User talk:Les woodland

just type  under the "References" heading, or wherever you wanted the list to appear. Note that it has to be two curly braces, no other kind of brackets will do.  Sp in ni ng  Spark  17:23, 12 October 2008 (UTC)

DYK for Jean Robic

 * Hi Les, Congratulations. 4,600 people viewed Jean Robic and 164 of them actually studied it carefully. How do I know? They followed the link for Mercery, and I'm pretty sure that nobody actually already knew the word. Regards. Peter Autodidactyl (talk) 18:24, 6 November 2008 (UTC)

I feel a little silly
approaching someone with so many bells and whistles on his page with this sort of comment, but your edit here to Paris-Roubaix was not salutary. WP:LEAD - ''Introductory text. As explained in more detail at Wikipedia:Lead section#Introductory text, all but the shortest articles should start with introductory text (the "lead"). The lead should establish significance, include mention of notable criticism or controversies, and be written in a way that makes readers want to know more. The appropriate length of the lead depends on that of the article'' Clearly, an article over 100K in size cannot have a suitable lead that is only one paragraph in length. Most GA and FA have leads of 2-4 paragraphs in size, and they are supposed to be slightly redundant to the article (may be better to say they're meant as a summary, though they're not exactly a summary, either). If the GA reviewer had gotten to the article when the lead was as short as you made it (it was that way when I started working with the article), it would have definitely been something he listed as needing improvement. All right, I think I've made my point. Nosleep break my slumber 11:49, 10 August 2009 (UTC)

Le Vélo
Hello Les,

It's a long time since we spoke but I hope you are well, I read your edits regularly. My self-imposed wiki-break has slowly faded...

I was recently tidying up aspects of the Dreyfus affair and so started an article on Le Vélo, but it is now in a state where you are 'the only person in the world who can help' :) please. pretty please. :) It was a successful newspaper that thrived for 12 years, but the hundreds of mentions on the web only focus on 'Dreyfus - Giffard - De Dion - L'Auto-Vélo - Le Vélo - Le Tour.

Le Vélo's connection with Paris-Roubaix is obvious, but do you have any other information (and images) about its milestones, events, promotions, achievements, relationship with Le Petit Journal etc.


 * Apologies for an abrupt hiatus. Regards. Peter. Autodidactyl (talk) 08:14, 10 October 2009 (UTC)

Émilien Amaury
Hello Les, I have taken the liberty of adding your article, Émilien Amaury to Did You Know. I assume that you are OK with that, but please visit DYK to review my synopsis. Regards. Peter Chienlit (talk) 11:36, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

And, you described a worker occupation of the town hall in Saint Etienne north of Paris. Are you able to clarify where/which one? The disambiguation page has dozens of St Etiennes, but none in north Paris. (Marne hardly counts as north). I also found a reference in CineArc but the location is not clear, and it doesn't mention Paris. Regards Chienlit (talk) 16:12, 1 December 2009 (UTC)


 * Hi. Yes, more than happy. Flattered, in fact. Thanks for that. As for St-Étienne, I'm not sure. Rather than spend hours over an incidental point, I think I may just change it. happy days, Les woodland (talk) 04:46, 2 December 2009 (UTC)les woodland

Freddie Grubb
Hello Les, I have cleaned up Freddie Grubb a bit, but I may have overstepped the mark and taken liberties with the truth. I may have wrongly attributed some of Mick Butler's comments to Les Woodland in the Notes section. If you let me know I will happily fix/unravel it, or you can feel free to correct it yourself. Thanks. Peter Chienlit (talk) 11:15, 3 December 2009 (UTC)


 * Les Woodland would like to be thought clever enough to know when quick-release hubs appeared, but I'm afraid he isn't and doesn't. Do you remember who actually said it? Mick Butler? Flattering though it is to be thought so knowledgeable, I think it's maybe better to render unto Caesar etc! Les woodland (talk) 11:30, 3 December 2009 (UTC)les woodland

Adolphe Clément
Hello Les, I have recently started an article about Adolphe Clément. It is a bit short of cycling, bikes, tracks, and tyres (Dunlops? Clements?) details and references, so any contributions that you can make would be greatly appreciated. Regards. Peter. Chienlit (talk) 15:24, 31 December 2009 (UTC)  (By 1890 Clément was the leading cycle brand in France should be worth at least a para if not an article, not the measly 10 words that I have written.)


