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	== Two Unrecorded Newspaper Reports ==		== Two Unrecorded Newspaper Reports ==
	[[File:Acd-society-journal-1998-vol8-p85-two-unrecorded-newspaper-reports.jpg\|thumb\|250px\|right\|[[A.C.D. - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society]] (Vol.80, 1998, p. 85)]]		[[File:Acd-society-journal-1998-vol8-p85-two-unrecorded-newspaper-reports.jpg\|thumb\|250px\|right\|[[A.C.D. - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society]] (Vol. 8, 1998, p. 85)]]
	[[File:Acd-society-journal-1998-vol8-p86-two-unrecorded-newspaper-reports.jpg\|thumb\|250px\|right\|[[A.C.D. - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society]] (Vol.80, 1998, p. 86)]]		[[File:Acd-society-journal-1998-vol8-p86-two-unrecorded-newspaper-reports.jpg\|thumb\|250px\|right\|[[A.C.D. - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society]] (Vol. 8, 1998, p. 86)]]
	[[File:Acd-society-journal-1998-vol8-p87-two-unrecorded-newspaper-reports.jpg\|thumb\|250px\|right\|[[A.C.D. - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society]] (Vol.80, 1998, p. 87)]]		[[File:Acd-society-journal-1998-vol8-p87-two-unrecorded-newspaper-reports.jpg\|thumb\|250px\|right\|[[A.C.D. - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society]] (Vol. 8, 1998, p. 87)]]
	[[File:Acd-society-journal-1998-vol8-p88-two-unrecorded-newspaper-reports.jpg\|thumb\|250px\|right\|[[A.C.D. - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society]] (Vol.80, 1998, p. 88)]]		[[File:Acd-society-journal-1998-vol8-p88-two-unrecorded-newspaper-reports.jpg\|thumb\|250px\|right\|[[A.C.D. - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society]] (Vol. 8, 1998, p. 88)]]

	''We are pleased to note two previously unrecorded newspaper reports, which we reproduce below. Thanks to John Michael Gibson for bringing these to our attention.''		''We are pleased to note two previously unrecorded newspaper reports, which we reproduce below. Thanks to John Michael Gibson for bringing these to our attention.''

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TCDE-Team: Created page with " ''Two Unrecorded Newspaper Reports'' is an article published in the A.C.D. - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society (Vol. 8, 1998). This article reproduces two previously unrecorded newspaper interviews from 1927 and 1930 in which Arthur Conan Doyle reflects on Sherlock Holmes, his other books, Spiritualism, ageing, and public reputation. Together, they show his impatience with being reduced to Sherlock Holmes alone and preserve valuable late sel..."

2026-03-19T21:55:56Z

Created page with " ''Two Unrecorded Newspaper Reports'' is an article published in the A.C.D. - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society (Vol. 8, 1998). This article reproduces two previously unrecorded newspaper interviews from 1927 and 1930 in which Arthur Conan Doyle reflects on Sherlock Holmes, his other books, Spiritualism, ageing, and public reputation. Together, they show his impatience with being reduced to Sherlock Holmes alone and preserve valuable late sel..."

New page

''Two Unrecorded Newspaper Reports'' is an article published in the [[A.C.D. - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society]] (Vol. 8, 1998).

This article reproduces two previously unrecorded newspaper interviews from 1927 and 1930 in which [[Arthur Conan Doyle]] reflects on [[Sherlock Holmes]], his other books, Spiritualism, ageing, and public reputation. Together, they show his impatience with being reduced to [[Sherlock Holmes]] alone and preserve valuable late self-commentary in [[Arthur Conan Doyle|Conan Doyle]]'s own reported words.

__TOC__

== Two Unrecorded Newspaper Reports ==
[[File:Acd-society-journal-1998-vol8-p85-two-unrecorded-newspaper-reports.jpg|thumb|250px|right|[[A.C.D. - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society]] (Vol.80, 1998, p. 85)]]
[[File:Acd-society-journal-1998-vol8-p86-two-unrecorded-newspaper-reports.jpg|thumb|250px|right|[[A.C.D. - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society]] (Vol.80, 1998, p. 86)]]
[[File:Acd-society-journal-1998-vol8-p87-two-unrecorded-newspaper-reports.jpg|thumb|250px|right|[[A.C.D. - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society]] (Vol.80, 1998, p. 87)]]
[[File:Acd-society-journal-1998-vol8-p88-two-unrecorded-newspaper-reports.jpg|thumb|250px|right|[[A.C.D. - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society]] (Vol.80, 1998, p. 88)]]

''We are pleased to note two previously unrecorded newspaper reports, which we reproduce below. Thanks to John Michael Gibson for bringing these to our attention.''

