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Billy Casper? Origin of Character Names

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    Billy Casper? Origin of Character Names

    Did Barry Hines name Billy Casper after the golfer of that name? I ought to know this coming from Barnsley but I only found out tnat the golfer existed when searching the name.

    Have any other character names been inside jokes or allusions?

    #2
    From this blog... http://astrongbeliefinwicker.blogspo...knave.html?m=0

    Another fascinating tidbit from the Afterword was that Barry Hines found the name Billy Casper in the sports section of his newspaper as he was a prominent American golfer of the time, and in those pre-Google days Barry had no idea what the real Billy Casper looked like. It was only after A Kestrel for a Knave was published that he saw Billy Casper on television and realised that he was a "big, burly type, the exact opposite of my skinny little character".

    Can't vouch for the authenticity tho'...

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      #3
      It traces to an Afterword Hines wrote in 1999 so is confirmed:

      https://kupdf.net/download/barry-hin...126c511a32_pdf

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        #4
        Originally posted by Satchmo Distel View Post
        Did Barry Hines name Billy Casper after the golfer of that name? I ought to know this coming from Barnsley but I only found out tnat the golfer existed when searching the name.

        Have any other character names been inside jokes or allusions?
        Wasn't one of the writers of New Tricks a West Brom fan who scattered lots of less-than-subtle Albion references throughout the character list?

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          #5
          Winterburn and Dixon appeared as rather camp dandies in Plunkett and MacLeane. I can't remember if the writer was an Arsenal fan honouring them or a Spurs fan mocking them though.

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            #6
            Originally posted by Giggler View Post

            Wasn't one of the writers of New Tricks a West Brom fan who scattered lots of less-than-subtle Albion references throughout the character list?
            Three of the main characters had the surnames Halford, Lane and Standing, named after the Halford's Lane Stand at The Hawthorns.

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              #7
              I remember one episode of The Bill in the 80s, when they were chasing a dangerous pair of bank robbers called Graham Roberts and Paul Miller, probably the writer was an Arsenal fan.

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                #8
                For at least ten years, I believed that our Barnsley-supporting poster of that name was a fan of the burly left-handed golfer of my youth.

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                  #9
                  Originally posted by ursus arctos View Post
                  For at least ten years, I believed that our Barnsley-supporting poster of that name was a fan of the burly left-handed golfer of my youth.
                  I've only just caught on!

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                    #10
                    Billy Casper wasn't left-handed? That was Bob Charles. Or was it that he was from New Zealand, so just did everything upside down?

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                      #11
                      Tim Rice named two characters in Chess after Australian cricketers - Freddie Trumper (after Victor) and Walter de Courcey (the lesser known Jim de Courcy who apparently impressed on the 1953 Ashes tour)

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                        #12
                        Originally posted by Rogin the Armchair fan View Post
                        Billy Casper wasn't left-handed? That was Bob Charles. Or was it that he was from New Zealand, so just did everything upside down?
                        As usual, you are absolutely correct on both counts. Charles was the left handed BC.

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                          #13
                          Originally posted by Giggler View Post

                          Wasn't one of the writers of New Tricks a West Brom fan who scattered lots of less-than-subtle Albion references throughout the character list?
                          They missed an obvious trick in making Alun Armstrong’s character a Wimbledon fan.

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                            #14
                            Sgt. Pinback in Dark Star was named after Dan O'Bannon's (?) mentor in film school.

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                              #15
                              Originally posted by Sits View Post

                              They missed an obvious trick in making Alun Armstrong’s character a Wimbledon fan.
                              I think Armstrong himself is a Wimbledon fan?

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                                #16
                                Slight Music crossover, but in The Fall's 'Telephone Thing' Mark E Smith trills something like, 'Gretchen Franklin how dare you assume I wanna parley-voo with you' but claimed in interview to be unaware that EastEnders dear old Ethel was played by Gretchen Franklin.

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                                  #17
                                  Originally posted by sw2borshch View Post
                                  Slight Music crossover, but in The Fall's 'Telephone Thing' Mark E Smith trills something like, 'Gretchen Franklin how dare you assume I wanna parley-voo with you' but claimed in interview to be unaware that EastEnders dear old Ethel was played by Gretchen Franklin.
                                  From the NME, January 25, 1990:

                                  "Gretchen Franklin?! The woman who plays Ethel on Eastenders? Mark buries his head under the table in what appears to be shame. He groans. "I know! I know! I thought I'd made up that name. Coldcut and Craig Leon were going to me 'That's a great name to make up, Gretchen Franklin', it just came out of nowhere. And then I was watching Eastenders and ... it was terrible! Maybe she'll be flattered, you usually find people are flattered. I don't even watch fucking Eastenders. I hate it! It must've just lodged there somewhere, out of the blue. It's subliminal - I've nothing against her - I can't even remember what she looks like now." She wears a tea cosy and carries a pug. "OH NO! It's not the woman with the dog is it? It's not!"

                                  http://annotatedfall.doomby.com/page...one-thing.html

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                                    #18
                                    i'll do the obvious football-related one: the mercurial, ultimately disappointing shiny object in Arsenal supporter Nick Hornby's High fidelity is Charlie Nichol-something.

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                                      #19
                                      Originally posted by Sits View Post

                                      They missed an obvious trick in making Alun Armstrong’s character a Wimbledon fan.
                                      Should he not have been a Stockport or a Boro fan?

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                                        #20
                                        Originally posted by Giggler View Post

                                        Should he not have been a Stockport or a Boro fan?
                                        Indeed.

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                                          #21
                                          Is boro always Middlesbrough or can it be Peterborough?

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                                            #22
                                            They're too, er, posh.

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                                              #23
                                              Peterborough can be Boro, but the Boro are the Boro.

                                              Alun Armstrong would be a Heed fan, I believe. I also remember thinking he was very fertile when he played for us.

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                                                #24
                                                St Evenage claim to be the Boro, but in reality they are a Boro.

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                                                  #25
                                                  Originally posted by Sporting View Post
                                                  Is boro always Middlesbrough or can it be Peterborough?
                                                  Scarbados Seadogs, shurely?

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