Talk:Nigel Slater

Nigel Slater Job
Hi Publife Thanks for reverting the Observer job. My mistake. Does Slater still write for Harpers and Queen and GQ btw ? Jem 16:29, 12 September 2005 (UTC)
 * Cheers Jem, the answer to your question is, I dunno. And I'm not going to buy a copy of either any time soon, so I've changed it to 'has contributed to'.  BTW, why no user page?! PubLife 09:08, 13 September 2005 (UTC)

Openly Gay #2
Yes, Mr Slater did give an interview to a gay magazine and yes, his memoir does contain references to sexual experiences with people of both genders, but the assertion that he is 'openly gay' is not in line with Wikipedia's policies on biographies of living persons. He may be 'allegedly gay' but as his entry stands right now it is potentially libelous.Alawyer 19:38, 5 July 2007 (UTC)alawyer
 * It could be incorrect to say that a person is gay, but it is not libelous any more than saying that a black person is white, or vice versa Damson88 (talk) 23:54, 6 October 2012 (UTC)


 * Well thank you for finally talking about this. Let me be clear in what you are saying: are you saying that the statements about his sexuality are poorly sourced? If so, are you not satisfied with the article in AfterElton.com, which is an interview that he agreed to give and states "Openly gay food writer" ? If that's the case I can see your side of the argument and if no other sources can be found, maybe it could be reworded somewhat. I will look to see if there are any better sources when I have time (not today...) -- Beloved freak  09:59, 6 July 2007 (UTC)


 * I'm concerned about the way this article is being handled. It seems to be semi- (or fully-) protected because a) there are reports that the subject is gay, b) those reports have been properly sourced.  Why, then, does the article need to be "protected"?  And why has no one explained that protection here on the article's talk page? -- SatyrTN (talk | contribs)  00:38, 9 July 2007 (UTC)


 * Sorry, it's an OTRS thing. I hope to have things dealt with soon, without any sort of Streisand effect backlash; to be brief, it appears that AfterElton.com's description of him is in error. I'm working on getting things cleaned up, and I apologize for any distress this may have caused you - I left a message for Belovedfreak, but didn't realize that you were involved also. DS 01:17, 9 July 2007 (UTC)


 * Gotcha. So the reference in his memoir is okay to use?  -- SatyrTN (talk | contribs)  02:13, 9 July 2007 (UTC)

*unhappy gesture* Apparently not. Just because his published memoirs mention that he has had sexual experiences with other males, that doesn't mean he's actually "gay" - orientation isn't a binary thing, or even ternary, and even the Kinsey Scale has been criticized as being insufficiently continuous and time-bound. If you'll examine the AfterElton interview, you'll note that the interviewer didn't actually ask about being gay/bi.

I realize this may sound like I'm being defensive of him; the thing is, Slater wrote in to OTRS to complain. I've been dealing with him, and he was aware of how AfterElton described him, and he was upset but figured it wasn't worth the hassle to get it corrected because he had no idea we would use AE as a source - and his girlfriend (!) was quite distraught to see "openly gay" in the article. Our policy is that we don't categorize living people as being LGBT unless, and only unless, they describe themselves as such - when the Mark Foley scandal broke, we did not describe Foley as gay until he publicly stated it. Slater isn't the one who used the phrase "openly gay"; Gregg Shapiro is. Did Slater not realize why a gay-themed website would be interviewing him? Apparently, gay newspapers/magazines in the UK interview people of all orientations, based solely on whether they're interesting.

Slater says that AE's description of him as "openly gay" is erroneous. Since "openly" is, in this context, synonymous with "admittedly", his denial of this statement is sufficient to prove it false. Further speculation about whether he is gay at all, or bisexual, or has a thing for traffic cones, can be no more than that: speculation. As such, it can't be in the article; I locked it down so as to prevent edit wars while all this was being settled.

Okay? DS 14:53, 9 July 2007 (UTC)


 * Thanks, DS, for explaining so well. The reason I asked is because I and many other editors from the LGBT WikiProject are in the middle of reviewing people in LGBT-related categories.  As such, I'm fully aware of WP:BLP requirements and how they relate to LGBT cats/tags/issues :)
 * Thanks again for clarifying! -- SatyrTN (talk | contribs) 15:54, 9 July 2007 (UTC)
 * Wow, who'd have thought? Gonna have to be way more careful which sources we trust. Anyway, I've removed him from the List of gay, lesbian or bisexual people. -- Beloved freak  16:43, 9 July 2007 (UTC)

It should probably be pointed out that the only mention of his being ‘openly gay’ seems to be the headline on a gay website used to flag up an interview with him. There is no other.

The sexual activity in his childhood memoir is almost exclusively heterosexual with the exception of a single gay kiss and the odd bit of ‘youthful experimentation’.

It is worth noting that Nigel Slater has never publicly discussed his adult sexuality. He simply does not talk about his private life. Thanks. Calming 12:19, 11 July 2007 (UTC)calmer


 * However, interviewers of his books and columns have stated his curious use of "we", which makes it worthy to note some sort of relationship, however unstated otherwise; also the interview he gave afterelton is not in dispute; it is afterelton's description of him as "openly gay"; his comments on other subjects and aspects of his life remain valid and are used in this article with links; therefore, the afterelton misidentification needs to be addressed in the article, as well as a link or footnote re Slater's disputation of that misidentification.67.142.130.12 17:31, 4 November 2007 (UTC)

Probably it is because his voice sounds so stereotypically "gay" that people seem so ready to assume he is, even when the evidence isn't there or is contradicted. Jagdfeld (talk) 22:56, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

I can’t get behind the paywall to check the FT source provided but this article now says Slater is gay, is that consistent with what the linked article states? Not that I could give a monkey’s either way but it’s important to be accurate and abide by BLP policy Overlordnat1 (talk) 23:57, 1 May 2021 (UTC)

