Talk:Bill Bryson

message: I'm not sure, but I believe I'm a Stranger Here Myself and Notes From a Big Country are corresponding US/UK editions. I also found reference to a book by Bryson called Bizarre World but could find no further detail. Cheers.
No - I'm a Stranger Here Myself  is a US edition of "The Lost Continent".
I've briefly researched "Bizarre World," and it seems the book was written not by the Bill Bryson of "Mother Tongue" fame, but by another author altogether.  As such, I've removed the reference. Martschink
No - I'm a Stranger Here Myself  is a US edition of "Notes from a Big Country". Courseiam 14:38, 17 August 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  US/UK Editions 

message: can somone get the links working for african diary and things like that?--fwed66 16:34, 5 June 2006 (GMT)
:We don't have articles for those red links. ! --ⁿɡ͡b Nick Boalch\talk 15:51, 5 June 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: dead links

message: A professor told me that Bryson dodged the Vietnam draft, which is why he moved to England in thje first place.  Anyone know if that can be verified?--Bedford 23:16, 13 October 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: According to The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, Bryson avoided the draft by avoiding expulsion from Roosevelt High School and enrolling in Drake University. Considering that a great many young men at the time had student deferments, this doesn't seem like much of a bio item, compared to other facts about his life. Demi T/C 21:34, 7 January 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Draft Dodging 

message: I think the image makes him a little too small - nice photo, but its more of a durham cathedral shot than that of bill. Could it be cropped perhaps?
:Done. Ian Dunster (talk) 15:28, 16 April 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Picture 

message: Didn't he live in London at some point during his first stint in the UK?  He mentions it in Small Island.  And it can't be an easy commute from North Yorkshire to the offices of The Times. Lfh 22:34, 5 December 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  London 

message: Does no-one else feel uncomfortable with providing Katz' real name? Bryson is pretty scathing about him in "Neither here nor there". I suggest dropping this. It serves no purpose. I haven't looked at "Thunderbolt kid" for more info. Will do soon. 129.67.140.39 17:04, 24 May 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: It was me who added Katz' real name. At the time, the link directed to an interview with Bryson, but clearly it has since been removed. Way to archive, ITV! I don't have any qualms about removing the information. - Dudesleeper ·  Talk 13:38, 31 August 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Katz 

message: I don't see how he can have lived full time in Yorkshire when he was a staff journalist on London papers. Dominictimms 00:12, 14 June 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Living in Yorkshire ????

message: Latest book (Thunderbolt Kid) gives his web site as billbrysonofficial.co.uk which seems to end up at 
http://www.booksattransworld.co.uk/billbryson
The official web site given in Wiki is the old one from another publisher.
Bill bryson used to live in London during the working week and travel back to north yorkshire on the weekends.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.204.153.20 (talk) 10:24, 17 July 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Official Web Site

message: I reverted the Bournemouth Echo edit because the anonymous person's edit two minutes later was this. - Dudesleeper  Talk 16:24, 31 January 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Revert

message: More than once, but particularly in Lost continent, Bill has spoken of the quality of his father's baseball writings.  I know nothing about baseball or it's written history, but I am surprised not to find reference to these commentaries elsewhere in Wikipedia.  Is there some archive of great sports writing somewhere?  The american versions of Neville Cardus ?  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Brunnian (talk • contribs) 19:48, 14 March 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Father 

message: I put in that he is of maternal Irish descent and added him to the Americans of Irish descent category for a second time. I hope that someone doesn't delete it again.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.139.66.8 (talk) 14:12, 18 September 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: Do you have a source for it? TimidGuy (talk) 14:39, 18 September 2008 (UTC)

text: Then please go ahead and add it, citing the source. TimidGuy (talk) 14:43, 19 September 2008 (UTC)

text: It would be helpful if you cited the source, that is, give the name of the book and the page number. Post that information on the Talk page of the person who reverted you. And explain that you'd like to add that category. I can't see that there'd be any problem with it. Adding the information to the article itself is a matter of judgment. To me, it would seem odd to mention ancestry on one side but not on the other. And unless one grows up in an ethnic community in the U.S., such information about ancestry would seem trivial. But I'm sure good arguments could be made for inclusion. In any case, editors are much less inclined to remove any information that is properly sourced. My guess is that if you had included a citation, this information wouldn't have been removed. TimidGuy (talk) 16:44, 26 September 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Ancestry

message: His real name is listed on this ITN page about the South Bank Show on which "Katz" was interviewed. I'll leave it to others to decide whether or not it should be included in the article, though I'd lean slightly against on the grounds that "Katz" is not really a public figure in himself. 86.132.138.159 (talk) 20:06, 15 January 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: I do think it would be good to be cautious, especially since Bryson's accounts are unflattering, given the serious alcoholism, etc. Wikipedia is very prominent. Once we added this, if someone Googled his name, this would likely be the first search result. TimidGuy (talk) 21:21, 15 January 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Katz again 

