I was born on the Fourth of July.
Three notes from The Magic Flute
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About me

My earliest WP edits probably go back to about 2003 or 2004; the first that I can definitely identify was this IP edit 20 December 2005, adding details about Kenneth Baker's education. I started regular editing in September 2007, and I adopted my username in November of that year.

For most of my active Wikipedia years I created or improved article content, generally with the aim of achieving featured status. I also spent a fair proportion of my time reviewing, and served for a while as one of the selector/co-ordinators for the main page's Today's Featured Article. In my early days I worked mainly on creating or expanding polar history articles and biographies, but later broadened my range into classical music (especially opera), literature, politics and history, and topics of broad general interest. I have now semi-retired from active service, but will still be around keeping an eye on areas that interest me, and will work on a few projects which I don't seem capable of leaving alone.


Main work to date
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Articles created by me are indicated with †. The rest are major expansions, often from stubs.

Articles with asteriks against promotion date have been revised against current FA criteria since 1 May 2015

Article name Field Date of FA promotion date on main page
Ross Sea party 1914–16 Polar exploration 13 February 2008 * Wikipedia globe icon 23 September 2009
Terra Nova Expedition Polar exploration 20 February 2008 * Wikipedia globe icon 27 June 2010
Discovery Expedition Polar exploration 17 March 2008 * Wikipedia globe icon 1 May 2008
Robert Falcon Scott Polar biography 3 April 2008 Wikipedia globe icon 24 October 2010
Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition Polar exploration 14 April 2008 * Wikipedia globe icon 28 June 2008
Aeneas Mackintosh Polar biography 10 May 2008 * Wikipedia globe icon 14 March 2014
Nimrod Expedition Polar exploration 7 June 2008 * Wikipedia globe icon 9 January 2009
William Speirs Bruce Polar biography 2 July 2008 * Wikipedia globe icon 3 December 2009
Ernest Joyce Polar biography 17 July 2008 * Wikipedia globe icon 14 November 2017
Scottish National Antarctic Expedition Polar exploration 6 August 2008 * Wikipedia globe icon 17 July 2015
Voyage of the James Caird Polar exploration 30 August 2008 * Wikipedia globe icon 10 May 2014
Southern Cross Expedition Polar exploration 26 September 2008 * Wikipedia globe icon 14 October 2012
Farthest South Polar exploration 4 October 2008 * Wikipedia globe icon 24 August 2011
Rhinemaidens† (Co-nom Peter cohen) Music (opera) 28 October 2008 * Wikipedia globe icon 5 June 2009
Tom Crean (explorer) (Co-nom Zatoichi26) Polar biography 15 November 2008 * Wikipedia globe icon 17 March 2010
Mozart family Grand Tour Music biography 25 November 2008 * Wikipedia globe icon 11 March 2009
Shackleton–Rowett Expedition Polar exploration 17 December 2008 * Wikipedia globe icon 7 April 2009 and 5 April 2017
New South Greenland Polar exploration 11 January 2009 * Wikipedia globe icon 6 November 2010
Mozart in Italy Music biography 31 January 2009 * Wikipedia globe icon 4 September 2010
Carsten Borchgrevink Polar biography 11 February 2009 * Wikipedia globe icon 1 December 2014
Benjamin Morrell General biography 12 March 2009 * Wikipedia globe icon 20 August 2010
Agrippina (opera) (Co-nom Shoemaker's Holiday) Music (opera) 25 March 2009 * Wikipedia globe icon 14 April 2009
SY Aurora's drift Polar exploration 11 April 2009 * Wikipedia globe icon 14 December 2018
Clements Markham General biography 12 May 2009 * Wikipedia globe icon 20 July 2010
Bedrich Smetana Music biography 7 July 2009 * Wikipedia globe icon 24 July 2010
