Titian Trivia Tiff

This is a photograph of David Cameron, leader of the Conservative Party, delivering his keynote speech at the 2008 Conservative Conference last October. Apparently the Tory leader enjoys speaking and is not shy about vigorously expressing his opinions. Recently, he decided to engage Prime Minister Gordon Brown in a little spitting contest over, I kid you not, Titian's age at death.

The Prime Minister, in remarks made addressing the current global financial meltdown during the World Economic Forum in Davos, mentioned that Titan died at age 90 and was quoted as saying shortly beforehand that he was "...finally beginning to learn how to paint." Titian was in his (estimated) 70s when that quote was recorded, but minor matter.

David Cameron, however, seized upon the 90-years-old figure stated by the Prime Minister and publicly mocked Mr. Brown for getting his Titian dates wrong. Mr. Cameron stated that, no, Titian had died at age 86. Larger matter.

• He stated that Titian dying at age 86 was a fact.
• Some underling on his staff subsequently edited Titian's Wikipedia entry to make death at age 86 factual.

No, Mr. Cameron, and for shame, tinkering Underling. There are no "facts" regarding Titian's age. We only have recorded evidence of his date of death. Estimates of his true age at that time range from your 86 to 103, but even Titian didn't know how old he was. By even modern standards he lived to be an extremely senior citizen. However, it's not your prerogative to declare as fact how old Titian was. And for Pete's sake, keep your minion's fingers out of Wikipedia. This sort of partisan, anonymous editing is precisely why most educators worldwide do not accept Wikipedia as a credible reference.

Quite honestly, both of you, aren't there bigger issue fish to batter, deep fry and subsequently butt heads over than Titian references? Titian was never in danger of being unemployed and homeless. Next time nitpick over something to which your constituencies can relate, would you please?

Image credit: David Cameron hit back over Labour claims that he lacks experience to guide Britain through a financial crisis. October 1, 2008. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)