back to article Fox News outs Beatles as 'Manchester's favorite mopheads'

FoxNews.com has got its knickers in a twist about the birthplace of some pop band called the Beatles. As illustrated below, the US news outfit is quite certain in a news article curiously carrying a Wall Street Journal byline that the Fab Four are from Manchester and not Liverpool. Fox says Beatles are from Manchester …

COMMENTS

This topic is closed for new posts.
  1. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    Meh

    So about as accurate as EVER OTHER REPORT ON FOX NEWS! Pardon me for shouting....

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    Well there we go,

    Fox News - high quality journalism at its finest. Thank the Lord that we have someone as trustworthy and capable as Murdoch feeding us our news.

  3. Guido Esperanto
    FAIL

    Who'da thunk it

    Fox News getting its facts wrong.

    Bet other media outlets are shi**ing themselves.

  4. Subtilior
    Linux

    Manchester Mopheads

    If they are the preferred Mopheads of Manchester, then they are Manchester's favourite Mopheads, no matter whence they came, innit? You don't know of any Mopheads that Manchester likes better than the Beatles, right?

    1. LuMan
      Thumb Up

      @Subtilior

      Y'know, I was thinking the same thing. A bit pedantic, it may be, but still accurate (from a certain point of view).

      It's just like saying that Man Utd is the Falklands' favourite football team (which, given the distance between Manchester and the Falklands is probably true....)

    2. frank 3
      Pirate

      erm...

      Happy Mondays

      Stone Roses

      The Fall

      Morrissey

      The Smiths

      808 State

      My mate Bill who sings down the pub occasionally.

      Practically ANYONE, in fact, because of the historical enmity between the two cities.

      1. Subtilior
        Go

        re: erm...

        I lounge corrected, except I'm not sure all of those count as mopheads though.

      2. Caustic Soda

        "Manchester"?

        Aren't The Fall technically a Salford band, rather than a Manchester one?

  5. Greg J Preece

    Not the first people to get those two mixed up

    If you ever play Resistance, watch with mirth as the cities of England keep swapping places in the FMVs.

  6. BillyIdol
    Paris Hilton

    Confused

    I think Faux News have confused the original scouse mop heads with the tribute band called Oasis from Manchester. Easy mistake to make, after all that beacon of democracy also told us Bush won 2 elections...

    Paris, because we will still be making jokes when the members of Oasis as old as the surviving Beatles are now.

    1. Sarah Bee (Written by Reg staff)

      Re: Confused

      How much subversion can you cram into one comment? Amazing.

      1. Jason Hall

        Nice one

        Very well done though. Innit?

      2. M Gale
        Badgers

        Well you did ask.

        #!/bin/bash

        # svndiff 1.0

        # usage: svndiff file

        if [[ ! -d .svn ]]

        then

        echo ERROR: You are not working in an SVN directory.

        exit 1

        fi

        rev="--revision HEAD"

        if [[ ! -n $1 ]]

        then

        echo "Usage: svndiff [option] file"

        echo "Options:"

        echo " -h Diff with latest in repository (HEAD) - Default"

        echo " -b Diff with what you had checked out (BASE)"

        echo " -c Diff with COMMITTED, the version before BASE"

        echo " -p Diff with PREV, the version before COMMITTED"

        echo " -r revnum Diff with specified revision (specify integer)"

        exit 1

        fi

        while getopts ":r:hbcp" Option

        do

        case $Option in

        h) rev="--revision HEAD";;

        b) rev="--revision BASE";;

        c) rev="--revision COMMITTED";;

        p) rev="--revision PREV";;

        r) rev="--revision $OPTARG";;

        *) echo "Incorrect option specified. Use -h or -b or -r #";;

        esac

        done

        shift $(($OPTIND -1))

        # Define graphical diff tool

        #

        # The geometry option used by Motif, Tcl and X based programs

        geometry="-geometry 1280x800+0+0"

        # The following is for Motif diff

        # -w: ignore white space

        dif="mgdiff -args -w"

        file=$1

        prev=${file}_PREV

        # Trap bash command signals

        # SIGINT 2

        # SIGQUIT 3

        # SIGTERM 15

        trap "rm -f $prev" 2 3 15

        svn cat $rev $file > $prev 2>/dev/null

        $dif $geometry $prev $file

        sleep 1

        rm -f $prev

        ...Would that be enough?

    2. Michael 66
      Black Helicopters

      Bush had a majority vote!

      I remember it in 2000! 5 Conservative Supreme Court justices to 4 Liberals voted him in. Isn't that the way democracy works?

  7. OldDogNewWalk
    FAIL

    Sorry Sarah.....Please don't hit me......AGAINNNNNNNNnnnnn....

    Bleeding bhaand ter 'appen iffen yer lets ruddy kids write storys, innit!?

  8. TeeCee Gold badge
    Badgers

    Oh come on!

    It'll almost certainly turn out that they looked it up on Wikipedia.....

    1. nowster

      Wikipedia

      As it's now a published "fact", it can be cited on Wikipedia.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Only if..

        It comes from a reliab source with a reputation for fact checking.

