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A blog about English language use, publishing and the media in general – brought to you by a sub-editor (copy editor) on a weekly UK magazine and his former chief sub.
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Recent Posts Tagged With 'bbc news'
\'I assumed that it was a suicidal note\'
BBC News is running a story today about a French love letter in a bottle that washed up on a Cornish beach.The man who discovered the bottle, Martin Leslie, is quoted as saying: "I assumed that it was a suicidal note that we came across."Suicidal not...
Leona Lewis attacked by fan / buck-toothed nut
So singer Leona Lewis has been punched in the head at a book signing. Here's the BBC News headline and intro:Even if the man who attacked Lewis bought a copy of her autobiography and queued up nicely for a signature, I still think it's a bit of a str...
BBC finally assumes people know what Twitter is
A few weeks ago the BBC News website ran a story entitled Hundreds on Armstrong Tweet ride. It began:About 300 people have joined an impromptu bike ride with cycling legend Lance Armstrong after he issued an open invitation on a Twitter postInteresti...
Headlines: 'Brown book breaks record in hours'
The ninth headline down in this BBC News 'Most Popular Stories Now' widget caused me some confusion:What was this brown book, and why was it breaking records?After a moment's thought, I came to the conclusion that it must be a book about (or possibly...
'Swedes miss Capri after GPS gaffe'
I meant to blog about this news story when I first saw it, a couple of weeks back:Swedes miss Capri after GPS gaffeIt begins:A Swedish couple in search of the isle of Capri drove to Carpi, an industrial town in northern Italy, because they misspelt t...
'You can't even trust the establishment'
From the BBC News website yesterday:More than 1,000 police officers and staff who misused corporate credit cards will not be punished, a police watchdog has decided.The Metropolitan Police Authority found 1,183 Met employees used the American Express...
Ex-minister Blears' car attacked
I didn't know that Hazel Blears' car used to be a cabinet minister:According to a BBC News story today:Former cabinet minister Hazel Blears' car has been attacked while she was out canvassing voters.I wonder whether the car fiddled its expenses. Sorr...
Old story about tea is one of BBC's 'most popular'
Here's the BBC News website's 'most popular stories now' widget from the start of the week:What's interesting is that story eight, "Tea 'healthier' drink than water", actually dates from August 2006:For it to resurface as one of the Beeb's most popul...
Headines: 'Pilot recycling scheme under way'
A colleague of mine, Sue, has pointed out this great BBC News headline:"What do you do with recycled pilots, I wonder?" Sue asks.Which reminds me of that old saying: "Old pilots never die, they just go to a higher plane..." ...
Pseudo-indecent photographs
Today's picture is again a BBC News screengrab, this time from an article. I've highlighted the phrase of interest.I'm sure that's supposed to read 'indecent pseudo-photographs'... ...
So you know Kevin Bacon too?
Right, I'm on holiday at the moment so I've queued up some picture posts for your delight and delectation.The first is a screengrab from the BBC News website. As I hope you can see, it reads: "Six degrees: Is the theory we all know Kevin Bacon actual...
Sub deaths caused by 'failures'
It's dangerous work being a sub editor, at least according to the third story in this BBC News widget:(Actually, the story was about submariners...) ...
Missing chef 'has come to harm' (maybe)
Here's a recent BBC News story where the headline and the body copy fail to agree:The headline says the missing chef has come to harm, whereas the body copy says she "may have" and (in the quote) "has probably" come to harm. That's a big difference, ...
Headline: Overturned lorry driver arrested
Thanks to my colleague Ro for pointing out this BBC News headline:This suggests that it is the driver that overturned, not the lorry (although the driver probably did overturn with his vehicle). ...
BBC News and attack on Sri Lankan cricketers
The attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team is a big story, but big enough to occupy two of the three tabs in both the BBC News 'news' widget and the BBC News 'sport' widget – at the same time? ...
Stan Still, Annette Curtain, Dick Trickle...
Regular readers of The Engine Room will know that we're fans of unusual or amusing personal names. Recently, for example, I've written about a hangman called Ed Roper while Apus has told us of a certain SM Allcock.If you're of a similar bent, you may...
Gordon Brown sorry over assault arrest. Really?
Headline four in this BBC News widget left me wondering who Prime Minister Gordon Brown might have assaulted:It turns out that the story was about R&B star Chris Brown... but how was I supposed to know that? I imagine that most UK readers would t...
EU gives shark protection teeth
I was very briefly confused by the bottom headline in this 'Other top stories' widget on the Science & Environment section of the BBC News website:It left me wondering what 'protection teeth' were, and why the EU would give some to a shark. Surel...
