h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

It’s a popular and lighthearted nickname in the UK, and everyone recognises it. Maybe one of your group of friends is called ‘Titch’ by everyone, and it’s because of their size. The owner of nickname should be small, right?

Wrong!

Let me explain.

The nickname arises from the days of music hall entertainers. The original Titch (he spelled it ‘Tich’) was a satirical comedian whose real name was Harry Ralph - one of the best-known of his day, the turn of the 20th Century. He regularly appeared at Drury Lane, as well as in Paris, where he was awarded the Legion d’Honneur.

Now Tich took his nickname earlier in his career, and he took it from a man whose real name was Arthur Orton, a butcher from Wapping, Australia. Orton hit the headlines following a fraud trial for which he was sentenced to 14 years in prison.

Orion had claimed to be the missing aristocrat Roger Charles Tichborne (hence the name), and heir to a baronetcy. The real Tichborne had actually been lost at sea in 1854 while a passenger on the ship Bella, which sank with all hands on a voyage to South America. An accomplished con artist, Orton had managed to persuade many of Tichborne’s family of his claim, however others were not so convinced, and took him to court.

The trial was the longest in English history at that time - 188 days - and was the subject of much press attention. Orton himself was notably fat, as was Ralph, leading him to take his nickname from the claimed RC Tichborne. It’s only because Ralph was only four feet tall, that those subsequently named after Harry ‘Tich’ Ralph have been short.

So when you next call someone ‘Titch’, remember that they need to be fat. If they’re short and comic, then that’s a bonus.

I had a great uncle "Titch" 6'4" as was the case in the 1950's it was a reverse nickname as my grandmother often said "e were a big bu@@er"

[Amy P]

Thanks! I've never heard this nickname, but now, I'm sure I'll run across it everywhere.

We always call a short person who hangs around with a tall person a 'Mutt and Jeff' team. They were comics characters:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MuttandJeffAdvertisment.JPG

Mutt & Jeff is cockney rhyming slang for 'deaf', usually abbreviated to 'mutton'.

"Speak up, I'm a bit mutton!"

Did you really escape "Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich"??

You don't know how lucky you are!

I'm beginning to imagine...

To be four feet tall and fat would be quite a misfortune were it not for the baronetcy and the wealth that accompanied it. Well, it might be a misfortune even with it.

I've never heard anyone called Titch in my area....

Anyone remember Titch and Quackers.