        So that's a no.

  9. Andy Hards
    Happy

    They still think

    Obama was born in Iranistan or somwhere forrin, so why let facts get in the way?

    FAIR AND BALANCED OR ELSE!!!!

  10. Paul Williams
    Troll

    Im sure it wont be that big a deal.

    After all, Scousers are famed for their level-headedness....

    1. TheRealRoland

      Are ye pickin' a fight? Are ye pickin' a fight?

      They do that though, don't they though?

      Ah, The Fast Show... Brilliant!

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Headmaster

        as a real scouser....

        that should be,,,

        "de do dat dough, don't de dough...."

        or more accurately...

        "dee do dough don't de dough...."

        if the first was from the fast show (which i never watched) like wikipedia and faux news... they got it wrong...

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: dey do dat dough...

          I suspect it was first from Stan Boardman, well before the fast show

          1. Grease Monkey Silver badge

            Dey do dough don't dey?

            That was shirley Ringo in Yellow Submarine before it was Stan Boardman. Of course, as eny fule know Ringo was actually Paul Angelis.

      2. NogginTheNog
        WTF?

        Fast Show?

        Weren't 'The Scousers' from the Harry Enfield shows?

        Admittedly they did both had Paul Whitehouse and Charlie Higson involved...

  11. Jim 59

    Melon

    You're twisting my melon man

    1. Sarah Bee (Written by Reg staff)

      Re: Melon

      Call the mops.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    But which one?

    New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut or Tennessee.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Fox News

    Only claim to be "fair and balanced*", not factually correct.

    To anyone who has ever watched Fox News (try it when very drunk - it is much funnier) the fact that they got the facts wrong is as surprising as learning that Katie Perry bounces her boobies around a lot in her letest video.

    *That they are neither fair nor balanced is beside the point.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Fox News - Fair and Balanced

      First rule of advertising and PR - take the worst negative aspect of the clients brand, invert it and then repeat this message as widely as possible.

  14. Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge

    I thought Fox News

    was a contradiction in terms

  15. Levente Szileszky

    It's FauxNews - what's news here?

    Seriously asking. How. Is. It. Surprising?

  16. Number6

    Wikipedia

    I did go and check that no one had hacked the Beatles' Wikipedia entry to read Manchester rather than Liverpool. That would have been the icing on the cake.

    1. Mark Aggleton

      But

      The iTunes release has been added.

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Improvement

    Actually that's something of an improvement on the usual standard of British geography found in the US media. At least they got the right county (just so long as you stick to the old county designations). It's certainly an improvement on the usual assumption that everything in England comes from London.

    The last time I was in the states I was in Wichita and a local pointed out that my accent was unusual and asked where I was from. I replied that I was from Pontefract, Yorkshire in England. "I thought," he replied, evidently satisfied, "that you were from out of town." As far as he was concerned the world was split into two geographic areas, Wichita and "out of town". Other than that he seemed bright enough, so it wasn't that he was just some moron I'd stumbled accross.

    Conversely a similar conversation in Portland illicited the response, "Pontefract? That's where the liqorice comes from, right?" But then I got the impression that Portland was a bit different from every other city I every visited in the US.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Improvement

      When I worked there the usual response to whereI was from was, "England? Is that in London?"

      1. Greg J Preece

        I did once get this fine example:

        "What's the flag with the dragon on?"

        "That's Wales."

        "Aaah, Wales! That's in Scotland, right?"

        "Not quite."

  18. Primus Secundus Tertius

    Fabulous river Mersey

    Well, the fabulous river Mersey does go through south M/cr. I used to cross it on my way to work.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Eh?

      The Mersey goes near the city of Manchester, but not through it, but I don't see what that's got to do with it. The River Calder flows near Halifax but it wouldn't mean that anybody mixing up Halifax and Wakefield was suddenly right.

      1. frank 3

        does too!

        It goes through Chorlton

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Hello little old lady*

          "It goes through Chorlton"

          It runs between Chorlton and Sale which hardly puts it running through Manchester does it?

          *Never mind.

          1. NogginTheNog

            Depends

            I think a lot of people consider anywhere inside the M60 to be 'Manchester'...

            1. Grease Monkey Silver badge

              Salford

              "I think a lot of people consider anywhere inside the M60 to be 'Manchester'..."

              Don't tell the good burghers of Salford that.

    2. M Gale

      And the Manchester Ship Canal goes through Liverpool.

      But this doesn't explain a fuck-up of a proportion that only Fox could manage.

      Beatles, from Manchester? Well, that's given me my daily dose of laughs in one sitting.

      1. NogginTheNog

        No it doesn't

        The fabulous Manchester Ship Canal* runs south of the Mersey along it's western banks, eventually emptying into the estuary on the Wirral side. It never gets anywhere particularly near the city of Liverpool.

        *Fabulous 'cos I've always loved the sheer scale of ambition of those that decided Manchester could become a port to rival Liverpool, despite the fact it's 30+ miles inland!

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Murdoch...

