Talk:Bob Cristofani

Death details discrepancy

CricketArchive gives 21 Aug 2002 in Fleet, Hampshire. In Cricinfo/Wisden it's 22 Aug 2002 in Canberra. I've emailed CA to see if they can help. Loganberry (Talk) 14:43, 10 April 2009 (UTC)

Given Cristofani's was a career public servant with the (Australian) Department of Trade, it seems to me much more likely that he died in Canberra (about the only people who desire to live in Canberra are public servants :-)) than in Hampshire. The Wisden obit actually mentions the place of death, where CricketArchive merely shows it in the summary. I have tried to see if I can search the death notices in the Canberra Times, but no luck yet. -- Mattinbgn\^talk 00:23, 11 April 2009 (UTC)

I agree it's more likely, but since he lived into his eighties he'd presumably long since have retired and so not necessarily die in the area where he spent his working life. We do know he spent time playing in England, as his Lancashire League career proves, but Hampshire does seem slightly odd. Wisden's obits are not always entirely reliable either, although most of the really bad errors - wrong scores and so on - are from many years ago. Still, I'm happy to leave the article saying Canberra unless there's hard evidence to the contrary. Loganberry (Talk) 00:51, 11 April 2009 (UTC)

(moved from Mattinbgn's talk page) I've had a reply from CricketArchive. They believe that they are correct, and have provided the relevant line from the UK govt's death index. This certainly does show that a "Desmond Robert Cristofani", with the right date of birth, died in NE Hampshire (which contains Fleet) on 21 October 2002. I'm starting to wonder if the way to go might actually be to include a short paragraph in the article proper noting the discrepancy between the two main sources. Loganberry (Talk) 23:12, 18 April 2009 (UTC)

I hope you don't mind but I have included your comment above so the discussion is all in the one place. I think the evidence provided by CricketArchive is pretty conclusive and it appears that Cristofani did indeed die in Fleet. I know Wisden gets things wrong from time to time but I would have thought that Canberra and Fleet would be pretty hard to confuse. For one thing, Fleet is probably a lot warmer than cold, old Canberra! I think the infobox and the body of the article should reflect the information provided by CricketArchive with a footnote explaining that the Wisden obit gives a different place of death.

This situation reflects a weakness in Wikipedia's (otherwise appropriate) OR policy. The matter could be cleared up by contacting his surviving family, however this then could not be used in the article unless published somewhere else first. -- Mattinbgn\^talk 00:20, 19 April 2009 (UTC)

I agree with all of that. It's a bit of a startling howler for Wisden to have made in the internet age, though, especially for a player name-checked in one of their most famous articles! The one-day discrepancy in the date of death still seems odd as well, but there it is. Loganberry (Talk) 00:36, 19 April 2009 (UTC)

I should note here that I meant 21 August 2002, not October; a startling howler for me as well! Loganberry (Talk) 22:45, 19 April 2009 (UTC)

I don't know if anyone's still exploring this discrepancy, but I can confirm that Bob Cristofani was retired and living on the Surrey/ Hampshire border in the UK in 1991, in the village of Churt - so not that far from Fleet, though he did of course die quite a few years later. I used to work on his garden when I was a student, and he used to talk all the time about cricket, his time flying in the war, being Australian trade commissioner etc. A great guy - I really liked him. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 51.6.111.161 (talk) 21:14, 30 March 2018 (UTC)