A Duet with an Occasional Chorus (ACD Journal vol. 1 No. 2)
A Duet with an Occasional Chorus [Vol. 1 No. 2] is an article written by Christopher Roden published in the A.C.D. - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society (Vol. 10, may 2000).
This article is a society commentary column combining subscription news, broadcasting updates, event notices, and reflections on Conan Doyle's centenary year of 1890. It mixes practical Society business with editorial discussion of Conan Doyle's publications, cricket, Berlin trip, and career turning point, ending by calling 1890 "a Vintage Year."
Article
Subscription 1990
Revised Subscription rates come into force when current subscriptions expire on 31 May 1990. It is regretted that it is necessary to increase rates but increases in postage and printing costs have made this inevitable. It is hoped that members will feel that the quality and content of the Society's publications justifies continued support.
For ease of remittance, Overseas subscriptions may be forwarded either by personal cheques in U.S. Dollars, or in currency. Those unable to remit by this method should continue to arrange for International Money Orders or Sterling Drafts.
The revised subscription rates are as follows:
| Full Membership (U.K.) | £11.00 |
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Keeping the Memory Green
Nick Utechin, Producer of B.B.C. Radio 4's series on Literary Societies To Keep The Memory Green has advised us that the new series, which is to feature The Arthur Conan Doyle Society in one of its six programmes, will now be broadcast in June and July. The series commences on Friday, 22nd June and the programme featuring this Society is scheduled for 6th July.
Many of the interviews for the programme were recorded at, or around the time of, the launch of the Society last May. We await, with much interest, the verdict of Presenter Humphrey Carpenter, and Producer Nick Utechin.
A review of the programme will appear in the September issue of A.C.D.
The 7% Convention - A Sherlock Holmes Event
Readers may recall that I was a little unkind towards the organisation and presentation of details of The 7% Convention in the December issue of The Parish Magazine. At the time, this seemed justified and the organisers suffered somewhat for allowing news of the event to break in advance of their publicity. It seems, also, that there is a subversive element at work in the British Sherlockian movement, as there is much rumour-mongering afoot, which is doing its best to discredit the efforts of the organisers. As I now understand things, The 7% Convention is being organised by people who know what they're about, and who have a genuine interest in the subject. Jane Sayle, one of the organisers and also a Council member of The Sherlock Holmes Society of London, reports that all proceeds are destined for The Samaritans — and that seems a good enough reason for any interested Sherlockians to lend their support to the event. An advertisement, giving further details of the event, appears elsewhere in this issue.
In terms of Conan Doyle's life, it is tempting to see everything which happened a hundred years ago as a cause for a centenary celebration. To do so would be frivolous but it is difficult not to look back a century to re-consider some of the things which were occupying Conan Doyle at the time.
1890 was quite an eventful year: apart from the publication of The Sign of The Four, Longmans, Green & Co. collected a series of stories under the title The Captain of The Polestar and other tales, and The Firm of Girdlestone finally saw publication in book form.
One of the stories which was to be included in The Captain of The Polestar and other tales was The Ring of Thoth, and this story also had its first appearance in Cornhill Magazine during January of 1890. The other significant stories to make their debut during the year were A Physiologist's Wife which appeared in Blackwood's Magazine, and The Surgeon of Gaster Fell which made its debut in Chambers's Journal.
But, quite apart from the many literary efforts on which he was engaged at the time, Conan Doyle found time to attend meetings of the Portsmouth Literary Society, and details of these are discussed by Geoffrey Stavert in his biography of Conan Doyle's Southsea days A Study in Southsea. The Green and Gibson Bibliography, point of reference for so many items, details the various reports which appeared of that Literary Society's activities. In August 1890 Conan Doyle played cricket for the United Services team against the M.C.C. whose team included Shacklock. As Sherlock Holmes was shortly to appear in his second adventure, it is unlikely that this cricketer's name had any influence in the selection of the Detective's name — but the possibility is interesting nevertheless.
In the November of the same year, Conan Doyle left for Berlin at very short notice to attend lectures by Dr. Koch. The last minute plans resulted in his being unable to obtain a seat for the lectures but the information which he was able to gather enabled him to write an erudite analysis of the cure which Koch propounded. His visit also did something which was to change the course of his life. An encounter with Malcolm Morris, a London skin specialist, convinced Conan Doyle that he should leave general practice, specialise in the eye, and establish himself in London. The family left Southsea around the 15th December 1890 bound for Vienna — and an eventual change in career which Conan Doyle was certainly not contemplating when he took down his brass plate at Bush Villas.
With hindsight we may, with some justification, regard 1890 as a Vintage Year.
Christopher Roden
- Article courtesy Christopher Roden, founder of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society (1989-2003).