    We all know he hates anything Liverpool related (try buying any of his publications, esp. The Sun on Merseyside!) but this is ridiculous! Is Kelvin "Odious Little Man" McKenzie editing the Fox News website now?

  20. Just Thinking

    Separated at birth

    Don't you think that one in the middle looks a bit like the facebook guy?

    1. Bill Fresher

      The one in the middle

      "the one in the middle"

      I think you'll find that's Paul Lennon.

      And yes he does a bit.

  21. Chris Hunt

    Hardly surprising

    I've just looked at the map, and Manchester is a good way to the right of Liverpool.

  22. GrahamT
    Boffin

    Mopheads?

    I'm surprised no one has pointed out that is is Moptops, not mopheads, unless Fox were being deliberately offensive.

    1. Grease Monkey Silver badge
      Flame

      Mancs

      Of course if they were really Mancs they'd be more likely to be smackheads than mopheads.

  23. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @AC RE:Murdoch hates Liverpool

    Although I am pretty sure Murdoch is not enamoured of Liverpool, the reason you can't buy the Sun on Merseyside is because Scouse newsagents refuse to stock it, not that News Corp refuse to provide it.

    It all goes back to the Hillsborough tragedy where theer were some [wildly speculative and very unconfirmed at the time and later shown to be untrue] allegations that some of the Liverpool supporters were stealing from casualties, pissing on paramedics and assaulting police who were trying to help teh injured. Most news outlets either ignored these allegations or made it clear they were unconfirmed and only allegations. MacKenzie's Sun however printed them as fact under the front page headline "THE TRUTH".

    Murdoch would love to sell The Sun in Liverpool, after Hillsborough circulation in Liverpool dropped some quarter of a million units a day which is rather a lot of profit that would otherwise have been made. Given he allegedly ordered MacKenzie to apologise (alleged by said MacKenzie) I doubt Murdoch would be that stupid as to alienate any more scousers.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Unhappy

      just a minor correction...

      "the reason you can't buy the Sun on Merseyside is because Scouse newsagents refuse to stock it, not that News Corp refuse to provide it."

      its more that people stopped buying it and boycotted the newsagents that carried on selling it..

      a mate of mine when his dog had pups would not even put the sun* on the floor for the dog to piss on...

      the editor, Kelvin Mackenzie admitted the story was a “fundamental mistake” before a Commons committee in 1993. But at a private lunch in 2006, he suggested he had only apologised because Rupert Murdoch forced him to and was quoted as saying: “All I did wrong was tell the truth … I was not sorry then and I’m not sorry now.”

      I could go on all day about it, but i think i made my point...

      *known as the scum in Liverpool.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Title

        "its more that people stopped buying it and boycotted the newsagents that carried on selling it.."

        While continuing to buy other products from the dirty digger.

        Oh well.

  24. ElReg!comments!Pierre
    Coat

    "New Zealand-born media mogul Rupert Murdoch."

    New Zealand? Isn't that in Tennessee?

  25. JonHendry

    Not so curiously

    " in a news article curiously carrying a Wall Street Journal byline"

    News Corp owns both Fox News and the Wall Street Journal.

    This is just another piece of evidence for the decline of the Journal since Murdoch bought it.

  26. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    So the Dixie Chicks....

    What part of Maine do they come from then?

    Is the Grand Canyon all in Los Angeles then?

    Seriously if we 'youropeeens' can take the trouble to find out where Bismarck is, surely y'all can make some kind of effort eh? It's North Dakota dudes.

    1. Grease Monkey Silver badge

      Dixie Chicks?

      Who the fuck are the Dixie Chicks?

  27. kain preacher

    fox newless

    There is nothing funny about Fox News. The people that belive in Fox grows every day and it scars me.

  28. Angus 2
    Joke

    Lol Kelly,

    I think you have just become persona non grata in Kiwiland. :P

  29. Nick Galloway
    Coffee/keyboard

    ...New Zealand?

    Being as much of a pedant as you guys, I enjoyed the 'New Zealand born Rupert Murdoch' note. Close but not quite, he was born in the less famed island off the West Coast of New Zealand, not called New New Zealand but for strange reasons of history and non-English languages, is called Australia. Not that it makes much difference as he is now a Yank!

    1. Grease Monkey Silver badge

      Irony

      That particular five letter word does not mean "in the manner of something made of iron" you know.

  30. Confuciousmobil
    Thumb Down

    Engleand

    The page is now updated to say "What's up Apple's sleeve? Apparently, England's favorite mopheads. "

  31. Andy Hards
    Pint

    In a diner one day I was asked

    where I was from and said England. Really what language do they speak there?

    1. Matt_W
      Joke

      Language?

      Were you complimented on how well you spoke American?

      1. TeeCee Gold badge
        Alert

        Many a true word......

        I remember showing an elderly American couple which ticket they required and how to use the ticket machine at Museum subway station in Prague.

        Once we'd finished and they had their tickets and directions, the bloke complimented me on my command of English. I replied that, while it was sometimes hard, those of us from England did our very best to pick it up.

        The ensuing silence was broken only by the sound of that one screaming through the stratosphere above him.........

This topic is closed for new posts.