David Lloyd, a former England batsman and head coach, has become one of cricket’s most beloved commentators and broadcasters, with the consistent reference to him by his nickname ‘Bumble’ a sign of the affection in which he is held.
However, to many cricket fans, how he acquired the moniker is something of a mystery, with Lloyd’s fellow Sky Sports Cricket commentator Ian Ward putting the question of how Bumble got the nickname among the questions he is asked most often.
“The three questions I get most regularly asked at cricket grounds are: Can you sign this please Nick (an allusion to a similarity in appearance to fellow Sky Sports Cricket commentator Nick Knight), where’s Bumble, and where did Bumble get his nickname from?,” he said on the Sky Sports Cricket Podcast.
Lloyd’s former Lancashire teammate Paul Allott, now director of cricket at the Manchester-based club, explained the origin, saying it came down to a nasal resemblance between Lloyd and a character on a children’s TV show.
“Michael Bentine, who used to be originally with the Goons, fantastic comedy programme on the radio initially, he went on and devised a puppet show called The Bumblies which was on children’s TV in the mid ‘50s. It was all about puppets who had big long noses. And I needn’t say more!
“In the dressing room one morning, Bumble wanders in – it was way before my time – and it was probably [former Lancashire cricketer] David Green who nicknamed him one of the Bumbly men, and there it was, it stuck.”