 * Hi, and bonne année! I wouldn't be able to add much because I don't know much other than incidental facts, such as his background role in the start of the Tour de France. It's also easy to confuse him with another industrialist in the same area at the same time. Oddly, I've just written his name a few times in a history I've been asked to write by an American publisher. Let me get that tome out of the way and I'll have a look an old Clem. Don't hesitate to remind me. Les woodland (talk) 07:01, 3 January 2010 (UTC)les woodland


 * Another Adolphe Clément? - aaaaaargh! or another Clément? aargh! I thought it was a long way from Pierrefonds, Oise to Bordeaux on a bike with wooden wheels, then Lyon, then Paris, but he was obviously young, very determined and spectacularly ambitious.
 * Do you know the name of the track "he" / "they" owned?
 * If you have doubts about any of the claims in Adolphe Clément then we can caveat them. We owe it to history, and future historians, to disambiguate / 'start a new' article about M. Clément (pas Adolphe, peut-être.). I recently wrote Les Frères Robert and was confused because Nicolas-Louis Robert had so many names and claims in different sources. Eventually I discovered and untangled Louis-Nicolas Robert with an even more interesting, if less spectacular, history. It turns out that even Larousse and Britannica had conflated the two men. Bonne année. Peter Chienlit (talk) 08:52, 3 January 2010 (UTC)
 * After a little research and a lot of learning I hope that you were referring to Clément Ader. Regards. Peter Chienlit (talk) 10:14, 4 January 2010 (UTC)

Charles Terront
Hello Les, I have recently started an article about Charles Terront and it has garnered the editorial comment that 'the French references would benefit from independent review by a French speaker', so naturally you came to mind. If you have any free time, or are in need of displacement activity away from your latest tome, any contributions that you can make would be greatly appreciated. Regards. Peter. Chienlit (talk) 16:18, 18 January 2010 (UTC)


 * Hi. Did the editor say what in particular? You have a quote from a book, it looks like, but that quote doesn't appear on the French entry and so I've no idea what the original said. If you can help, I'll do my best, but I am dans la brume un peu. happy days - les Les woodland (talk) 19:29, 18 January 2010 (UTC)les woodland


 * Thanks. The comment was at Did You Know - Charles Terront and is to the effect that the main reference at (Le Petit Braquet - Charles Terront) is in French, and thus they aren't quite sure that he rode on pneumatic Michelins. I suspect that a quick glance/OK from a French national such as you would be more than sufficient. So please waste no more than a few seconds on the endeavour. Regards. Peter. Chienlit (talk) 00:53, 19 January 2010 (UTC) ps. I tarted up Stan Brittain so you can ignore the vulgar warning above :)

Bernard Thévenet
Salut, je suis en train de traduire en français la biographie de Bernard Thévenet que tu as réalisé. Tu pourras jeter un coup d'oeil pour vérifier si je n'ai pas fait de faute ainsi que les citations qui ont subies une triple traduction. Merci @+. Damonking (talk) 10:33, 7 February 2010 (UTC)


 * Desolé, les gars. Je ferai de mon mieux mais je suis occupé en cet instant avec un livre (que je suis en train d'écrire plutôt que lire!) Donc j'ai les mains pleines, et en plus je dois organiser deux voyages à velo, l'un à travers les EU et le Canada pour moi et la belle Mme Woodland et l'autre, en automne, pour un group d'américains en France. Comme je dis, je ferai de mon mieux mais... Et oui, je suis français bien que je sois né en Angleterre, donc je parle les deux langues. happy days... léo Les woodland (talk) 12:35, 12 February 2010 (UTC)les woodland

Paolo Bettini
Hi, I'm trying to grow the article about Paolo Bettini on the French Wikipedia into a Good Article. It seems you added most of the references on the English version. Do you own scanned versions of the ProCycling and Cycling Weekly articles, or at least do you have more detailed references (title, author, ...). Thanks a lot. Tilbud (talk) 13:42, 9 February 2010 (UTC)
 * Ah toi aussi ! Je lui ai posé une question juste avant toi, mais il ne m'a pas répondu. PS : il est français. Damonking (talk) 10:20, 10 February 2010 (UTC)


