Andrew Martin wrote:Perhaps Mr Williams would like to quote word for word the bizarre statements he says that I have made about his son ,from the transcript of the programme.
Will he include the part of the interview where I said Peter was a very nice lad ( cut out of the final programme) ?
Maybe he will also include the part of the interview where I defended the right of all parents to educate their children as they see fit ( cut out of the final programme) .
If he is incapable of believing this ,get hold of the full footage, which was obviously cut to fit a certain cloth.
Will he also mention that I offered,via Alec Aslett , to meet the entire Williams family face to face shortly after the programme and that this offer was flatly turned down?
Obviously , I regret the fact that Peter is not playing at the moment. It is quite ridiculous to suppose that I would not. Lets hope he comes back.
So if Mr Williams has any further problems, the offer is still there to meet face to face. Much better to clear the air like that than endless grumbling on an internet chess forum.
Response from Peter & Carol Williams
The following is the main comments made by Mr Martin which were used in the film
“The most talented children the gifted ones are always very fragile and they are quite vulnerable so it is crucially important at that point to be sympathetic and absolutely the right thing to do is to treat them as normally as possible and somehow create a framework for them under which they can operate and I am convinced that this can be done within the education systemâ€
Mr Martin made no attempt to consult with us the parents as to whether we were happy for him to comment directly about Peter in his interview and his comments were a direct criticism of our decision. Being involved in the education system we would have thought it blatantly obvious to him the perils of commenting on children without consulting their parents and have realised the possible ramifications. There was an implication in Mr Martin's interview that Peter amongst others were vulnerable and implied that gifted children should be at school and he appeared to have little or no knowledge about home education.
The offer of a meeting only happened after we made a complaint to Yateley Manor School about Mr Martins' comments.
If Mr Martin is as unhappy about the portrayal as we are then we assume that he has made a formal complaint to Channel 4 – it would be interesting to see their response perhaps this would be a way of building bridges.
Why Mr Martin thinks we have a full uncut version of the film is beyond us
when you are successful many losers bark at you.