User:Mike Marchmont
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Hello and thank you for visiting my user page.
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I started out as a Wikipedia editor in April 2020. It took me a long time to learn my way round this vast system. Now, after five years I feel I have got the hang of it although I still don't always do things correctly. As at April 2025, I have made around 1400 edits to some 500 main namespace articles.
As a former journalist and editor, I tend to notice text that needs copy-editing in some way: spelling errors, bad grammar, tautologies or language that simply needs tidying up. I try to correct these when I can. I have also been able to add substantial new material to several articles, and have written a number of articles from scratch.
My interests
- History, especially Scottish.
- Edinburgh, its history, politics and culture.
- Science and technology.
- Transport, especially railways.
- Modern languages.
Some recent contributions
- Henry Littlejohn: A 19th Century pioneer in public health who made enormous improvements to the health and well-being of the inhabitants of Edinburgh.
- Morningside: Another residential district in my part of the world.
- Sciennes: Yet another residential district.
- Stuart Harris: An Edinburgh historian whose works have proved very useful to me (and to many others).
- Corstorphine Hill: A local nature reserve where there are lots of trees, some interesting wildlife and a Cold War nuclear bunker.
- Swanston: A delightful village at the foot of the Pentland Hills; of interest to fans of Robert Louis Stevenson.
- Duncan Napier: A Victorian botanist who did much to establish herbalism as a recognised branch of medicine.
- Assassination of Nikolay Bobrikov, which took place in Helsinki when Finland was a grand duchy within the Russian Empire.
- John Hope: another interesting person from 19th Century Edinburgh.
- London's last tram week, which I published on the 70th anniversary of the event in question.
- Cannonball House. An interesting 17th-century town house on Edinburgh's Royal Mile.
- George Washington Browne. A prolific architect who worked on nearly 300 projects around Scotland.
- Mayfield Salisbury Church. A 19th century building in my part of the world with a varied history.
- James Thin. A 19th century Edinburgh bookseller who built a business that survived for five generations of his family.
- Roger Croucher. A man of the theatre. He was involved at various times with the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal Court Theatre and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.
- Waverley Steps. A short documentary film about Edinburgh. If you know the city — and especially if you remember it from the mid 20th century — you'll almost certainly recognise most or all of the places where it was filmed.