The following is an archived discussion of a featured article nomination. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the article's talk page or in Wikipedia talk:Featured article candidates. No further edits should be made to this page.

The article was promoted by Karanacs 15:55, 8 December 2009 [1].


Rise of Neville Chamberlain[edit]

Nominator(s): Wehwalt (talk) 13:43, 19 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I am nominating this for featured article because... I believe it meets the criteria. This is a large part of the GA Neville Chamberlain. At the peer review, while the article was generally liked, it was thought to be too long. I did not think that it could be shortened by editing without losing a lot of information, so it was split, and this is part I. While the FAC is going, I'll be working on summarizing the portion of the main article covering 1869-1937 (I could not call this "Early Life of Neville Chamberlain", the customary dodge, for obvious reasons). This article covers much of the career of a man who had a lot more to him than an umbrella and a forlorn piece of paper.Wehwalt (talk) 13:43, 19 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Elcobbola image clearance moved to talk. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 15:19, 27 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]
  • I've switched it for the black and white one. Odd how Joe Chamberlain's clothing could probably pass on the street, while either of his sons looks hopelessly old-fashioned.--Wehwalt (talk) 22:07, 19 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]
  • Relying on the Copyright date is the most common way to assign a date to a text. If the publisher wants to lie, we still work off the lie on the bibliographic information page of the work. Other ways to date books exist, but shouldn't be of large concern to FAC reviewers of 2c unless the work lacks a copyright date, or date of publication on the bibliographic page. Fifelfoo (talk) 04:15, 20 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]
  • Why they do what they do is not clear to me. I should not that if I switched it to 2009 (publication date at least in the UK where I bought it), five years from now people will wonder why it doesn't bear the copyright date. Copyright date seems to be the best way to go. I'm open to ideas here.--Wehwalt (talk) 12:41, 20 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Comment, leaning to support:(See support statement at end) Chamberlain is a discredited figure in UK political history and it is rare to find a dispassionate account of his career, which was by no means all failure despite its inglorious end. This narrative looks distinctly promising, with a generally uninvolved perspective; however, there are numerous fairly minor prose issues that need attention. I'm not through yet, but here is my first list:-

Response Did all these, though I modified the phrasing.

Response Done. On the last, Self, page 21 says "As a result, he was apprenticed in 1889 to a leading firm of Birmingham chartered accountants where he demonstrated rather greater application and within six months he was promoted to become a salaried employee." I am pretty sure Self is British, and he surely knows his stuff, he released this bio after editing and publishing Chamberlain's papers in multiple volumes. Maybe things are different in Birmingham? After this and your illustrious forebear, I've come to the conclusion it's a rather strange city.

It struck me that it would be more jumbled had I tried for strict chronological order (for face it, Chamberlain led a fairly humdrum life during that time) so it was best to have paragraphs that cover topics, not times. Business career, outdoor activities, civic activities, politics, personal life (I combined the last two into one paragraph to be more compact). Open to ideas, but I think this is a decent way to go.--Wehwalt (talk) 17:25, 22 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Not something I feel strongly about. It looks tidier as a single paragraph. Brianboulton (talk) 21:48, 27 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Note: I'm working through my strikes, bear with me. Brianboulton (talk) 21:48, 27 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Further comments will follow. Brianboulton (talk) 15:17, 22 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

OK, will work on this today. Was going to work on the main article, but first things first. I tend to throw in a whilst or two when writing British English as a way of showing it is British English. Always happy to defer to a competent authority, though!--Wehwalt (talk) 15:25, 22 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

All these comments have been addressed, except as commented, although I may have used other phrasing than suggested.--Wehwalt (talk) 18:45, 22 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Continuing comments (second half of article)

