AS PSYCHEDELIC rockers Pink Floyd re-release their back catalogue, a Melksham man has described how he came to be known by the name of a scarlet tunic-clad gnome in one of their songs.

Grimble Gromble, who was originally called Graham Quinney, changed his name in the mid-1980s, to that of a character who appears in the band’s song, The Gnome.

He said: “I’ve got an off-the-wall sense of humour and things amuse me. My first name was Graham and it was a friend who started calling me Grimble, which apparently is an affectionate form of Graham.

“I put it together with the Grimble Gromble name and decided to change my name.

“It was pretty much forced by the Post Office. I started using the signature, but one particular woman there wouldn’t cash my Giro because it didn’t match my name.

“I said it was a recognisable mark – it could have been an X – but she wouldn’t have any of it, so I decided to change the name.”

Mr Gromble, 56, filled out the necessary paperwork, signed it in the presence of a solicitor and has been officially known as Grimble Gromble ever since.

The administrator with Bowerhill firm GB Comp-onents, said: “My friends love it. My mother felt a bit rejected initially, but came to love the name as well and calls me Grim now.

“I like the name – Grim by name, grim by nature. My father initially called me Grimble, but after a couple of years stopped for some reason and calls me Graham.

“My work colleagues just take it as it is. They’re all used to it. I get the odd person asking if it’s a wind-up, but not too many. I’ve never had any problems at all with the authorities about it.”

Mr Gromble said his love of Pink Floyd began at college and he had been a fan ever since.

He said: “The first time I heard Pink Floyd was on my first day of college. Someone put on some Pink Floyd and I just thought, ‘This is amazing. Why haven’t I heard this before?’ It was just really good music.”

He added that, despite owning all the albums, he was tempted by the re-issues, but was not sure which to buy. Mr Gromble’s mother, Win Quinney, said: “When he said he was changing [his name] I wasn’t full of the joys of life, I must admit, but if that was what he wanted to be called then he was old enough to make his own decisions.”