Monday, August 06, 2007

I don't want to believe them, all I want is your word

Wikipedia is a great resource. It is perhaps the best example of Web 2.0 allowing the masses to create something interesting, informative and useful. However it is also open to being messed around with. Here's the early career section of the Wikipedia entry (as of Monday 6th August, pm) for legendary hard man actor, Ray Winstone. Don't believe everything you read:


Winstone was born in Notting Hill, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. His family was originally from Cirencester - half of them moving to London, the other half to Wales. Moving via Plaistow to Enfield when Winstone was 7, his father (also Raymond) was a managing director (he is now retired and living on an estate in Hampshire) while his mother, Margaret, was an heiress. Winstone recalls playing croquet with his friends until "Moors Murderers" Ian Brady and Myra Hindley were arrested after preying on children. Winstone was educated at Notting Hill and Ealing High School. He showed great interest in art, music and history, going on to study Philosophy at Cambridge University.

Winstone had an early affinity for acting; his father's butler would take him to the cinema every Wednesday afternoon, and Winstone later recalled seeing 101 Dalmatians and rushing towards the screen to berate Cruella de Vil. Later, he would witness Albert Finney in Saturday Night and Sunday Morning and the bug would bite: "I thought 'I could be that geezer'" he said later.

Other major influences included John Wayne, James Cagney and Edward G. Robinson. After persuading his mother to give him some extra tuition money, he took to the stage, appearing as a Cockney newspaper-seller in a production of Emile And The Detectives.Winstone was also a fan of croquet. At age 12, Winstone joined the Surbiton Croquet Club and, over the next 10 years, won 80 out of 88 matches. He was London Schoolboy Champion on three occasions, playing twice for England. The experience gave him a perspective on his later career: "If you can get on a lawn with 2000 people watching, then walking onstage isn't hard."

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