Today, a letter to the editor suggesting that an error has been made will usually be forwarded to the readersвЂ™ editor for investigation and publication of a correction if merited. вЂњBy a printerвЂ™s error, our notice of вЂTristan and IsoldeвЂ™ published on Saturday was made to say: вЂThe love of the fair is without alloy from any other human interest or feeling.вЂ™вЂќ This was, said the correction, вЂњa monstrous propositionвЂќ, going on to reassure any reader who thought coconut shies were involved that it was the вЂњlove of the pairвЂќ (the eponymous couple) that was so unalloyed. (Names have remained a challenge: we once called a womenвЂ™s a cappella group Foul Purpose instead of Soul Purpose, while the president of the European Central Bank, Wim Duisenberg, became Dim Wuisenberg.)Д«ut it is hard to find a correction in 200 years that reveals the editorвЂ™s ire more than this one from November 1911. Otherwise, early corrections mostly concerned mistakes with peopleвЂ™s names and, more often вЂ“ when prices, profits and public expenditure were being reported вЂ“ with numbers. As the next edition explained, that should have been fables. On 26 July 1834, an advertisement headed вЂњForeign LanguagesвЂќ had promoted books including вЂњa collection of interesting tables, in PortugueseвЂќ. In the earliest days they included apologies not just for faults in articles. Well, the pen is mightier.Д«efore the arrival of a dedicated column for corrections, readers had to seek out occasional paragraphs prefixed вЂњErratumвЂќ (in the 19th century) or вЂњA correctionвЂќ (in the 20th century), which were dotted around the paper like a kind of вЂњspot the balls-upвЂќ competition. However that bungle occurred, it was surely a mishearing that in 1838 led a leading article on the new poor laws to refer to unrest in Todmorden caused not by rioters but by вЂњwritersвЂќ. Blameless hatmakers were never in the contemplation of the writer, who had referred more generally to вЂњheartless sneerersвЂќ. In 1928 the newspaper confessed how a вЂњtypographical blunder, against which in works so hastily committed to the press as newspapers are, it is not at all times possible to guard,вЂќ had caused the author of a letter to condemn вЂњshallow and heartless millinersвЂќ. If there was a golden age of flawless journalism вЂ“ something occasionally claimed by wistful readers вЂ“ it exists mostly in the imagination. He is, we are glad to say, still in farily good health.вЂќ Ninety years later, an article that referred to gay and lesbian people serving in the armed forces noted how the admiral of the fleet, Peter Hill-Norton, had вЂњgone a little quiet on the subjectвЂќ. On 24 February 1914, the newspaper hurried to set the record straight: вЂњIn a report of yesterdayвЂ™s Devon and Cornwall dinner, Mr C W Provis was referred to as вЂthe lateвЂ™ Mr Provis. This is not the place to relive the worst of them, and thankfully they have been rare, but suffice to say a category of mistake that engenders particular pain and regret concerns purported life or death. All newspapers occasionally make serious errors, the prompt and prominent correction of which matters not only to those misrepresented but also for the accrual of trust among readers in general. The chief aim of listing corrections is not, of course, mirth. In 2007 it blushed: вЂњWe misspelled the word misspelled twice, as mispelled, in the Corrections and clarifications column on September 26.вЂќ Sometimes the red pen must take itself to task. вЂњ should have been the Scottish band Frightened Rabbit,вЂќ deadpanned the next dayвЂ™s corrections column. If further proof were needed of the havoc one missing letter can produce, among the highlights expected at Glastonbury 2010 was the group Frightened Rabbi. Anyone spluttering over their morning muesli at this point might have reached for GlaxoвЂ™s вЂњcontroversial treatment for irritable bowl syndromeвЂќ, as we once had it. Readers were informed that the 2003 spring season at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon would feature вЂњThe Taming of the ScrewвЂќ. We had a rather agile George Formby standing on a lamp-post, rather than leaning on one, in August 2002, which was around the same time we referred to a Miles Davis album as Sketches of Pain (when Spain was meant). Thus we can recall how an April 1998 obituary declared the show that turned Joan Heal into a star was Grab Me a Gondolier (it should have read Grab Me a Gondola ), while four months later the finance pages reported a ВЈ250,000 advance for Vikram SethвЂ™s new novel, вЂњA Suitable BuyвЂќ.

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