My feeling (IANAL but I like to pretend) is that it would be defamation, but not provably of you yourself; rather (as you suppose) a generic $simon_tatham. It would certainly be an interesting case!
There's no such thing as 'generic defamation'. Only a specific individual can bring a case of defamation. Just as you can't libel the dead (because they can't bring a case) you can't libel 'a generic Simon Tatham'.
More to the point, defamation is making a statement that would damage a person's reputation. There is no need to be talking about the actual person. If I were to write a novel about an evil vicar, and it were to turn out that (entirely unknown to me) there was an actual cleric by that name, said vicar could sue me for defamation and might very well win, if they could prove that my novel had caused people to think less of them (and it would be a fair cop; I should have done the research before publishing something that could damage someone's reputation.
Though you're completely and utterly wrong in every particular about everything else, it is true that it would be an interesting case, but not for any of the reason you state: it would be an interesting case because it would, I expect, turn on whether a 'statement' had been made by releasing this programme with Simon's name attached.
Sorry, I never meant to imply there was such a thing as 'generic defamation' - that's what I was trying to convey, that the case has to be brought by a specific person.
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More to the point, defamation is making a statement that would damage a person's reputation. There is no need to be talking about the actual person. If I were to write a novel about an evil vicar, and it were to turn out that (entirely unknown to me) there was an actual cleric by that name, said vicar could sue me for defamation and might very well win, if they could prove that my novel had caused people to think less of them (and it would be a fair cop; I should have done the research before publishing something that could damage someone's reputation.
Though you're completely and utterly wrong in every particular about everything else, it is true that it would be an interesting case, but not for any of the reason you state: it would be an interesting case because it would, I expect, turn on whether a 'statement' had been made by releasing this programme with Simon's name attached.
S.
(Agree that the rest is completely wrong!) :-)