Originally Posted by elizabethjo:
“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.”
Yup this is true - my parent used to compete and were there whent his happened. My Dad told me about it when he first saw Tony on SCD.
He said he asked Tony afterwards about it as he used to speak to him a bit,Tony said that he was sick of foreigh couples always coming over and winning and thought that the judges saw his name, knew he was English and makred him lowed. So for a joke decided to dance as 'Anton de Beck'.
Anyway he won the competition and has never gone back to Tony Beke.
And yes - all the other dancers on SCD laugh about it because it's a widely known story in the dancing circles.