Posts about provenance and urban myths

Back in 2011 I wrote a post about the provenance of quotes and stories, including quotes from Nye Bevan and Gandhi and a story about the violinist Itzhak Perlman.

I got a definitive answer to the Perlman story a couple of months later, from his agent.

Six years later the Bevan quote was tracked down by someone else who has discovered how it was misattributed to Bevan. Along the way I was weirdly referred to my own blog post about provenance when I asked someone where they got the quote from.

The Gandhi quotes are still outstanding. But I don't think they are genuine.

I've subsequently looked into a few more stories and things. Here's a list:

- Durer's praying hands are a drawing of his brother's hands after his brother paid for him to go to university, sacrificing his own artistic ability. Most likely made up by a motivational speaker.

- A kid with one arm wins a martial arts contest. No, he didn't.

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