Apparently in one of the daily rags today, Anton du Beck is denying that his name was ever really Tony Beke, and that he changed it to Anton du Beck!

Anyone who knew him as an amateur dancer knew him as Tony Beke, so somewhere along the line he changed it.

just like Pier Dulaine be denies he was ever Peter Daily

He's in the Daily Express doing his "My mother is Spanish...blah blah's Hungarian so of course my name is Anton Du Beke" routine.

Is there a link anywhere?

I don't know why he cares, loads of people know what his real name is. Unless he didn't know they were actually going to put that part of the interview in the article, and was just trying to charm the interviewer

Just typed this up from the Daily Express:

"Dancer Anton Du Beke has laughed off rumours that his real name is the somewhat less exotic-sounding Tony Beke.

While former Strictly Come Dancing partner Esther Rantzen claims he has tampered with his name to make it sound more interesting, Anton is having none of it.

"That's rubbish" he scoffs. "Who told you that? My mother's Spanish and my father's Hungarian, so it's hardly suprising I'd have an unusual name"

And it's not only Esther perpetuating the myth. Wikipedia currently has the twinkle-toed one down as being born Anthony Beke. Oops!

Surely if he was Hungarian/Spanish, wouldn't his surname have a bit more Spanish type flair to it?!

Denial..it's not just a river in Egypt.

Cant think why he tries to deny his family, very disrespectful to his parents and the rest of his family.

Everyone who competed against him in amateur and professional competition knows his real name. Some of them are fellow professionals on SCD. They all think it is a huge joke.

There is no shame in changing your name to something a bit more classy so why deny something which is common knowledge?

That's really weird

It's not as if no-one knows his real name, it's common knowledge on the internet.

Also I don't think the name Anton is either Hungarian or Spanish!

Its a strange thing to deny. Its not like its an embarrasing name you'd want to hide, and as loads of people know his name already its a silly thing to say really.

Could have been worse -might have been Arthur Dailey!!!!

He may have been kidding.

Sounds similar to what he said on the Weakest Link, I think he was joking. Anne Robinson has already outed him as Tony Beke on National TV.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiWPkulAl5o

He was Tony Beke when he was a junior dancer, and an amateur dancer. Also, so I've now been told, he was Tony Beke at school. Stupid of him to try and deny it, when he knows full well that plenty of people know him as T Beke!

It's a joke, people! Wow, talk about denial.

Surely his mother would be more likely to have named him Antonio rather than Anton, as she's Spanish?

He does have a weird sense of humour though, remember when he thought it'd be funny to say fat people should be shot?

Lots of people don't use their real names so maybe his original name is Anton du Beck, but he used Tony Beke for a long time and now uses his real name.

I mean as a youngster maybe Tony Beke was preferable to Anton du Beck and then when he reached a certain point in his life he changed back to Anton du Beck.

Just a thought.

No he was Tony Beke at first, his father's name was Beke.

He decided to change his name when at a competition a long time ago the presenter announced him as Anton Du Beke for a joke. Everyone wondered who on earth it was coming onto the floor and then fell about laughing when they realised who it was. After that he decided he liked it and kept it.

That's it, I knew there was some story there..... And wasn't the presenter/promoter also Tony's teacher?

That's a good story! Anton is probably just sick of people bring the subject up - I can imagine him just spinning somebody a line instead of giving the real answer!

Poor Anton, having to be constantly reminded of this. Does it really matter what he wants to call himself? If he were in any other part of show business it would be considered quite normal to change one's name.

As has been suggested, he may not have been serious in the interview anyway.

I think so. I was told this by another pro dancer who was at that competition.

I dont think it is a big deal really, just that Anton denies it which is what makes people keep on about it.

Not at all, he can call himself whatever he likes. I changed my name as a competitor, simply because there were already 2 other dancers with the same name, and it got a bit confusing!

But Anton changing his name isn't the issue - it's his (more than once) denial that he has done so that has made him seem a bit of a (to quote Len) "silly sausage!"

What does it matter if he changed his stage name? Performers do it all the time! Elton John doesn't get quizzed about it 24/7!

Maybe there's reason behind why he denies that he has changed his name. He has said that he had a difficult childhood and it is obviously something he doesn't want to talk about or have to go into, and bringing up his real name might lead to him having to do that.

Anyway, if people are so desperate to find out his real name, it really isn't that hard to find and it gets really boring having the same thing come up every couple of months.

The difference being is that Elton never denied he had changed his name.

Think the 24/7 is a bit of an exaggeration, but if Tony doesn't want to draw attention to his name change, he should just admit he did it, and it would probably never get mentioned again, instead of trying to be 'clever' or whatever he's doing by denying it.

From today's Daily Express:

"Ever since I revealed that dancer Anton Du Beke scoffs at rumours his real name is plain Tony Beke, I've been inundated with emails on the issue. One committed fact-digger informs me: "Wikipedia says he was born in 1966. With this information it's easy to look up his birth on family history sites. There is no Anton Du Beke registered during the period 1965 to 1967. However, there is an Anthony Paul Beke"

And so, Mr "Du" Beke, seems you've been busted"