=== A Challenge ===

''Reprinted from the Daily Express, 17 June 1927, 'Daily Express' Special Correspondent Crowborough, Thursday''

[[Sherlock Holmes]] is dead to the world. He will make his final appearance in [[The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes|The Case-book of Sherlock Holmes]], which will be published soon. It is a sad thought for a sunny day, and one made no more cheerful by the confession of [[Sir Arthur Conan Doyle]] — with whom I have just been talking — that he is least proud of the fame and popularity which have been gained for him by this creation of his mind.

It is not really so on reflection, except in so far as an hero of one's boyhood is disgraced before one's eyes. I approached Crowborough growing younger every minute, for it was as a boy that I loved [[Sherlock Holmes]] in a kind of awed way, and placed him but one step lower in my mental altar of fame than Lord Roberts.

I went into [[Sir Arthur Conan Doyle|Sir Arthur]]'s study, and I met a great tall mass of a man — what a heavy-weight boxer he would have made with eyes remarkably like Kitchener's and a rumbling, infinitely pleasant voice, and a tolerant attitude.

There were dumbbells and boxing gloves on the floor, and the walls are lined with books-twenty shelves, perhaps, are devoted to those on Spiritualism-and there is an atmosphere of sympathy and manliness about the man and his room that gives poor [[Sherlock Holmes]] a pat on the back even while reducing him to his proper proportions like [[The White Company]].

'Oh, [[Sir Arthur Conan Doyle|Sir Arthur]] said to me. I hate the old man. I am afraid I cannot tell you very much about him.

He relented, however.

'I was tired of [[Sherlock Holmes]] from the beginning,' he said, stretching his legs and drawing at a cigar; his spectacles were pushed up on his forehead and twinkled in the sun. 'It was a type of literature in which I was very much interested. It seemed to me that there was a perennial demand for detective stories and that was an easy story to write. It was, besides, an excellent way for a struggling young man to get a foothold and to get money. I was challenged, too, by the rottenness of the detective story of the day. Detectives in fiction then arrived at their conclusions either by accident or by extraordinary processes which were never explained, and, I said to myself, that is not the game.

'If you have results you must play fair. The thing must be reduced to a science and when the results are shown they will surprise people. That is how the idea was born. I am a scientific man and a doctor of medicine. One does not muddle about in diseases like the old detectives did in crime. Those detectives always had such silly names. as Mr Ferret and Mr Sharp.

'So I decided on the most commonplace I could think of' — a cloud of cigar smoke

'You know,' continued [[Sir Arthur Conan Doyle|Sir Arthur]], '[[Sherlock Holmes]] had a method of detecting crime which he stands for and which is treated with much more respect in [[France]] than in England. I have the utmost admiration for the English police, but they are hampered in their work by a lack of facilities such as a tabulation of the population and by their unscientific attitude.

'Now in [[France]] [[Sherlock Holmes|Holmes]] has been taken quite seriously as a philosopher and a pioneer in criminal detective work. There is a department of the police in Lyons called after me — the ''Salle Conan Doyle'' <ref>Translation from French : "Room Conan Doyle".</ref> and I am very proud of that.'

He rose and handed me a photograph — a lean, clever face looked at me.

'That,' he said, 'is the chief of the Lyons Police. He sent me his photograph himself, and lying underneath was the following message: 'To the illustrious father of [[Sherlock Holmes]] [[Sir Arthur Conan Doyle]]. Homage and admiration — [[Edmond Locard|Edmund Lockard]].'

'I have heard also,' said [[Sir Arthur Conan Doyle|Sir Arthur]], 'that part of the Egyptian detective code has been based on the work of [[Sherlock Holmes]]. The books concerning him have even been translated into Chinese.'

There have been problems in real life which [[Sir Arthur Conan Doyle|Sir Arthur]] has solved. himself, sitting at his study table in the true [[Sherlock Holmes]] fashion.

