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

Hello Natalie

I am a Luddite newbie - so please forgive me if I'm doing this wrong. At my advanced age - I'm too old to learn new computing technique. In mild (though quite tangential) mitigation - I know B.A. Robertson slightly through having worked with him once on a project - though that was several miillion years ago. Well 1979-ish...

I have no confidence that I will be able to find my way back to this area to see if you respond here - so I will provide my email address - and hope that i don't get too many emails from those seeking detailed descriptions of my encounters with B.A.

My email is [email protected]

I'm writing to respectfully point out a factual error in an otherwise wonderful editorial page you have about the infamous Portsmouth Sinfonia. (About whom you may recall something. But did you know that B.A. Robertson has a connection with the Portsmouth Sinfonia?! All will be revealed if you can help tidy up this minor error.)

I know whereof I write since I have been the manager of the Sinfonia since 1973.

The actual page is

www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/alabaster/A546491.

the 6th paragraph of this piece starts out:

On 28 May, 1978, the Sinfonia staged a concert at the Albert Hall.

The day and month is correct. But the year is wrong. The year was 1974.

This would not normally matter much except that since the 30th anniversary is upon us - there are about to be several stories in major papers about the anniversary. And they will all be referring to the correct year - 1974.

It was actually a journalist for a national paper that flagged my attention to the error. She was researching the anniversary - and was confused to see the year listed as 1978 on a BBC site.

So - may I respectfully request that you correct this minor error - lest some folks assume that our glorious concert was only 26 years ago...

I would be grateful if you could respond to my email address - in case I can't find my way back here to read any response you post here.

And I promise you that I will shed light on the B.A. Robertson link to the Portsmouth Sinfonia.

many thanks

Martin

[email protected]

Just so that we keep things tidy, just leaving a note here to say that I caught the correction in the conversation on Editorial Feedback.

Natalie's away for a bit, so when she returns she won't have this correction waiting for her.