Q-75 - 21 Nov 21 - Other R's of a Dr Karol Sikora Kind

Rev dear Rev: Does the name RB mean anything distinctive in the media or is it just a popular epithet that is occasionally mocked up by newspapers?

Well, much depends on what one means by the word "meaning", but actually there are a few personalities who carry this name as spelt out on the parish website:

1. RB - the Thriller Spy character of that name from the famous BBC TV Series of the 1960s and 1970s and 1980s;

2. RB - the Head of an Intelligence Unit at MI6;

3. RB - the White Supremacist Leader of a local clan of the KKK in St Louis Missouri;

4. RB - the well known legal journalist on the London Herald;

5. RB - the well known Theologian taking Questions of Faith at the Manchester Universe;

6. RB - the somewhat well known Speaker at Faith.com Forums in the South West;

7. RB - the parochial vicar blogger in California;

8. RB - the young journalist and book review writer at the Irish Catholic newspaper;

9. RB - the reporter and racconteur at the Californian magazine CWR;

10. RB - the Lazarus type jurist at the Washington site of the CUA;

11. RB - the anglican vicar at Lichfield Diocese;

12. RB - the Ordinario Professor at London Kensington;

13. RB - the Positive Professor at the London site of a college in Chelsea.

There are therefore 13 RBs that we are generally aware of in this time frame, 13 being the favourite number of the singer and song writer Taylor Swift, and number 9 being the one that is well known around the Eternal City. So this is a very popular "nom de plume" among journalists - there is even a funny story at the London Herald that the editor there who is a bit of a racconteur himself and a general jocular character had this photo and nom de plume "mocked up" somewhat like the old Princess Diana story at the BBC with Bashir - a very amusing tale and one which the editor finds amusing still to this day in which he is simply said to have gotten a male model to put on a clerical suit and a clerical collar and had him photographed for his column, his own column since many of his own private views were recorded there. A very popular name. Check which one you are talking to when you phone up such a figure on a newspaper. There are a few of these characters around!! Another positive professor role with a soothing voice, like Dr Karol Sikora his great mentor.