A Ryan by any other name…

If you search for Ryan Morrison on the internet you’ll find LOTS of sites either by or talking about me. However, if you search for Ryan Wiffen you’ll find lots of sites talking about some footballer.

Why would you search for Ryan Wiffen I hear you ask? Well, once upon a time, a very long time ago, that was my name. I changed to Ryan Morrison when I moved to Jersey.

The main reason was a cosmetic one - Morrison is a nicer name than Wiffen and I had it in my head that I’d get further with a slightly more common, more fashionable name - didn’t really work to be honest But I am very comfortable with who I am now and barely remember the ‘old me’.

So why am I telling you this? Because, out of pure curiosity, while searching for old versions of this blog and seeing if I could find sites I created while still at school in the mid-nineties I did a search for my old name.

Only one site comes up that is actually me and that’s a programme profile on the BFI website. It’s from when I was a 15 year old Mormon boy with my heart set on going on a mission - I frequented Mormon chat rooms and one day was asked to take part in a Channel 4 debate on Mormonism.

So I did - I went down to Soho in London to sit around a table and talk about “why I love” being a Mormon with other Mormons of different age and background - including the author Ann Perry and a Missionary Couple.

Watching it back was one of the most embarrassing moments of my life, it was horrific, I acted like a complete idiot and what was worse (I didn’t tell anyone I was doing it) was that EVERYONE seemed to have watched the bloody thing.

In fact a couple of months later I went to see the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in London and people kept coming up to me there about it sodding thing as well.

Still, it made it easier when I had to later do the odd bit for local television & radio here in Jersey. I’ve since played various criminals in reconstructions for Spotlight Channel Islands

Share/Save