O’Singh bought two programs from a passing vendor and handed one to Dr Pratt. Inside were details of the bouts to come and the names of the combatants. One match read: ‘Jimmy “Bonecrusher” James versus Tom “Iron Man” Jakes.

‘It’s funny how boxers always have these sobriquets – “Bonecrusher”, “Iron Man”,’ remarked Dr Pratt, relaxing a little. The bell rang and the two boxers leapt up from their corners to renew hostilities. The crowd responded by shouting their advice.

‘Were they christened with them, one wonders?’ postulated O’Singh, leaning into Dr Pratt to get himself heard. ‘Can you imagine the early days, after the birth?’

O’Singh mimed cradling a new-born and cooed in a Cockney falsetto, ‘“What d’ya think of ‘Bonecrusher’?”’

‘“No, ‘e don’t look like a ‘Bonecrusher”,’ said O’Singh, shifting in his seat to assume the role of the gruff father.

“I was finkin’ middle name, not first.”

“What about ‘Iron Man’?”

“Oh, not sure ‘bout that. Iron Man? ‘E’s a little baby.”’

O’Singh released himself from the father and mother characters just briefly to explain something to Dr Pratt. ‘The Cockney always refers to a baby as a “little baby”, even though we would naturally assume that the baby is of limited size.’

This would have sounded snobbish coming from anybody else, but O’Singh mentioned it in the spirit of sharing information.

‘“She’s just ‘ad a little baby”,’ O’Singh continued in a Cockney lady’s voice, then as himself: ‘It appears to be an obvious statement, unless, of course, the Cockneys usually give birth to large babies, in which case it is more of an event worthy of a mention when a mother has a baby of smaller dimensions.’

‘“She’s just ‘ad a little baby”, O’Singh repeated, returning to his previous female character.

‘“Oh, really?”’ exclaimed O’Singh, swivelling in his chair again, this time to play a second Cockney woman. ‘“Won’t take up so much space then, will it? Oh, that’s nice for ‘er. ‘Ere, ‘er at number 43’s just ‘ad annuver.”’

‘“A little baby?’”

‘“Nah, the usual – takes up ‘alf the sittin’ room.”’

The bell clanged again. Another round over.