NICKNAMES PART ONE

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CHAPTER 52

NICKNAMES

If any of you guys know the real names, or if I have made a mistake or missed some nicknames let me know, I appreciate the feedback, just remember this blog thingy is still an ongoing draft, and far from finished.

( Photo 1 ) Some of the guys on our annual trip to the Earls Court bike show in the 80`s, the photo was taken in Trafalgar square.

from the top of the lion, Gaenor, Cherry, Brian and Bridgeman, middle row, Sharon, Lawson below them richie and myself accidentally kicking Judith in the head, with Wobble staring into the distance, if i remember correctly Colin the sheep took the photo.

Usually, a person’s nickname comes from classmates, co-workers, friends, family, and sometimes, strangers. However, irrespective of who gives a nickname, these are common sources of nicknames

You will find nicknames in every aspect of your life, they are very common place in the society that we all live in, and it is almost impossible not to come across more that one or two wherever you are in the world.

You will find them in your workplace or it could be a pet name that is handed down through your family.

Nicknames are normally used as a sign of affection or even a form of acceptance in to a group, sometimes they have a darker side underling the nickname, the darker more offensive type of names are whispered behind the back of the victim of this cruel jest, and are totally unaware of the name-calling.

The nickname or pet name as it is sometimes referred as can be found everywhere at all levels of society.

The names can be found in the most conservative places like offices or the civil service, many are heard in the armed forces and are common in the heavy industries like coal mining, but strangely the origins of some individual nicknames are very obscure and their origins are never common knowledge.

Sometimes the names can be used to describe the appearance of an individual or possibly some event that may have happened in the past and sadly without any real reasoning behind the name the said individual carry the name for the rest of their lives, sometimes there is no real connection to the person that as this pet name, and the only reason they have this unwanted baggage is because of a family connection.

I have no idea what it is like in the rest of the world, but in Wales it is very common to have a nickname.

More often than not in Wales, if there are ten people in one room at lest seven of them will have a nickname of one sort or another, even if they are not aware of it.

There are so many sources that I can draw information from for a variation of nicknames the list seems endless, I’ll give you some examples, Schooldays is one good example another is the working environment, and another is the class structure that still exists in Britain even if everyone pretends it does not apply to anyone anymore, take the royal family for example, I don’t need to elaborate on where they think they are in the modern society.

Taking all the above in to consideration, I am going to try and explain the origins of the nicknames that some of my biker friends have been tagged with over the years.

From a young age I have grown up in a motorcycle related world, and have always been curious of the nicknames that attach themselves to people.

I can't explain with any certainty why certain individual people have nicknames, and others just go by their given names that were chosen for them at birth.

One of the drawbacks of having a nickname is that sometimes people never learn your birth name, but in some cases that maybe a god send, especially if you have been given a name like Tarquin or Rupert.

I will start this obscure search for the origin of nicknames with myself.

PHIL FROG

Philip David Lloyd

( Photo 2 ) . A photo of me wearing the latest biker fashion at the Vine Rally in 1982.

To begin with my name is Phil, so that’s the obvious part of the nickname, the Frog part originated from a chat with myself and some of the other boy’s while we were in the spare's workshop behind Nolton Street Bridgend called B.U.S. ( BRIDGEND USED SPARES ).

We were all standing around in the workshop just chatting near one of the bikes that was being repaired on the workbenches by P.J.

While we were there someone noticed an oily black stain on the ceiling of the workshop, we all looked up, and Wobble said “ it looks like a flying frog” and then someone else said jokingly, “ it looks like you Phil, riding your bike “.

And from that day on, I have been known as Phil Frog.

The nickname helped in the long run as there were at lest three other Phil’s around at the time, so a nickname helped to identify who was who.

Fat Mike

Michael Layton Davies

( Photo 3 ) . Mike sitting outside the Plough and Harrow pub, our regular haunt during most of the 1980s.

Mike is a popular name and not to confuse one Mike from another, one or more mikes would get tagged with a nickname.

Mike was a little over weight, not to much compared to today’s standards, but back in the day we were all mostly what would be described as skinny at today’s average biker.

