# Talk:Emma Thompson

@Escape Orbit: I just reverted you regarding Thompson's birthplace. My edit summary was cut short though (wish WP wouldn't let you enter text that doesn't actually fit!) so let me explain here. If you look above (Talk:Emma Thompson#Paddington?), I queried a long time ago where the idea that Thompson was born in Paddington comes from. None of the good interviews with her mention it, from what I recall. Now @All Hallow's Wraith: has found this source to suggest she was actually born in Hammersmith, and the facts there suggest it must be the right Emma Thompson: born in April-June 1959, with a mother's maiden name of Law (her mother is Phyllida Law). I personally think we should go with that source, unless a good one for Paddington can be found. I know that lots of websites state Paddington as her birthplace, but odds are that they are copying Wikipedia (even though, before I began expanding the article, we didn't give any source for it.) --Loeba (talk) 10:00, 7 October 2015 (UTC)

@Loeba:.  Please see my discussion on All Hallow's Wraith talk page.  My problem is that;
Finding these birth registration records amounts to original research.  There is no guarantee that this record is about the subject of this article.  There is a possibility that it is the wrong person, with a similar age and name.  It's just a reasonable guess.  Wikipedia shouldn't be about guesses.
The place of birth registration is a different thing from the place of birth.
If there's no good source for Paddington I've no objection to it being removed, but I have strong reservations about using familysearch as a source to replace it. --Escape Orbit (Talk) 11:23, 7 October 2015 (UTC)
If it was just Emma Thompson born 1959 Hammersmith, London you'd have a point but the fact that it states mother's maiden name Law I'd have thought would make it highly unlikely it was anybody else. I suggest we put the family record source in a footnote.♦ Dr. Blofeld 11:37, 16 October 2015 (UTC)
I don't question that.  This record is almost certainly Thompson's birth registration.  But fact is that Wikipedia has been shown to look foolish before in exactly this way.  Some WP editor goes and does a bit research, ends up citing records belonging to someone else entirely.  This is exactly why OR is not permitted.  And it still remains fact that just because the birth was registered in an office in Hammersmith does not mean that she was born in Hammersmith.  Paddington is perfectly possible, and what our reliable source says. --Escape Orbit (Talk) 11:55, 16 October 2015 (UTC)
I've now reverted this.  It also appears that the New York Times source quite definitely says Paddington, so no reason to change it. Always happy to discuss if another good source to place of birth is found. --Escape Orbit (Talk) 15:33, 12 October 2015 (UTC)
The NYT source comes from Allrovi, and like I said they could just be copying wikipedia...I don't know, I basically just want to know where the Paddington idea originally came from. I'd feel a lot happier if it was actually mentioned in interview articles, then it would seem that Emma has verified it. But I guess you're right that we can't be the first source to radically declare something different... --Loeba (talk) 09:18, 16 October 2015 (UTC)
I suggest Hammersmith by default and a footnote saying NYT claims Paddington. Perhaps Aymatth2 can do a check to see which is mostly commonly cited. Which ever is we go with that and add a footnote saying xx claims. Sound good? Please no edit warring while we discuss though.♦ Dr. Blofeld 10:24, 16 October 2015 (UTC)

I disagree.  And and that basis I'll revert to what it was originally.  Please do not change before consensus.  There is no evidence that Rovi just copied Wikipedia and the NYT appears to trust it, so why not Wikipedia?  Otherwise on that basis no source could be trusted.  I also refer you back to the three points I make above; researching birth registration records is original research, there is the slight possibility that this is not the Thompson you think it is, and place of registration does not necessarily equate to place of birth. --Escape Orbit (Talk) 10:49, 16 October 2015 (UTC)
Are there sources which state both Paddington and Hammersmith as her birthplace? If so then we need to decide which is most commonly cited and go with that by default and add a footnote to what else is claimed. Staking it all on the factual accuracy of one source if Hammersmith is also cited in reliable sources is irresponsible.♦ Dr. Blofeld 11:13, 16 October 2015 (UTC)
OK I've looked and aside from ancestry.com I don't see any reliable sources stating Hammersmith, so you appear to be right. Paddington does seem to always be cited. I've added a National Geographic source for reinforcement.♦ Dr. Blofeld 11:19, 16 October 2015 (UTC)

