Talk:Arthur Conan Doyle

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Contents 1 Practical jokes 2 Link suggestions 3 Jean Conan Doyle 4 1929 ban 5 Father 6 Against Koch and his proxies 7 Selected Bibliography? 8 Delisted Good Article 9 Arthur's father: Richard or Charles? 10 Portsmouth F.C. 11 photographic memory 12 Doyle as advocate of justice 13 What's with 14 Bio? 15 External links 16 In popular culture 17 Cricket infobox 18 Doyle or Conan Doyle? 19 Did Arthur Conan Doyle invent helmets for modern warfare 20 Strand Magazine 21 The Hound of the Baskervilles 22 Where are the drugs? 23 External links clean up 24 Title 25 Date contradiction

[edit] Practical jokes

There's a story somewhat popular among preachers that goes like this: Doyle was a practical joker. Once he sent the same telegram to twelve of his friends: "All is discovered. Flee at once." All twelve left the country.

Google turns up a number of such citations [1].

<>< tbc

This looks like a hoax, or urban legend to me. I recall having heard something about it before, but almost every single citation I discovered turns up in a sermon, used to illustrate the well-travelled theme of guilt. The twelve friends can also be the twelve most important men in England. sjc

The plot of one of the Holmes stories, "The 'Gloria Scott'", hinges on such a message. --RjLesch

Thanks! I made the story a link so page visitors can read it. I scanned through it and see exactly what you mean. However, the message in that context isn't a prank.

<>< tbc

---

There are many more citations at Google attributing the quote to Mark Twain [2].

<>< tbc

[edit] Link suggestions

An automated Wikipedia link suggester has some possible wiki link suggestions for the Arthur_Conan_Doyle article, and they have been placed on this page for your convenience.
Tip: Some people find it helpful if these suggestions are shown on this talk page, rather than on another page. To do this, just add {{User:LinkBot/suggestions/Arthur_Conan_Doyle}} to this page. — LinkBot 10:38, 17 Dec 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Jean Conan Doyle

Is anyone familiar with what Copyrights to the Holmes character were held by Dame Jean Conan Doyle before her death? According to one biography her brother sold off some of the copyrights and original manuscripts in an illegal sale to an American University in order to retain his french estate. I was just hoping to beef-up the Jean Conan Doyle article with more info.

Also, pherhaps we could add more information around the legal copyrights of Conan Doyle. I know that he had to sell the copyright of A Study in Scarlet in order to get it publish and recived a total of 20 pounds for the story...but by the late 1980's Jean Conan Doyle could still axe certain Holmes publications and complained to the producers of Star Trek The Next Generation when Brent Spiner played Sherlock Holmes in a holodeck episode.

User:Dowew

In article 7 of his will Arthur Conan Doyle wrote: "My executors shall deal as they think best with copyrights, plays, cinema rights, or unpublished MSS, it being my wish that the advice and cooperation of A.S. Watt of 10 Norfolk Street be always obtained. The yearly income on the capital sums derived from such sources shall always be divided as already stated-one half to my wife, one half divided among three younger children."

(You can view jpgs of Doyle's will as well as the transcribed version here: http://www.foolscap-quill.com/sherlockholmes5.html )

This is a really bad way to devise (give by will) your literary property. The result was that the copyrights remained in the Doyle estate without a neutral party to oversee them.

Doyle designated his wife Jean and his eldest son Denis as executors. However, Doyle's children (especially Adrian, who is referred to as "Malcolm" in the will) and their surviving spouses and heirs have feuded over the copyrights for almost 70 years.

I don't believe this is matter that Wikipedia should get into the middle of.

DarleneCypserEsq 19:58, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] 1929 ban

Quote from the article:His work on this topic was one of the reasons that one of his short story collections, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, was banned in the Soviet Union in 1929 under the pretense of occultism.

Well, I have a book, published in the Soviet Union in Russian in 1978 (300,000 copies), which contains this collection. I can provide more precise data about that edition if someone desire.

Therefore, even if this ban was, it was cancelled later. I'll add this into the article now. By the way, if someone will find non-wiki information about that ban, please, add a link into the article or here, because, for example, I didn't hear about that ban at all. Cmapm 19:20, 9 May 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Father

"Richard Doyle's hopeless alcoholism is evident in all of the Holmes stories." "But, Doyle never once mentions alcohol in his stories." "That is why it is evident."