So because Mike was heavier than most of us, and there were a couple of other mikes about in our circle of friends, take for example Mike Keen and Mike White.

This particular mike had been tagged with a nickname which described his appearance, so mike became known as FAT MIKE, this nickname was never used as an insult, it was just used as a crud description and with no offense was given or intended, and none was taken by mike, the snowflakes of the world had not appeared just yet, strangely the world is supposed to be getting hotter, but there seems to be a lot of snowflakes about.

Mike as now sadly passed away, and gone to the great bike rally in the sky, but we still refer to him when he comes up in conversation as ( Fat Mike ).

Merv the Swerve

Mervyn Jeffries

NO PHOTO

There is no photo of Merv, maybe check crime watch.

The lest said about this guy the better, as you may have guessed I was not a fan, he was a salesman at Two Wheel Services, and not very well liked by numerous people that had dealings with him in the past.

Like it is written in the book ( House of the dead ) by Troy Theisen “ What you do in life follows you into eternity “, and before you quote Gladiator, Troy Theisen said it first.

Merv was known as Merv the Swerve not because he was a good rider, but because he was a master at swerving around the taxman, and not getting caught ripping off naïve customers.

I have been told that he is still actively ripping people off in Australia, 200 years ago, he would have had free transport to the Austrailia.

Of course we all have our own opinion, and we are all entitled to it, and some of you may not agree with me, but from my experience, I thought Merv was an arrogant dickhead.

Steve Wobble

Steven Jones

( Photo 4 ) . A photo of Wobble trying to look cool outside the Vine pub in Essex, during one of the Vine Rally’s in the early 80s, photo taken by P.J.

Steve Wobble had fallen off his Honda 400/4 at high speed on the motorway in a straight line, and the reason for this was that he had, what is called a (Speed Wobble), this kind of event in a biker's life is also referred to as a Tank Slapper or even a Death Wobble.

On this occasion after he fell off, and picked himself up of the tarmac, and brushed all the road gravel off his person, someone asked him, how it happened as he was riding in a straight line, and there were no potholes in the road, or animals to avoid.

Steve’s answer was “ I had a Steve Wobble “, he was making a joke, because this was not the first time he had fallen off in this way.

So Steve making this joke inadvertently gave himself the nickname, and it has stuck with him even to this day, he is still known as Steve Wobble or just Wobble even by his family.

NUMBER 7

I am not going to use his real name, mainly because I do not want to embarrass him, if he ever reads this blog, i`ve changed my mind his name is John Bryant.

( Photo 5 ) . Number 7 at a Rally somewhere in England.

One of the guys back in the day was called number 7.

He liked the nickname, and he was under the false impression that we called him by this nickname because of his riding style.

Number 7 was the racing number of the famous 1970s grand prix 500cc bike racer called Barry Sheene, he won the 1976 and 1977 world championship.

Barry Sheene was one of the top riders for the Suzuki race team and one of the best F1 riders in his day.

But.

And this is a big but, there was also a program on T.V. during the 1970s called ( Grisly Adams ), the T.V. series was based on a mountain man who lived in the Rocky Mountains in America during the 1800s.

Grisly Adams always had a donkey with him called number 7.

So you can make your own mind up on why he was called number 7.

TERRY ARMY

Terry Something

NO PHOTO

I never did discover his full name.

Terry was a soldier in the Army, and that was simply the reason that he had that nickname.

Terry told me how he obtained his full motorcycle licence, terry joined the army as a boy soldier, he was to young to take his bike test before he joined up or he did not have time to take it before he enlisted, not sure which.

So while he was in the army, he asked the army driving instructor, if he could give him a full motorcycle licence.

The instructor asked terry if he could ride a motorcycle, obviously terry said yes, the instructor took his word for it, and gave him a pass certificate without even touching a bike.

Terry told me it only cost him a bottle of malt whiskey, it was the best and easiest test he had ever taken.

JOHN PIG

John Hopkins

( Photo 6 ) . John at one of the christmas party's organised by the mid-glamorgan motor club.

The nickname sounds like an insult, but yet again just like Fat Mikes, it is not, and it is also not a description of what john looks like.

