Talk:Paul Burrell

Tall Paul
In his memoirs he describes the nicknames as 'Tall Paul' and 'Small Paul', and not 'Big Paul' and 'Little Paul' as stated here on Wikipedia. I cannot change it however - no edit button. —Preceding unsigned comment added by CR1670 (talk • contribs) 00:23, 26 July 2008 (UTC)

Redirect?
He isn't really notable apart from the scandal he was involved in. Perhaps it might be an idea to junk all the stuff about his TV appearances in latter years, and move the material to Burrell affair here instead? Vashti 21:37, 26 April 2006 (UTC)


 * I second this, any objections? --Iacobus 05:00, 15 October 2007 (UTC)

I object, he was notable before the affair No Swan So Fine 18:13, 15 October 2007 (UTC)


 * Notable for being a royal footman or butler? Or for being a contestant on celebrity shows based on his noteriety stemming from the Burrell Affair? If there is anything else to his notability, can you please explain? Thanks. --Iacobus 00:00, 16 October 2007 (UTC)


 * Is there a definition of "notorious" for Wiki purposes? People in his position are sworn to secrecy about anything and everything they learn while in Royal service.  But what did he do?  He spilled his guts and became a media sensation.  For being a traitorous turncoat.  --   Jack of Oz   [pleasantries]  22:15, 26 September 2019 (UTC)

Homosexuality?
An anon. editor offered the accusation (if it is in fact an accusation) that "it is an open secret" that Burrell is a homosexual who has had affairs with several men. I have reverted to the previous edition of the article for several reasons.

1) There is absolutely no source given for that information. (It might be true, I have no idea, although I have heard rumors to that effect.) 2) It is potentially is not actually libelous, especially under U.S. law, which is what wikipedia operates under. Remember, Liberace won his anti-defamation suit when he was accused of being a homosexual, even though he actually was. Even under British law, although libel would probably not be proven, its still not a good idea, since wikipedia could still be sued. To quote a lawyer (barrister) I once knew "the only good way to win in court is to stay out of it." U.S. law is the real problem since, even if it is TRUE, it is still potentially libelous. If Burrell was dead I would not have a real problem with questioning his sexuality... because the victim being dead is an absolute defense for libel 3) If it isn't true or isn't proven, it isn't good for an enclyopedia to give words to seedy gossip. Its bad for wikipedia...

Cheers V. Joe 16:00, 1 November 2006 (UTC)


 * There was a lot of speculation about this in the press, and Michael Barrymore has claimed Burrell tried to seduce him. Maria Burrell seemed to confirm in an article in The Mirror that she knew her husband had had gay affairs in the past. If someone can find one of these articles to link to I think it's fine to include it, but to announce it is 'an open secret' is indeed potentially libellous. Smurfmeister 09:21, 8 October 2007 (UTC)


 * The whiff of the lavendar hangs heavy around this guy. Firstly, during a stint on the Royal Yacht Britannia back in the early 80s he was among a group of royal footmen who were under investigation by Special Branch (due to the sensitive nature) into alleged onboard homosexual activity. Secondly, while he resided full-time in Cheshire, he had been observed by Cheshire police officers visiting a known gay pick-up point near Chester. The story: it was a late evening on a mid summers weekend, when Burrell (recognised) turned slowly off the main road and drove into the picnic/rest area. But when his headlights illuminated the marked Cheshire police car facing him in one of the bays, he turned his vehicle around and left hurriedly (the area was being actively monitored after reports of sexual activity being perpetrated there). What was interesting was the car was not his (he had a top of the range Beamer or Mercedes) but the wife's runaround and his house was only three/four miles away (so if he wanted a rest break it wasn't too far to get home).
 * OK it's nothing more than hearsay and gossip but my source was a senior ex police officer who's tongue only loosened after many beers. Which to me, made it more noteworthy than just idle gossip as it was not being given away cheaply for general public consumption.


 * Talk pages tell more truth than the articles. No revelation but he's Gay!. Only ten years after the fact mind....

Requested Move
I am requesting that this talk page be moved back to its original location of Talk: Paul Burrell. A vandal appears to have moved the original page from Talk: Paul Burrell to Talk: James bratt, then to here. I don't know how to revert this, so am making this request. Thank you. Egdirf (talk) 22:43, 15 January 2008 (UTC)


 * As regards the original Paul Burrell article, this still exists, but there is now a duplicate at Not Paul burrel. An anon user has requested Not Paul burrel be deleted. Egdirf (talk) 22:44, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

POV?
"Burrell is very misunderstood by the public and by the media." This in particular stands out, but the whole introduction (pre-contents) section strikes me as NPOV, and has no references. It is written like an amateur press release for him. Thoughts? 130.88.179.77 (talk) 16:17, 7 April 2008 (UTC)
 * interesting. I came to this talk page for that exact reason, it's such an outrageous statement that without a lot of respected sources espousing the same view, it cannot be left in the article. I tried to delete but someone (who apparently does not particularly favour the ideal of free editing in wikipedia) has arbitrarily protected the page without attached the template142.106.63.213 (talk)

16:48, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

Properly sourced critisms
I personally review this charater as one of the worst in the World. Not on the scale of Mira Hindley, but he is not much better in my opinion. But that is clearly a personal opinion.

I believe it must be possible to find properly sourced material about him that expesses a similar (but less extream) view, that should stand up to Wikipedia's policy, and not be liberous. Drkirkby (talk) 11:47, 9 November 2009 (UTC)

External links modified (January 2018)
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 2 external links on Paul Burrell. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Corrected formatting/usage for http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/northeast/guides/halloffame/public_life/paul_burrell.shtml
 * Added archive https://archive.is/20120722091234/http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/Way-We-Were-Remembering-Diana-Paul-Burrell/9780061341298-item.html?ikwid=remembering+diana&ikwsec=Home to http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/Way-We-Were-Remembering-Diana-Paul-Burrell/9780061341298-item.html?ikwid=remembering+diana&ikwsec=Home

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 00:05, 24 January 2018 (UTC)

"Secret he would never reveal"
This "secret" was that Diana once mentioned to him she might go and live in America. She mentioned this to a few people.198.140.62.1 (talk) 13:23, 24 March 2022 (UTC)