h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Oprah Winfrey - chat show host - A23903859
Author: Opticalillusion - media mynx life would be boring without hiccups - U231227

may I have your thoughts on Oprah Winfrey.

Sometimes Winfrey was asked to read aloud passages from the bible, this led people to say to her grandmother:

Hattie Mae, this child sure can talk. She is the talkingest child, I received my sense of value, my sense of esteem, my sense of who I was, my sense of well-being, from speaking out loud.
Oprah Winfrey

Something wrong there

Bible should be capitalised and in italics, seeing as how it's a book title.

Please sort your external links. As in, give them a TITLE

I don't think Bible should be italicised. It's not actually the title of the book. But it should have a capital letter.

<>

Split that into two sentences.

"The Oprah Winfrey Show" and "The Color Purple" need to be in italics tags throughout the Entry.

Your footnote requires a full-stop.

<>
She "became" a Broadway producer

program = programme

No mention of bad hair days? A6951602 That's where I first heard the term. Oprah has had plenty of them.

Are you going to miss the opportunity to mention how Tom Cruise bounced on her couch and declared undying love for Katie Holmes?

No mention of Steadman, her long-term partner?

How about some of the people she's interviewed? Hillary Clinton, when she was First Lady, was a big scoop. Celine Dion appeared on her show and Oprah flew in all her relatives (Celine is one of 14 children) to surprise her.

Oprah caused the American beef industry to decline when she commented on her show that she wouldn't like to eat burgers.

Oprah caused a sensation when she once gave away a car to everyone in her audience, and was innundated with complaints.

You could mention Oprah's love of dogs.

You really should mention the school she built in South Africa: http://www.oprah.com/presents/2007/academy/dream/building_101.jhtml

I've put right the mistakes and started looking into the other things you mention. Looks like there's still a way to go.

This entry has had a face lift.

Excellent. I'll give it a read-through tomorrow, Opti

In the past Winfrey has been romantically linked to high school sweetheart Anthony Otey, fellow University student William 'Bubba' Taylor and Randoph Cook. However, neither of these romances lasted as long as her present relationship with Steadman Graham, a former pro basketball player and Public Relations Executive whom she met in 1999. Together they established a leadership course at Northwestern University. Despite their long term relationship the couple has no plans to marry. Oprah is also passionate about her dogs. She has two Cocker Spaniels, three Golden Retrievers and she also owned another dog, Gracie, who sadly passed away in May 2007.

This is very good, Opti. However, you can't say "neither" after three people. Change "neither" to "none"
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In the past Winfrey has been romantically linked to high school sweetheart Anthony Otey, fellow University student William 'Bubba' Taylor and Randoph Cook. However, none of these romances lasted as long as her present relationship with Steadman Graham, a former pro basketball player and Public Relations Executive whom she met in 1999.


Despite their long term relationship the couple has no plans to marry.
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Despite their long term relationship the couple have no plans to marry.



Oprah is also passionate about her dogs. She has two Cocker Spaniels, three Golden Retrievers and she also owned another dog, Gracie, who sadly passed away in May 2007.
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Oprah is also passionate about her dogs. Up to the time of writing (September 2007) she owns two Cocker Spaniels and three *Golden Retrievers. Another dog, Gracie, sadly passed away in May 2007.

Add a link to your A24145724 Golden Retrievers entry there*.



In your last header Business as Usual you mention some TV shows, can you just put those in italics tags?

Great going, Opti

Header Family Life - when talking about past relationships that didn't last long, they're not really family.

I suggest you change the header to "Relationships and Family Life"



Her best friend Gayle King features prominently in Oprah's life and I don't think this Entry is complete without a mention. They've been friends for over three decades, which says a lot about Oprah. As Gayle is editor-in-chief of "O" the magazine, it's obviously a business relationship but I've seen pictures of them shopping together and Oprah also sets Gayle up on blind dates.
http://www.oprah.com/tows/after/200301/tows_after_20030131.jhtml


If this were my Entry I'd add Gayle to the "Family" section as "best friend" and just devote a paragraph to her.

"Hattie Mae, this child sure can talk. She is the talkingest child, I received my sense of value, my sense of esteem, my sense of who I was, my sense of well-being, from speaking out loud."
This doesn't make sense - who's speaking?

"she was sent to a juvenile detention home but there was no room for her, so she was sent to live with her father in Nashville" - repetition of "she was sent"

"to live by his strict regimes. These strict regimes" -- repetition of "strict regimes"

As a result Winfrey excelled at school she jumped two grades -- that's two sentences

she was crowned Miss Fire Prevention in Nashville. Having heard her speeches the sponsor of the beauty pageant -- is Miss Fire Prevention a beauty pageant?

That following year --> The following year

had made the show a success; rivalling Chicago's other talk show Donahue. -- the second part "rivalling Chicago's other talk show Donahue" could not stand on its own as a separate sentence, so you can't use a semicolon here. Change it to a comma.

"All of which encourage black authors to use their voice and be heard" -- This doesn't stand on its own as a sentence, so it should be joined to the previous sentence with a comma.

which she has since left -- I think this would be better as "although she has since left it".

a monthly, women's lifestyle magazine -- remove that comma. "women's lifestyle magazine" is the object you are describing and "monthly" is an adjective, so there shouldn't be a comma between then.