Thanks.  Always happy to consider other, better, sources that differ.  --Escape Orbit (Talk) 11:55, 16 October 2015 (UTC)
Mentioning the Ancestry source in a footnote is a good solution for now, I'm happy with that. --Loeba (talk) 15:11, 16 October 2015 (UTC)
The published Index to the English Register of Births (available on-line through a number of genealogical web-sites) gives the place of registration, not the place of birth or residence. To find the actual place of birth, you need to buy a copy of the birth certificate, which anyone can do. In 1959, most children were probably born in a hospital: if that was the case here, it won't tell you where her parents lived. NRPanikker (talk) 21:06, 13 December 2019 (UTC)
WP:BLPPRIMARY would prevent us from using such primary genealogical sources as birth certificates or a birth registry. Elizium23 (talk) 21:15, 13 December 2019 (UTC)
On the basis that the information about the approximate date and location of an entry for any person, the GRO index of births is itself a collated set of transcripts and a secondary (at least) source of the information recorded in the original register of births.  Furthermore, because the information used by a WP article is certainly not based upon the GRO index itself, but a transcript of the GRO index, the best you can state is that the information comes from a tertiary or even subordinate source.2600:1700:EA01:1090:ED4D:46EB:4B43:D6C1 (talk) 01:25, 13 January 2020 (UTC)
Might I suggest 'born in London'? Burraron (talk) 13:06, 19 June 2021 (UTC)

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Where would this go?  And when?
"Johnny English Strikes Again" (2018) 

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/video/johnny-english-strikes-again-trailer-1100100
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/johnny_english_strikes_again_2018/
Cast: Rowan Atkinson as Johnny English; Olga Kurylenko as Ophelia; Ben Mille as Bough; Jake Lacy as Jason; Emma Thompson as Prime Minister; Adam James as Pegasus; Ben Miller as Bough; David Mumeni as Fabian;  -- AstroU (talk) 15:03, 8 July 2018 (UTC)

In the article, Thompson is described as "the first female member" of the Cambridge Footlights. The Footlights article, however, names Germaine Greer as the first female member. Which is accurate? - Presidentman talk · contribs (Talkback) 03:26, 23 April 2022 (UTC)

Eleanor Bron and Jo Kendall participated in Footlights productions several years before Greer attended.  Bill321 (talk) 04:07, 27 April 2022 (UTC)
So is the Footlights article itself in error? Presidentman talk · contribs (Talkback) 17:13, 29 April 2022 (UTC)
The Footlights article says The first woman to be given full membership was Germaine Greer. She joined in October 1964 on the same day as Clive James and Russell Davies. There had been women before that time who had been allowed to join in, including Eleanor Bron in the late 1950s, but Greer was the first to be billed as a full member cited to Christine Wallace's biography - presumably a reliable source.
However the claim in this article is also cited to an apparently reliable source: "A Queen in a Beard" by Melissa D. Aaron, in Shakespeare Re-Dressed: Cross Gender Casting in Contemporary Performance. ed. James C. Bulman; which says "The first female member of the Footlights Club was Emma Thompson".
When sources disagree, it is not Wikipedia's job to adjudicate; but I think this article should mention that other sources do not agree with that claim (and it is pretty clear that it is wrong). ColinFine (talk) 20:37, 31 August 2025 (UTC)
OK, I've moved the claim to a footnote, and added that other sources say that Greer was the first, much earlier. --ColinFine (talk) 21:06, 31 August 2025 (UTC)

It would be nice to have a filmography list on this like most actors of her stature have. Azikqua (talk) 05:28, 4 March 2024 (UTC)

Yes! Where's the usual list of movies, stage, and TV work that we usually have for actors of her stature? Pascalulu88 (talk) 23:12, 27 May 2024 (UTC)
DITTO! The literal reason I came to the article. Also, why was this talk section the opposite of most, with newest subjects first?
You mean this? --Escape Orbit (Talk) 21:43, 2 February 2025 (UTC)

Not a biggie, but in the text about Emma's early life, it says:
"After successfully taking A levels in English, French and Latin, and securing a scholarship, she began studying for an English degree at Newnham College, Cambridge, arriving in 1977."
But at that time (1977), university places for British citizens were completely free to the student, if that university offered the student a place, the fees and a maintenance grant were paid for by the government. I think the use of the word 'scholarship', which implies financial support, is incorrect, and should be swapped for the 'she was offered a place' at Newnham College, Cambridge. 76.167.242.86 (talk) 20:01, 14 May 2025 (UTC)

Without reading the book cited it's hard to say.  But the scholarship is most likely not just the place at Cambridge, and almost certainly financial support.  Student grants from the Government were only a proportion of what was needed to live on, depending on the student's financial circumstances.  The expectation was money from other sources would be obtained, usually from parents or the student working part-time.  A scholarship was essentially a gift from a benefactor interested in helping out promising students, so that they did not have to rely on the grant, parents, or working themselves.  I don't expect Thompson to have been hard up, so it's most likely an indication of her academic achievements than her financial needs.   But this is just me guessing.  I see no reason to doubt or change what the article says.--Escape Orbit (Talk) 05:31, 15 May 2025 (UTC)
The grant was means-tested: I went to King's in 1974, and got a minimum grant of I think £50 a term. I also won an Exhibition (a minor Scholarship) from King's itself, which amounted to something like £40. IIRC the fees were something like £500 a term, and of course that didn't include living expenses. ColinFine (talk) 21:10, 31 August 2025 (UTC)