple of dangerous examples.

Wood and helper John Hancox, one of his martial arts students, showed me how to stick to the neutral ground between backing off submissively and being over-assertive.

Look too weak and you present yourself as an easy victim; go over the top and you risk starting a fight unnecessarily.

"Eighty per cent of it is about body language," said Wood, encouraging me to keep calm but stand still and stay assertive.

I was subjected to light 'woofing' and heavy (words that would make a stoker blush).

I had my stock phrase to repeat: 'What do you want?', (an FBI favourite which puts the onus back on the aggressor).

There's more...