At least the Guardian’s Ewan Murray and Sky Sports’ Ewen Murray work for different outlets (A tale of two Murrays: when Ewan met Ewen to talk Tiger Woods, stiff gins and 15 years of mistaken identity, 8 August). Stephen Moss (former literary editor, and chess and classical music expert) and I (Birdwatch columnist) both write for the Guardian, causing endless confusion.
A member of Sedgemoor chess club once told me that “We would be very honoured if you could come and give us a game” (they wouldn’t), while a woman, after admitting that she “quite enjoyed” my birding articles, spoiled it by adding “but when you write about classical music, it’s absolutely wonderful!”
To my shame, I did not credit my talented doppelganger.
Stephen Moss
Mark, Somerset
With reference to Ewan Murray’s article about meeting Ewen Murray, and the two being mistaken for each other, these days I have resigned myself to being “the other Stephen Moss”.
I manage to write a book about once a decade (at best), usually on some minority pursuit such as chess or cricket. The real, remarkably productive Stephen Moss knocks off bestsellers every other month. The Owl, The Robin, The Swan, The Swallow, The Wren. There are 11,000 bird species. That’s a lot of potential books. But I am NOT bitter.
We are about the same age and, though we have never met, have tracked each other’s careers closely. He wrote for BBC Wildlife; I wrote for BBC Music magazine. The BBC sometimes used to send me his cheques as payment for pieces. Always very welcome. We have both had long associations with the Guardian.
I get very tempting offers of birdwatching holidays across Europe and the US. One day I will accept one, even though I can barely tell a buzzard from a blackbird. I frequently get emails, with a detailed description, reporting a rare bird that a Guardian reader has seen on their local lake. My stock response is to say it’s a short-eared Siberian warbler – the first one seen in the UK since 1711 – and they should report it to the RSPB.
It could all have been so different. Radio 5 Live once confused us and asked me to appear to discuss the killing of garden birds by domestic cats. I politely pointed out their mistake, but now realise what I should have done: go on and welcome this bird massacre. That would have caused a dent in the real, annoyingly successful Stephen Moss’s reputation and sales, leaving me to rule the roost. But I am not bitter!
Stephen Moss
Surbiton, London