Talk:Noor Inayat Khan

Ora Baker Eddy
The Mary Baker Eddy Society wrote to me saying Ora Baker Eddy is not a descendant of Mary Baker Eddy as is often claimed, so please remove this information. Shauna Singh Baldwin --Ssbaldwin 14:05, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

inconsistent date of death
Article is inconsistent. Date of death is down as being September 11 1944, yet later it is claimed that that is the date on which she and three other SOE agents were transported to Dachau Concentration Camp, with her finally being shot months later. http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/17/a3585017.shtml claims that she was transported on September 12 1944, and shot on September 13 1944. I have no idea what the truth is, just spotted the inconsistence when browsing and tried to find more details. --Sillytrippy 22:47, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

Basu's biography suggests she was shot on the 13th. She was taken from Pforzheim Prison on the 11th and arrived and was shot at Dachau on the 13th. I'll amend the article, and also clean up some of the foggier details. Perhaps provide a slightly fuller picture? Oh, and no mention of/link to Noor's book, "Twenty Jataka Tales"? 01:54, 3 June 2006 (UTC)La Sirène

Fuller's book says Sept 12.

Fuller's book, whilst excellent and deeply personal, is also far more dated and did not have the information available on further investigation. Or so I understand.

Most Complete Biography?
I have a problem with "the most complete biography" given that its Foreward is by M.R.D. Foote, Official Historian of the SOE. The SOE and it's leaders were the very agency that betrayed Noor.

I'd added that note, because I felt thus far it is the most complete. The SOE files had only been recently released and the biography makes use of this, whilst other works on Noor did not have access to the additional information at the time of their publication. Can't comment on Foot/his biases -- other than he's always been rather critical of the SOE's numerous faults.

83.104.228.50 23:50, 20 September 2006 (UTC) La Sirène

You assume in above that the information released in the SOE file was somehow sensational or added anything to previous information. It did not. That's why it was released. And Foote's criticism of the SOE has been paid for by the SOE and the British Government for many years. He is their official historian. So I still have a problem with "most complete biography." Why not just "biography" - no need for an opinion to intrude. Let the reader make up his/her mind.

Photo
I have uploaded a photo of Noor with a reference because earlier it was deleted as there was no references.Hope this makes the difference! Here is another.Should we add it the article.

Mujeerkhan 22:58, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

WPMILHIST Assessment
There is a great deal of information here, which is great. But it is very poorly organized and not wikified. Judging from the format alone, I would not be surprised if this was taken whole-stock from some other website. The last few sentences, and likely much of the rest, reads in a very unprofessional literary, i.e. non-academic, non-encyclopedic style, and it's likely that much of the rest does as well. Similarly, the opening sentence gives no explicit indication of which side she fought for, where she's from (i.e. that she's Indian), what she is significant for or particular operations during the war she took part in. Again, lots of information- needs to be organized, cleanedup, wikified. LordAmeth 02:25, 15 December 2006 (UTC)
 * It's a shame that so much had to be cut out, and in particular to lose the picture. But thanks to Jeppi's hard work, I think this is much improved. And a very interesting subject, too. LordAmeth 14:04, 22 December 2006 (UTC)

Documentary about Noor
For those in the UK interested in Noor, there's a documentary on BBC2 in the Timewatch series BBC 2; Friday 25th May 2007; 21:00 to 21:50

The Princess Spy Documentary about Noor Inayat Khan, who in 1943 became the first woman wireless operator to be sent into war-torn France. It was the most dangerous job in SOE, Churchill's secret army, and she was not expected to survive long. The daughter of an Indian mystic and a writer of children's stories in pre-war Paris, she was a curious choice for a secret agent, but became London's vital link with Nazi-occupied Paris. Betrayed, captured and tortured, Noor revealed nothing before she was executed.

Movie?
I have heard that a movie based on Noor-un-nisa Inayat Khan's life is being produced, directed by Shyam Benegal. Has anyone else heard of this? If there is a reference, I think it is worthy of inclusion. --Pyreforge 06:57, 14 August 2007 (UTC)
 * Only rumoured at the moment . So many movies get stuck in "development hell" that I think it'd be better to wait until there's something more definite or it gets a bit further along in the process, more than just an announcement of desire/intent -- SteveCrook 10:07, 14 August 2007 (UTC)

Noor Khan Plaque at Dachau
As a budding Wikipedia contributor, I hope this image adds to the interest of this article. I am still learning at how to best compose content in this format, so I hope someone can clean it up a bit. I met Christine Harper at OberSalzburg on August 11, 2007 who is the wife of David Harper, a grand nephew of Noor. A mention of the "princess spy" by Christine was the first I had ever heard of her. As luck would have it, my tour stopped at Dachau several days later. Completely by chance, I spotted the plaque in a hall with thousands of images. Stringbean 12:32, 14 August 2007 (UTC)


 * Nice photo. But it'd be better if you licence it as something like "GFDL (self made -for things that are entirely your own work)" or it will probably be deleted -- SteveCrook 13:37, 14 August 2007 (UTC)


 * Thanks for the feedback. I know it needs a copyright tag, but don't have the slightest clue how to do that. I read the "image copyright tag" page from end to end; it is absolutely no help on what to do next. Any help would be greatly appreciated Stringbean 16:30, 14 August 2007 (UTC)


 * I think I have it straightened out; I added "{GFDL}" and removed the removal warning tag. I suppose we will find out in a few days if the image stays in place. Stringbean 21:08, 14 August 2007 (UTC)


