Snooker great Jimmy White has changed his name by deed poll to Jimmy Brown at the request of the manufacturers of HP Sauce.

HP are sponsoring the brown ball in the Masters at Wembley later this month and asked White to change his name to help promote their famous brand of brown sauce.

With snooker struggling to secure major sponsorship deals in the wake of the government ban on tobacco advertising in sport, White - one of the most popular figures in the history of the game - was happy to agree.

White said: "They said, 'we'd like to sponsor you in the tournament, but we want you to call yourself James Brown'.

"I went, `That's no problem'. At first I thought it was a wind-up but it's turned out to be true. And snooker needs more sponsors and we need people with a household name.

"We haven't got any major sponsors and that's why I did it. It's up to the players to help liven up snooker's image and raise its profile, so I feel good to do my bit with the help of HP."

White - six times runner-up in the World Championship - has officially changed his name to Brown by deed poll - although he can change it back at a future date.

"It's all done. My name's James Brown," he added. "If I win I might keep it that way! I'll just go through the Masters and go from there. Who knows - I might be James Brown for the rest of my career.

"With a bit of luck, the name Jimmy Brown will be engraved on the Masters trophy at the end of the week."

The player now known as Jimmy Brown will be appearing live on Sky Sports 1 in Premier League Snooker on Thursday at 7pm.