I was 47 years old when I arrived in USA and discovered that I was named after a rabbit. I could not understand why people fell over laughing when I gave my name at checkout counters. Some started singing about hopping along a bunny trail at Easter.
But surely the English author Beatrix Potter wrote about Peter Cottontail? No, she did not, as I have explained to many people. She wrote in the early 1900s about Peter Rabbit and his friends Floppy, Mopsy, Benjamin bunny, Cottontail and others, but never condensed them into Peter Cottontail. That was an American invention. Wikipedia tells me that “Peter Cottontail is a rabbit in the works of Thornton Burgess, an author in Massachusetts.” And I read that “Here Comes Peter Cottontail” is a popular secular Easter song composed in 1949, by Steve Nelson and Jack Rollins. They also wrote “Frosty the Snowman” in 1950. Isn’t that interesting?
After my initial often frosty English response to these cheerful greetings, I decided to embrace my new rabbit heritage. I had a nice sign made for my initial bachelor house in Chapel Hill. Happily, I was able to edit it some years later.
The nurses gave me a puppet at work.
My assistant made a notice to protect our office
I gave a medical lecture (a very long time ago) sporting a bunny tail that I borrowed from “Bunny Mother” at a Playboy club near Chicago (honest). I hope no one took a photo.
There was a special ice sculpture centerpiece at the seafood buffet on my 60th birthday party, which pleased our Australian friends when it started to melt and looked like a kangaroo.
To assuage my guilt at my complicity in embracing a deviation from Beatrix Potter’s creation, we visited her house as part of my 80th birthday tour in England.
I should perhaps admit that my middle name is Benjamin.
And my website is www.Petercottontales.com
I must hop along. Bye…..