Lucy Elkins writes in the Daily Mail:Scientists used to think a brain injury resulted in permanent damage to the brain's functions, but new research suggests this is not necessarily the case. Here, we talk to people whose brains have been 'scrambled' as a result of illness or birth.But far from being a hindrance, some of them believe it is actually beneficial.The brummie with a French accent: Richard Murray, 32, a financial planning manager, suffered a stroke three years ago and as a result now speaks in a French accent. Richard, from Hereford, is married to Amy, 32, and has two children: Olivia, two, and 17-month-old Finlay.The man who can taste words: James Wannerton, an IT contractor from Blackpool, has synaesthesia, a condition which means two senses are stimulated at once. For James, 49, hearing or seeing words stimulates his sense of tasteThe obsessive artist: Tommy McHugh, 58, a divorced father of two from Liverpool, was a builder until he had a brain haemorrhage which almost killed him in 2001. Tommy