• In an interview with Charlotte Church we misnamed the Welsh singer’s stepfather as “Stephen”; he is James (Church). Stephen (Reed) was the name of her late biological father, as the article went on to say (“‘It’s bloody lush here’”, 23 March, Magazine, p8).
• We described the double agent Kim Philby as “an Etonian” when in fact he attended Westminster School (“MI5’s Philby files, by the spies who tailed him”, 23 March, p3); the magazine Adweek was incorrectly referred to as “Ad Weekly” (“Grab your logo sweatshirt – Gap is making a surprise fashion comeback”, 23 March, p10); and we misspelled the surname of Matthew Ryle, executive chef at London’s Maison François restaurant, as “Wryle” (“Social climbers“, 23 March, Food Monthly, p14).
• A review of the Netflix series The Residence said that Julian McMahon played the “Australian president”, and that the actor’s father, William, had held that office in real life. Both references should, of course, have been to “prime minister” (“Even stranger things in the White House”, 23 March, New Review, p34).
• A picture caption referring to the Covid-19 lockdown in spring 2020 stated that Britons could go out for “an hour a day”. This was never official policy; people could leave the house for essential purposes only but there was no time restriction (“10 lockdown lessons to learn for next time”, 23 March, p38).
Other recently amended articles include:
Trump chose the wrong hill to DEI on
Bath, balls and Darcy’s pile: where to celebrate Jane Austen’s 250th anniversary
British Museum is right to keep Parthenon marbles, says new trustee
• Write to the Readers’ Editor, the Observer, York Way, London N1 9GU, email observer.readers@observer.co.uk, tel 020 3353 4736