The BBC as a reference
The arbitration against me greatly reduced my motivation to work for Wikipedia as I said on my talk page. I feel justice wasn’t served, further the rules about what is and what isn’t an acceptable reference in Wikipedia are so complicated nobody can reasonably be expected to understand and learn them. Despite this I and others who break these rules risk punishment. I came across something that definitely should be in Wikipedia, others will have to decide if the BBC is an acceptable source and whether to keep the whole quote or paraphrase parts of it. Proxima Centauri (talk) 11:18, 22 December 2010 (UTC)

Date of birth
In BBC Programme Nigel Slater: Life Is Sweets (2012), Nigel Slater, in voice over, says "1968, and now living with Dad and my new stepmum, I officially became a teenager". This makes his year of birth 1955. 81.141.15.13 (talk) 20:13, 10 November 2012 (UTC)


 * It's not unusual for media celebrities to be unclear about birth dates. Slater is a writer of semi-fiction. At least two sources say 1958. Span (talk) 20:57, 10 November 2012 (UTC)

That may be so, but I have checked the (publicly available) indexes of birth for England and Wales and the only Nigel Slater born in the 1950s in Wolverhampton was born in 1956. You may not regard that as authoritative enough, but I am confident that 1956 is his correct year of birth and not 1958. Internet sources are notoriously unreliable. Johnty2o2o (talk) 02:01, 11 November 2012 (UTC)


 * It's often hard to nail down birth dates. Are we sure 'Nigel Slater' was his birth name? Span (talk) 02:07, 11 November 2012 (UTC)

Yes my friend. The indexes also give the mother's maiden name and there is also an Adrian Slater born about 10 years earlier in Wolverhampton whose mother has the same maiden surname. I'm about as sure as I can be - short of asking the man himself - that this is the right one. I don't know if that is authoritative enough to change the date on the main page, however. Johnty2o2o (talk) 02:21, 11 November 2012 (UTC)


 * I have found an online "newspaper" article about the dramatisation of Slater's book "Toast" that is dated 9th January 2011 which states that Slater was at that time "54" (Daily Mail). That is consistent with the author being born in April 1956 (I have no reason to question the date only the year of the writer's birth).

I have found this problem a number of times in Wikipedia (and this is not a criticism of the people who have created and edited this page) that editors will quote internet sources when referring to a person's date of birth (as indeed I have just done), when they cannot be regarded upon as sufficiently reliable to be regarded as definitively correct.

The two sources referenced on the main page do indeed say "1958", but the latter one may have been copied from the earlier one. There are now three sources saying 1958 (including this article), but they are only as reliable as the original source on which they are based.

Having come across this before (I see this sort of thing in my professional life) I would urge editors to check their facts with more authoritative sources than pages on the internet. Perhaps a polite e-mail or letter to his agent explaining that the information is for a Wikipedia article would bring a positive response? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Johnty2o2o (talk • contribs) 12:15, 11 November 2012 (UTC)


 * Few sources could be held as 'definitively correct'. The Daily Telegraph is a reasonably strong source, but strong sources often turn out to be wrong. Do you want to change the date using the index of births as a ref? (My question about his birth name mean genuinely, btw). It might be worth adding a footnote that there are conflicting sources re DOB. Span (talk) 15:30, 11 November 2012 (UTC)

"His mother died of asthma in 1965 when he was nine." This fits if the d.o.b. is 1955/6 but currently we have April 1958. They can't both be right. CulturalSnow (talk) 06:51, 7 June 2016 (UTC)

Sexuality again
I was surprised to see no mention of Nigel Slater's sexuality on the page, then noticed the Talk: discussion above. I'd like to add a mention that explains the situation but, as DS talked about an OTRS case, I figured I should check as to whether or not it was adequately clarified.

I've added a paragraph, with careful citations, including to DS's Talk: edit (because I couldn't work out how to reference an OTRS ticket directly) but, if it's still not acceptable, please do just revert my edit (because I have autoconfirmed privileges, so it will already be live).

For people's convenience, the paragraph I've added reads:


 * While the BBC dramatisation of his memoirs Toast portrayed the adolescent Slater as experiencing same-sex attraction and a 2005 interview with the website AfterElton.com described Slater as "openly gay", Slater and his girlfriend objected to a description of him as openly gay on Wikipedia in the past and does not discuss his private life.

Please accept my apologies if this is one of those occasions where I should not have been bold. — OwenBlacker (Talk) 13:36, 21 December 2013 (UTC)


 * Hi,
 * As an OTRS volunteer, I can confirm that the ticket unambiguously shows that Mr Nigel states that he disagrees with the AfterElton interview, and that he's not openly gay. The relevant information is captured in the OTRS ticket number 2007070510015422. Please feel free to ask me for further clarifications.
 * TheOriginalSoni (talk) 15:15, 21 December 2013 (UTC)


 * Also, I think it could be better stated as simply described Slater as "openly gay", but Slater stated it to be incorrect. TheOriginalSoni (talk) 15:21, 21 December 2013 (UTC)

Do the math
If he was born in 1958 and his mother died in 1965, how could he have been 9 at the time? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 176.4.90.44 (talk) 10:49, 10 October 2015 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just added archive links to 2 one external links on Nigel Slater. Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20081010132834/http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/history/article2583923.ece to http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/history/article2583923.ece
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20080212075029/http://www.channel4.com:80/entertainment/tv/microsites/R/richardandjudy/keep4archive/book_club.html to http://www.channel4.com/entertainment/tv/microsites/R/richardandjudy/keep4archive/book_club.html

When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true to let others know.

Cheers.—cyberbot II  Talk to my owner :Online 21:05, 12 January 2016 (UTC)