Matt goes effing mental

It's Essex and drugs and rock 'n' roll. Matt Cardle has won The X Factor and revealed to the Sun that he was a "boozy, dope-smoking waster".

The painter and decorator from near Colchester told of twice being nicked by the Old Bill: "I was a rebel, drifting about having a laugh and a drink with my mates. I never went mental but I was stupid."

Mental, now there's a good Essex word, non-PC but rather descriptive. Indeed, the other week, with West Ham astonishingly 4-0 up against Man United, the whole Bobby Moore Stand broke into a chorus of "Let's go ***ing mental!"

Is there any other county where mental is still used?

Meanwhile Matt is still going mental - but mainly with the likes of "make-up girl" Lauren Clements with whom he enjoyed what the Sun termed "a liaison moments before going on stage in the semi-final".