User:LynwoodF

Unified login: LynwoodF is the unique login of this user for all public Wikimedia projects.

Going into semi-retirement

I am now getting old and am finding I have less time and energy to expend on Wikipedia. So I am likely to check my watchlist rather less often. However, if anyone sends me a message on my talk page, I shall be sent an email notification.

LynwoodF
Sept 2020

Stepping back further

As I grow older, I become less able to cope with the unreasonable people who try to force their particular prejudices on the rest of the Wikipedia community and I have backed off from some of the arguments going on here. However, if you are one of my long-standing contacts and wish to talk to me about something, feel free to get in touch.

LynwoodF
May 2022

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.

The arms of the French Dauphin. Image: Sodacan.

This user is from the United Kingdom.

This user lives in London.

This user has been on Wikipedia for 14 years, 2 months and 13 days.

enThis user is a native speaker of the English language.

fr-3Cet utilisateur peut contribuer avec un niveau avancé de français.

es-2Este usuario puede contribuir con un nivel intermedio de español.

nl-1Deze gebruiker bezit beginnende kennis van het Nederlands.

This user remembers using
a rotary dial telephone.

This user prefers the
"Oxford z".

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

This is a vastly improved version of the map (March 2013). There has been some good work done here. The thumbnail does not work too well, but click and then click again twice to see the three maps properly. This vertical arrangement leaves a huge blank space on the page.

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.

Map showing the numerous enclaves which constitute Baarle-Nassau and Baarle-Hertog. Public domain.

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.

Henry Paget, Earl of Uxbridge and Marquess of Anglesey.

Actor Richard Armitage. (Tony Haz Photography.)

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.

Detail of Ordnance Survey 25in. map 1865, showing Surbiton Park estate.

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.

Caleys store shortly before closure. Photo: Pamela Marson.

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

	This article is part of a series on Audrey Hepburn
Biography Filmography Awards

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.

	This article is part of a series on Katharine Hepburn
Biography Filmography Awards

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

Stegosaurus. (Pencil drawing by Nobu Tamura.)

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!

My sandbox

14:24:01 GMT/UTC on Wednesday, 4 December, 2024

There are currently 6,919,635 articles on English Wikipedia.

This user likes chocolate,
chocolate and chocolate.

This user was born under Gemini in the Year of the Snake.
Does this make him a two-faced snake in the grass?

This user has been
meaning to join the
Procrastinators' Club
for several years.

External links

Personal wiki:

Local History section.

Penguins (General) section.

Tigerpuss Wikia.

MEpedia page

Wikimedia Commons.

Catalan dictionary.

Romanian language links.

Gallery

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

Snow Leopard or Ounce by Bernard Landgraf. I have only ever seen one of these on one occasion, many years ago at Jersey Zoo.

The brigantine Soren Larsen. Painting by Yasmina. Photo by Georges Jansoone (JoJan). This was one of the stars of The Onedin Line.

Red Panda. Photo by User:Brunswyk. I first came across these delightful creatures at Amsterdam Zoo.

Strasbourg Cathedral by Jonathan Martz.

St Paul's, Strasbourg by Lukas Riebling (Luke1ace).

The Lantern of Ely Cathedral by User:Soloist.

Millais painted the background for Ophelia on the bank of the Hogsmill River. Tate Britain (Public domain).

St Michel d'Aiguilhe. Photo: Nicolai Schäfer.

Rhode Island State Capitol, Providence. Photo: Garrett A. Wollman.

St Philip's Cathedral, Birmingham. Photo: G-Man (Public domain).

Vortigern, the British hero of the post-Roman period. Anon. 15c.

Kraków with Cloth Hall. Photo: Pko.

The National Basilica at Koekelberg, Greater Brussels. Photo: Roby.

Peugeot 403 cabriolet as driven by Peter Falk (1927-2011) in Columbo. Public domain.

The Casino at Enghien-les-Bains. Photo: Mussklprozz.

GWR 0-4-2T locomotive. Photo: Tony Hisgett.

Union Pacific Big Boy. (Public domain.)

Replica of GWR 4-2-2 locomotive. Photo: David Ingham. Type 3031 is my favourite loco.

The Tempter, Strasbourg Cathedral. Photo: Rama.

Football game in Kingston upon Thames, Shrovetide, 1846. (Public Domain.)

Grey Crowned Crane. Photo: Aaron Logan.

The Château de Chantilly, which contains the Musée Condé. Photo: Craig Patik (Public domain).

Les Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry. Musée Condé, Chantilly. Photo: User:Petrusbarbygere (Public domain).

The stables at Chantilly. When I first saw them, I thought they were the château! Photo: Patrik Giraud.

Least Weasel. Photo: Keven Law.

Aagje Vanwalleghem, Belgian gymnast of Brazilian origin. Photo: Frank Wagner.

Roseate Spoonbill. Photo: User:Mwanner.

Southwell Minster, Notts. Photo: Steve Cadman.

Jessica Ennis in action. Photo: Adam Kerfoot-Roberts.

