I travelled back in time, unseasonably dressed in furs, to a country fair on a warm summer’s day in 2010.

I found the yellow and white striped stand at which I was to deliver my message. I leant over the hardwood counter and declared that I was ‘from the future’. The man in charge of the stall barely acknowledged me.

‘I can prove it’, I boasted, hunting in my handbag for my iPhone, confident that it would show the date in 2018 from which I had travelled. When I pulled it out, however, it had transformed into an old-fashioned mobile and displayed a date in May 2010.

Nevertheless, I issued my warning at the top of my voice. ‘Brexit is coming!’ I shouted. A few people turned to look at me, but not one of them understood my message. Now that I had their attention, I explained that there would be a referendum in June 2016, and I begged them to vote ‘Remain’. My instruction was met with more blank looks.

Then a woman official glanced over at me and whispered under her breath ‘I think that’s the transport coming’.

I heard the TARDIS before I saw it. I was very much looking forward to seeing Dr Who again, but disappointed at the failure of my mission.