Aye, very passable, that, very passable bit of risotto.

For those of you who don’t remember that’s how the Monty Python Four Yorkshiremen sketch begins.

As we all know it becomes a tall tale contest of who was the poorest and includes dreams of living in a corridor, licking roads for sustenance and getting up before you went to bed.

Towards the end it even includes the fantastic line from Eric Idle: “I had to get up in the morning at ten o’clock at night half an hour before I went to bed, drink a cup of sulphuric acid, work twenty-nine hours a day down mill, and pay mill owner for permission to come to work, and when we got home, our dad and our mother would kill us and dance about on our graves singing Hallelujah.”

Which is about as bad as it gets.

The reason I thought of the Four Yorkshiremen this week is due to two stories I’ve seen recently from the US.

The first concerns James Robertson. Mr Robertson, who works in a factory for around £7-an-hour.

Mr Robertson’s car broke down which meant he had to take public transport to work. So far so normal.

But the 56-year-old also faced another problem.

The bus service didn’t run near his work so he had to walk part of the way. And when I say part of the way I mean 20 miles.

Yes, you heard that right.

So for the best part of a decade Mr Robertson has been leaving home at 8am for his work which starts at 2pm.

He works for eight hours and then sets off back home, aiming to be tucked up by 4am giving him a less than luxurious four hours’ sleep.

He does all this for the equivalent of around £55 a day.

After Mr Robertson’s story made the headlines, reporters found a man who took the story on an extra mile, well actually 15.

Steven Simoff, 61, has a 35-mile journey to get to his job as a cleaner at a casino.

Mr Simoff starts work at 11pm so leaves the house at 3.30pm - and he earns a pound an hour less than Mr Robertson.

Why does he put himself through this?

He told the Des Moines Register: “First of all, when you got a family, and you’ve got a job, you’ve got to be able to support your family and you’ve got to keep your job – the most two important things I can think of.”

How fantastic is that work ethic?

Mr Simoff said that he actually gets a lift on average three days out of every five - but often only part of the way when people pull over to check he’s OK or think he’s a hitchhiker. He thinks he walks for an average of about four hours a time.

Mr Simoff is saving money on petrol bills and bus fares but he’s spending a fortune on shoe leather – he replaces his boots every two months.

Mr Robertson has been the subject of a crowd-funding campaign where people have donated money to help him out culminating in more than $350,000 being pledged.

He also got the shock of his life when a local car dealership gave him a vehicle for free – but then got another shock when an insurance company tried to charge him $15,000 a year to insure it.

Mr Robertson has now had to move out of his home so worried is he that he may be attacked for his perceived new wealth.

It sounds fanciful but a man in his neighbouring area in Detroit won $20,000 on a scratchcard and the next time anyone saw him he was being fished out of a river after he had been stabbed to death.

So it does seem that money doesn’t always buy happiness as the Four Yorkshiremen told us.

However I’m sure Mr Robertson is happier than before and what about Mr Simoff?

He told reporters: “If I don’t get to work, bills don’t get paid. As long as my two feet are good and my health is good, I don’t think I’ll change.”