Colombo's Names and Nicknames - John Robert Colombo

I picked this purely based on the mental image of it being based entirely on the Peter Falk character; sadly, it was not to be.

The book is authored by one John Robert Colombo (a.k.a the "Master Gatherer"), and is composed entirely of nicknames, pen-names, stages names, aliases, and other pseudonyms of various Canadians of note (at least, ones alive before the 1978 publication).

Half of the book is a list from nickname to name, and the other half is the reverse. It basically reads like a giant Wikipedia list. Indeed, I suspect that had Mr. Colombo been born some 40 years later, he would be MasterGatherer385, Wikipedia editor and reclusive shut-in extraordinaire; compiling lists upon lists that shortly thereafter get marked for deletion due to irrelevance.

On the plus side, the book is a quick read, and has a few notable nicknames.

Alex Samuel Chapelski - a.k.a Lumpy Willie, a.k.a the Ugliest Man in Canada

Note that his actual name has no relation to William or Bill whatsoever, leading one to wonder about the first nickname.

William Gates, the Knight of the Golden Omlelet

The Knight of the Golden Omlelet - Sketch by  Tigh Tiefenbach

Lorne Green, the Voice of Doom

W. T. R. Preston, a.k.a. Hug-the-Machine

Patrick Straham, a.k.a The Ravished Buffalo

William Jones, a.k.a. Lawrence of Yugoslavia

This one in particular evokes images of that iconic music playing, a slow pan down from a blazing sun to a Soviet-Bloc-style neighborhood, with a caravan of men riding atop Yugos moving slowly down the street.

There's even a few with multiple, seemingly contradictory nicknames. Take for example

Albert Belanger, a.k.a The Canadian Tadpole, a.k.a The Canadian Wolverine, a.k.a Frenchy

The Canadian Tadpole/Wolverine a.k.a.  Frenchy - Sketch by Tigh Tiefenbach

or better still

Joseph Howe, a.k.a Old Man Eloquent, a.k.a. Rambles