Lot Essay
Eric Clapton's nickname for Pattie Boyd was Nell, Nelly or Nello, while she called him El. In his 2007 autobiography, Eric Clapton explained the origin of the nickname: Calling her Pattie's really meant acknowledging that she was still George's wife, so as a kind of subconscious sidestep I nicknamed her 'Nell' or 'Nelly', sometimes 'Nello'. She didn't seem to mind, even though it meant becoming known in this persona by everyone involved in her new life. I suppose I may have been paying homage to my favourite great-aunt, or just trying to relegate her to a sort of barmaid status, so that I wasn't so much in awe of her.