Inaccuracies in books

BrafordLass72, thanks for the information about Pamela Brown starting "The Swish of the Curtain" when she was 14. I didn't know that - she must have been quite some 14-year-old! It is a book I loved, which made me even crosser when somebody mucked about with it.

I did wonder whether something had slipped in during production which was nothing to do with Lucy Worsley. So it does seem as though the clapping was authentic.

Last year I attended a talk given by Lucy Worsley about Queen Victoria. The latter was an avid diary writer recording events and her emotions in minute detail. Lucy explained how she was given rare access to the diaries which are kept deep in the Windsor archives. Much of her talk was about what she discovered there. Therefore, I imagine the recreation was accurate.

Regarding the meerkats, there is a book with the backstory, very funny - they left Africa to escape famine (no mealworms) and arrived in Russia after a terrible navigation error!
I read a novel set in London in 1936 where a man in a bar orders 'chips' meaning 'crisps'. I did contact the author but he didn't see the problem.
Regarding weddings, the recent re-creation of Queen Victoria's wedding (with Lucy Worsley) shows the congregation clapping after the vows are exchanged. Is this accurate? Hardly dare ask since Lucy Worsley was involved!

My brother and I got a penny for our age ( I was born in '52) until I was about 10!

It really annoys me in historical films where someone has a heart attack etc and everyone leaps into CPR mode. Mouth to mouth was invented in 1956, CPR was invented in the 1960.

@Phoebes there are two pet skunks in our town who are walked on leads!
Richard Madeley wrote a book set in the Lake District and completely fabricated the road system. I only managed to read it part way as it annoyed me so much.

Can't agree with you there JackyB. We got married in 1971, in church, and once we'd taken our vows and my husband had slipped the ring on my finger, the priest definitely said to him "you may kiss the bride", after declaring us 'man and wife'. It's a symbolic gesture, much like the cutting of the cake.

Something that always amazes me is that, in films, they always have the bride and groom kiss in church after they have been married. When I got married in 1977 and certainly before that, such physical shows of affection were definitely a no-no in church! Even now, I feel uncomfortable when they are even told to kiss!

This is only a very recent thing. Can anyone remember when it started creeping in?

Yes Anja I read same book
No research, won't be reading any more from that author although she has another series that's quite good

I read a book once where I was convinced that the author used a word that did not exist, and he used it frequently. Can't remember what it was now but I looked it up in every dictionary that I could lay hands on and couldn't find it anywhere. I'm afraid I couldn't take the book seriously after that.

I studied Science at High School (I am nearly 72) and was always too scared to light the bunsen burner during prac lessons. Then again, I hated lighting the gas oven during Domestic Arts (Home Science) lessons. Thank heavens for electric ovens or I may never have cooked for my family. I think it was because we had an old gas heater above the bath when we were children and it used to give a loud "POP" when lighting it for the hot water.

I used to get 2s 6d from a great-uncle in the 1950s when i saw him and the promise of a pony when he 'came up on the pools'. He never did.

Jens: they've been called paying-in slips for at least 30 years in my experience. I've had a bank account since 1966 and I don't think I've ever heard of a deposit slip either, though it's not hard to work out what it means. When I was self-employed in the 90s as well as a cheque book I had a paying-in book, not called a deposit book.

My goodness, Saggi 2 shillings pocket money when you were 8? I did well to get thrup'ence at that age, and that was the 1960's! Mind you, I was the youngest of 5, and my dads wage was low, so perhaps that's why! ?

It’s the spelling and grammatical errors which annoy me-but they are mainly on Facebook-and on here sometimes too! I think it’s because at school we had both drilled into us so much and woe betide us if we made any mistakes in a weekly spelling test! That was just at Junior school ! History was not my favourite school subject so maybe I am not so aware of inaccuracies.

I do copy editing and you can check facts where you are completely au fait with the subject, but if an author refers to to something, which you no nothing about and have no reason to think needs checking, it will pass you by.

I copy edit an academic journal and recently had to pass one volume over to another copy editor because all the articles were on the same subject which I was not entirely familiar with and I was conscious that there were some errors and felt uneasy that there were more than I was aware of (I was right).

Fiction editors cannot be expected to be polymaths, and know about every subject and period that a novelist might write about.

Keira is Gaelic from Keiran = dark haired.

MadeInYorkshire that made me hoot with laughter.

I bought my own coffin and decorated it a while ago.

^"It wasn't the cough that carried him off,
But the coffin they carried him off in"^

Sparkle I can show you a photo of a new born holding his head up and looking bright as a button - my son!

Ballistics
1. when someone fits a 'silencer (it's really called a suppressor) to a revolver!

2. When they fire, or show a shotgun and then we see, or they refer to, "a bullet wound". (episode of 'Vera')

No, I don't go ballistic but it annoys me - it is SO easy to check facts.

I do know that hallgreenmiss but the publisher can be pushing hard and it can be easy to miss the odd thing. Copy editing and proofreading are two different processes.

Not just that, but my bank teller had never heard of a deposit slip! Now they’re calling them paying in slips! Uff.

Suddenly Our English has deteriorated into Americanisms, africanisms, asianisms and just plain ignorance of correct nouns. Not to mention every second word is like or ya know, or make!

Jane10 it's still the responsibility of the author to check revisions before final publishing. It's more likely that the services of a proofreader are not used hence errors pass unnoticed.

In a book by a well-known and popular author, the family, living in Britain, had a pet skunk. I met her at a literary festival and pointed out that there are no skunks in Britain and she was amazed, so I said: “Well, perhaps they brought it back from America!”

paddyann, Mary Queen of Scots actually did speak with a Scottish accent because the only time she spoke English was with her councillors and they spoke lowland Scots. I'm really interested in Medieval history so read a lot of history books. She and Elizabeth never met and Mary would never have called her her inferior. If she had Elizabeth would have lost the famous Tudor temper rather than having tears in her eyes. They never met because Elizabeth knew Mary was a very charming, charismatic woman and she did not ant to fall under her spell the way some of her jailers did. In Braveheart, Mel Gibson met the English Princess of Wales and that never happened either. Filmmakers and authors just try to make a more interesting story which is not always historically correct.

My DD is a copy editor and is meticulous, and, as well as the ongoing corrections which she does automatically, she frequently goes back to the author to query inconsistencies such as posters have highlighted. Some are happy to change, others not.