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Why Did Popstar James Blunt Get Divock Origi On His Driving License

Divock Origi, James Blunt, Liverpool

Divock Origi remains a cult hero among Liverpool fans for his memorable stint at Anfield. He might not have been as impact as someone like Mohamed Salah, but Origi scored some vital goals to contribute to the Reds’ success.

He won both the Premier League and UEFA Champions League titles with them, playing a prominent role in winning the latter with his key goal against Barcelona in the semi-final. Origi is still fondly remembered by many fans, but British pop star James Blunt has found a special way of memorizing the Belgian forward forever.

The multi-time Grammy Awards’ nominee recently surprised fans on social media by unveiling a unique driving license. Even though the license had his picture, the name written on it was ‘Mr Divock Origi’. The license contains his date of birth as well as the expiration date, but it’s the name which does not match the face at all.

It’s not like Blunt did this because he’s Origi’s biggest fan boy. The 50-year-old popstar did this as part of a cheeky PR campaign to celebrate the re-release of his popular debut album ‘Back to Bedlum’. The album, which was initially released in 2004, celebrated 20 years in 2024 and Blunt did something interesting to try and get more people to listen to the album.

Last month, the musician advertized his album on his Twitter account by giving his fans the opportunity to pick a new name for himself is his album hits the no.1 position in the British hit charts. Blunt has built a reputation for his good humor on social media, which he often uses to get more attention towards his songs or albums.

In a bold move, Blunt wrote on October 2nd: “Wanna ruin my life? I’m legally changing my name if “Back to Bedlam” 20th Anniversary Edition reaches No.1. Comment your name suggestions below, and the most-liked comment wins.”

As expected, this wasn’t the smartest decision. Suddenly, fans came up with outrageous name choices and tried getting those options to the top in terms of likes. One hilarious name that came up was ‘Blunty McBluntface.’ But soon, a lot of Liverpool fans decided to upvote one person’s comment recommending Divock Origi’s name in the comments section.

https://twitter.com/SachinNakrani/status/1841480432249966670

Blunt even voiced his regret for making this campaign a reality, as he told Good Morning Britain: “The people I pity more is my family. I feel it was stupid of me, really, to offer to change my name if you got to number one because of the consequences. I explained to my wife she would be Sofia McBluntface and she’s seized on the opportunity to say she would change her name back to her maiden name (Wellesley).”

Fast-forward a month later and Blunt’s debut album’s 20th anniversary edition actually managed to reach the no.1 in the British charts. This forced the pop star to actually go through with changing the name of his driver’s license.

Normally, one can’t just change their name to something totally different like this, but the former British Army captain probably has some friends in high places to allow him to go through with this stunt. Of course, Blunt can easily change the name back very soon.

Normally, it reportedly takes 4-6 weeks for a name change on a UK license and it can be done online by submitting a D1 form. But the fact that he actually went through with his outlandish move to commemorate Origi on his official ID has granted him a bit of a cult status among Liverpool fans.