HOW did Bolton people become known as Trotters? I was asked the other night by a couple of young (ish!) men - well, let's be honest, describing someone as young depends which end of the age scale you are on yourself, and compared to me, these two men were young (ish).

One of them knew the answer, because he had seen it in this column some considerable time ago, but the other did not believe it. And no, it wasn't Victor Meldrew. "Can you put it in print again to prove it to me?" he asked. Well, because I have done so previously, here is a shortened version.

The name Trotters has nothing to do with sheep's or pigs' trotters, or trotting races.

Many years ago there grew up in Bolton a liking for practical joking, which was known as "trotting". After one particular episode (when a Bolton man challenged a visitor to the town for a wager that he could keep his leg in a bucket of hot water for longer, and did so easily before it was discovered that he had a wooden leg) Bolton folk were given the name of Bolton Trotters, a name which over the years has also been given to the Wanderers.

Such practical jokes were the essence of Bolton "trottings".

And at one time, as proof, an oil painting of a man with his wooden leg in a bucket of hot water used to hang in the bar parlour of the Swan Hotel.