I’ve been thinking a lot about my name. It’s Neil, in case that passed you by.
Does a name affect your destiny? Apparently it does. There’s a psychological theory of nominative determinism. It’s the idea that your name shapes your life.
Neil is a name of Irish origin, meaning ‘champion’ or ‘warrior’ and erm… ‘cloud’.
I was apparently named after Neil Armstrong, who was the first person to step on the Moon. You know that, of course.
As a kid, had I known this (along with its Irish meanings) according to the theory, it could have led me to be more driven, focused, and highly respected by the establishment.
I would have sought high-performance roles in engineering, the military, the civil service…
But then The Young Ones happened.
First broadcast in November 1982, it introduced a generation to Rik, Vivian, Mike and a downbeat, paranoid hippy named Neil Pye.
The Young Ones had a massive impact on Gen X. It’s often been said it was the teenagers of my generation who it ‘belonged to’. But us little kids watched it too. I was four at the time.
Why were we watching The Young Ones at that age?
Our parents didn’t know any better. Despite being loving and caring, they also had a Laissez-faire attitude when it came to bringing up their children.
Have you seen the Public Information Films of the 1970s and 1980s? They’re government-funded horror films.
In them, children drown, they get electrocuted, they get run over, they’re hit by trains, they fall through ice, they’re blinded, they catch rabies, they drive bulldozers into quarries… It goes on.
The makers of the Final Destination franchise must have picked up ideas from them.
None of this would have needed saying if we didn’t have so much freedom to do what the fuck what we liked. Including what we watched.
The things I saw at that age. I remember once waking from a bad dream and heading downstairs to see my dad, who was watching a video.
I sat next to him and he reassured me about the nightmare. But he didn’t stop the film.
It was Alien.
My timing was impeccable… just as the really fucking scary xenomorph revealed itself and made its first kill. I didn’t sleep for a week.
I remember taking what I thought was a recording of Ewoks the Battle for Endor to my friend’s house only for it to be a soft porn film.
We watched it anyway, and our parents all had a right old giggle about it.
The appropriateness of the Young Ones wouldn’t have even crossed their minds.
How did Neil the Hippy, the third best Young One, affect me?
In the primary school playground I had kids coming up to me flashing V signs, groaning “heavy, heavy,” and “Neil, Neil, orange peel.”
I didn’t mind so much. A character off TV had my name. I liked it.
I still knew nothing of Neil Armstrong. Had I done, and if I was living up to that image, the sudden arrival of Hippy Neil may have felt like a demotion.
How did Neil from the Young Ones subconsciously influence me?
Hippy Neil was an underdog navigating an anarchic world. He was also a vegetarian, which I adopted later in my life.
He was also guilt-ridden, a pacifist, a half-hearted activist. I remember being enraged by the Iraq War, but not enough to get on a bus and protest in London.
Hippy Neil and the rest of the Young Ones, normalised alternative culture, especially comedy, just at the right time for me.
I still watched Benny Hill and Freddie Starr with my grandparents, but I think the Young Ones planted a deep subconscious appreciation for non-conformity.
I’ve never wanted to be a CEO, or be in charge of anything. I don’t live to work. But doing a job that helps people is really important to me.
Being Hippy Neil created a sense of irony and a love for comedy. It led to me not trying to take myself too seriously. Which is hard in this world.
I always wanted to do comedy and create characters. At university, influenced by The Day Today and Brass Eye, I masqueraded as a fake reporter asking the public stupid questions like: “How they felt about their massive shopping mall being relocated down the road, brick by brick.”
Being a Hippy Neil the confidence wasn’t there to do anything in comedy. Perhaps I got downtrodden by the system too. Astronaut Neil would be satisfied here. Time to put the toys away and get a proper job.
I think Hippy Neil gets a bit forgotten in the late 90s and noughties. That goes for me too. While Hippy Neil has been an influence on how a Neil could be, other much cooler Neils emerged in the 1980s and 90s – Tennant (Pet Shop Boys), Finn (Crowded House), Hannon (Divine Comedy). There’s also revivals for Diamond and Young. There’s suddenly more respectability for being a Neil.
In the early noughties, I got a job working for the BBC. I wrote about Nottingham’s cultural scene – art, comedy, film, theatre and music. I was out for most of the week and being paid for it. I was doing something I wanted to do. I felt respected. I had a byline on everything I wrote. People on the local scene knew who I was.
Then The Inbetweeners happened…
Neil Sutherland arrives. My name is now associated with a lovable but simple-minded liability. His father’s exasperated “Ohhh, Neil…” became a national catchphrase for sympathetic, affectionate disappointment.
The image of ‘a Neil’ shifts again. There’s a perception that ‘a Neil’ is ‘a bit simple’. They’re underestimated and patronised. And while I like Inbetweener Neil, being a Neil feels like a licence to be exploited.
Don’t get me wrong, It is fun when someone uses the ‘Ohhh, Neil’ line – but only if I trust them. The truth is, I am bit Inbetweener Neil, I’ve done and said some very stupid things.
The choice of the name must have come from somewhere.
Iain Morris and Damon Beesley, the creators of The Inbetweeners, chose the names of the main characters based on real people from their own school days. They’re 53 and 54. They would have started secondary school when the Young Ones aired.
We’ve come full circle.
I am happier with Hippy Neil than Astronaut Neil.
My identity is built on authenticity, empathy, and a sense of humour over status and the pressure of being someone I was never going to be.
