Regarding my problem  concerning losing the leading zero from a new name for
a chart  series, I have (quite accidently) solved this. If the legend entry is
put into cell(1,1), then setting the name equal to the contents of the cell
appears to retain the leading zero. i.e. -

Worksheets(1).Cells(1, 1).NumberFormat = "dd-mmm-yy"
Sheets("ChartSheet").Select
ActiveSheet.ChartObjects("Chart 1").Activate
ActiveChart.SeriesCollection(num).Name = Worksheets(1).Cells(1,1)

Sorry about the delay in replying. Again many thanks for your help.