Ken Mogg writes: >Slightly off-topic, then, but have I told this anecdote here before? > >Apparently the great Irish director, Rex Ingram, whose films were beloved by >David Lean, and others, was born Rex Hitchcock. One day in the 1920s, the >young >Alfred Hitchcock, just starting out in movies, met Rex Ingram/Hitchcock (no >relation). 'My boy', the great man said, 'I advise you to change your surname, >like I did. You'll never get anywhere with the one you've got.' The documentary director Paul Rotha was born Paul Thompson, but was advised by his art college tutor that 'you'll never get anywhere with a name like that - change it.' He claims to have particularly liked a book on art history by an obscure c17 scholar by the name of Rotha. He looked in the London telephone directory for 1929 and could not find any Rothas, and so, satisfied that the name was distinctive enough, changed his name by deed poll. As you might have guessed, I don't have that problem! Exactly the opposite, in fact - I receive about 100-150 unsolicited e-mails per year from people trying to contact my father (who is a well-known computer industry journalist) or from other Enticknaps 'researching' their family history. L ------------------------------------ Dr. Leo Enticknap Director, Northern Region Film and Television Archive School of Law, Arts and Humanities Room M616, Middlesbrough Tower University of Teesside Middlesbrough TS1 3BA United Kingdom Tel. 01642 384022 Brainfryer: 07710 417383 ---- To sign off Screen-L, e-mail [log in to unmask] and put SIGNOFF Screen-L in the message. Problems? Contact [log in to unmask]