The nickname comes from something that John did may years ago, I’m not sure of the full story, but I believe he was riding along on his bike minding his own business, and hit a pig that had wandered on to the road, and killed the pig outright instantly, ( makes a change from a sheep) and that is simply why John obtained the nickname (John Pig).

FISHER PRICE

JOSS and SIMON BATEY

( Photo 7 ) . Simon at a Ogwr tiki raft race.

Joss and his brother Simon have very curious minds, and were always asking why something worked or what it does etc.

Normally we would just call them by their christian names, but sometimes we would also refer to them both as Fisher Price, as they are twins.

Fisher Price was a toy company that manufactured plastic toys for Toddlers that had an emphasis on learning while they played with them.

The advert back in the day which was a regular on T.V. encouraged the toddlers to examine and explore the toys and learn from them.

(What does this do).

(how does this work).

(What happens if I press this).

And this was exactly what Joss and Simon were like, everywhere he went.

PETER PAN & PAN’S BIKE SHOP

Lesley Griffith Motors and Waterton Cross Motors ( PETER )

( Photo 8 ) . Photo of Pan`s bike shop on Ewenny road Bridgend.

This nickname is associated with a person and two places, when ( Lesley Griffith Motors), ( bike shop) was called ( Waterton Cross Motors ) and situated at opposite ends of Bridgend town, once the shop moved premises from the corner of Derwen road and Market street to Ewenny road opposite the five bells pub, the name also changed.

One of the guys working behind the counter in the accessory/ spare parts section of the shop in Derwen road was called Peter.

I’m not sure how, but people started calling him ( Peter Pan ) and then after a while the business itself moved to the top part of Bridgend next to the towns bypass and the nickname followed with the shop.

It is really strange why people started calling the shop PANS even though it had changed its business name and location.

The bike shop was named after a very well known and respected local rider of the same name Lesley Griffiths.

Lesley Griffiths competed in many official races in the TT races on the Isle of Man and the Welsh TT’s at Pendine Sands, his normal race bike was a race tuned Max Norton.

Lesley Griffiths Motors ( PANS ) is no longer trading as motorcycle shop, and at this present time in 2020 it is being converted in a number of flats.

But, the building will always be referred to as Pans by most of us older bikers.

Peter pan, the parts salesman changed his job at working behind the counter at the bike shop, and became a local postman.

VORN / THE BOY

Vaughan Jenkins

( Photo 9 ) . Vorn with a strange hairstyle at the Elver Rally.

Vorn looked around 12 years old, he was young looking and was in actual fact a few years younger than most of us, even taking his youth in to consideration, he still looked very young for his age, and that is why we called him the boy.

He was what the Americans call a gopher, we had him running around doing all kinds of things, I think he had trouble remembering his name as he had a wide dark brown leather wrist band with the letters ( Vorn ) embossed into the leather.

Vorn still rides today, I think the age difference as kept him on the road a little longer then most of us, but saying that I rode a bike every day for 40 years until my accident in 2011.

I have been told his choice of ride is a Harley-Davidson tractor, which most likely cuts his riding down to 50 miles a day, as you can tell I’m not that impressed with Harley-Davidson’s reliability, but the Boy still rides, which is good enough for me.

VULTURE

I am sorry to say, I have completely forgotten his real name.

NO PHOTO

It has been a very long time since I last saw him down the Knights arms in Porthcawl, this was possibly during the early to mid 1970s.

He was simply called Vulture because he had a large hooked nose, again this nickname was not used as an insult.

Sadly Vulture was killed on his bike in the mid 70s, while overtaking a line of traffic, just outside Porthcawl on the North Conelly road after leaving the Knights Arms.

LUMP

Glyn Thomas

( Photo 10 ) . Lump

The nickname describes Glyn very well, he is a large 6`6” man, weighing in excess of 22 stone, and can only be described as a large lump of a man.

So once you see him, his nickname is self-explanatory.

It was not hard to find him in a crowded pub, and with the added bonus of his nickname painted on the back of his black leather jacket in six inch letters with white gloss paint, he was impossible to miss.