Tintern Abbey by Saffron Blaze.

The Käfigturm in Bern from the west. Photo:Wladyslaw (Taxiarchos228 at the German language Wikipedia). As a small child, I was taken to Bern and loved watching the trams pass through the arch.

One of the enormously long trams they have in Brussels. Photo: Oxyman. The Atomium can be seen on the right.

The first tram to cross Kingston Bridge - 1 March 1906. (Public domain.) These trams with roofs were not typical of the trams used on routes through Kingston. Most pictures show open-topped vehicles.

Luxemburg Cathedral in its magnificent setting on a cliff above a gorge.Photo: Acoma.

Saint Gummarus' Church in Lier, near Antwerp. Photo: User:Kneiphof. Philip the Handsome of Burgundy married Joanna of Castile here, thus laying the foundation of Habsburg power in Spain.

Asian golden cat by Karen Stout.

The Horlicks factory in Slough. Photo: Nigel Cox. I grew up in the Slough area, where this is something of a landmark, visible from passing trains.

Maidenhead railway bridge. Photo: Nancy. Bamburgh Castle by Julian Dowse.

Melbourne Town Hall in 1910. Public Domain.

Château de Vincennes by Edal Anton Lefterov. Here Jean de Carrouges petitioned Charles VI and Henry V of England died. Nearby Jacques Bonsergent was executed.

Westminster Abbey by Canaletto. Public domain.

The Girl with the Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer. Public domain.

Map showing the City of Brussels within the Brussels Capital Region. The extraordinarily convoluted boundary of the city is clearly seen. Public domain.

GWR 3031 Class locomotive. Public domain. GWR 3001 Class locomotive. Public domain.

Victoria Pendleton, British track cyclist. Photo: Stuart Webster (mod. Baldboris99).

Besançon from the air, showing the old city's natural defences. Photo: JP TUPIN.

Ailsa Craig, off the coast of Ayrshire, one of my earliest memories. Photo: Johnny Durnan.

Charles the Bold, last of the four great Valois Dukes of Burgundy. Portrait by Rogier van der Weyden.

White stork by Dick Daniels. The Siege of Constantinople. (Public domain - Bertrandon de la Broquière in Voyages d'Outremer.)

Castell dels Tres Dragons in Barcelona. Photo: Selbymay. View in old Strasbourg by Southandnorth. The church is St Thomas and in 1960 I lived in the building on the right, known colloquially as "le Stift".

Zeynep Sever, Miss Belgium 2009. There is a substantial Turkish community in Belgium. Photo: JJanssen.

The site of Adlestrop station by Philip Halling. The station was immortalized by the poet Edward Thomas, who briefly listened to "all the birds of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire".

Mount Fuji in the spring by Tanaka Juuyoh.

The Pont de Bir-Hakeim by User:Mbzt. This gives one of the most spectacular "underground" rides I know - quite a lot of the Paris Metro is up in the air.

The Mosque at Córdoba by Toni Castillo Quero.

Church of San Antonio in Aranjuez. Photo: Lymantria.

The Alsatian Decapolis. Public domain.

European bee-eaters feeding by Pierre Dalous. The picture was taken in the Ariège in southern France, where I lived back in the early sixties. It was voted Picture of the Year 2012.

Red peaches. Public domain.

Joss Stone by Robin Wong.

St Paul's Church, Birmingham. Photo: Oosoom. Washington Irving attended this church when he lived in the city.

Vampire fighter. Public domain.

The town hall at Schaerbeek in Greater Brussels, scene of a famous episode in the Belgian language controversy. Picture by Antoine Motte dit Falisse.

Portmeirion, familiar to fans of The Prisoner.Photo by Michael Maggs, Wikimedia Commons.

The Wikipede edits Myriapoda. (Stevertigo at the English language Wikipedia.)

The painter Francisco de Goya by Vicente López Portaña. (Public domain.)

Olinguito - a recently identified species. See Wikimedia Commons for full details.

Battle of Britain by Paul Nash (1941). Now in public domain.

Local people on the Avenue of the Baobabs, Morondava, Madagascar. Photo: Gavinevans.

Tuesday Weld, who was not born on a Tuesday – the name seems to have arisen from a childhood distortion of her real name, Susan Ker Weld.(Public domain.)

This linguistic map of Italy by Susana Freixeiro is easier to use than the one in the article Languages of Italy.

Beira Railway BR7 (4-4-0), SAR Class NG6 at Sandstone Estates, Ficksburg, Free State. Photo: Col André Kritzinger.

View from the Casa de las Ciencias at Logroño. Photo: Reo1987.

Map giving a rough idea of where there are dialect continua in Europe. It was removed from the article Dialect continuum, but I am not sure that the removal was justified. Map: Mélomène.

The Protopopovs, Oleg and Ludmila, one of the most elegant pairs in the history of figure skating. Photo: Thieme, Wolfgang.

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

Tailpiece

Baobab - Madagascar. Photo: Bernard Gagnon.