Charles Nevin: The Third Leader

The Diddy man

Diddy, as we must now learn to call him, if only for a short time, has already been known as Sean Combs, Sean "Puffy" Combs, Puff Daddy, and P Diddy. Why this change? Why not "P", or, "."? This is what he says: "The P was getting in between me and my fans and now we're closer. We're entering the age of 'Diddy'."

I applaud the move. Certainty is even more to be prized in such uncertain times, and a name change by, er, Diddy, is, along with another Home Office policy announcement, one of the few things we can rely on until the next Big Brother.

He follows many distinguished artists. Shakespeare toyed with several names, including, some say, Bacon. Initials served TS Eliot well; we wait to see if Diddy will follow the bold example of the other great Eliot, George: Puffa, perhaps. Elsewhere, we have two fine moves from initials to monoappellation: Saki (HH Munro) and Sapper (HC McNeile), who, of course, gave us the splendidly gangsta-ish Bulldog Drummond.

How much success would Desmond O'Connor have had in showbiz? Exactly. No, my only reservation is that this may cause some confusion for the respective fans of Diddy and the great Ken Dodd, who is not only known as Doddy, but appears with The Diddy Men. We say: check carefully to avoid disappointment. Tatty-bye, everybody! Yo!