User:LynwoodF

I am Frank Lynwood and I live in the Surbiton Park area of Kingston upon Thames, United Kingdom. My background is in Romance linguistics (French, Iberian), but I have long been interested in the juxtaposition of languages of different groups in areas such as Wales, Alsace, Istria and especially the Low Countries.



This image has been added as a pretty space-filler! In 1349 Philip VI of France acquired the Dauphiné of Viennois from the bankrupt Humbert II, the last independent Dauphin. Philip awarded it to his grandson, who eventually became Charles V (not the Emperor, who lived in the 16th century). Thereafter the title was passed down to each new heir to the French throne until the Revolution. It was briefly revived in the 19th century.

Linguistic map of Benelux


I registered with Wikipedia specifically to comment on a map (click on this link and see German in Liège Province). By and large, this map is excellent and clearly shows something I have often pointed out, that the political frontier between the Netherlands and Belgium is not a significant linguistic frontier. Indeed, the four dialect groups of northern Belgium spill over the international border, even East Flemish, which only just makes it!

Concerns
My niggle with the map is that it does not deal adequately with the Eastern Cantons (Cantons de l'Est) of Liège Province, the area which passed to Belgium from Prussia after the First World War. It has three divisions, two of which regard themselves as German-speaking. More precise details are given in the comment.

Reservations
If the cartographer is reading this, I can tell you that the matter is not quite so cut and dried as I make it seem in the comment. I am relying on the traditional classification of dialects, whereas this is questioned in some quarters. Limburgish does not fit well into Dutch, Low German or Central German and some suggest it should be regarded as a distinct language. Nevertheless, it forms a dialect continuum with adjacent varieties of Low German and Central German, including that of the Eupen area of Liège Province, so no doubt there are people who would agree with your classification.

A curious anomaly

 * This section has been dropped in here to fill some of the space created by the very long thumbnail on the right.



Just north of the frontier between Belgium and the Netherlands there is a complex cluster of enclaves constituting Baarle-Nassau (NL) and Baarle-Hertog (B). This anomaly arose from a failure to sort out the complex pattern of land ownership which existed before the creation of the two separate countries. Some of the land had belonged to the Dutch ruling house and some to the dukes of Brabant.

Surbiton Park project
This project has now gone live. To see the article, click here.





I have always pictured the Earl of Uxbridge as looking like the actor Terence Alexander, who played him in the film Waterloo, but when I saw this portrait, it struck me that the ideal actor to cast would be Richard Armitage. Tell me what you think on the Talk page.



By the end of October, 2010 the article was more or less complete, but it contained some unsubstantiated statements and there was still work to be done on references. Moreover, there was a shortage of pictures of the surviving older buildings and it was felt that some new photographs needed to be taken. For these reasons the article was not transferred into the main body of Wikipedia.

The unusually wintry weather of late November and early December, 2010 prevented any photographic work, and so the project was put on hold.

On 16 May 2011 the article was deemed to be substantially complete and was transferred into the main body of Wikipedia.

Thomas Pooley project
This section is here to indicate an intention to put something together on this historical personage. He was important in the development of Surbiton, but there is no Wikipedia article on him and the article on Surbiton does not highlight his rôle.

On 16 May 2011, the article was considered substantially complete and it was transferred into the main body of Wikipedia.

Caleys article
The Caleys article is not entirely satisfactory to my mind. I intend to attempt to improve it, when I have time.

The links were created as part of an exercise and to give me quick access to the websites for reference.



Windlesora.

Caley's.

The photograph was donated by the author and has been incorporated into the Wikipedia article.

Other edits
I have also tried to improve the following:


 * Surbiton.


 * Windsor Guildhall.


 * Strasbourg.


 * Langley, Berkshire.


 * John Pudney.


 * East Berkshire College.


 * Sint-Jans-Molenbeek.


 * Inset day.


 * Sir Henry Stafford.


 * Paul S. N. Russell-Gebbett

I have initiated the following:


 * Djerv (band). (Now deleted. See no:Djerv (band) - it seems to have been a short-lived phenomenon.)


 * Langley Hall Primary Academy


 * Aagje Vanwalleghem


 * Steve Webb (medical physicist)


 * Marka (singer)

Articles I propose to start:


 * Leslie G. Matthews, British pharmaceutical historian.


 * Ray Smedley, British athlete. (Someone else has now done it.)


 * Laura Kamdop - See also fr:Laura Kamdop. (Someone else has now done it.)


 * Sabine Devieilhe - See also fr:Sabine Devieilhe. (Someone else has now done it.)


 * Zakia Khattabi - See also fr:Zakia Khattabi. (Someone else has now done it.)


 * Marcelle Demougeot, French singer. (Someone else has now done it. Also see this.)


 * Jeanine De Bique - See also fr:Jeanine De Bique. (Someone else has now done it.)


 * Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough, British academic and broadcaster. (Someone else has now done it.)

I have also set up the following page(s):


 * User:LynwoodF/common.js

Luxembourg articles
I am puzzled by the use of the expression Hereditary Grand Duke to describe the heir to the Grand Duchy. I have come across it elsewhere, but dismissed it as sloppy translation. However, it is widely used on Wikipedia and I wondered whether the Luxembourg authorities use it when speaking or writing English.

The French expression is Grand-Duc héritier, which I translate as Heir to the Grand Duchy. Héritier is a noun meaning heir and qualifying the nominal expression Grand-Duc. Such a usage does not occur in English, hence my somewhat roundabout translation. The related adjective is héréditaire. It would be reasonable to describe the present incumbent (Henri) as a hereditary Grand Duke, but one would not call Charles, Prince of Wales Hereditary King, not for the time being at any rate! Incidentally, the German version of the title includes the prefix Erb-, which I have also seen translated as hereditary, though wrongly in my view.


 * Further research has turned up an official document in English which uses the expression. This explains its widespread use, but it really does not make linguistic sense, does it? See note about the Grand-Ducal family and look down a little way.


 * Another editor has commented on the use of Hereditary King in A Scandal in Bohemia. I have checked the text and have no quarrel with the way Conan Doyle uses the expression. So I am still at odds with the Luxembourg usage. I looked in the Oxford English Dictionary at the local library, but found no example of this usage.

A personal protest
I rather like sidebars, but a consensus has been reached to get rid of them. So I have preserved the syntax of a couple of them as a memento.

I discovered that Audrey Hepburn was under threat by sheer chance, when I was looking her up for whatever reason. And as a result I found that Katharine Hepburn was under threat too.

Personally, I found them useful and disagreed with the arguments against them. I felt the attack on the basic idea was mean-spirited and I cannot get inside the heads of the sort of people who were spending time considering their abolition.

Further information


I characterize myself as a grumpy old dinosaur, but I doubt whether my tail is as dangerous as that of my friend on the left! The past is another country and I am a native of that land.

If you wish to contact me, there is a User talk page. Please click on Talk above or use the link here.

I also have a personal wiki and you can click on a link to the home page here.

This was my first warning, although I did not intend to advertise anything. I have amended the section and transferred this notice here as a memento. At least, Wikipedia does keep an eye on what is being posted.

This paragraph is an exercise in referencing. Some surprising results can be achieved using this software.

Here is a link to my personal sandbox. The link below is to your sandbox, even if you do not have one!



There are currently  articles on English Wikipedia.

Gallery
This is an eclectic mix of pictures which appeal to me for one reason or another.

Non-free images
There are images which are available on Wikipedia but should be used only in specified circumstances. Here are indirect links to some very famous images:


 * Charging Bull - bronze statue in New York.


 * St Paul's Cathedral in the Blitz.


 * Hallgrímskirkja