Talk:Henri L'Estrange

Free-license checking

When I imported this from the Dictionary of Sydney and wikified I was positive that I confirmed first that it was licensed under CC-by-SA (most, but not all, DoS content is this way). However, in DYK reviewing, it appeared that either it never was freely licensed or the license tag had been removed. I'm currently checking with the Dictionary of Sydney staff about the copyright status of the original essay on which this article was substantially built. Please give me a week to confirm this. If it never was freely-licensed (and I can't convince them to change it) then we'll need to completely delete the article. If it was originally freely-licensed I'll try and find some confirmation of this and provide it to OTRS or an admin to confirm (like we do with Flickr submissions that have subsequently changed their copyright license). Ideally the DoS article will simply be put under a free license [again] and I'll upload it to the Internet Archive as insurance in case this happens again. Thanks for your patience whilst I confirm all this. Wittylama 22:30, 4 January 2012 (UTC)

I've had confirmation that this article was indeed licensed under cc-by-sa and that the Dictionary of Sydney will confirm this on their own website next month when they publish the next release. Sincerely, Wittylama 00:39, 11 January 2012 (UTC)

GA Review

This review is transcluded from Talk:Henri L'Estrange/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Reviewer: Pyrotec (talk · contribs) 14:10, 6 July 2012 (UTC)

I will review. Pyrotec (talk) 14:10, 6 July 2012 (UTC)

Initial comments

I've done an initial read of the article and overall it appears to be at or about GA level: it appears to be well referenced (I've not yet checked them) and well illustrated. I'm sure that the WP:Lead is compliant - I'll come back to that later, if necessary.

I'm now going to work my way through the article, starting at Early performances, working my way to the end and then going back to do the WP:Lead. At this stage, I'm only/mostly looking for "problems", so that will be reflected in the comments, if any, below. Pyrotec (talk) 14:58, 10 July 2012 (UTC)

• Early performances -

• Looks OK.

• Sydney Harbour crossing -

• Looks OK.

• Ballooning -

The first paragraph is about Hot air ballooning, but the second paragraph gives a detailed description of a gas company filling (well badly) a balloon with gas, as is the third paragraph. I'm not convinced that the second and third paragraphs are about Hot air ballooning, its more likely a description of filling the balloon with lighter than air / lifting gas.

• • Final balloon flight -

• I more convinced than ever that the balloon was a lighter than air type. There is specific mention of valves and the gas in the balloon catching fire. If it was a hot air balloon the gas for the burners would in gas tanks and the balloon would be filled with hot air.

• Return to tightrope walking & Late career -

...stopping for now. To be continued. Pyrotec (talk) 16:24, 10 July 2012 (UTC)

• This two sections look OK.

• WP:Lead -

• This is intended to both introduce the topic of the article and summarise the main points See WP:Lead). The Lead does not currently cover many of the points in the article. For instance there is nothing about crowd injuries / fatalities from the balloon fire, two benefits and the final two sections are ignored.

At this point I'm putting the review On Hold. Pyrotec (talk) 10:22, 12 July 2012 (UTC)

All very good points. I've now expanded the lead, changed reference to "hot air" ballooning to "gas ballooning". Please advise on further changes required. Wittylama 05:10, 23 July 2012 (UTC)

Thanks. I'm happy with the article as it is. The hot air/ gas balloon fix was easy and the Lead is better. Pyrotec (talk) 19:20, 24 July 2012 (UTC)

Overall summary

GA review – see WP:WIAGA for criteria

1. Is it reasonably well written?

   A. Prose quality:

   B. MoS compliance for lead, layout, words to watch, fiction, and lists:

2. Is it factually accurate and verifiable?

   A. References to sources:

   B. Citation of reliable sources where necessary:

   C. No original research:

3. Is it broad in its coverage?

   A. Major aspects:

   B. Focused:

4. Is it neutral?

   Fair representation without bias:

5. Is it stable?

   No edit wars, etc:

6. Does it contain images to illustrate the topic?

   A. Images are tagged with their copyright status, and valid fair use rationales are provided for non-free content:

   B. Images are provided where possible and appropriate, with suitable captions:

7. Overall:

   Pass or Fail:

I'm awarding this article GA-status. Congratulations on producing an interesting article on this topic. Pyrotec (talk) 19:24, 24 July 2012 (UTC)

Awkward phrase: "cooked and rode a bicycle"

The article states that L'Estrange "cooked and rode a bicycle" during his act.

While grammatically correct (in context of the complete sentence), this clause makes me wonder: what if he had cooked and eaten the bicycle ...? (Sorry: joke.)

The sentence should be re-written to avoid such unintended grotesques. But I'm at a loss; perhaps someone else has the right words?

Karl gregory jones (talk) 02:22, 27 February 2014 (UTC)

More than one 'Australian Blondin'

The Dictionary of Sydney indicates:

At least five were performing in Sydney from 1880 under variations of the title from the Young Blondin (Alfred Row) to the Blondin Brothers (Alexander and Collins), the great Australian Blondin (James Alexander), the original Australian Blondin (Collins), the Great Australian Blondin (Signor Vertelli), the Female Australian Blondin (Azella) and another Australian Blondin (Charles Jackson).

James ALEXANDER, one 'Australian Blondin', died of from 'heart affection', aged 55, at the Bathurst Hospital on Friday, 15 March 1918. He had fallen from a tight rope a few months earlier, and had not recovered.

Caution needs to be taken to not confuse L'ESTRANGE with other BLONDINs.–Q8682 (talk) 14:18, 6 January 2023 (UTC)

References