Portal:London/Biography/Vote/Archive 1

This is the archive for London Portal's selected biography 2009-10

The Kinks

 * selected for December 2009

Possibly the seminal London band; Ray Davies is to Muswell Hill what Paul McCartney is to Liverpool. – iride scent   13:04, 21 March 2009 (UTC)
 * Hah, Small Faces have been more influential - and as for Ray Davies, the Kinks had the dumbest riders of any group I know. Nah, they'd probably get the gig for the "Village Green Preservation Society". Kbthompson (talk) 15:31, 21 March 2009 (UTC)

Edgar Speyer

 * selected for April 2009

One of the less well known Makers Of Modern London, but very influential in laying the foundations for London as it is today. – iride scent   17:55, 20 March 2009 (UTC)
 * Support - we should aim to include biogs of London characters. He was one of the instigators of the Whitechapel Gallery. Kbthompson (talk) 20:05, 20 March 2009 (UTC)
 * And the London Underground and The Proms, which I'd venture are better known… –  iride scent  22:20, 20 March 2009 (UTC)
 * I'm a very parochial editor ... 8^) Kbthompson (talk) 22:50, 20 March 2009 (UTC)

Noël Coward

 * selected for May 2009

London boy made good - article is currently under FA review; and I think we should aim to have biographies on London people at least a couple of times a year. Kbthompson (talk) 20:01, 20 March 2009 (UTC)


 * Support (as one of the frequent editors on the article). Note also that dozens of Coward's plays and musicals played in West End theatres.  -- Ssilvers (talk) 21:18, 20 March 2009 (UTC)
 * Support. As Kb says, biographies are good. We do tend to focus to heavily on buildings. –  iride scent 22:21, 20 March 2009 (UTC)
 * Comment at the moment, we have a 'themed' DYK section; this is 'mirrored' to the previous section on the portal talk page I've suggested that it might be a more appropriate use to only keep it up for a month; and use the 'old' DYK space to feature biographies of people who have been born in London, or have had a significant effect on the capital. Would you care to comment there? There seems to me to be a potentially rich vein of material. Kbthompson (talk) 22:49, 20 March 2009 (UTC)
 * If you think we have enough material, I think it's a good idea. I've never been very comfortable with DYK sections (even the main page one); I think that all too often they become "random facts that nobody would ever care about" sections. The portal itself could probably do with a revamp at some point (and I'm not convinced in the least by "six international airports", either). –  iride scent 23:04, 20 March 2009 (UTC)

Sylvia Pankhurst

 * selected for June 2009

East London poor relief; suffragette and has a 'green' named after her in Woodford. (So far, the only woman on this list - hint) Kbthompson (talk) 16:05, 21 March 2009 (UTC)

Christopher Wren

 * selected for July 2009

Should be fairly self-explanatory… – iride scent   13:04, 21 March 2009 (UTC)
 * Absolutely the rebuilder of London after the Great Fire. Hawksmoor would be good too. Kbthompson (talk) 16:05, 21 March 2009 (UTC)

Samuel Johnson

 * selected for August 2009

A sprawling epic of an article (even with Samuel Johnson's early life, Samuel Johnson's health, Samuel Johnson's ethical views, Samuel Johnson's literary criticism and Samuel Johnson's politics hived off into separate sub-pages, the "master" article is still over 100kb). Although Johnson's technically from Staffordshire, he's so closely associated with London thanks to that "When a man is tired of London…" line that I'd say he's an honorary Londoner. Anyway, he lived in Greenwich. – iride scent   13:04, 21 March 2009 (UTC)

Kate Bush

 * selected for September 2009

Another Saaf Londoner (just - born and raised a couple of feet on the right side of the London-Kent border), and one of the (remarkably few) London biographical Featured Articles (Phil Collins is the only other non-royal one I can think of). –  iride scent 17:33, 21 March 2009 (UTC)

Thomas John Barnardo

 * selected for October 2009

Irish born, but studied at the London, and founded Barnados. Rescued nearly 60,000 children London children from poverty - in his own lifetime. A major influence. Kbthompson (talk) 16:05, 21 March 2009 (UTC)