[edit] Against Koch and his proxies

The NEJM this week[3] gives a fascinating account how ACD traveled to Berlin to learn about Robert Koch's "treatment" for tuberculosis. He unmasked it as a speculative and probably irrelevant finding, and was vindicated in doing so. Perhaps this should be mentioned here. JFW | T@lk 23:45, 11 December 2005 (UTC)

Yes, that was a fascinating article. I heard the suggestion somewhere that the method of Sherlock Holmes was the method of medical diagnostics that Holmes learned in medical school from one of his teachers in particular. Anyway, here are my notes of that NEJM article:

NEJM, 8 Dec 2005, 353(23):2426, Perspective: Medical History: The Medical Detectives, Howard Markel. Arthur Conan Doyle was a medical journalist, and broke a story on the limitations of Robert Koch's treatment for tuberculosis. Koch announced a "remedy for tuberculosis," on 6 Aug 1890, at the 10th International Medical Congress, Berlin. This was "Koch's lymph," a glycerin extract of tuberculosis germs. It was reported 13 Nov 1890 Deutsche Medizinische Wochenscrift, 15 Nov 1890 BMJ, 16 Nov 1890 New York Times. Koch never claimed that he discovered a "cure," but that his "remedy destroyed the tissue in which the tuberculosis germs had settled, so that the entire diseased area would simply be sloughed off and then expelled through coughing." Conan Doyle, who had published A Study in Scarlet in 1887, read the translation of Koch's paper in BMJ, which announced that Ernst von Bergmann would demonstrate the tuberculosis remedy at the University of Berlin later that week. [Conan Doyle's wife, Louise Hawkins, had TB.] Conan Doyle immediately boarded a train for London, got an assignment to write about it from the Review of Reviews, and arrived in Berlin 16 Nov. But tickets to von Bergmann's clinical demonstration were "simply not to be had and neither money nor interest could procure them." Conan Doyle went to Koch's home, but the butler told Conan Doyle that Koch was unavailable. On 17 Nov, Conan Doyle went to the medical auditorium, "but neither bribes nor his clumsy attempts at slipping by the ticket taker" secured him entry. Conan Doyle threw himself in front of von Bergmann and said, "I have come a thousand miles. May I not come in?" Bergman glared through his pince-nez and replied, to laughs and jeers, "Perhaps you would like to take my place? That is the only one vacant!" Henry J. Hartz, TB specialist from Detroit, was appaled by von Bergmann's bad behavior, and agreed to share his notes. Next morning, Hartz escorted Conan Doyle into von Bergmann's clinical wards to examine the patients treated by Koch's lymph. After analyzing the data, Conan Doyle concluded, "The whole thing was experimental and premature," as he wrote in the London Daily Telegraph of 20 Nov 1890, and in the Review of Reviews. Koch's lymph left germs "deep in the invaded country," and its real value was as an aid to diagnosis. In 1891, Koch admitted this.Nbauman 10:06, 22 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Selected Bibliography?

Any particular reason why we only have a selected bibliography here? Other authors have complete bibliographies...

[edit] Delisted Good Article

This article is no longer a "good article" because it does not have any references. joturner 03:58, 13 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Arthur's father: Richard or Charles?

Wikipedia currently lists illustrator Richard Doyle as Arthur Conan Doyle's father. However, in Victorian Fairy Painting, published by the Royal Academy of Arts, London in 1997, Victorianists Pamela White Trimpe (p 58) and Jeremy Maas (p 17) list Richard's brother Charles as Arthur's father. Richard and Charles were born in London, which is where Richard also died. Charles, on the other hand, moved to Edinburgh. Both brothers were celebrated illustrators, but Charles less so, partly because he was institutionalized for alcoholism and epilepsy in the 1870s and remained "in and out of institutions" for the rest of his life (Trimpe 58). According to Trimpe, the work of Charles Doyle only resurfaced in the 1920s under the curation of his son, Arthur Conan Doyle.

Charles Altemont Doyle was Conan Doyle's father. I've corrected this Daibhid C 20:09, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Portsmouth F.C.

This article says that Arthur Conan Doyle "helped form Portsmouth Football Club, playing as the club's first goalkeeper and occasionally as a right back between 1884 and 1890." Portsmouth F.C. calls that assertion "a common myth": "While Conan Doyle did play for an amateur side, Portsmouth AFC, that flourished from 1882 to 1894, the first goalkeeper of the professional era was Matt Reilly who previously played for the successful Royal Artillery team." Which of these is true? Aecis ^{Appleknocker Flophouse} 18:18, 14 May 2006 (UTC)

Apparently the latter: that he played for the amateur club Portsmouth AFC, but not for its successor, the professional Portsmouth FC. There's a book on the subject reviewed here (Sherlock Holmes Was a Pompey Keeper by Kevin Smith). Tearlach 08:35, 19 May 2006 (UTC)

I also followed up on this some on the web; while a few sites mentioned Doyle playing as goalkeeper, none gave any sort of verifiable material supporting the supposition. On the Portsmouth F.C. official website, there is no mention whatsoever of Doyle in either the History or Trivia sections — which would be a surprising omission had he actually been on the team in any capacity. As such, I corrected the statement. Tijuana Brass^¡Épa! 00:04, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] photographic memory

I've heard that Doyle had a photographic memory, going so far as to insert false weather accounts in his stories (e.g. since he had memorized the Farmer's Almanac, he would incorrectly state the weather of a given day in his works as a joke to himself). Can anyone verify this? - IstvanWolf 07:23, 22 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Doyle as advocate of justice

I believe the following to be incorrect:

"Doyle was also a fervent advocate of justice, and personally investigated two closed cases, which led to two imprisoned men being released. "

I understand that the suspect in the first case, George Edalji, had already been released before Sir Doyle began investigations?

