Family Secrets

 The Real Name Ronnie wasn't really Ronnie. Ronnie is short for Ronald. Ronald was not his first name. It was his middle name. The Stage Name His stage name was different again. Arthur. Having a different stage name is not uncommon. It has several advantages.  Keeping Home Life Separate It keeps your correspondence, phone calls, letters, brain, neatly classified. That message on the phone - calling you by your family name is from a relative or neighbour or friend.  Or somebody doing work on your house, or a local business. Or the government about your pension. Or your bank. You can switch off, mentally. You are a different person.  Forget work. Relax. No need to be acting professional, businesslike, formal.  "Hello, dear." Work Messages  The message in your stage name could be about work. Future work. Past work. A friend or colleague from work. Or personnel about your work payment. When you return the call, you give your stage name, sound polite and semi-fo...

After my mother died, she was aged 89, like my father, I was sitting in my kitchen going though documents and photos with my father.  He told me ha had cancelled his wedding to my mother a few days before. His mother had told him that in being her second husband he would always be second best. Later he changed his mind.  Neither my mother nor my father had ever told me this previously.

 Age Her age on the marriage certificate to her first husband did not match her birth certificate. This could have been an admin error. Or deliberate.  First Marriage She did not tell me about her first marriage until I was at university. Car Accident