The Bartered Bride Music (opera) 25 July 2009 * Wikipedia globe icon 30 May 2016
Cosmo Gordon Lang General biography 6 September 2009 * Wikipedia globe icon 30 October 2009 and 5 October 2017
Nansen's Fram expedition (Co-nom Ruhrfisch) Polar exploration 28 October 2009 * Wikipedia globe icon 23 June 2012
L'incoronazione di Poppea Music (opera) 28 November 2009 * Wikipedia globe icon 18 February 2014
Peter Heywood General biography 10 January 2010 * Wikipedia globe icon 6 June 2012
Last voyage of the Karluk Polar exploration 16 February 2010 * Wikipedia globe icon 31 March 2013
Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria Music (opera) 16 March 2010 * Wikipedia globe icon 4 November 2015
Gustav Mahler Music biography 27 April 2010 * Wikipedia globe icon 7 July 2010
Symphony No. 8 (Mahler) Classical music 4 June 2010 * Wikipedia globe icon 12 September 2010
The Temple at Thatch Literature 6 July 2010 * Wikipedia globe icon 28 January 2011
Tosca (Co-nom Wehwalt) Music (opera) 18 July 2010 * Wikipedia globe icon 7 August 2010
Fridtjof Nansen Polar biography 4 September 2010 * Wikipedia globe icon 10 October 2010
L'Orfeo Music (opera) 7 October 2010 * Wikipedia globe icon15 October 2010
Talbot Baines Reed Literary biography 9 November 2010 * Wikipedia globe icon 2 April 2012
Evelyn Waugh Literary biography 20 December 2010 * Wikipedia globe icon 26 May 2011
Gianni Schicchi (Co-nom Wehwalt) Music (opera) 31 December 2010 * Wikipedia globe icon 31 May 2011
C. R. M. F. Cruttwell General biography 24 January 2011 * Wikipedia globe icon 26 June 2018
Frederick Delius (Co-nom Tim riley) Music biography 8 February 2011 * Wikipedia globe icon 10 June 2014
Rinaldo (opera) Music (opera) 15 February 2011 * Wikipedia globe icon 25 February 2011
Tom Driberg Political biography 3 April 2011 * Wikipedia globe icon 15 February 2012
Nixon in China (opera) (Co-nom Wehwalt) Music (opera) 16 April 2011 * Wikipedia globe icon 22 October 2012
Percy Grainger Music biography 27 May 2011 * Wikipedia globe icon 8 July 2018
Kathleen Ferrier Music biography 27 June 2011 * Wikipedia globe icon 22 April 2012
Messiah (Handel) (Conoms Tim riley and Gerda Arendt) Classical music 4 August 2011 * Wikipedia globe icon 23 March 2013
Brunette Coleman Literature 30 August 2011 * Wikipedia globe icon 2 August 2012
Georges Bizet Music biography 28 October 2011 * Wikipedia globe icon 25 October 2013
Amundsen's South Pole expedition (Conom: Apterygial) Polar exploration 14 November 2011 * Wikipedia globe icon 14 December 2011
Les pêcheurs de perles Music (opera) 22 December 2011 * Wikipedia globe icon 30 September 2013
Monteverdi's lost operas Music (opera) 10 February 2012 * Wikipedia globe icon 10 September 2012 and 14 September 2017
Carmen Music (opera) 31 March 2012 * Wikipedia globe icon 6 April 2013
Tichborne case History 4 May 2012 * Wikipedia globe icon 1 June 2013
A Child of Our Time Classical music 28 May 2012 * Wikipedia globe icon 9 November 2013
Cosima Wagner Music biography 23 July 2012 * Wikipedia globe icon 24 December 2012
Reginald Heber General biography 12 August 2012 * Wikipedia globe icon 21 April 2013
Learie Constantine (Conom Sarastro1) Sports biography 30 August 2012 * Wikipedia globe icon 15 July 2016
The Rite of Spring Classical music 11 September 2012 * Wikipedia globe icon 29 May 2013
Peter Warlock Music biography 18 October 2012 * Wikipedia globe icon 30 October 2014
Pierre Monteux (Conom Tim riley) Music biography 27 October 2012 * Wikipedia globe icon 1 July 2014
Harold Larwood Sports biography 7 December 2012 * Wikipedia globe icon 14 November 2014
Neville Cardus (Conom Tim riley) Literary biography 23 January 2013 * Wikipedia globe icon 2 April 2013
Kenneth Widmerpool Literature 10 February 2013 * Wikipedia globe icon 23 April 2013
