Talk:Hyde Park pet cemetery

A fact from Hyde Park pet cemetery appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 15 January 2021 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that George Orwell described the Hyde Park pet cemetery as "perhaps the most horrible spectacle in Britain"?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2021/January. The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Hyde Park pet cemetery.

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Did you know nomination

The following 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 Yoninah (talk) 18:04, 10 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

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... that the Secret Pet Cemetery of Hyde Park, London holds around 1,000 burials? "Walking Tour: The Secret Pet Cemetery of Hyde Park ... The cemetery dates back to the 1880s and contains the remains of around 1,000 animals, many in graves marked by tiny headstones." from:"Walking Tour: The Secret Pet Cemetery of Hyde Park". The Royal Parks. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
- ALT1:... that George Orwell described the Hyde Park pet cemetery as "perhaps the most horrible spectacle in Britain"? "a certain George Orwell described the cemetery as, 'Perhaps the most horrible spectacle in Britain'" from: Day, Andrew. "Hyde Park Pet Cemetery". Historic UK. Retrieved 24 December 2020.

Reviewed: Template:Did you know nominations/Charles Mayer (journalist)

Moved to mainspace by Dumelow (talk). Self-nominated at 18:25, 28 December 2020 (UTC).[reply]

Dumelow, review follows: article is new enough, long enough, referenced to reliable sources, neutrally written, QPQ has been done, hooks are both very interesting and mostly verified-- I think if you're going to call it a 'secret pet cemetery' in ALT0, however, it would be better phrased as "that the Secret Pet Cemetery of Hyde Park holds around 1,000 burials?" to show that it isn't really 'secret', as it reads now it makes me think that it was secret when the 1,000 burials were happening.
No evidence of coypvio I'd just appreciate it if you went through and gave it a read through-- for instance what does It was established in 1880 of 1881 in the garden of Victoria Lodge, mean? Things like The majority of burials of known date were in carried out the 1890s. seem to not mesh well? it was established in 1880 or 1881 either by order of Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn or with the burial of a dog called Cherry. is ambiguous-- was it 1880 by Arthur's order OR 1881 with Cherry's burial or either by Arthur's order or Cherry's burial, both of which could have happened in 1880 or 81? What is 'Victoria Lodge' I think it could be more explicitly stated ? though they would become more widely available later in the century not sure how this really fits in-- they are considered German in the 1880s, afterwards become more common -- I don't really see how 'though' fits in. what is a 'society family'? Maybe give an example of what a 'sleep metaphor' is? Do you have a date for Orwell's statement? Individually, not one of these things are enough to throw a wrench in the DYK process, but I think combined they merit addressing. No need to respond to specific things here, just please consider taking a few minutes to copyedit there and ping me back. Eddie891 ^Talk _Work 19:23, 28 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Eddie891, thanks for your review and suggestions for improvements. I guess I wrote this one in a bit of a rush! I agree with all suggestions. I've been through the article, added some more information and reworded a few bits. Hopefully it is looking better now?! Many thanks - Dumelow (talk) 21:10, 28 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Looks good now,

. Thanks for fixing that up. Eddie891 ^Talk _Work 21:16, 28 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Is it the "real" George Orwell?

Dumelow, can you confirm that the source is really referring to George Orwell, or to someone else by the same name? Yoninah (talk) 19:14, 10 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Yoninah, I guess this is because Historic England states "a certain George Orwell". I've added additional sources from the Telegraph ("Today, the place George Orwell called ‘perhaps the most horrible spectacle in Britain’ can only be viewed by prior appointment.") and Rough Guides ("The cemetery - "perhaps the most horrible spectacle in Britain", according to George Orwell - is no longer open to the public") - Dumelow (talk) 08:11, 11 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

@Dumelow: yes, "a certain George Orwell" was what I was wondering about. Thanks for the additional cites! Best, Yoninah (talk) 11:49, 11 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I appreciate the effort. Is there a primary source where Orwell's assessment can be found? All the references in the article are to secondary sources that quote Orwell without saying where he actually said it. -108.2.69.60 (talk) 21:09, 15 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Indeed, would be nice. I couldn't find it online, but it could easily be in a private letter or something - Dumelow (talk) 07:55, 16 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]