Talk:Patrick Moore/Archive 2

Archive 1

Archive 2

Mobberley's biography

As others have noted here, Mobberley's biography of Moore shows he was never engaged to anyone. He only invented the "Lorna" story many years after the war. The article should not therefore claim that he was engaged when he wasn't. (RobbieGentry (talk) 16:42, 2 October 2014 (UTC))

Apologies for not seeing this earlier. The problem is that a reader of the article, including myself, may not have read Mobberley's book and be clear about why it proves that Moore invented the Lorna story. The Mobberley book is only one source among many covering Moore's life. The claim that Moore invented this story is so important that it needs rock solid sourcing. What does the book say? It would probably be better to word this as "Mobberley's biography of Moore claimed that..."--♦IanMacM♦ ^{(talk to me)} 18:03, 2 October 2014 (UTC)

The book says that Moore was never engaged to anyone during the Second World War and only made up the "Lorna" character decades later in response to public speculation about his sexuality. He was often criticised in the 1980s for his right-wing views and alleged homophobia. His military records show he never took part in any bombing raids over Germany, although he often claimed in later life that he had. (RobbieGentry (talk) 21:03, 2 October 2014 (UTC))

Image

Is that 11KB, rather washed-out, image the best we can do? I barely recognised him. Is that a dressing gown? Perhaps one of the others at Commons might be better? Martinevans123 (talk) 19:04, 30 October 2015 (UTC)

I edited it after someone made the previous version too dark.[1]. It was never a good quality image though, but is the best of the three images on Commons.--♦IanMacM♦ ^{(talk to me)} 20:24, 30 October 2015 (UTC)

Well thanks for your efforts. I did not see the previous version. Although the other two at Commons are group photos, I think he's at least recognisable in those. I guess this one is better than nothing. Martinevans123 (talk) 20:28, 30 October 2015 (UTC)

I've uploaded a new version, but there's not a lot you can do with a 11 KB JPEG.--♦IanMacM♦ ^{(talk to me)} 20:32, 30 October 2015 (UTC)

Yes, exactly. When I think of him looking so well-dressed and full of life on television, this image is a real downer. I'd almost rather have none. Martinevans123 (talk) 20:34, 30 October 2015 (UTC)

Hopefully the new image meets with your approval? Greenshed (talk) 05:52, 30 December 2017 (UTC)

Superb.--EchetusXe 15:12, 30 December 2017 (UTC)

Missing book?

Isn't The Atlas of the Universe, 1972 Mitchell Beazley Ltd., London, missing from the list of books?

I have a translation, ISBN 87 15 07088 3.

--Mortense (talk) 00:26, 8 April 2020 (UTC)

October 2014

In this edit, no page number or text quote is given which would explain why this was proved. "Appeared to have invented" is too vague and gives undue weight to one particular source. See also the section above--♦IanMacM♦ ^{(talk to me)} 17:54, 2 October 2014 (UTC)

As far as I know the only source for Moore's RAF claims of flying bombing missions over Europe and the existence of his fiancee and her supposed fate is his own autobiography which would seem an even less credible source than Moberley's book. All the obituaries etc. just quote from the autobiography with no evidence of any independent research. Dabbler (talk) 18:12, 2 October 2014 (UTC)

Thanks. The problem is that the Lorna and RAF material both feature prominently in "reliable" sources such as his BBC obituary.[2] This leads to the question of how to frame it with other material doubting its verifiability. It Came from Outer Space Wearing an RAF Blazer!: A Fan's Biography of Sir Patrick Moore is on Amazon here and a search says that pages 27-29 deal with this issue. You will have to sign in to an Amazon account to read pages 27-29. Mobberley provides some good reasons why the Lorna story may be apocryphal, and the article should give some detail about this.--♦IanMacM♦ ^{(talk to me)} 19:52, 2 October 2014 (UTC)

Unfortunately much of what Sir Patrick claimed during his lifetime was widely reported as fact by other sources like the BBC. It seems it's only since his death that the real facts are becoming known. (RobbieGentry (talk) 21:05, 2 October 2014 (UTC))

Agreed entirely. There is no doubt that Patrick lied on his cv about many things. While his incorrect personal claims about the fake fiancee and his service career do not affect his overall contribution to astronomy, his false claim that his maps were used for planning the Apollo missions should certainly be exposed. 148.122.163.70 (talk) 23:07, 2 October 2014 (UTC)

Re this edit: Martin Mobberley does not go as far as to say that Moore's claims about Lorna and his RAF career are false. What he does say is that Moore was prone to recounting inconsistent anecdotes about them, and that the name Lorna did not appear until 2003, with no contemporary records backing up her existence. Mobberley knew Moore well and his book should be seen as a reliable source. The problem is WP:WEIGHT, because Moore succeeded in getting the mainstream media to repeat these anecdotes as fact.--♦IanMacM♦ ^{(talk to me)} 06:47, 4 October 2014 (UTC)

Surely WP:WEIGHT should allow for the situation where there is only one original source document which is subsequently quoted in many places without any evidence of it being more than a quotation with no actual research into the original statement. All claims of Biblical Creation are based on the one source in Genesis, yet I am sure I can find you thousands of instances where a book or article states that Adam and Eve were created in the Garden of Eden 6000 years ago, should the supposed fact of Creation then be said to have multiple reliable sources? Dabbler (talk) 11:44, 4 October 2014 (UTC)

There is a problem with citing controversial things after a person is dead. Mobberley's view that Moore was prone to inconsistent anecdotes is undoubtedly worthy of attention, but he does not offer any knockout punches. There could be something in the article explaining Mobberley's doubts.--♦IanMacM♦ ^{(talk to me)} 12:24, 4 October 2014 (UTC)

The difficulty with attributing veracity or otherwise to autobiographies (or hagiographies) of notable people is that, yes people do have inconsistent or 'terminologically inexact' recollections of the events of their own lives. This is true of every autobiography I have ever read right up to Obama in 2020. This however should not be taken to mean that all parts of the recollection are false or in some -significant- way unreliable in all parts. I knew Moore personally and have read numerous accounts written by him, more than one of which include reference to his former fiancée. To me that it is certain that Moore had a fiancée whose life followed the story he related generally. I am not convinced her name was Lorna and I believe that this is because he knew how simple it might be to research such a person given a name and the information he had provided and he wished to conceal some aspect of his connexion with her or to protect her or her family from scrutiny. It is pointless to speculate further on what those reasons might be. Having also read Mobberley's account it is obvious that Martin attempted to perform the aforementioned research and came up with a confusing lack of a information simply because he did not have the correct name from which to work. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.100.255.145 (talk) 00:31, 20 January 2021 (UTC)