George Lansbury Political biography 23 March 2013 * Wikipedia globe icon 15 August 2013
Jane Cobden Political biography 24 April 2013 * Wikipedia globe icon 10 July 2014
Gustav Holst (Conom Tim riley) Music biography 8 May 2013 * Wikipedia globe icon 21 September 2014
Jane Joseph Music biography 3 June 2013 * Wikipedia globe icon 31 May 2014
Harold Davidson General biography 6 July 2013 * Wikipedia globe icon 28 July 2013
Benjamin Britten (Conom Tim riley) Music biography 21 July 2013 * Wikipedia globe icon 22 November 2013
The Diary of a Nobody Literature 17 August 2013 * Wikipedia globe icon 9 October 2013
Symphony No. 8 (Sibelius) Classical music 9 September 2013 * Wikipedia globe icon 8 December 2015
L'Arianna Music (opera) 10 October 2013 * Wikipedia globe icon 24 June 2014
Michael Tippett Music biography 11 November 2013 * Wikipedia globe icon 2 January 2013
Stella Gibbons Literary biography 7 December 2013 * Wikipedia globe icon 5 January 2016
Nancy Mitford Literary biography 23 January 2014 * Wikipedia globe icon 7 April 2014
Profumo affair History/Politics 21 February 2014 * Wikipedia globe icon 9 August 2014
Imogen Holst Music biography 5 April 2014 * Wikipedia globe icon 12 April 2018
Thorpe affair History/Politics 24 May 2014 * Wikipedia globe icon 3 August 2016
SS Arctic disaster History 2 July 2014 * Wikipedia globe icon 27 September 2014
Horatio Bottomley History/Politics 27 July 2014 * Wikipedia globe icon 17 September 2016
Noye's Fludde (Co-nom Alfietucker) Music (opera) 17 August 2014 * Wikipedia globe icon 14 July 2017
Margaret Bondfield Political biography 5 October 2014 * Wikipedia globe icon 18 March 2015
Ellen Wilkinson Political biography 12 November 2014 * Wikipedia globe icon 8 March 2016
A Handful of Dust Literature 29 December 2014 * Wikipedia globe icon 16 September 2015
Girl Pat (1935 trawler) History 14 February 2015 * Wikipedia globe icon 1 March 2016
Mary Celeste History 17 March 2015 * Wikipedia globe icon 4 December 2015
Jarrow March History/Politics 9 May 2015 Wikipedia globe icon 5 October 2016
Mutiny on the Bounty (conom Cliftonian) History 21 June 2015 Wikipedia globe icon 28 April 2016
The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold Literature 16 July 2015 Wikipedia globe icon 27 November 2016
Jeremy Thorpe Political biography 1 August 2015 Wikipedia globe icon 29 April 2019
Jeannette Expedition Polar history 20 September 2015 Wikipedia globe icon 8 July 2016
Assassination of Spencer Perceval History 31 October 2015 Wikipedia globe icon 11 May 2016
Bessie Braddock Political biography 12 December 2015 Wikipedia globe icon 8 March 2017
Handel's lost Hamburg operas Music: opera 30 January 2016 Wikipedia globe icon 23 August 2016
Nelson's Pillar (conom Carcharoth) History (Ireland) 30 March 2016 Wikipedia globe icon 24 April 2016
George Bernard Shaw (conom Tim riley) Literature 8 April 2016 Wikipedia globe icon 17 March 2016
S. O. Davies Political biography 6 May 2016 Wikipedia globe icon 21 October 2016
Lieutenant Kijé (Prokofiev) Classical music 30 September 2016 Wikipedia globe icon 21 December 2016
Alan Bush Music biography 11 August 2017 Wikipedia globe icon 22 December 2018
Claudio Monteverdi (conom Smerus) Music biography 31 August 2017
Spiro Agnew (conom Wehwalt) Politics (U.S.) 21 October 2017 Wikipedia globe icon 5 November 2018
Loss of MV Darlwyne History 27 February 2018 Wikipedia globe icon 1 August 2018
Guy Burgess History 31 May 2018 Wikipedia globe icon 22 September 2018
Australasian Antarctic Expedition (posthumous) Polar exploration 29 February 2020
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Article name Field Date of FL promotion date on main page
List of operas by Mozart Music (opera) 23 July 2008
Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration Polar exploration 17 December 2008 Wikipedia globe icon 10 December 2012

