A barber who was knocked unconscious in a car crash woke up speaking French.
Rory Curtis, 25, also thought he was Matthew McConaughey when he came to at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham.
He was severely injured when he crashed into a lorry before six cars hit him on the M42 in Tamworth, Staffordshire.
He suffered a brain haemorrhage and it took firefighters 40 minutes to free him from the wreckage.
When he came round six days later he spoke to the nurses in fluent French despite not speaking it since he was at school.
Rory, from Redditch, Worcestershire, said: ‘In my head I thought I was Matthew McConaughey.
‘When I went to the toilet I went to look in the mirror and I was shocked because I didn’t look like him, I didn’t know what I was looking at.
‘Then slowly over time it eventually clicked and I thought “he is an actor, what am I on about?”
‘But at times I was in hospital thinking I can’t wait to get out of here and back to filming movies.
‘I was convinced I was him and that I had his good looks as well – I know it was hopeful thinking really.’
Speaking about his French he said: ‘It’s quite bizarre to say the least.
‘I didn’t even do French at GCSE so haven’t studied it since Year 9 – then all of a sudden I’m fluent in it.
‘I can’t explain how it happened. It’s incredible really.
‘I don’t remember coming round but my family said one of the nurses was from Africa and spoke French and I was having conversations with her.
‘I was just casually chatting away about how I was feeling in this perfect French accent.
‘My mum and dad were stunned when they got to hospital and the nurse asked them what side of the family was French.
‘And then I was sitting there spouting a foreign language from my hospital bed acting all French in their sort of arrogant yet sophisticated way. It wasn’t me at all.
‘I wasn’t really that good at it at school, so I don’t how my brain has managed to do what is has. I don’t know how I know it – I just do.’
He added: ‘The accident changed my outlook on life. I can’t leave the house now without telling everyone I love them and giving them a hug.
‘I know with a click of your fingers, it could all be over, because life is fragile. There’s no point in wasting any time.’
Rory was treated with an experimental drug after his family was approached by the National Institute for Health Research Surgical Reconstruction and Microbiology Research Centre.
He became only the second person in Britain to have the treatment – which drew upon the Ministry of Defence’s expertise with injured soldiers.
He made a miraculous recovery and was allowed home just two months after the accident in August 2012 but faced months of rehab.
Now he has now retrained as a barber and is learning to teach hairdressing himself while he works at his aunt’s salon in Birmingham.