TONY DOG

Anthony Wayne Peters

( Photo 11 ) . Tony Dog, relaxing up at the Plough and Harrow.

Tony liked to drink, he would drink so much while he was out in the pub that he was incapable of walking, let along riding a bike anywhere, sometimes when he had drunk too much cider, he would fall asleep in the actual pub itself.

He would do this quite often in pubs like the Plough and Harrow in Monknash or the Knights arms in Porthcawl.

The landlord of the knights Ken Evans and the landlady of the Plough Beryl Button tolerated Tony's drunkenness, he was a very popular guy, and never any trouble with anyone, and tony spending a lot of money on drink in the pubs, helped his situation at the end of the night.

Ken and Beryl would leave him sleep in the bar, and then turf him out in the morning.

Sometimes tony would take his sleeping bag with him to the pub at the knights, and on mild summer evening after the pub would close down for the night he could be seen walking toward the promenade wearing his American green olive drab M65 jacket and his ( M.A.S.H.) radar type woolly hat with his sleeping bag slung over his shoulder, heading for the beach front, he would spend the whole weekend in Porthcawl kipping rough.

On one occasion while tony was drinking down the Knights, he fell asleep in one of the alcove shelf’s that were set deep in to the pubs walls, he was curled up in a foetal position facing inward towards the wall.

Ken had left him there all night, when opening time came, he was still there sleeping the cider off from the night before, still in the same position, customers started to come in to the pub, and one customer pointed out that there was a dog sleeping on the shelf.

The customer did not realise that the curled up dog as he thought, was indeed a human being and not a dog, from that time on Tony was known as Tony Dog.

IDRIS PIG

Real name unknow

NO PHOTO

Idris was a large man, just for the record he did me no harm, and I have not had any cross words with him, the only time I seen him was when he was in Waterton Cross Motors talking to Haydn Rees, I spoke to him a couple of times, no real conversation, he was never interested in talking to me, and I did find that he had a bit of an attitude, maybe it was just me, who knows, I have been known to irritate people, but speaking to other people back in the day, a number of them seem to think he had a bit of an attitude problem.

So, I’m not sure if he had this unfortunate nickname because of his weight or because of his attitude or even something completely different to the likes of something that may have happened to him back in the day, like john pig Hopkins obtained his nickname by running over a pig.

I believe if I remember correctly that he either rode a triumph Trident or a Triumph Bonneville during the early mid 70s.

In Idris`s case the nickname may have been used as an insult, and he may not have been aware that he had a nickname, I believe to his face he was called the BIG ID.

The previous selection of people mentioned are a small sample of the nicknames that have attached themselves to some of the people that were in my circle of friends or part of the Bridgend biker scene back in the day.

Other nicknames are maybe just a shorting of a persons last name, or take ( Shades ) for example, everywhere he went he wore what looked like sunglasses or simple like PJ`s, his name is just the initials of his name, ( Peter Jones ).

What follows is a small list of the nicknames that some of the guys were called back in the day, and those of us that can still remember them still use them, sadly many of the people that are mentioned on the list have passed away, but as long as we remember them, and until the last of us shuffle of this mortal coil, they will not be forgotten.

BIG ROY.

Royston Carlyon

( Photo 12 ) . Big Roy, at the Drunken Bear Rally.

6` 4”, and one lump of a man.

DAI MENTAL

Name Unknown

No Photo

I think the nickname explains itself.

GALEN

Adrian Williams

( Photo 13 ). Galen.

A reference to the same name of an intelligent chimpanzee in the original Planet of the Apes film. “ Make your own mind up why he had the nickname “.

BUDGIE

Steven Burges

( Photo 14 ). Budgie.

I have no idea why he was called budgie, possibly because his surname loosely rhymes with budgerigar or Budgie, he may have acquired this nickname because he sounded like a budgie when the bird started chirping, all feckin noise that you couldn't understand , you choose.

Peroxide

Christine Thomas

( Photo 15 ) . Peroxide at a rally somewhere in England.

She dyed her hair blonde, it’s as simple as that.