Good Articles

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Article name Date of promotion to GA Date of promotion to FA
Terra Nova Expedition 27 January 2008 20 February 2008
Rhinemaidens (Wagner) 12 May 2008 28 October 2008
Scottish National Antarctic Expedition 26 May 2008 6 August 2008
William Speirs Bruce 9 June 2008 2 July 2008
Aurora's drift 13 July 2008 11 April 2009
Farthest South 31 July 2008 4 October 2008
Carsten Borchgrevink 24 October 2008 11 February 2009
Ideas for future articles

Current and future work

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The following information is mainly for my own guidance, and is subject to frequent change.

Article name Current status
Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration Featured List
Southern Cross Expedition Featured Article
Discovery Expedition Featured Article
Scottish National Antarctic Expedition Featured Article
Nimrod Expedition Featured Article
Terra Nova Expedition Featured Article
Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition Featured Article
Ross Sea party Featured Article
Shackleton-Rowett Expedition Featured Article
Australasian Antarctic Expedition Start
Amundsen's South Pole expedition Featured article
Belgian Antarctic Expedition Stub
Second German Antarctic Expedition Start (in Filchner article)
Swedish Antarctic Expedition Stub
Charcot Expeditions Start (in French expeditions)
Gauss Expedition Start
Japanese Antarctic Expedition Stub



Awards and Barnstars

100-plus barnstars received with thanks. A list (incomplete) is here

Poems

Read these poems

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The Gods of the Copybook Headings

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As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man
There are only four things certain since Social Progress began.
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire
And the burnt Fool's bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;

And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn,
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!

Rudyard Kipling (1919)

From the Lyke-Wake Dirges

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If ever thou gavest meat or drink,
Every nighte and alle,
The fire sall never make thee shrink;
And Christe receive thy saule.


If meat or drink thou ne'er gav'st nane,
Every nighte and alle,
The fire will burn thee to the bare bane;
And Christe receive thy saule.


This ae nighte, this ae nighte,
Every nighte and alle,
Fire and fleet and candle-lighte,
And Christe receive thy saule.
Conclusion of the "Lyke-Wake dirge" (17th century)

Annabel Lee

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It was many and many a year ago
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived, whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love, and be loved, by me
I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea;
But we loved with a love that was more than love –
I and my Annabel Lee;
With a love that the winged seraphs above
Coveted her and me...
Edgar Allan Poe

The Internationale

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Arise, ye starvelings, from your slumbers,
Arise, ye criminals of want;
For reason in revolt now thunders
And at last ends the age of cant.
Away with all your superstitions,
Servile masses, arise, arise!
We'll change forthwith the old conditions
And spurn the dust to win the prize.
Then comrades, come, rally,
And the last fight let us face:
The Internationale
Unites the human race!
Then comrades, come, rally,
And the last fight let us face:
The Internationale
Unites the human race!

Eugene Pottier, 1871

Dark as a Dungeon (folksong)

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Come all you young fellers, so brave and so fine,
And seek not your fortunes way down in the mine.
It will form like a habit and seep in your soul
'Til the stream of your blood runs as black as the coal.


Chorus: It's dark as a dungeon and damp as the dew,
Where the dangers are double and the pleasures are few;
Where the rain never falls and the sun never shines.....
It's dark as a dungeon way down in the mines!


There is many a man I have known in my day
Who lived just to labor his whole life away.
Like the fiend with his dope and the drunkard his wine,
A man will have lust for the lure of the mine.


Chorus


I hope when I die and the ages shall roll,
That my body will blacken and turn into coal.
I will look from the door of my heavenly home
And pity the miner a slave to my bones.


Chorus

Traditional, USA

Waterfalls

A gift from Ruhrfisch

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Waterfall, waterfall, waterfall, waterfall, waterfall, waterfall, waterfall, waterfall, waterfall, waterfall, waterfall, waterfall, waterfall, waterfall, waterfall, waterfall, waterfall, waterfall, waterfall, waterfall, waterfall, waterfall, waterfall, and waterfall.
Thanks for your help at peer review, and for your kind words and support. Waterfalls in Ricketts Glen State Park made Featured Article today! Dincher (talk) and Ruhrfisch ><>°° 21:15, 9 February 2010 (UTC)