What’s in a name?

“Robert” is quite old fashioned. It means “bright fame” which is tricky to live up to. And,  “David” means “beloved”. Another one that I’m not really doing justice to at the moment.

But, the real problem is “Mumford”. Supposedly it is derived from the De Montforts that came over with Guillaume the Conqueror.

I prefer to think that somebody’s Mum lived next to a ford. It’s more original and homely.

Whatever its origins, it doesn’t help when you are 8 years old and everybody insists on calling you “Bumford”. This develops over time until you become “Arseford”.

Fortunately for me, ITV decided to re-run the series of “Here comes Mumfie” in the mid-80s. It’s the story of an elephant who will “go far” (could it be bright fame?). He had a friend called “Scarecrow”.

At this time, I was playing inside-centre. My best friend Stephen Crozier used to play outside-centre. Our rugby master at the time, Mr Edwards, christened us “Mumfie and Scarecrow”. Oh, how we laughed.

Since then, whether it’s rugby, football or cricket, I am “Mumfie”, and Stephen is “Crow”. So original.

Just recently, I returned to the Oriel pavilion having scored a quick-fire 35, and a team-mate (a professor at the Department of Materials) said, “Well batted Mumfie.”

That name will be on my bloody tombstone.