 * Desolé, les gars. Je ferai de mon mieux mais je suis occupé en cet instant avec un livre (que je suis en train d'écrire plutôt que lire!) Donc j'ai les mains pleines, et en plus je dois organiser deux voyages à velo, l'un à travers les EU et le Canada pour moi et la belle Mme Woodland et l'autre, en automne, pour un group d'américains en France. Comme je dis, je ferai de mon mieux mais... Et oui, je suis français bien que je sois né en Angleterre, donc je parle les deux langues. happy days... léo Les woodland (talk) 12:35, 12 February 2010 (UTC)les woodland

Thomas Gascoyne (cyclist)
Hello Les,

I will try not to behave too inconsiderately and boorish by using poor language when I am only an uninvited guest chez vous. :-) (I actually know what Mind your Ps and Qs means.)

I have gathered together a few snippets about Tom (Jeb) Gascoyne, but sadly the web is devoid of many facts about him. If you have the time and inclination and sources to enhance the article sometime then I am sure that the world will be a slightly better place. Regards. :) Chienlit (talk) 11:46, 17 February 2011 (UTC)

Hi. Nice to hear from you again. I don't know much - anything, really - about Tom Gascoyne, I'm afraid. I shall read your article with interest and start burrowing about. No promises but if I come across anything, I shall be your faithful servant as usual. Les woodland (talk) 06:25, 22 February 2011 (UTC)les woodland Hi Les, busy old day today for Jeb Gascoygne - at dawn you start to cast a very welcome eye, and at noon (GMT) he will be the headline/pictured item on DYK. I am hopeful that some improvements will ensue. When I wrote to you I thought I had exhausted every Google search, but then 'Daemonic Kangaroo' alerted me that his nickname was Jeb and the wonderful Otago Witness beckoned from the other side of the world - it transformed the article. But his early English and European career is still under-documented. Anyway, many thanks for whatever you can do. I hope that you are keeping well, it sounds as if you completed many miles and many kilometres in 2010, plus a tome or two. Regards. Peter Chienlit (talk) 10:55, 22 February 2011 (UTC)

Charly Mottet
Salut de la part de la wiki française ! Aurais-tu ne serait-ce qu'une ou deux infos sur l'enfance de Charly Mottet ? On essaye de compléter l'article sur le french wiki mais on a très peu d'infos sur cette période. Merci. Damonking (talk) 20:51, 14 November 2011 (UTC)
 * Je viens juste de trouver ton message. Désolé. En fait, je n'en sais pas grandchose de son enfance. Je chercherai - j'ai des coupures - mais... Merci, quand même. Les woodland (talk) 17:21, 17 December 2011 (UTC)les woodland

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Frank Vandenbroucke
Hi! I just read the article and think it is a great one, really well written and filled with interesting facts. I was gripped by it. I noticed you wrote it before his death, and there was only a cheap sentence to say he was dead, so I went in the history of the article and realized it was you who wrote it. I added some details to his death, feel free to add more if you know more. Once again, it was a great read, good job! Mattaidepikiw  (Talk)  12:09, 21 September 2012 (UTC)
 * Not giving a shit is a serious offense lol Bye then. Mattaidepikiw   (Talk)  05:48, 27 October 2012 (UTC)
 * What I'm trying to say is I'd like you to answer me, since I think you did an awesome job on the article, and it would be awesome to have maybe 2 "views" on his death. Sorry if the latter message came across as rude. Mattaidepikiw   (Talk)  05:59, 27 October 2012 (UTC)
 * Hi. I'm surprised by "not giving a shit." Like everyone else here, I write when I can but I do have other things in my life. So I'm often not here and, even when I am, I don't always look at Wikipedia. Thanks for the kind comments, though. I'll see what I can do about the death details. Les woodland (talk) 15:25, 31 October 2012 (UTC)les woodland
 * Hi, I saw you retouched the death paragraph, it is more in tone with the rest of the article and sounds great! Sorry for that "not giving a shit thing", I was way out of line. Have a nice day! Mattaidepikiw   (Talk)  01:43, 5 November 2012 (UTC)

