WHAT’S IN A nickname?
It’s amazing what you can “dig” up when readers get in touch with their story.
Brian “Digger” Stanley, who lives in Sandhurst, Berks, wrote in to say: “I used to work in the asbestos industry and would go to the
Steel Company of Wales on business in the 1970s.
“I was told to ask for Lennie the Lion because he had a large mane of hair, and Jones the Pipe, as he smoked a pipe which held about half a pound of tobacco!”
He adds: “It was useless to ask for their real surnames, as everyone seemed to be called
Jones or Thomas!”
But it turns out that “Digger” Stanley gets his nickname from his great uncle George – “Digger” Stanley – a London lad who was world bantamweight boxing champion around 1912. Brian explains: “I believe that his father was also a boxer – the
original Digger – but in the days of bare-fisted fighting in Australia.”
Sadly, Brian is the last of the Diggers, saying “regrettably, neither of my sons is prepared to take up the name”.
But Digger should be here for a long time yet, and says: “I have an annual medical as I worked with asbestos, and the cancer specialist told me, ‘You’re OK for now, but I wouldn’t order a new Christmas outfit just yet!’
“On another occasion he said ‘I’m afraid that you will have to take one of these tablets every day for the rest of your life, then gave me a jar containing only nine pills! “Actually, I made the last bit up, but the old jokes are the best.”
They certainly are, Digger!
Do you, or someone in your family or at work, have a funny nickname? Email siobhan. mcnally@mirror.co.uk