Wikipedia talk:Wikipedia Signpost/2020-01-27/Obituary
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Brian[edit]
In the context, please see also Brian's talk page (where his family is also watching) and the thanks to him on Project Opera by Voceditenore, who said "He was without a doubt the finest editor that Wikipedia has seen.". --Gerda Arendt (talk) 12:28, 27 January 2020 (UTC)
- Born 1937! I thought Brian was a year younger than I am (b. 1952), and – wicked old creature – he didn't disabuse me of this error. He certainly didn't look like 1937 vintage, as anyone who met him in recent years will surely agree. And meeting him was such a treat. He was a member of Middlesex CCC, and I cherish the memory of him absenting himself from a county match at Lord's to join me for a long lunch at an Italian restaurant in St John's Wood High Street. There were other convivial and fairly disgraceful outings, too, though one often met him en route to or coming back from visiting ailing old friends. As for his contributions to Wikipedia, the word "incomparable" cannot be avoided – not only his 100+ featured articles, but his year-in-year-out encouragement, guidance and kindness when reviewing other editors' articles. Not that "kindness" meant any diminution of his rigorous standards. I once suggested that an FAC article on some sporting topic or other might be permitted a less elevated standard of prose than those on more intellectual subjects and BB gently ticked me off for sloppy thinking. He was right of course. Several of us have put his FAs on our watchlists and will strive to preserve his matchless articles in good order. He leaves a magnificent legacy, but he leaves a BB-shaped gap too, and he will be missed so much by countless people here, including Tim riley talk 23:41, 28 January 2020 (UTC)