Tom Simpson
Thank you for your copy edit on Bradley Wiggins. I'll be expanding Tom Simpson, with the aim of getting it to good article status. I noticed you've already made a large contribution, so any help with it would be appreciated. Also I take it that you wrote this article back in 2007? BaldBoris 11:27, 8 March 2013 (UTC)
 * Hi there. Thanks for that. Yes, I'll give whatever help I can. I did indeed write that piece hundreds of years ago, and long before that I made a 30-minute piece for Radio 4 (are you in Britain?) on which a lot of it was based. happy days - lesLes woodland (talk) 11:39, 11 March 2013 (UTC)les woodland
 * Hello, I apologise for my delayed response. With your help I think it could become a featured article. Yes, I'm in sunny Berkshire. The radio show was made before I was born, would love to hear it. I found a reference to your book Dope: The Use of Drugs in Sport on Doping in sport, but the page number was missing, its cites the note about strychnine in the doping section. I've sorted out the death section, which proved to be a bit of a nightmare, with all the conflicting stories. I'll leave questions on the talk page so everyone can have a chance to get involed, so keep an eye on it in the near future. BaldBoris 15:54, 2 May 2013 (UTC)

Jean Robic / The Hobgoblin / Le Farfadet
Hi, I've just posted a query about Jean Robic's nickname on Talk:Jean_Robic. My opinion is that Latour has confused Robic with Jean-Marie Goasmat: no other French sources seem to refer to Robic as "Le Farfadet". I think you're the originator of the material in question. I'd value your input.

94.11.236.215 (talk) 19:15, 17 November 2014 (UTC)


 * Hi. I've just sent you a message on the Robic page. In brief, go ahead and delete it!

Hi, You appear to be eligible to vote in the current Arbitration Committee election. The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to enact binding solutions for disputes between editors, primarily related to serious behavioural issues that the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the ability to impose site bans, topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail. If you wish to participate, you are welcome to review the candidates' statements and submit your choices on the voting page. For the Election committee, MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 13:38, 24 November 2015 (UTC)

Tom Simpson
Hi. I have temporarily reverted your edits to Tom Simpson pending the addition of more precise citations. Referencing "Oxford National Biography, UK" is not sufficient, because it does not give the reader enough details to locate the source. The article is a featured article, and we need to maintain the highest level of referencing to protect this status. Could you provide more details of the source? Cordless Larry (talk) 08:19, 22 January 2016 (UTC)

Hi. Thanks for that. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography is a collection of more than 55 000 obituaries published by the Oxford University Press in England. I'd love to give you the ISBN and page number but the collection costs $US2 660.00, which is a shade more than I can afford. It is, though, available on-line through libraries in Britain. I can read it here in France through a university site, but that's not generally available. I was at a loss, therefore, how to reference it. Does any of this help? - les  Les woodland (talk) 06:41, 23 January 2016 (UTC)les woodland
 * OK, but I presume you managed to access it in order to read the material that you added to the article. Was that via the university? Cordless Larry (talk) 20:01, 23 January 2016 (UTC)
 * And is the site http://www.oxforddnb.com/? If so, you should be able to link to pages on there in a citation. The fact that readers need a login doesn't stop you from citing it. Cordless Larry (talk) 20:03, 23 January 2016 (UTC)
 * I've just logged in and the bottom of each entry there has bibliographic details at the bottom of the page, including the author, date of publication and a permanent URL. You should include these in the citation. Cordless Larry (talk) 20:05, 23 January 2016 (UTC)
 * I'll gladly do that. But I don't know how to restore your deletion. If you will put it back again, I'll add the reference as soon as I get time. Les woodland (talk) 06:05, 24 January 2016 (UTC) les
 * If you go to the article history, you will find the edit diff (in this case, here). You can then either edit your revision of the article (left) or undo mine (right). Don't do the former if anyone else edits the article in the meantime, though, as it will revert their changes. Cordless Larry (talk) 08:19, 24 January 2016 (UTC)