Ling Valentine, the owner of online car leasing company LingsCars.com, has revealed her latest whacky marketing ploy - becoming a real-life character in Viz magazine.

Valentine, best known for her appearance on TV show Dragons’ Den last year, is getting her second taste of fame after being selected to become Viz’s Business Ambassador.

Viz editor Hampton Doubleday said: “She was chosen on the basis of being completely barking mad. Her lunacy and character is evident from her website, Lingscars.com. She’s also quite short, so we save on ink.”

Valentine, whose other marketing initiatives include offering customers free Chinese takeaways by post and promoting her company on a Chinese military truck complete with imitation nuclear missile, will feature alongside such classic names as Roger Mellie and Sid the Sexist.

“To celebrate my appointment as Viz’s ethic business ambassador, I have bought a flagpole and Chinese flag and I fly it outside my Gateshead office,” she said.

Ling Valentine in Viz