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In THE CASTAFIORE EMERALD, Bianca Castafiore cannot seem to get Captain Haddock's name right, not once. She comes up with all sorts of "almost-but-not-quite" names, but never Haddock. She even calls Jolyon Wagg "Mr. Bag."

My question is, why is she able to remember the names of the reporter-photographer pair, Christopher Willoughby-Drupe and Marco Rizzoto? We don't know, but presumably she's never met these guys before.

Since Signora Castafiore is Italian, presumably she's less likely to botch a name like Marco Rizzoto. But she nails it on the first try. And Christopher Willoughby-Drupe? On the money!

Is this a mistake? Anybody know?

I assume this seemingly sudden ability to remember names in the case of the reporter-photographer pair is a deliberate aspect of Hergé's satirical portrayal of Bianca the archetypal diva.

She can't be bothered to remember the names of people like Haddock and Wagg because she doesn't need to; she takes Haddock for granted and despises Wagg, and regards them both as being beneath her in status. Photographers and journalists, on the other hand, are important people in her world. Whilst they're not above her in status, they are nonetheless people who have some influence in maintaining and building her fame - people she needs to be aware of. She possibly recognises their names from scouring the magazines, but even if this is the first time they've met, she makes sure she clocks their names properly.

The fact that she can remember names when she wants to (ie: the names of paperazzi who can advance her career), only makes her "inability" to remember Haddock's name (merely her host!) seem all the more rude and infuriating.

That's how I see it, anyway - a subtle comic touch by Hergé, rather than an accidental inconsistency. But it's not something I'd noticed before, so thanks for pointing it out.

Interesting analysis. Another thing that occurred to me was that because these are two new characters that are specific to the CASTAFIORE album (correct me if I'm wrong), Herge decided that we should know their correct names.

It would look kind of silly for Ms Castafiore to introduce "Christopher Billoughby-Troupe" and "Marco Orzo" or something to that effect, when their real names are actually different.

To this day I'm convinced La Castafiore is an evil genius and just likes winding everyone up. She never forgets Tintin's name (could it be its simplicity or that he's a press functionary? The jury's out).