Andrew Orlowski

Collected Journalism

Tag: pranks

  • Braindead obituarists hoaxed by Wikipedia

    by

    Andrew Orlowski

    –

    The veteran BBC TV composer and arranger Ronnie Hazlehurst died on Monday night. His long career at the corporation produced some of the most (irritatingly) memorable theme tunes: including The Two Ronnies, Reggie Perrin, Last Of The Summer Wine, Blankety Blank and the Morse Code theme for Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em.

    But when his obituaries appeared yesterday, there was an odd addition to Hazlehurst’s canon. Apparently he had emerged from retirement a few years ago … Read More

    Continue reading »

  • “The biggest attempt at recording theft ever attempted”

    by

    Andrew Orlowski

    –

    The husband of the late classical pianist Joyce Hatto has apparently admitted to “doctoring” sound recordings issued on his own record label.

    William Barrington-Coupe issued over 100 CDs of his wife, who hadn’t performed in public for 30 years, on his label Concert Artists Recordings. Recently Hatto, who died last year, had been rediscovered to great critical acclaim.

    However, sound analysis commissioned by Gramophone magazine revealed very strong evidence that the CDs issued under her name were actually the clumsily-manipulated … Read More

    Continue reading »

  • ‘Hoax’ stuns classical music world

    by

    Andrew Orlowski

    –

    Joyce Hatto

    Gramophone magazine has unearthed what one sound recording expert describes as “the biggest attempt at recording theft ever.”

    Thanks to the internet, the formerly obscure British classical pianist Joyce Hatto had become a critical favorite shortly before her death last year.

    In 2005, the Boston Globe described her as “the greatest living pianist that almost no one has heard of”.

    The Guardian‘s music critic Jeremy Nicholas called the recordings “the most extraordinary recordings I have ever heard.”

    “Best of … Read More

    Continue reading »

  • Wikipedia defends reality against Stephen Colbert

    by

    Andrew Orlowski

    –

    TV wit Stephen Colbert has had more fun at the expense of Wikipedia with another deeply ironic prank.

    Last year Colbert satirized the project’s dependence on the consensus theory of truth – which for Wikipedians is a feature, not a bug. The project’s guideline “WP:V” states, “The threshold for inclusion in Wikipedia is verifiability, not truth” [their emphasis] – and in practice this means that if you can can find a source on the notoriously reliable truth machine called the … Read More

    Continue reading »