Template:Did you know nominations/Denys Page

The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by Yoninah (talk) 01:24, 21 October 2020 (UTC)

Denys Page

  • ... that the English classicist Denys Page was denied the vice-chancellorship of Cambridge University because of his conservative opposition to the Garden House riot? Source: "Page's efficient conduct of business was evident [...] and many believed that he would make an admirable Vice-Chancellor. [...] [T]he safe men who sat on University Committees, who had then embarked on the policy of appeasing revolting student that was to find its natural consequence in the riot at the Garden House Hotel, decided against this. [They were] doubtless shocked by Page's forthright expression of conservative opinions ..." Lloyd-Jones 1981, pp. 767-8
  • Reviewed: None required, this is my third DYK nomination.
  • Comment: The source for the hook corresponds to footnote 11 in the article.

Improved to Good Article status by Modussiccandi (talk). Self-nominated at 17:56, 29 September 2020 (UTC).

  • The hook is not fully supported, either by the source or the article text. The article attributes this as the opinion of one person rather than a fact, the source however, seems to imply that the author doesn't know if this is the (only) reason why he was never made vice-chancellor and that this is more like speculation. Hugh Lloyd-Jones was not in a position to have first hand knowledge. I have not checked the rest of the article to find whether it is supported by the sources cited. (t · c) buidhe 11:16, 7 October 2020 (UTC)
Hi, buidhe, I admit the original hook is a poor choice because it constitutes an oppinion rather than a fact. Let suggest a couple of alternative hooks:
Modussiccandi (talk) 15:07, 7 October 2020 (UTC)


General: Article is new enough and long enough
Policy: Article is sourced, neutral, and free of copyright problems
Hook: Hook has been verified by provided inline citation
QPQ: None required.

Overall: Regarding the hooks: ALT0's source is a fine example of British loaded comment. Within its complexity it does admit to Page's "forthright expression of conservative opinions" and to the hilarious fact that the student rag pretended that Page supported the dictator Papadopoulos, and it makes clear that the "progressive orthodoxy" of the University committees and Page were at least seen to stand at opposite ends of the political spectrum (i.e. to put it crudely, the committees wished to be seen to be left-wing and Page was right wing). So we can all have fun with that, but in the end it is sadly too subtle to be used as a source here. We have to take the source of ALT2 AGF as it's offline, but I'm very willing to believe it. Just take a look at the academic journals of literary studies and they're all spitting feathers at each other; it's what keeps the old fellows going. ALT1 is clearly supported in the ODNB for master of Jesus: "in 1959 his domestic difficulties were alleviated by his election to be master of Jesus College, Cambridge," and the list of cricket club presidents is online. So it's ALT1 or ALT2 for our safe and true hooks. (Normally I'd strike ALT0 to assist admin when promoting, but I haven't the heart. Someone else can do it). So thank you, @Modussiccandi: for a good read and a bit of fun. Storye book (talk) 21:05, 20 October 2020 (UTC)