• An article (“Blitz tragedy that was hushed up is echoed in McQueen’s new film”, 15 September, p11) said the wartime disaster at Bethnal Green tube station, in which 173 people seeking shelter were killed in a crush, inspired the writer-director Steve McQueen’s latest work, Blitz, and quoted comments he made previously about researching that tragedy. McQueen has asked us to clarify that the German bombing of Balham underground station, where 68 people died amid the resulting flood, was also a key influence.
• The ratio of female to male contestants in Strictly Come Dancing 2024 is six to nine, not five to 10 (“Strictly returns after months of turmoil”, 15 September, p5, later editions).
• In two articles about the National Gallery’s Vincent van Gogh exhibition, Poets and Lovers, we said that his 1888 Portrait of a Peasant had never before left the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena. It has twice been loaned, in special exchanges, but until now has never come to the UK (“Vincent reframed”, 15 September, p40, and “Van Gogh turned up to 11”, New Review, p24).
• An image was captioned as “A 17th-century painting of young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart”. The portrait, by Franz Thaddäus Helbling, circa 1767/8, was previously said to show the composer, but is now acknowledged to portray a young Salzburg aristocrat, Count Karl Firmian (“Bach Jr was the darling of Georgian London. Can that passion be revived?”, 15 September, p21, early editions).
Other recently amended articles include:
We’re living in the age of rage. I’m a psychoanalyst – here’s what we need to do to calm down
Gisèle Pelicot is a one-woman challenge to the still too common myths about rape
Dream ’scapes: Europe’s 10 best surrealist trips for art lovers
• Write to the Readers’ Editor, the Observer, York Way, London N1 9GU, email observer.readers@observer.co.uk, tel 020 3353 4736
