A couple of days ago, a list of addresses of people connected to the BNP was made public on the web – and I guess most of us now have seen a copy, even though it is no longer on the blog where it was posted. A quick ‘google’ will let you find both the original list and also a number of sites where you can do on line searches by location, postcode, etc as well as mapped data. The BNP list contains a Peter Marshall (who is presumably the Peter Marshall also listed on a BNP web site as the BNP candidate for the Central Ward in the 2008 Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council local elections) but it certain isn’t me.
NF marchers in Bermondsey, April 2001
Among several people who made the list available on their own web sites for a while was a photographer Peter Marshall, (or Pete) who covers some similar events to me, but is based in the Birmingham area. When his name was published in the papers, somel people assumed it was me. There is yet another photographer of the same name who works as a wedding photographer – and doubtless others. c
Peter Marshall just happens to be a very common name. Here are just a few more of us found in a quick search on Google:
- Peter Marshall, academic, activist, author of books on William Blake, William Godwin, a history fo Anarchism and much more
- Peter Marshall a Scottish-born Presbyterian who was chaplain to the US Senate during the Second World War.
- Peter Marshall, son of No.2, also a USAmerican preacher, who got to petermarshall.com before me
- Peter Marshall USAmerican singer game show host
- Peter Marshall UK television announcer who hosted Sale of the Century years ago.
- Peter Marshall “one of the greatest squash players of all time.”
- Peter Marshall a leading USAmerican swimmer.
- Peter Marshall, Commissioner of the City of London Police around 1980
- Peter Marshall, a photographer based in the Birmingham area
- And then there is me! One of my various domains is peter-marshall.com which has some old pictures of Paris I took in the 1970s. But I’m I hope rather better known for My London Diary.
I think I was possibly given the name Peter after No. 2 on the list, but so far as I know am not related to any of the others. My own personal details have been on the web since 1995, but were very definitely not in that BNP list.
Unite against the BNP Rally – Dagenham, Dec 2006
Do I have any connection with the BNP? Well, I have photographed a number of right wing demonstrations – as have most photographers who cover events on the streets. You can see my coverage of both the demonstration against the BNP and the BNP meeting addressed by Richard Barnbrook at Dagenham in December 2006 on My London Diary. But I’m clearly opposed to them and their policies.
Quite a few to choose from!
Tip of a very big ice-berg.
Were I starting in photography again, I think I’d change my name to something less common! Or perhaps just use my middle name as well.