SIR – Those with experience of the old Stock Exchange floor will readily recall some of the nicknames (Letters, August 22) bestowed upon its habitués.
Among them were two brothers, both with highly distinguished military careers and both winners of the Military Cross, one with bar and one without.
The latter acquired the sobriquet of “The Coward”.
I guffawed.
When I was down there, a rather improbable pair ran a fairly big book for Ackroyd’s (I think): One was known as the ‘Gent from the Country’ and the other was known as the ‘Cunt from the Gentry…’
Anyone remember ‘The Mole’?
Nicknames are the most wonderful things. At my school, one of the less sartorially-elegant masters delighted in the soubriquet “Bilge” – and never was a more appropriate name given, trust me on this.
A subset of readers of a certain age may remember this man, and may also appreciate the significance of the number thirty-nine.