That is my review. I don't think there is any serious issue among the points that I've raised – they are mainly matters of minor prose and presentation. My biggest concern at the moment is the last section, for the reasons explained. If pressed I could indicate some areas where I think the level of detail is excessive—I have made one suggestion in this respect. But on the whole, the big achievement has been to make Neville Chamberlain almost interesting. What next – the love life of Sir Alec Douglas-Home? Brianboulton (talk) 16:29, 23 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I'll look it over. I think some mention has to be made of the appeasement issue. I think that the "slum clearance" comment can be lost, I put that in in an effort to bend over backwards on NPOV. Note that the Legacy section in this article is entirely different than in the main article, and some of the comments (for example, both of Macmillan's) really cover both Chamberlain's tenure as Chancellor and his peacetime premiership. Macklin seems to be right, it is hard to filter out the "authentic Chamberlain". I disagree with one thing, though: no one is going to read this article who does not know that Chamberlain is known for appeasement and Munich. As for Home: Did Home have a love life? He must have, he had kids. I'm giving some thought to Attlee, though, though I haven't started accumulating references. Baldwin is starting to seem more interesting to me. How can a man be at the top rank of British politics for fifteen years and spend most of his time, apparently, dreaming about retirement?--Wehwalt (talk) 16:41, 23 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Also note that it is difficult to separate appeasement from rearmament, and Chamberlain's record on rearmament is certainly fair game in this article. That's why I have the two quotes from Attlee and Greenwood in there, not to mention the sniping from Churchill. While those matters came to fruition during Chamberlain's premiership, they had their roots when he was Chancellor. Anyway, I don't have much time to work on the details right now but I'll get to them within a day or two.--Wehwalt (talk) 16:59, 23 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Ahead of schedule as usual. All done, except as noted. I cleaned up the legacy section, but you have some mention of appeasement for the reasons as stated.--Wehwalt (talk) 23:35, 23 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Brian, I've addressed the remaining concerns in the part of the article you've double-checked on.--Wehwalt (talk) 14:31, 28 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]
It's taken me a while, but I've re-reviewed everything. Only a couple of points are still unstruck - could you look quickly at those (including the "established ... established ... established" phrasing) and briefly respond. Brianboulton (talk) 19:17, 28 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I think I've caught your second pass comments and unresolved first pass issues now. I did some disestablishing, so I think you'll find that is OK. I didn't know Kipling was Baldwin's cousin. Well, live and learn.--Wehwalt (talk) 20:43, 28 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

And that really is the lot from me this time. A most comprehensive and instructive article, fully worthy to grace the front page. - Tim riley (talk) 09:47, 5 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Many thanks, and I hope it will one day, though I am shooting to have the main Chamberlain article pass FAC next and be main page on 10 May, the 70th anniversary of the end of his premiership. But I'm sure this will make it one day. I made all the changes you've proposed. If you get a chance, could you look over the note for second eleven to ensure it is correct? I'm afraid I went to a New Jersey high school where we didn't use such terms.--Wehwalt (talk) 14:17, 5 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Done - spot on, I'd say. - Tim riley (talk) 15:17, 5 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Another term we didn't use. Thanks!--Wehwalt (talk) 16:12, 5 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Support - This well-researched article is very clearly written - I could easily follow Neville's rise. Just a few points below:

Are you going to write the Fall of Neville Chamberlain? Awadewit (talk) 04:36, 6 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks. I'll take care of the comments later in the day. I don't think it is necessary to write the Fall article, the main article (which I will nominate as soon as this clears the page) is fairly comprehensive on that, and we also have Norway debate. Basically, it was necessary to split the main article due to length.--Wehwalt (talk) 11:46, 6 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]
The "Fall" thing was a joke - a reference to all those rise and fall narratives. I just need to stop making jokes. No one gets them. :( Awadewit (talk) 16:23, 6 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]
No, please continue. My fault I missed it!--Wehwalt (talk) 18:54, 6 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I've made the changes, excepting the greasy pole. That's a fairly famous quote from Disraeli, see here. And given that Chamberlain was alluding to Disraeli with "peace for our time", it is very appropriate. I'd rather leave it in, unless it makes you really unhappy. Three supports, one of which is independent of the peer review, no opposes, technical and image checks done.--Wehwalt (talk) 23:01, 6 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Can we indicate "greasy pole" is a quote, then? Awadewit (talk) 05:10, 7 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Fair enough. I've quotified and put in a note explaining it. I think that should be fine, I can always switch it to "his brother's ascension to the premiership" but I think putting little things like the greasy pole in there helps an article make the 1(a) criterion.--Wehwalt (talk) 13:40, 7 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Support. Looking forward to the "List of Neville Chamberlain Articles" article!  ;-) -- Ssilvers (talk) 04:37, 7 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Comment Nope, these two are it! I may milk the books for the last drop and write about Munich, but not soon.--Wehwalt (talk) 13:40, 7 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]
The above discussion is preserved as an archive. Please do not modify it. No further edits should be made to this page.