I left the house clinging to my boyhood memories. There is, perhaps, a kind of paradise for characters in fiction, and it is there I should like to imagine [[Sherlock Holmes]]. He is an old man now, perhaps ninety, and he is sitting reading in a sunny field. Dr Watson approaches him and says, 'My dear [[Sherlock Holmes|Holmes]], I have lost my pipe. I wonder if you could help me find it. Where do you think it could be?'

'I haven't the slightest idea,' replies [[Sherlock Holmes]] comfortably, and he sits down to read [[The White Company]].

=== Author's Thoughts on his 71st Birthday ===

''Reprinted from The Sunday Times, 22 May 1930''

One of the things that [[Sir Arthur Conan Doyle]] is trying to do today-his 71st birthday — is to forget that he ever wrote a word about [[Sherlock Holmes]]. [[Sherlock Holmes|Sherlock]] has gone on his amazing exploits with 'My dear [[Dr. Watson|Watson]]' for the very last time.

Today [[Sir Arthur Conan Doyle|Sir Arthur]] was planning not another mystery story, but a family reunion in celebration of his birthday. His two sons, [[Denis Conan Doyle|Denis]] and [[Adrian Conan Doyle|Adrian]], and his schoolgirl daughter are all coming home today, and tonight, with [[Jean Elizabeth Leckie|Lady Doyle]], they are all hoping to go to a London theatre.

Illness has kept [[Sir Arthur Conan Doyle|Sir Arthur]] in the tranquil solitude of his Crowborough home for some months, but for his birthday he came to town.

'You know,' he said to a reporter today, 'what strikes me most in growing old is how little one changes. If I sit down and close my eyes, I feel little change since my early middle age.

'I have the same sentiments, the same enthusiasms, much the same convictions. I hope I may have gained a little wisdom, if I have less energy.

'I have a happy home, and I can for the first time refuse invitations and requests with a clear conscience. It is easier to say 'I can't' than 'I won't'.'

Although [[Sir Arthur Conan Doyle|Sir Arthur]] does not feel equal to any prolonged effort in his literary work, he is able to do short spells of work as well as ever.

'No, I have done with [[Sherlock Holmes]],' he said to his interviewer. To tell the truth, I am rather tired of hearing myself described as the author of [[Sherlock Holmes]]. Why not, for a change, the author of [[Rodney Stone]] or of [[The White Company]], or of [[Brigadier Gerard]], or of [[The Lost World]]? One would think I had written nothing but detective stories.

'What do I consider my best book? I should say [[The White Company]] and [[Sir Nigel]] — they are practically one book. But I have put most of myself of any judgment, dignity and narrative power that I possess into a book which is not fiction at all, British Campaigns Upon the Continent.'

'There was a [[Sherlock Holmes]] in real life. He was a doctor in Edinburgh a [[Joseph Bell|Dr Bell]] — under whom I studied.'

It is really a family secret that [[Sir Arthur Conan Doyle|Sir Arthur]] has a true 'detective mind' of his own. [[Jean Elizabeth Leckie|Lady Doyle]] told the reporter about it.

'My husband has done the most wonderful Sherlock Holmes work himself,' she said.

Much of [[Sir Arthur Conan Doyle|Sir Arthur]]'s time now is taken up by his interest in the psychic. 'I have written ten books on psychic subjects,' he said.

'Of course, it is a labour of love, as the public don't read such books. They will perhaps outlive anything I have ever written. The work involves me also in a very large correspondence. I often get from ten to twenty letters a day upon the subject alone.

'What new ideas have I acquired? It is a new idea that these things are capable of absolute proof. We learn, too, that it matters little what a man believes. Only character counts. It is deeds, not creeds.

'We learn, also, that a man has to answer for his own actions. There is no trick by which at the last moment he can escape the consequences of his own life. That is a most pernicious idea, and has done great harm. We will bring about a far stronger sense of responsibility.'

The only time that [[Sir Arthur Conan Doyle|Sir Arthur]] was gloomy was when he visualised. the world in 25 or 30 years. 'I foresee another European war as a certainty unless the Treaty of Versailles is modified,' he said.

But he is, generally, a man with a happy outlook.

'All this twaddle about youth being decadent was talked about before the war. Never was there a better generation of young men and women than that of today. They are freer in thought and speech, but that is to the good. Really, they are marvellous.'

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Two Unrecorded Newspaper Reports - Revision history

TCDE-Team at 11:44, 20 March 2026

TCDE-Team at 21:56, 19 March 2026