Talk:Don McCullin

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[edit] McCullin in the RAF

I have just made a change to the article relating to his failure of written theory in the RAF - it is a referance to this article - though the particular part of the article is not on the website, I do however have a physical copy of it. Is there any way to referance this?

Sorry not to sure of how to go about this yet.

Here is the quote from the newspaper: "When I was in the RAF I was sent to a photographic unit, doing aerial intelligence, but I failed my trade test to become a photographer because I couldn't read the written theory. So I left the RAF as a failed photographer."—The preceding unsigned comment was added by TheNobGoblin (talk • contribs).

I agree that those are his words: "a failed photographer", and that the source you have—a recent interview in The Guardian—is a verifiable one. But as written, it looks as if the article disparaging of McCullin. So I've rewritten it slightly, and incorporated the reference you've provided, thanks for finding it. — BillC ^talk 16:40, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

This article from the same publisher (in reality if not name, the same newspaper) directly states that McCullin is severely dyslexic. To say this (in context) is surely not defamatory and the bit about the RAF would not have been cut in order to save space. I think it's likely that it was cut because something about it (other than the problem reading) was wrong. We can cite material that has appeared in newspapers that are moderately good or better, but we should be very wary of citing such material if we know it was later retracted. -- Hoary 06:49, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

Yes, I agree. It seems clear that he did not become a photographer in the RAF, due to not having succeeded at the written paper. If you want to find a way of wording this that'll work well, please go ahead. Regards, — BillC ^talk 06:59, 31 March 2007 (UTC)