Talk:Alexander McCall Smith

Dates

Not sure about some of the dates on the list of books in this article, if anyone has a reliable source they could use checking. Ta. TB 16:14, 28 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Return to Botswana

A sentence in the article says "After returning to Botswana to teach law [...]" - the choice of "returning" is confusing, as this is the first mention of Botswana in the article. - Kaare 15:43, 26 February 2006 (UTC)

You could have fixed it! I've tweaked the sentence, which is now a little less confusing. --Mike 14:38, 17 March 2006 (UTC)

Books

I've added in some missing books to the "Academic Texts" section and fleshed out some details for ones that were already there. I've deleted two from the list: "Changing People: The Law and Ethics of Behavior Modification" (1994) may have been a work in progress at some point but appears never to have been published; I cannot find any confirmation of a book called "Health Resources and the Law" (1994), which appears to have been listed in error. 87.113.6.30 00:28, 31 May 2006 (UTC)

Some material

There is a McCall Smith interview here: http://www.soschildrensvillages.org.uk/charity-news/a-mccall-smitn-interview.htm which has some IMHO interesting material including on why he does not talk about AIDS in his books. --BozMo talk 06:40, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

Name

The article states his name as Alexander (R.A.A.) "Sandy" McCall Smith. What does the parenthetical 'R.A.A.' indicate? —Theo (Talk) 11:19, 26 September 2009 (UTC)

His initials. R. A. A. McCall Smith, known as Alexander, informally known as Sandy. Flapdragon (talk) 00:14, 27 September 2009 (UTC)

I could only find R. Alexander here. If you have a source for R. A. A. I'd love to have it so we can put it in. TuckerResearch (talk) 05:33, 26 August 2012 (UTC)

There are many results on Google books for legal works attributed to 'R. A. A. McCall Smith'; although given the subject matter and the previous use in the article of 'R. A. A.' it seems to be a safe bet that it's the same chap, more corroborating evidence might be required?Ashiyura (talk) 00:51, 22 May 2014 (UTC)

For anyone who might be interested in this (admittedly very minor) matter: this 1965 (i.e. when he would still have been there, given his age) mention of a 'Rodney McCall Smith', educated at Christian Brothers College, http://books.google.co.uk/books?ei=Tkt9U_nqFYfT7Aabw4DACw&id=IHUrAQAAMAAJ&dq=Bulawayo+McCall+Smith&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=Rodney, corroborated by a publicly-available electoral roll record of a 'Rodney Alexander McCall Smith' resident in Edinburgh, would seem to suggest that this is Mr McCall Smith, the author. Since he doesn't use the 'Rodney', though, it's probably not very important! Ashiyura (talk) 01:06, 22 May 2014 (UTC)

And, finally, I've managed to find what the second 'A' stands for, albeit in a not-quite-acceptable-for-Wikipedia-purposes source (companydirectorcheck.com): along with his wife, Elizabeth Dorothy McCall Smith, the gentleman himself is listed as 'Rodney Alexander ALASDAIR McCall Smith'. Phew! Granted, we can't include it without a better source, but for reference's sake I thought it'd be worth adding that titbit here! EDIT: Also, see here for corroboration of the 'Alasdair'; however one slices it, he just doesn't use the 'Rodney': http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-2697000060.htmlAshiyura (talk) 23:09, 29 January 2015 (UTC)

I respecfully suggest that his birth name of Rodney Alexander McCall Smith be entered in the Born: entry of his information box directly beneath his photograph. Now, can anyone clear up the second A in R. A. A. McCall Smith?
☺ Dick Kimball (talk) 12:34, 3 October 2014 (UTC)

External Links

Per WP:EL, I have trimmed the list of External Links. Perhaps a couple more could be removed? --BwB (talk) 13:56, 12 February 2010 (UTC)

See Wild has restored the EL's I removed yesterday. I do not want to get into a edit war about this. If more EL's are desired, great, but guidelines suggest less are better. --BwB (talk) 11:25, 13 February 2010 (UTC)

I haven't read all the links, but common sense suggests that shorter articles (like this one) should have more external links than more mature ones, so that readers can find in depth coverage. --Hroðulf (or Hrothulf) (Talk) 06:52, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

I've trimmed the links. It's been more than two years. Some are interviews, some were just news articles that I stuck in the text. Less links the better. TuckerResearch (talk) 05:34, 26 August 2012 (UTC)

nationality: scottish

shouldn't this be British? Sweetie candykim (talk) 15:12, 4 July 2010 (UTC)

Have you ever told a Scot he was really a Brit? --Michael K Smith^Talk 18:31, 6 April 2012 (UTC)

There is no Scottish nationality. He is a British subject and citizen. To call him Scottish is like calling George Bush a Texan.203.184.41.226 (talk) 01:03, 6 February 2013 (UTC)

The assertion that there is no Scottish nationality is simply wrong. The comparison is also invalid. PRL42 (talk) 07:36, 6 February 2013 (UTC)

Not even invalid, just dumb.

Last name

Although I haven't been able to find any explicit statement of it, "McCall" is not a middle name but part of his surname, as used in several articles, including one quoted on his own home page. This is unusual enough, at least in the US, that I've added a sentence to the lede paragraph, with three references. --Thnidu (talk) 22:20, 15 October 2013 (UTC)

Not a drug!

This talk page was listed as Start-class in WikiProject Psychedelics, Dissociatives and Deliriants. I'd call it vandalism, but it was done by a bot, User:Yobot. I've deleted the banner (and thus also the category membership) and am noting this on User talk:Yobot. --Thnidu (talk) 22:35, 15 October 2013 (UTC)

It was a bot bug that happened 3 years ago. -- Magioladitis (talk) 22:44, 15 October 2013 (UTC)

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Bibliography

I have taken the really LONG bibliography from this page and moved it to a dedicated Alexander McCall Smith bibliography page. Please improve it! But also decide what should go here in the "Select bibliography" section. (I also added his recent book of poems.) TuckerResearch (talk) 20:09, 8 August 2023 (UTC)