THE splendid news that former spud-faced soccer nipper Wayne Rooney and his fair wife Coleen have welcomed into the world their first born, Kai Wayne, sent Mr Brocklebank, like many others, reaching for his reference on baby name origins.
Kai could be a Latin, Burmese or Maori name, with meanings such as willow tree, keeper of the keys and victory. Or it could be from the medieval tale of Culhwch and Olwen, where Kai (a middle Welsh name) is one of King Arthur’s leading knights, anglicised as Sir Kay.
Or could their choice come from Star Trek: Deep Space 9, where Kai Winn is the evil Bajoran leader?
Yet father Wayne is a fan of the video game Mortal Kombat, in which Kai is a main character. Surely this could not be more popular in the Rooney household than reading Culhwch and Olwen?
DANGEROUS talk: Henning Wehn, a panellist on BBC Radio 4’s The Unbelievable Truth quiz, bizarrely claimed that if Germany declared war on Liverpool, the British would support them. Yet a colleague of Mr Brocklebank, who won an award in London, assures him the Royal Navy chiefs present were delighted the prize went to someone from Liverpool, which they regard very fondly. So, we can at least count on the Senior Service to defend us in such a re-run of history.
REPORTS that Mancunian so-called pop intellectual Morrissey stormed off stage after being hit on the head by a bottle during his concert at the Echo Arena, caused Mr Brocklebank’s valet, Pumphrey, to remind him when the acclaimed US hip hop band, The Beastie Boys, played the Liverpool Empire they were prosecuted for throwing bottles at the audience. Another Liverpool first? Or a case of life imitating art given their 1992 “hit” album Check Your Head?
WIRRAL Council is “very excited about selling “Wirral’s virtues” at the Shanghai Expo 2010. Will these include a mock-up of an empty library and daily performances of local treasures being removed from a facsimile of Wirral Museum? That would really show China how Wirral values its cultural virtues.
THE retirement of British Waterways’ popular Albert Dock harbour master Bill Broadbent means that its management will now be directed from that great, world famous North West seaport of . . . Wigan. Is this punishment for decades of jokes about Wigan Pier, started by George Formby Snr? They may be landlocked, but those Wigonians play a long game.
FANCY that: Wallasey ferries which had the first UK radar installed on river craft, boasted it never missed a sailing through fog, yet Mr Brocklebank hears that Seacombe sailings were cancelled on Monday morning because of fog. How can this be?
