# Talk:Alec Eist

This review is transcluded from Talk:Alec Eist/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.
Reviewer: Harrias (talk · contribs) 18:03, 6 April 2020 (UTC)

I'll take a look at this one. Harrias talk 18:03, 6 April 2020 (UTC)

Lead
Use a spaced endash for the date range please.
I wouldn't worry about note a: I don't think there is any need to give too much importance to what was almost certainly a reporting error: we have his date of birth in his medal record image, as well as the source provided.
"He is particularly notable for allegations of corruption, .." Clarify: "allegations of corruption made against him, .."
HSCA needs spelling out.
"Throughout his career, he had been awarded.." "had been" implies they were later rescinded; change to "was".
Early life and career
An inline explanation of what the "Flying Squad" is would be appreciated.
Looks like it is missing a full-stop before "As a Detective Chief.."
Why does the BEM section, which happened in 1967, come after him joining the Flying Squad in 1968?
"..The London Gazette reported following a series.." Add "that" after "reported".
"Eist recognised the man as an escaped prisoner and well known, reported the Gazette to be a.." To tidy this up a bit, maybe try "Eist recognised the man as an escaped prisoner who, according to the Gazette, was well known to be a.." or similar.
"Ray was placed in the personal custody of Eist, who was firstly held at.." The "who" here appears to refer to Eist, as he was the last person mentioned.
Add (HSCA) after "the United States House Select Committee on Assassinations".
"Journalist Pate McMichael.." Add "The" before "journalist", or avoid a false title.
"he also me that he tried to get.." Is this the actual quote, or is it missing a word?
"Included Roy Garber, later convicted of smuggling cocaine" This is missing a full-stop at the end, but also need expanding into a proper sentence, at the moment, it is just a fragment; what included Roy Garber?
"He tried to avoid making appearances in court wherever possible.." Eist, or Garber? Garber was the last person mentioned.
Who is Martin Fido: establish his credentials in the article.
Same for Duncan Campbell.
"Reg Dudley—North London "career criminal" and.." Add "a" before "North London", and replace "and" with "who was".
"..and later paid off with jewellery from the robbery's proceeds." Is this meant to be "and later been paid off with.."?
Link Mark Lane on first use, and delink him on this second use.
Avoid the close repetition of "Lane": "..by Ray's defence attorney Mark Lane. Lane told.."
Later life
Merge "Eist died on 27 Jan 1982." into the previous paragraph. Do we have any more information about the cause of his death?
Images
Complete the "n.a." fields in the Non-free use rationale.
References
Ref #22 should be "pp", rather than "p".
Same for ref #29.
Ref #32 needs an endash, rather than hyphen, in the title. The accessdate needs converting to DD month YYYY to match other sources.
Be consistent about whether publisher location is listed.
"Borrell, C. (June 28, 1968)" The date should be in DD Month YYYY format.
"Bowers, G. (2016)" needs an endash, rather than hyphen, in the title.
"DNW (20 September 2002)" No need for "Lot 61" twice in the title.
"Foreman, F. (5 January 2009)" Just a year is sufficient for books.
"Marks, L. (20 August 1978)" needs a page number.
"News desk (10 November 1978)" needs a page number.
Typo in location for "Waldron, L.; Hartmann, T. (2008)".
Overall a decent article in pretty good shape. Just cleaning up points really. Harrias talk 10:14, 7 April 2020 (UTC)

Many thanks for this, Harrias. It's got a bit complicated, as I found a couple of sources yet to be used, as well as images, which round out the article nicely I think. So obviously that meant some sentences were tweaked or lost, which makes some of your suggestions moot, unfortunately. On the other hand, everything that remained of yours I have agreed with and incorporated (the only exception, I think, being to the online rather than offline newspapers). All the best! (Apologies for the belated reply, too) ——SN54129 19:16, 8 April 2020 (UTC)
Two for the price of one
re-review
"..providing falso alibies.." Two typos: "..providing false alibis.."
"..to the United States House Select Committee on Assassinations] regarding.." Stray square bracket.
I still don't think note 1 is necessary.
"..the Second World war was ending.." Capitalise "war".
"Gangster Freddie Foreman described.." "The gangster Freddie Foreman..", to avoid a false title.
"Police historian Dick Kirby.." Again, "The police historian.."
"lorry—loads" drop this down to a hyphen.
"At check-in, the ticket agent noticed the name on his passport, Sneyd, was on a Royal Canadian Mounted Police watchlist." Not relevant to the reader's understanding of Eist, can be cut completely.
"Eist's answer—in clipped tones"—was.." Missing quotation mark.
The term "supergrass" needs explaining.
"The author Dick Kirby also suggests.." He's already been introduced as "police historian" now, so this can be trimmed to just "Kirby".
"..on a cruise ship, whee "skulking.." Typo: where.
"Author Gordon Bowers describes.." "The author.."
"In 2002, 3 of Eist's medals.." "three" rather than "3".
Merge "Eist died on 27 Jan 1982." into the previous paragraph. Do we have any more information about the cause of his death?
"..was advised by Detective Chief Superintendent, that.." Should this be "by a Detective Chief Superintendent", or should it be "..was advised by Detective Chief Superintendent X, that.." ?
"In a May 1982 The Observer investigation.." To avoid a MOS:SEAOFBLUE, switch to "In a May 1982 investigation by The Observer.."
"..cited 70s gangster Joe Cannon.." Per MOS:DECADE and to avoid a false title, "..cited the 1970s gangster Joe Cannon.."
Decapitalise "Police" twice in the Posthumous allegations section.
"Borrell 1968" needs a page number.
Really impressed with the additions overall; I've listed lots of points, but they are mostly very minor issues, some of which look like they were just sloppy little mistakes made while excitedly adding the new information! Harrias talk 21:08, 8 April 2020 (UTC)

Thanks Harrias, very kind. I was thinking, for a possible future fac, it should probably have background and aftermath sections for context. But would you rather I did that after your review! Talking of which, it belatedly occurs to me that you should have quickly failed it, as I sort of nullified your review, and then reopened it. Double review, double points! ——SN54129 15:31, 9 April 2020 (UTC)
OK Harrias (apologies for the second ping, that first was probably unnecessary). I've attended to your suggestions, all of them good. That footnote has finally been lost (although replaced by a new one explaining supergrasses, of course). The rest as you say was mostly typos—yes, and it was also getting late here, so I wasn't concentrating as I should have been. Also the false titles have been rectified. I am King of False Titles...not, note, the King of, etc  :)  hope all is well! ——SN54129 17:03, 9 April 2020 (UTC)
@Serial Number 54129: Thanks for the heads up. With all the family about this weekend, I might not have enough quiet for another read through until Monday, but I'll see what I can do. Harrias talk 18:13, 10 April 2020 (UTC)
@Harrias: No problem at all. Happy Easter to you and yours, if it's possible for anything to be happy these days! ——SN54129 18:39, 10 April 2020 (UTC)
I've made a few minor copy-edits, but otherwise it's looking good. Passing. Harrias talk 08:39, 12 April 2020 (UTC)