The Top 10: Mistaken Identities

This list was suggested by Jeremy Benson when John Williams, who wrote the music for Star Wars, Schindler’s List and the first three Harry Potter films, was congratulated on his 88th birthday by the record label of another John Williams, the Australian classical guitarist, who is 78 and whose birthday it wasn’t.

Also this month the BBC captioned Marsha de Cordova as another Labour MP, Dawn Butler, and when the Evening Standard reported the confusion, it used a picture of Bell Ribeiro-Addy, a third black female Labour MP.

1. Kofi Annan and Morgan Freeman. The former UN secretary general was asked for his autograph by Italians who thought he was the Hollywood star. Thanks to Matthew Randall.

2. Isaiah Berlin and Irving Berlin. The songwriter was invited to lunch with Winston Churchill during the Second World War in place of Isaiah Berlin, the philosopher then working at the British embassy in Washington. Nominated by Allan Holloway, Nicci French and Angus Reilly.

3. Joel Coen and Joel Cohen. Bill Murray voiced the cartoon cat in Garfield: The Movie because he thought it was written by one of the Coen brothers, whose work he loved. Thanks to Matthew Randall, Tim Almond and Will Monk.

4. Bernard Donoughue and Brian Donohoe. The Labour MP for Cunninghame South was nearly made agriculture minister by Tony Blair in 1997, before the error was discovered and Lord Donoughue, adviser to Harold Wilson and James Callaghan, was appointed instead. Nominated by Philip.

5. Guy Kewney and Guy Goma. Goma came to the BBC for an interview for a job as an accountant and found himself in a TV studio answering questions about Apple Computer’s dispute with Apple, the Beatles’ record label, intended for Kewney, who is a tech journalist. Popular choice of Chris James, PD Anderson, Rob Smith, Stryker McGuire and Paul T Horgan.

6. John Lewis. “Every year, an American man called John Lewis politely fields thousands of confused tweets from British shoppers,” said Tom Doran.

7. Alistair Maclean, author of Where Eagles Dare, was invited on Desert Island Discs. Only during the recording did they discover they had ended up with Alistair Maclean, tourism director of Ontario. He spoke movingly about the beauty of southern Canada, but the programme was never broadcast. Thanks to Nicci French and Nick Dean.

8. John Major. A GLC councillor had his file mixed up with another John Major from Brixton. As they both applied for Conservative seats in the Seventies, they kept getting invitations from constituencies they weren’t interested in. “Mix-up eventually spotted: one became prime minister; the other later ran a B&B,” said Michael Crick.

9. Lord Russell. A letter to the editor of The Times in 1959: “Sir – In order to discourage confusions which have been constantly occurring, we beg herewith to state that neither of us is the other.” Signed Bertrand, Earl Russell, and Lord Russell of Liverpool. Nominated by Mike Butcher and Phil.

10. Robert Shapiro. Evan Davis spoke live on the Today programme to someone he thought was a member of the O J Simpson defence team and instead got the former adviser to Bill Clinton. “You called the wrong Robert Shapiro,” said his interviewee. Nominated by No Ordinary Cat. “The guy was happy to give his views anyway,” said John Wright.

This was a popular list, even before Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the member of US congress, confused John Maynard Keynes with Milton Keynes.

Honourable mentions for the UK Romania Group, which nominated the team of ageing amateur rugby union players who ended up being broadcast live playing Romania’s top team in the national stadium; Thomas Nilsson, for the story of the retired occupational therapy assistant who attended a state dinner in Sweden; and Andrew Paterson, who said: “My brother was mistaken for John Peel, the DJ, at Knebworth Festival in 1974. He denied it but they insisted, asking for his autograph, so he obliged. They asked who I was; I said his brother, so I was asked for my autograph too. I signed it Andy Peel.”

There is always one. This week it is Robert Corbishley, who nominated Jeremy Corbyn, mistaken for a Labour leader.

Next week: Unlikely names for suburbs, such as Mount Florida, Glasgow, and California, Falkirk.

Coming soon: Politicians who peaked too early, such as William Hague.

Your suggestions please, and ideas for future Top 10s, to me on Twitter, or by email to top10@independent.co.uk

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