Cambridge used to have a pub called The Boat Race at 170 East Road, CB1 1DB. Built in 1827 it went through various name changes, until it settled on The Boat Race in the 1980s.

There’s a picture of it here and the 2^nd image shows it as it is now (a wine bar called The Six Six bar).

It also offered live music and had hosted Oasis and Snow Patrol, before they hit the big time.

A Facebook poster said that Jimmy had performed there “in the early 90s” and delivered 45 minutes of one liners.

The estimated year, of course, is completely wrong (he started in 1998, here) but at least it’s understandable when human beings try to remember an event (from 25+ years ago) and have a brain burp.

I’m struggling to find any evidence that he appeared there (or when) – which is not to say that he didn’t as it would certainly fit the bill (of the type of venues he was playing).

If he did appear here, I would say it would most likely have been around 1999-2000, so this post is a place marker, while I try and find more information.

The reason for what may seem like a premature mention is another fact check on the nonsense that AI threw out at me.

Hallucinating AI

Search is so poor now that I have to try different browsers / search engines and, although I ignore the content in Google’s Ai panel, you can’t help but see it.

This first image shows how it’s taken the (faulty) remembrance of just ONE Facebook account and turned it into a fact.

All that hype and money waste, just to deliver the equivalent of asking a random bloke down the pub!

And then with its 2^nd attempt (when I adjusted my search terms) it doubled down on the info and added a little more made-up information.

As I’ve said in the Bio (here) there is a bit of fog around when Jimmy left Shell but my best estimate is early 1999 and not “early 2000” as the AI states.

Plus – why does the part “Early Timeline” first state 1999 and then say he started “dabbling in the open-mic and comedy circuit around 1997”?

What exacerbates the problem is that it gives you links for citations and then it’s 50-50 as to whether that link is any help at all. Many times I’ve clicked through, to try and figure out where it got the data from, and there’s been zero mention (of whatever it was) on the page. Which always baffles me.

Which means I can’t figure out where it’s getting the 1997 start date from. As you can see from the image it has a Wiki link – but I can’t see that it’s come from there.

Most frustrating at all is that you (the reader) could potentially do the same search and get a completely different result. Partly because it’s dynamic and partly because it tailors the response to what it THINKS you want to hear, based on your own personal profile.

This is why I don’t use AI (LLM’s)…I aim for facts and accuracy.