Flange History: Dick & Fanny were actual names 

Historians have unearthed the cruel and spiteful names society once named their children, we can report.

Among the names now binned from society are Dick and Fanny. Many thought these were fictional names made up for posh people reading the Famous Five.

Dick Hughes of Shrewsbury is a survivor of those unsympathetic days. He told us, ‘I could have been a Richard, nothing wrong with that, but from the moment I was born they called me Dick. Why? Why do that to a child. I found a friend in my street who was the only one who understood me: Fanny.’

Fanny Davies lived just doors away from Dick and together they could forget about their names. Fanny said, ‘We could just forget about it, until our parents called us in for dinner. ‘DICK! FANNY!’ they would shout. Then reality would kick in again. Those were our bastard names.’

‘In the end I decided to own my name and not run away from it. I’ve been a Dick now for 75 years and I wouldn’t change a thing.’

Fanny added, ‘I would. They called me Big Fanny in Uni and things got worse when I started working at the fishmongers. Lest we forget.’