[edit] What's with

the vandalism ?

Undoubtedly the work of Professor Moriarty. I believe something's afoot! Gzuckier 20:29, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Bio?

Why is this biographical part titled "Love Life"? Do I miss something here?

[edit] External links

Some external links were posted from User talk:72.138.243.62.

I deleted them, and received a very nice, detailed and professional followup from User talk:Arnold Villeneuve.

Comments, anyone? -- Jim Douglas ^(talk) _(contribs) 06:07, 15 October 2006 (UTC)

I have no idea what the links were supposed to give, as they only generate gibberish in my Mac browsers (both Safari and Firefox). I would say the links do not belong here until they have a format which is accessible to everyone. If they contain information that is not already on the page, add that information to the page, and leave the links as references. Mlewan 06:40, 15 October 2006 (UTC)

I just tried it in Firefox on my Windows box and also on Firefox & Safari on my PowerBook G4. I see a tree view on the left side, with different chunks of text displayed based on where I click. I have no idea what to make of it. I've invited Arnold Villeneuve to explain it either here or on Talk:Winston Churchill. -- Jim Douglas ^(talk) _(contribs) 07:00, 15 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] In popular culture

I've just done some fiddling with:

• Mark Twain in popular culture
• Nikola Tesla in popular culture

and proposed a similar one for Thomas Edison and was thinking it might be worth getting the ball rolling for Arthur Conan Doyle in popular culture. Off the top of my head there is Arthur & George, Necronauts, FairyTale: A True Story and Photographing Fairies. Anymore? (Emperor 19:30, 24 October 2006 (UTC))

[edit] Cricket infobox

I've removed the cricket infobox. While the info in it is accurate, it gives the page the appearance of vandalism, and falsely implies that the man was mostly known as a cricketer. I've added the cricket stats as an external link, which is where I think they belong. --Trevor Burnham 03:45, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Doyle or Conan Doyle?

I had always assumed the correct form was eg 'Conan Doyle was a Scot' rather than 'Doyle was a Scot', but from the evidence of this article - and other subsidiary pages (eg Professor Challenger) - this doesn't seem to be the case. Are there any Conan Doyleans (or Doyleans) out there that can shed any light on this? I think we should be consistent and use either one form or the other.Ericoides 21:57, 5 November 2006 (UTC)

I think so too. His surname was Conan Doyle, wasn't it? All the category sorting is wrong too. Stephen Turner (Talk) 17:59, 9 November 2006 (UTC)

In fact, we had a strange mixture of "Doyle" and "Conan Doyle". I've changed them all to "Conan Doyle" now. Stephen Turner (Talk) 21:13, 16 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Did Arthur Conan Doyle invent helmets for modern warfare

I recall hearing somewhere that Conan Doyle suggested that soldiers returned to wearing steel helmets as he'd noticed that most gunshot wounds were to the head. Could a Doyle expert confirm or deny this?

TIA!

Apepper 17:39, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Strand Magazine

Slightly surprised no-one's mentioned the importance of Strand Magazine in all this. When did this magazine print his serialised stories? Davidbod 21:09, 15 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] The Hound of the Baskervilles

There is much wrong with this article, most of which has been covered above, but one major omission is that of "the Hound of the Baskervilles" which was published after Holmes' death, but before "The Empty House". Admittedly, it was set before the Reichenbach Falls, but "The Hound" is an extremely important novel.

210.10.173.201 03:20, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Where are the drugs?

I wonder why there's only any accounts of Doyle's clean living in this article? It is an omission that borders on deception.Stephen Kinch 08:44, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] External links clean up

I have had a wander thought the external links section. Most are fine, the following have some problems (as noted) have been moved here, they should not reappear without discussion.

• www.biographyshelf.com -- Links to avoid #4
• 221bbakerstreet.info -- Links to avoid #1
• www.classic-literature.co.uk/--Links to avoid #5
• www.sherlock-holmes.es --In Spanish, (does not meet exception criteria specified in: Wikipedia:External links#Foreign-language links)
• www.sherlock-holmes.co.uk --Links to avoid #3, #4
• www.nevasport.com Conan Doyle, ski pioneer--In Spanish, (does not meet exception criteria.)--DO11.10 23:08, 6 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Title

The article is called "Arthur conan doyle", but the first words are sir arthur conan doyle. Surely the name of the article should be changed? --Will James 07:12, 7 March 2007 (UTC)

No; the convention is to use the unadorned name for the title - otherwise, how about Margaret_Thatcher, or Winston_Churchill? Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_(people) notes:article names preferably don't add qualifiers (such as "King", "Saint", "Dr.", "(person)", "(ship)"), except when this is the simplest and most NPOV way to deal with disambiguation. --Stephen Burnett 08:49, 7 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Date contradiction

On this article, the hound of the baskervilles was said to be published in 1902, but in the article "The return of sherlock holmes" they say the hound was published in 1901. This contradiction could quite possibly undermine the wikipedia website and bring an end to the world as we know it. --Will James 07:19, 7 March 2007 (UTC)