TIT: Trotters Independent Traders

When the legendary BBC sitcom, Only Fools and Horses, was launched in 1981, its star, David Jason, admitted to feeling fascinated by writer John Sullivan's skills in creating visual gags.

Jason, who played Peckham market trader Derek "Del Boy" Trotter, was referring to one of the most famous ongoing jokes in the show: the name of his company. He ran Trotters Independent Traders - which spelt out "TIT" when painted on the side of his famous yellow three-wheeler van!

Jason starred as Del Boy for 10 years in the BBC1 sitcom until 1991, when the series regularly attracted 24.3 million viewers. He returned for a number of Christmas specials until December 2013 and revisited his role in 2014 for Comic Relief.

Accidental joke

Initially, Jason thought that Sullivan had created the gag deliberately, inventing the company name and its abbreviation to be "exploited later".

Sullivan later admitted that the gag was purely unintentional. He said he had thought up the name, Trotters Independent Traders, had it painted on the battered old van - and then noticed it spelt "TIT".

"I wondered if anyone else noticed," he admitted, pointing it out to director Ray Butt. However, the director thought it was a "great idea", according to Sullivan, who added, "I'd love to say it was a deliberate idea - but it wasn't!"

Company roles

Del Boy appoints himself the managing director of Trotters Independent Traders and gives his brother Rodney the job title "financial assistant". However, because they weren't VAT-registered and were usually trading illegally from a suitcase on the market (or from the back of their Reliant Regal van), Rodney's role was often the lookout!

If the police or the market inspector were coming, all their goods were thrown quickly into the back of the van and they scarpered! Later on, Uncle Albert took over the role of lookout.

Rodney never considered it a "proper job", despite his grand title, because most of the goods they sold were cheap, dodgy, or "knocked off".

Most of the goods are flawed, such as the first items that Del picked up cheap, from his friend Trigger. Del hoped the job lot of modern cases, with combination locks, bought for £200, would make a killing at the market.

However, he realised they were no use, as they could never be opened because an error at the factory meant the combinations for the locks were shut inside the cases! He later threw the worthless cases in the river in frustration.

Barking mad

In another hilarious episode, Del Boy has bought a job lot of dodgy toy dogs that walk and bark. He starts selling them from the back of his van. However, as the police approach, he throws them all back into the van and speeds off as quickly as possible, not realising the van door isn't closed properly.

The battery-operated dogs fall out of the suitcase and into the road, where they start walking around and barking on their own. As the police chase Del Boy down an alley, the dogs are a major giveaway as to what he's been up to!

In another episode, Mike Fisher, the rather gullible landlord of the Trotters' local pub, The Nag's Head, buys a paint-stripper from Del, but thinks it's a hairdryer - suffering severe burns to his head as a result.

Del's dream

At one point, Del Boy tells Rodney that he has a dream for TIT, and how it’s going to "go legit". He aspires to owning a skyscraper, with the company's initials emblazoned on the roof in 50ft high neon lettering.



However, Rodney, always more grounded, soon dashes Del's dreams when the realisation hits him that the initials spell "TIT" - a fact he's happy to point out to a deflated Del Boy!

Of course, as fans will know, Del Boy's dreams eventually come true after the brothers become multi-millionaires. An old timepiece that they thought was junk turns out to be a rare relic which they sell at auction, realising their dreams at last of becoming millionaires - although Del's ambition of painting "TIT" on a building wasn't pursued.

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