Template:Did you know nominations/William John Harper

The following discussion 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 SL93 (talk) 06:15, 23 July 2013 (UTC)

William John Harper

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  • ... that Rhodesian government minister William Harper was abruptly dismissed in 1968, reportedly because of an affair with a British agent?

Moved to mainspace by Cliftonian (talk). Self nominated at 13:28, 19 July 2013 (UTC).

  • Undue focus on negative aspect of possibly living individual. HelenOnline 09:27, 21 July 2013 (UTC)
  • Okay, how about
... that Rhodesian government minister William Harper was widely considered a rival to Ian Smith's premiership during the 1960s? or
... that William Harper, born in India, was a signatory of Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence in 1965?
  • Are either of these better? Cliftonian (talk) 09:54, 21 July 2013 (UTC)
  • I prefer the second one, especially if you include Calcutta (his birthplace is interesting, not sure about the rest of it). I haven't reviewed the whole article yet, I guess I better now. HelenOnline 10:05, 21 July 2013 (UTC)
  • Okay, then maybe
... that William Harper, born in Calcutta in India, was a signatory of Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence in 1965?
I look forward to hearing your thoughts and hope you are well Cliftonian (talk) 12:57, 21 July 2013 (UTC)
  • Article is new enough, long enough, well-written and well-sourced. I would like to suggest the following alernative expanded hook:
ALT1 ... that William Harper, born in Calcutta, was a signatory of Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence in 1965, fearing "the same mistake" as the granting of independence to India?
FYI only: 1) According to ancestry.com public family trees Harper died in Cape Town in 2007, but I cannot find a RS. 2) My mother emigrated from England to South Africa via Southern Rhodesia in 1963. HelenOnline 14:35, 21 July 2013 (UTC)
  • That's a good hook. Let's use that. I'd personally be inclined to believe the ancestry.com claim, but as you say we need an RS. I'd be interested if you could post a link to the public family tree showing the information, perhaps it might give us clues towards finding an RS? Interested to hear about your mother. Cliftonian (talk) 14:51, 21 July 2013 (UTC)
  • Good to go using ALT1 hook. HelenOnline 15:02, 21 July 2013 (UTC)
I have added an ancestry.com link but you will need a subscription to view it. It does not give any sources and Google failed me. It also shows a living daughter. HelenOnline 15:02, 21 July 2013 (UTC)