message: Well nobody seems to know that he is British Citizen or not-- and if he started in 1995 he should be one by now. That being said he had "Lately moved" to New Hampshire in "late Summer of 1996" according to the intro of "I'm a Stranger Here Myself"(UK title "Notes from a Large Country)-- US - so that may have reset the process.
If so, the intro should NOT have OBE after his name. Honorary titles cannot be used in names. And anyway titles, I believe, cannot be used *as such* in the United States-- though people can call themselves what they want so there is nothing stopping him calling himself Bill Bryson OBE if he wants. (In the UK it is illegal to affect a title one does not have.)
So I think we should scrub the "OBE" in the intro. And also that he is British, if he is not.
SimonTrew (talk) 01:55, 5 March 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  British/OBE again 

message: I notice the link I instated to the fact Bryson is a judge of this annual competition for travel guides has been removed. I'd suggest it's actually of interest to people interested in his work and demonstrates another facet of his personality.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Wanderlust magazine (talk • contribs) 15:43, 16 June 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: It was removed due to your blatant username policy and conflict of interest violation. No objection if another, uninvolved editor believes the external link added () enhances the reader's understanding of the subject. KuyaBriBriTalk 15:55, 16 June 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Wanderlust Paul Morrison Guide Awards 

message: I recalled reading a National Geographic article written by Bryson, about hedgerows (forget the issue and date).  Did he write other articles and is this worth mentioning in the entry?  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.41.111.124 (talk) 22:13, 24 July 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: The hedgerows entry was probably about ancient British hedges (I remember a few bits he said about them in various of his books). If you can source it, it is probably better mentioned under the article Bill Bryson, not the article about this book in particular. He may have mentioned Martha's Hedge (a hedge a couple of thousand years old) in this book, but I think it was in another and have a hard time placing it from memory. Si Trew (talk) 15:27, 26 July 2010 (UTC)

text: Hi freaky dragonlady, No, articles can't be mentioned because writers like Bryson have written thousands of them in their working life. Article, essays, single poems etc often sneak into works lists by accident, as here. Thanks for flagging it up. Best wishes Spanglej (talk) 23:49, 5 September 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Articles 

message: Wasn't "notes From A Small Island" televised, also presented by Bryson, six episodes on ITV about ten years ago?--TimothyJacobson (talk) 14:35, 26 July 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: I believe it was. I think that is why in section "Reception" it says "The book was adapted for Carlton Television in 1998 and appeared as a six-part 30-minute documentary broadcast on ITV from January to February 1999." Si Trew (talk) 15:22, 26 July 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: Thanks, it is mentioned on this page in the travel section, just found it; you are right, it is also mentioned in the section "Reception" on the page about the specific book--TimothyJacobson (talk) 15:41, 27 July 2010 (UTC)
thread_title: Tv show

message: This book seems to be missing from the books section: ISBN-13: 978-0061999772  ISBN-10: 0061999776 
Title: Seeing Further: The Story of Science, Discovery, and the Genius of the Royal Society  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.27.198.48 (talk) 19:00, 2 March 2015 (UTC)
replies: text: The table in the article is prefixed by a statement saying "Bryson has written the following books". But as far as that book goes, he didn't actually write it, so the book doesn't seem to belong in that table. He was the book's editor, not its writer. It is a collection of things that other people wrote (accompanied by a few remarks by him). Perhaps it can be mentioned in the article, but we shouldn't just list it as one of the books he wrote. There are lots of review comments on Amazon from people who bought the book and were disappointed to discover its actual content. —BarrelProof (talk) 21:33, 2 March 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Seeing Further 

message: Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just modified  on Bill Bryson. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
*Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20131023055359/https://www.pomfretschool.org/podium/default.aspx?t=44764&rc=1 to https://www.pomfretschool.org/podium/default.aspx?t=44764&rc=1
*Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20070317213050/http://durham21.co.uk:80/archive/archive.asp?ID=3505 to http://www.durham21.co.uk/archive/archive.asp?ID=3505
*Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20080331141851/http://www.st-christophers.co.uk:80/backpacker-resources/interviews/bill-bryson-interview to http://www.st-christophers.co.uk/backpacker-resources/interviews/bill-bryson-interview
When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true or failed to let others know (documentation at ).
Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 07:46, 2 November 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  External links modified 

message: Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just modified 5 external links on Bill Bryson. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
*Corrected formatting/usage for http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/profile/story/0%2C11109%2C1642405%2C00.html
*Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20071027173204/http://www.number10.gov.uk/output/Page10500.asp to http://number10.gov.uk/output/Page10500.asp
*Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20080625025709/http://www.randomhouse.com/features/billbryson/news/CityofDesMoinesProclamation.pdf to http://www.randomhouse.com/features/billbryson/news/CityofDesMoinesProclamation.pdf
*Corrected formatting/usage for http://durham21.co.uk/archive/archive.asp?ID=3505
*Corrected formatting/usage for http://www.st-christophers.co.uk/backpacker-resources/interviews/bill-bryson-interview
When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.
Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 04:57, 20 July 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  External links modified 

message: I don’t believe this should be listed under Bryson’s works. He didn’t write the book, just the introduction. I will remove unless there are any objections. A bright cold day in april (talk) 09:03, 19 December 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  The English Landscape: Its Character and Diversity 

message: Ramanujan was Indian, and while the government was British, it is not certain Indians were considered full British subjects. Hopefully this can be cleared up. 2601:1C0:6C03:3760:3453:35F5:6E54:1E05 (talk) 15:47, 22 November 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  First Foreign FRS Questionable