 * That should do it -- SteveCrook 22:05, 14 August 2007 (UTC)

Citiation
I've now added the full citation for her George Cross to the article, and tried to straighten out a few other bits of referencing as well. I beleive that this this is now out of copyright, since Crown Copyright, which covers the London Gazette is generally for 50 years from publication. David Underdown 11:27, 16 November 2007 (UTC)

Indian or British GC winner?
She is currently categorised as a British George Cross winner which is a little odd. GC winners of Irish extraction, who won their GC in the UK are listed in the category 'Irish George Cross recipients'. Should she be in the (already existing) category 'Indian George Cross recipients' (taking British India as it then was to include modern Pakistan)? Kim Dent-Brown  (Talk to me)  23:48, 3 December 2007 (UTC)


 * Her father was Indian (or would have been so classified at the time). But where was Noor born and what nationality did she have? She was serving in the British armed (special) forces at the time of the events that led to the GC -- SteveCrook 01:38, 4 December 2007 (UTC)


 * She was born in Moscow, but largely educated in London and Paris judging by the article. As you say she was serving in British (as opposed to British Indian) forces at the time of the actions for which the awrd ws made, which is presumably the basis on which the Commonwealth War Graves Commission lists her as a UK national.  Looking at the Irish parallel, I think there are some who are listed as both Irish and British in terms of categorisation, is that a way forward here?  Or dodge the question altogether and just list her in the super-category?  David Underdown 12:01, 4 December 2007 (UTC)


 * I don't think there's enough to put her under Category:Indian George Cross recipients. She was of some Indian descent but I don't think there's any indication that she was ever classed as Indian like the others in that category -- SteveCrook 13:44, 4 December 2007 (UTC)


 * If her parents were Indian then she almost certainly would have been either a British subject, or perhaps a British protected person, and would anyway have carried a British passport. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.112.68.219 (talk) 18:45, 24 June 2011 (UTC)

Last words? Liberte?
As far as I know, there are no eye witness accounts of the execution of Khan. There is no evidence she said these words. The sources for her last words are newspaper articles, and of course have no references themselves. Should this phrase be removed? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 95.211.191.41 (talk) 00:33, 9 November 2012 (UTC)
 * There often were witnesses to executions in Nazi concentration camps, it helped maintain the terror. Even if there were no others, there would have been the firing party. But there are no citable references to those being her last words AFAIK so you can delete them if you want. Leave her age in that last sentence -- SteveCrook (talk) 02:33, 9 November 2012 (UTC)

Clarification on religious observance?
The article mentions that her father came from a "Indian muslim family" and mentions elsewhere that she was to be the first muslim woman to be commemorated for her part in the British war effort - or something along those lines - but her father was a proponent of [Universal Sufism] which gathers influence from all religions and doesn't follow a particular tradition, a sort of pantheistic group. Strangely nothing is mentioned of her mother's religious background nor is there anything to back up the suggestion that she was a Muslim. Is there independent corroboration of this or did she follow Sufism like her father? She appears to be the go to for newspaper articles mentioning Islam in the context of Remembrance Day in the UK so I feel some reference to this would be appropriate. The Universal Sufism page strongly intimates that Islamic sources consider it to be contrary to Islam. 88.106.198.192 (talk) 22:30, 4 November 2015 (UTC)

Broken link
I have inserted a few new references and deleted "citation required". The link in the present reference 3 (previously numbered 2) leads nowhere but is not needed as new reference 2 gives the correct citation (this reference was previously incorrectly given as a citation for the alias Nora Baker). I have not deleted reference 3 because I got an error message because it crops up several times later on. Could someone please fix this.Exbrum (talk) 18:01, 11 February 2017 (UTC)

PlagiarizIng?
I've been reading A Life in Secrets by Sarah Helm and this article seems to have lifted a fair amount from this book. I haven't actually paid attention to the quotes or the footnotes, but I feel like I'm reading the book when I read this article. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:601:CB80:541A:D8F5:60A9:7491:7900 (talk) 22:46, 21 September 2019 (UTC)


 * In these cases we first need to check whether the book has plagiarised Wikipedia. Sarah Helm's book was first published in 2005 when this article was much shorter, so this is unlikely. Please give some examples of text that appears to have been copied, quoting the text from the book and the corresponding text from the article. Thanks, Verbcatcher (talk) 23:04, 17 October 2019 (UTC)

Radio Play
I remember a radio play based on Khan's story, titled 'Nora Baker.' It was broadcast on BBC Radio 4, perhaps in the mid 80's although it may have been earlier or later than that. Daviddlm (talk) 18:32, 15 February 2020 (UTC)


 * The nearest I could find in the BBC Genome Project is an episode of Saturday-Night Theatre called The Knightsbridge Memorial], broadcast on 15 November 1980. DuncanHill (talk) 18:47, 15 February 2020 (UTC)

Noor-Un-Nissa Inayat Khan addition to Literature section
Apparently I need a consensus to add an item to the Literature section. So this is my request.I would like to add the following:

Iljas Baker's book Peace Be Upon Us published by Lote Tree Press, Cambridge, UK in 2022 (isbn 978-1-7398271-5-1) contains the poem "In Memory of Noor-Un-Nissa Inayat Khan (1914 - 1944)". The poem refers to her sources of inspiration, her work with the SOE in France and her capture and execution by the Nazis at Dachau. It ends by alluding to the absence of joy during her time with the SOE giving way "to a greater joy". Iljasb (talk) 02:52, 31 January 2023 (UTC)