HONESTLY, you would think James Brown, known previously as Jimmy White, had changed his name to James IneedHPonmybaconbuttie. The BBC really does not like Jimmy’s name change. John Parrott, in the studio as a pundit for the Rileys Club Masters, said that he was prepared to find the whole thing amusing “as long it remains an isolated incident — or it’ll end up like the Horse of the Year Show”. And to think that Parrott used to be considered something of a maverick.
But the BBC can smell a nasty whiff of precedent. It could prompt Tim Henman to produce a deed-poll certificate with the words Timothy Robinsons. Ellen MacArthur might decide to go the whole hog and rename herself Ellen B & Q.
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