8th December:

In some sports, notably boxing and darts, it seems terribly important to have a pithy nickname in order to be successful. Phil 'The Power' Taylor and Ricky 'The Hitman' Hatton immediately spring to mind.

Given that for every champion there are thousands of nearly-but-not-quites, we can therefore assume that the pub dart leagues and amateur boxing clubs of this country are filled with plucky contestants with names like Brian 'The Tub' Tubbins and Archie 'Dead-Leg' Davis.

Personally, I live in hope for the day when we get a boxer from Sudan. Anyone taking up pugilism in that neck of the woods would have to be a bit nuts, so we could christen him 'The Loon from Khartoum'.