User:Roland Sparkes

About Me
I was born in and reside in England, UK. I am a historian, writer, author and musician.

My email address
inquisitortommy@hotmail.com

Websites
I have a website dedicated to Warburg's Tincture: http://www.wix.com/tommyhilton/Warburgs-Tincture

I am the historical consultant of the 'Belmont Local History' group (established 2009), website http://www.belmonthistory.org.uk.

My MySpace music page:

My Wikipedia contributions
Major contributions - articles:
 * Spacemen 3 - major re-write and expansion (late 2011) [Awarded a Grade B]
 * Warburg's Tincture* - article creator and principle contributor. ("well written and sourced", [User:Anypodetos])
 * Carl Warburg* - article creator and principle contributor

Other
 * Belmont, Sutton - content and major edits to the sections on the history and published works on the history of this village
 * Peter Kember - improved/restructured, Sept 2011

Redirect pages created re: my major contributions
 * Warburg Tincture redirect
 * Tinctura Warburgi redirect
 * Tinctura Warburgii redirect
 * Charles Warburg redirect

Minor contributions - articles: and and
 * Belmont railway station (Sutton)
 * Antimalarial drugs
 * Quinine
 * History of malaria
 * Patent medicine
 * Tincture
 * Warburg family

And
 * Slipstream (band)
 * Will Carruthers
 * Jonny Mattock
 * Sterling Roswell

And some Nottingham Forest footballers:
 * Ishmael Miller
 * Matt Derbyshire
 * Jonathan Greening
 * Chris Cohen
 * Joe Garner
 * Chris Gunter
 * Wes Morgan
 * Luke Chambers
 * Joel Lynch
 * Dougie Freedman
 * Julian Bennett
 * Ryan Betrand (loan spell)

Minor contributions - lists etc.:
 * List of German Jews
 * List of British Jewish scientists
 * List of physicians
 * List of University of Heidelberg people
 * Category - People in the history of medicine

Other
 * Roland Sparkes
 * Articles for deletion/Roland Sparkes

My academic interests
I am probably the pre-eminent scholar on the local history of Belmont, Sutton in Surrey, England, United Kingdom.

I am also extremely interested in the history of 'Warburg's Tincture' and the life and work of its creator, Dr Carl Warburg (I have originated the Wikipedia articles on these subjects).

In respect of the local history of Belmont, Sutton, my areas of expertise and specialist interest are:
 * the built environment in the 19th-century.
 * the Downs Road laboratory of Dr Carl Warburg
 * Sutton Downs (i.e. east Belmont in mid 19th-century).
 * the California Arms public house and John Gibbons.
 * Sutton Lodge and the farm of John Overton.
 * Cheam Folly.
 * Clapham Lodge.
 * Banstead Asylum.
 * South Metropolitan District School.
 * house histories.
 * demographic studies of the late Victorian period.

Published works
Articles


 * Over forty local history articles in the heritage page of the 'Sutton Guardian' newspaper. Dates: 1998-2003; and 2009-present.


 * Articles re: Warburg's Tincture and its inventor Dr Carl Warburg, 'Sutton Guardian' newspaper, summer 2003.


 * Articles and other online contributions to the website of the Belmont Local History group,website http://www.belmonthistory.org.uk . Dates: 2009-present.

Books

Belmont: A Century Ago is the first book dedicated to the local history of Belmont, Sutton. The introductory chapter provides a resume of Belmont's history and development in the Victorian era and the early 20th century, which represents an important and authoritative essay on the subject. The book also provides a fascinating portrait of how the Belmont area looked in the years spanning the Edwardian period and the First World War. Belmont: A Century Ago has been described as "authoritative" by the Sutton Guardian newspaper (edition 2009-5-21, p. 22 ), and as "excellent" by the Stategic Director of the London Borough of Sutton's environment, heritage and library services.
 * Belmont: A Century Ago, published 21 December 2009 by Ashworth Publications. Paperback. ISBN 978-0-9563424-0-9.