U.S. Senate --> US Senate

including Emmy’s --> including Emmys

so many Emmy’s --> so many Emmys

she has put a stop to it achieving any more -- this doesn't appear to mean anything

high school sweetheart Anthony Otey, fellow University student William 'Bubba' Taylor and Randoph Cook. However, neither of these romances -- that's three romances, not two, so you can't say "neither". Say "none" instead.

and can you check the spelling of Randoph Cook.

two Cocker Spaniels, three Golden Retrievers -- use lower case letters here

"went to court over alleging that she wouldn’t eat burgers due to cattle having BSE" -- alleging isn't the right word here. It means she said something that may or may not be true. But I think we can take it that if Oprah says she doesn't eat burgers, then she actually doesn't eat burgers. So it isn't an allegation.

You could just say "went to court over her statement that she wouldn't..."

You need need a concluding paragraph, telling how Oprah has grown from rags to riches to become the US's top female voice, helping many people along the way and how it looks as if she'll be doing this for many years to come. Or something.

et voila I believe I've covered all your points. Now for that well deserved you appear to be hinting at having.

Winfrey's life is like a rags to riches story and now that she has become a legend is their any stopping this dynamic woman?

rags-to-riches

is *there* any stopping

Winfrey has also leant her voice to Bee Movie coming out in 2007.
=
lent

Hi Opti, good job.

"Hattie Mae, this child sure can talk. She is the talkingest child, I received my sense of value, my sense of esteem, my sense of who I was, my sense of well-being, from speaking out loud."

It sounds like up to "talkingest child" is someone else talking about Oprah, but the whole thing is Oprah relating what they said and adding her own comment. Can you check what was said exactly?

"She won a scholarship to Nicolet High School in the Milwaukee suburb of Glendale, Wisconsin." She was living in Nashville but won a scholarship to a school in Wisconsin? Why not somewhere closer?

"BA Honours Degree" Degree should not be capitalised.

"In September, 1985 the show was expanded to an hour and renamed The Oprah Winfrey Show. The show is due to run till 2011. Memorable moments from the show so far include:" A few too many uses of "the show", methinks.

"In 1991 Winfrey founded the National Child Protection Act," I don't think you can "found" a poltical Act. She may have suggested it, she may have campaigned for it, but I doubt she founded it. I may be wrong, but can you check?

"President Clinton signed the Oprah Bill into law." - was that it's nickname or something? If so, I think you need to make that clear.

"The book club met with some controversy though over her endorsement of James Frey's book A Million Little Pieces, which she withdrew her support for." Why?

"Winfrey's best friend is Gayle King, who has also been a news anchor and talk show host. Her latest job is editor of O, The Oprah Magazine and Winfrey is so fond of King that she has set her up on numerous blind dates and goes shopping with her."

I might be wrong, but wasn't there a tv programme about a year ago following them on a road trip?

"When Winfrey went to court over her statement that she wouldn't eat burgers due to cattle having BSE, she took Dr Phil and his company Courtroom Sciences with her and won."

I don't understand. What was his role in the courtcase? I know he is a tv psychologist type, but that doesn't seem to fit with this case or the name of his company.

all those questions! I've made a start but as you can see at the mo still a way to go.

"Hattie Mae, this child sure can talk. She is the talkingest child, I received my sense of value, my sense of esteem, my sense of who I was, my sense of well-being, from speaking out loud."
This doesn't make sense - who's speaking?

she was crowned Miss Fire Prevention in Nashville. Having heard her speeches the sponsor of the beauty pageant -- is Miss Fire Prevention a beauty pageant?

and led Winfrey to receiving an Oscar nomination --> and led to Winfrey receiving an Oscar nomination

I have had difficulties with answering the following:

"Hattie Mae, this child sure can talk. She is the talkingest child, I received my sense of value, my sense of esteem, my sense of who I was, my sense of well-being, from speaking out loud."

>>It sounds like up to "talkingest child" is someone else talking about Oprah, but the whole thing is Oprah relating what they said and adding her own comment. Can you check what was said exactly?

- I can’t tell what people originally said as I wasn’t there. This comes from People magazine.

>>She won a scholarship to Nicolet High School in the Milwaukee suburb of Glendale, Wisconsin." She was living in Nashville but won a scholarship to a school in Wisconsin? Why not somewhere closer?

- I don’t know


I might be wrong, but wasn't there a tv programme about a year ago following them on a road trip?

- can’t find evidence of this

"When Winfrey went to court over her statement that she wouldn't eat burgers due to cattle having BSE, she took Dr Phil and his company Courtroom Sciences with her and won."

>>I don't understand. What was his role in the courtcase? I know he is a tv psychologist type, but that doesn't seem to fit with this case or the name of his company.

- can’t find exact role

unsure how to word the pageant bit.

Opti:

1. I very much doubt that People magazine would have "She is the talkingest child, I received my sense of value" because it isn't even a proper sentence. Can you check the exact wording again please.

2. The point about the burgers thing is that it isn't a crime to say you don't eat burgers, so why was she in court?

What exactly is "Miss Fire Prevention"?