Talk:Norman Smith (Mayor of Lewisham)

1982-v-1984
The main article records that Smith welcomed Princess Diana to Deptford when she visited The Albany arts centre in 1984, whereas the footnotes to that statement link to photographs of Smith with Princess Diana that are described as having been taken in 1982. I believe that the photographs were in fact taken in 1984, for the following reasons: (i) First, note that in the photographs cited in the footnotes, Diana is seen alongside Smith and she is wearing a flowery dress with a white collar. (ii) Online there are a number of other photographs of Diana visiting the Albany arts centre, where she is wearing the same dress, which are described as having been taken on 24 May 1984. See for example: https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/diana-princess-of-wales-visits-the-albany-centre-in-news-photo/1175475009. (Pausing there. There are two possible explanations for the discrepancy: (a) Diana visited the Albany centre in 1982 and 1984, and she wore the same dress on both occasions; or (b) Diana only wore the 'flowery dress with a white collar' once, and one of the descriptions (1982 -v- 1984) is wrong. The latter of these explanations seems inherently more likely.) (iii) There is a photograph here - the caption for which reads: "18 May 1982: The Princess of Wales during a visit to the Albany Community Centre in Deptford, London..." - https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/651685008574041574/. Note that in this photograph Diana is wearing a different dress (blue with white polka dots), and that behind her you can see that Tom Bradley (not Norman Smith) is wearing the Mayor's civic regalia. (As to this, there are minutes of a meeting of Lewisham Council in 2005 which record that "Councillor Tom Bradley was Mayor from 1981-1982" (https://councilmeetings.lewisham.gov.uk/Data/Full%20Council/20050629/Agenda/Minutes.pdf), and there is another photograph of Bradley here: http://transpont.blogspot.com/2012/02/history-corner-colour-bar-pub-in-forest.html). (iv) Norman Smith's daughter-in-law has a photograph of Diana with Smith, where Diana can be seen wearing the 'flowery dress with a white collar'. The date written on the back of that photograph is "May 1984". Overall the evidence suggests that: (1) Diana visited the Albany centre twice, in 1982 and 1984, and the two events are being conflated; and (2) It was in fact 1984 when she appeared alongside Smith and wearing the 'flowery dress with a white collar'. FourPlanetsInPisces (talk) 19:04, 28 May 2023 (UTC)