Hannah Gray looks back at some of Peterborough's most recent brave citizens.

IN his poem If, author Rudyard Kipling tells his reader that an ability to "keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you'" is one of the qualities that makes a man.

But how many of us, when faced with danger, can keep our heads, let alone carry out an act of bravery?

Well, in Peterborough at least, it seems quite a few.

Over the last 18 months, the city has had several instances of heroic deeds being carried out by ordinary citizens.

From a teenage girl rescuing her family from a fire, to a man who used a pool cue to foil robbers armed with a gun and a samurai sword, Peterborough is full of ordinary folk prepared to do extraordinary things when the situation calls for it.

The most recent have-a-go-hero is shopkeeper Murat Tasci, who chased a man who had come into his shop armed with a 6ins blade.

On August 9, Mr Tasci was working in Peterborough Food and Wine Centre, in Lincoln Road, Peterborough, where he is one of the partners, when illegal immigrant Serwan Ibrahm came into the shop smoking and drunk.

When Mr Tasci told Ibrahm to leave, the 20-year-old started shouting abuse.

Mr Tasci pushed Ibrahm out of the shop, but he came back with a knife, shouting, "I will kill you all".

The shopkeeper called the police, and then picked up a shopping basket to use as a shield, and gave chase to Ibrahm down Lincoln Road.

Ibrahm dropped the knife at some point in the chase and Mr Tasci caught up with him, tackled him to the ground and held him until the police got there.

Mr Tasci (33) said that in that situation, a different side to his personality took control.

"I'm not a cool person, but in this kind of situation, I became very cool," he said.

More than a month later, Mr Tasci remains modest about his actions and downplays the incident.

But his colleague, who was working in the shop at the same time, was quick to sing his praises and to highlight how frightening that night was.

He said: "I was just scared. I lost my cool, I was shouting and screaming.

"Murat said 'I had to do something, because he is determined to do some damage with the knife'."

Some of Ibrahm's relatives have since been back to the shop to apologise for the man's behaviour, and last week he was jailed for 15 months.

Mr Tasci said the police had told him that chasing an armed man was not something that most people would do, but he remains modest about his actions.

"I don't want to be a hero," he said.