Talk:Jeremy Paxman/Archive 2

Man of peace
Try as I might, I can't think of a valid way of mentioning the irony of his surname in the article. So I will mention it here, instead. -Ashley Pomeroy 11:14, 17 October 2005 (UTC)
 * It's taken a while, but it's in the article now.--Maarten1963 01:51, 18 January 2006 (UTC)

Tonight programme
The article says "In 1977 Paxman moved to London to work on the BBC television programme Tonight". This information is in numerous places on the web including on the BBC web site.

However, the Cliff Michelmore Tonight programme finished in 1965. Was there another "Tonight" programe in 1977? The date can hardly be a mistake for 1965 or earlier when Paxman would have been too young. Newsnight didn't start until 1980 with Paxman joining in 1987 (according to the BBC). Thincat 13:21, 26 January 2006 (UTC)


 * I've probably answered my own question. In the late 1970s there was a late night news programme also called "Tonight": Sue Lawley, Denis Tuohy, Donald MacCormack and people like that. I expect it was that programme that Paxman joined. I'll delete the reference because it it a bit lenghty (and unimportant) to explain. If anyone wants to go into the details, then good! Thincat 15:34, 27 January 2006 (UTC)

Biased section
I removed the following:

"Paxman also once claimed that, as for East Timor, the presence of British Hawk jets was "not proved", parroting an official lie from Downing Street. How Britain Exports Weapons of Mass Destruction A few months later, Robin Cook revealed the truth, that they had existed.FO inquiry into use of Hawk jets by Jakarta"

Because as well as containing biased remarks (like "parrotted"), it didn't seem to fit in with the rest of the annecdotes. Paxman didn't claim that there were no Hawk jets, just that it was "not proved" a neutral line which newsreaders are expected to take. If Paxman had argued that there were no such aircraft then it would be justifiable to mention this, I feel. If anyone else saw the interview and it was not as neutral as it appears reading between the lines and can put this back with the bias removed (and the links done properly) then they're welcome to do so. - Zagrebo 19:21, 20 March 2006 (UTC)

Salary
Edited to add details of salary: anyone know if there is a seperate wikipedia page detailing the BBC salary leaks? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.130.236.197 (talk), at 19:39, 19 April 2006 Its a good call - I've changed it.
 * err...800,000 + 240,000 does not make a total salary of 1.24 million? (What am I missing here?!!) Badgerpatrol 22:07, 19 April 2006 (UTC)
 * Pity you didn't change it correctly. 800+240 is not 1040.
 * What? Badgerpatrol 23:37, 9 June 2006 (UTC)
 * Get one of these. --Thoughtcat 12:51, 18 August 2006 (UTC)
 * To clarify for those less able to read betwen the lines, 800,000 + 240,000 is precisely 1,040,000. Nicholassharland 16:38, 23 September 2006 (UTC)
 * "Salary Apparently £1,040,000 (2006)" the proviso makes this look weak to my eyes. I removed it citing WP:WEASEL being minded of "When less-than-reliable publications print material they suspect is untrue, they often include weasel phrases. Look out for these. If the original publication doesn't believe its own story, why should we?" Blp. My change was undone which I'm relaxed about, but the cited article is not available, and I'd like to know the reason for the proviso. Either the Sun saw the BBC documents first hand and reported without provisos, in which case no proviso is required in the article, or they didn't, in which case the case for keeping the info. needs to be made. -- John (Daytona2 · talk · contribs) 13:32, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

Mispronouncing Words
In the edit at 12:44, 12 June 2006, RupertMillard removed:


 * "as well as a propensity for mispronouncing words."

from the description of paxman's presentation of university challenge.

It was previously removed on 21:40, 21 February 2006 by Martin S Taylor and replaced a day later by Flapdragon, who originally addded it at 20:20, 26 January 2005.

Paxman DOES mispronounce word which are critical to the understanding of the question on a fairly regular basis. (eg: this week he pronounced Adonis as "ah-dough-nis"). This was pointed out to me by a friend and it has bugged me ever since.


 * I thought it was pronounced "ah-dough-nis" (or perhaps "uh-doe-nis") (let's say, "Adōnis"). What is it? "Uh-don-is"? This is as in Lord Adonis? I think he is called "Adōnis". Unless I am mistaken the Greek is Αδωνις, which does indeed have a long "ō" sound. So I think Paxman is correct.--Oxonian2006 11:01, 15 February 2007 (UTC)

Given that the BBC have a service that presenters can call to find out how to say words that they don't know, I'd say that his rate of mistakes is much higher than it should be.

This is relevant and should appear in this article, because Paxman likes to make out (when a wrong answer is given) that he is better educated than the contestants.

I've rewritten this into the article. If you agreee or disagree, please comment here. If you want more evidence, just watch the program!

TomViza 11:35, 27 September 2006 (UTC)


 * Tom, The problem here is that biographies of living persons on Wikipedia are subject to certain rules. One of these is that all claims must be substantiated by references ("Verifiablity, Not Truth"). Therefore, unless we can link to a publication that states that Paxman mispronounces, this sentence will be constantly removed by the editors who pass by. Otherwise it would be what we call "original research", which we don't accept. Yandman 12:03, 27 September 2006 (UTC)
 * I agree. It IS manifestly true, but that alone is not sufficient that it be included here. There needs to be a written reference of some kind to back it up. Badgerpatrol 13:02, 27 September 2006 (UTC)
 * I think it a trivial point....Winterbottom

Who Do You Think You Are?
In a January 2006 episode of the BBC programme on genealogy, Who Do You Think You Are?, it was revealed that he descends from a 14th-century politician from Suffolk, Roger Packsman, who changed his name to Paxman ("man of peace") to impress the electorate.

The electorate? In the 14th century? Something not quite right here I suggest. Flapdragon 18:39, 19 April 2006 (UTC)
 * There might not have been universal suffrage but there were elections enough in that period and earlier for various offices Alci12 14:30, 1 December 2006 (UTC)