FLANKER

Name unknown

No photo

Flanker, played the same position in his local rugby team, he was a regular down at the Knights arms in Porthcawl in the lat 70`s and early 80`s, he was one of the Port-Talbot boys and was employed as a bouncer in the local clubs in Swansea.

TATTY

Vincent Thorne

No photo

He rode an old BSA lighting.

When he was a kid, he always had holes in the knees of his jeans, and they were tatty clothes, and no money for new ones, his mother used to patch them up with Noso glue in a tube the colliers used to patch their clothes, but it smelt awful, and it would leave the white rubber glue showing.

MIDGE

Unknown

No photo

He rode an RS 250, I think he may have gone to the great bike rally in the sky.

CLUGSY

Keith James Llewellyn

( Photo 16 ) Clugsy relaxing on the beach somewhere, photo taken 2021

Well known to everyone.

Peter farmer

Peter Jenkins

( Photo 17 ) . Peter Farmer.

His real name was Peter Jenkins, and his occupation was farming, so ………

RAGS

Gary Thomas

( Photo 18 ) . Rags having a quick drink in somerset, photo taken during the 80`s.

Why he was called rags I have no idea.

OBI

NAME UNKNOWN

( Photo 19 ) . This very poor quality photo of Obi was taken at a beach party at Monknash in the 80`s.

I have been told he had his nick name from Obi Wan Ben Kenobi from the starwars films, I have no idea why he had this nickname.

TREM

Clive Tremlett

Photo 20. Trem trying to start his Triumph TR6, just on the outskirts of fishguard in west wales, while we were on our ( World Tour of Wales) in 1980.

( Photo 21 ) . Trem.

The nickname Trem, is simply the shorting of his surname.

MELA

Martyn Thorne

No photo

Martyn used to fart a lot when he was younger, so everyone called him smella, then over time it was shortened to Mella.

Jolly jack

John Weatherstone

( Photo 22 ). Jolly Jack, a very rare photo of him smiling, photo taken at a party in Wobbles flat in Nolton street in early 80`s.

He had this nickname because he looked so miserable all the time, his wife was also tagged with the same nickname Jolly Ann, not that she deserved the tag.

BEAKER

Neil Stockdale

( Photo 23 ) . Beaker.

Neil, when he was younger, and being Scottish had red curly hair just like the Muppet of the children’s show, Sesame Street.

RAY SPRAY

Ray Taylor

( Photo 24 ) . Ray Spray

First name Ray, and he was a vehicle paint sprayer, Ray was very well known in the Bridgend biking community back in the day.

Mouse

Sadly I have forgotten his name

No photo

Mouse was smaller in size than myself, so he had a nickname associated to his size, hence the nickname Mouse, not because he spoke softly, far from it for a small man, he was quite loud, mouse died in a bike accident in the early 80`s.

The last time I saw him was when he was riding his Suzuki GT 500 twin away from Two Wheel Services in Bridgend.

He was one of the Rhondda bikers.

MAGGIE MANHOLE

Margaret something?

No photo

In the early 70`s, there was a girl called Margaret, she lived in Sandfields Estate Port-Talbot, it is not a very flattering nickname, but you can make you own minds up on why she had such a nickname of this kind.

This nickname may relate to the fact that the people who live in Sandfields Estate are called Sand-rabbits.

COLIN THE SHEEP

Colin Matthews

( Photo 25 ) . Colin the sheep.

Colin was English, and he moved down to Wales, and became friendly with a lot of us, and started to go on rally’s with us.

He joined us in the early 80`s at a time when we all still wore leather jackets and denim cut-offs.

Colin’s mother would not allow him to wear a denim cut-off like the scruffy Welsh bikers, so he cut up a sheep skin floor rug and made it in to a waistcoat.

His mother was happy with that compromise, and allowed him to wear it, and that is why we called him Colin the sheep.

There are many more nicknames I have not included, the Lazy Riders m.c.c., the Welsh Coast club or the Rhondda boys and many other individuals.

The list can go on forever, I can do a part two, if anyone is interested or would like to add any names that i have missed.

Any corrections or information or name changes that I have missed, please let me know. :)