Talk:William McGonagall

List of Poems
The list of poems at the end of this article rather overwhelms it, in my view. He wrote about 250 poems that we know about, which were anthologised in various ways after his death. There definitely needs to be something in the article that lists the major books of mcgonagall poems, but listing every single poem (some of them more than once) seems like overkill. We don't do this for other poets, why for McGonagall? Chuntuk (talk) 09:39, 12 June 2014 (UTC)

Burial in Greyfriars Kirkyard?
We went to Greyfriars Kirkyard today, and when we enquired where William McGonagall was buried and were told that he was *not* buried in the Kirkyard. That the last burial in the Kirkyard was in the 1870's, that there were *no* paupers graves in the Kirkyard, and that in any case he was not of that parish (and even a couple more reasons why it is a myth). They also said that it is true that there is a plaque in the Kirkyard that states this as if it were fact, but the Kirk did not have any control over the content of the plaque, which clearly needs a "citation needed" on there! They suggested that he could have been buried in Dundee, but that they also claim that is not the case, or *possibly* he was buried in Ireland. Karora 19:34, 7 July 2015 (UTC)
 * He definitely died in Edinburgh, at 5 South college Street to be precise, as shown here: Death of McGonagall the Poet. This is the first time I've heard that he wasn't buried at Greyfriars, but if we can find a good source saying that burials stopped there in the 1870's that would be pretty conclusive! Chuntuk (talk) 12:30, 21 January 2016 (UTC)

Edit reverted
Hi Jmc, why did you revert my edit about the books co-authored by Spike Milligan and Jack Hobbs? They are listed on the page for Spike Milligan. Is it because I didn't give citations? Sorry, but I don't know how to do that. The Spike Milligan page doesn't have citations for them either. Let's discuss. PhilUK (talk) 16:17, 16 January 2023 (UTC)
 * @PhilUK, if you check back, you'll see that what I reverted was your deletion of the referenced mention of William McGonagall – the Truth at Last. If you wish to add further books, you'll need to similarly add references for each. See WP:CITE. -- Jmc (talk) 18:31, 16 January 2023 (UTC)

Topaz
Was "Topaz" part of his birth name or does this title stem entirely from the Burmese Knighthood hoax? If it's the latter then it should probably be noted as a separate pen name in the lead. Orchastrattor (talk) 21:39, 16 April 2024 (UTC)


 * It's the latter, and therefore inappropriate to include it in his name at the beginning of the lede. I propose to delete it there. @Orchastrattor Thaniks for raising the issue. -- Jmc (talk) 21:55, 16 April 2024 (UTC)
 * I will just remove it then, "Sir W.T.M." is a fun name but the article body doesn't really indicate it to have been widespread enough to have equal billing with his birth name. Orchastrattor (talk) 20:18, 17 April 2024 (UTC)