A Journey Through the Magic Door
A Journey Through the Magic Door is an article written by Elizabeth Wiggins published in the A.C.D. - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society (Vol. 2, No. 2) in autumn 1991.
This reflective account describes the 1991 Arthur Conan Doyle Society weekend in Barnsley, highlighting lectures, dramatic readings, and discussions that explored both Sherlock Holmes and Conan Doyle's wider life and works. Through the eyes of a newcomer, the event becomes a personal initiation into Conan Doyle's enduring literary "magic door."
A Journey Through the Magic Door
A pre-Dinner reading at the Arthur Conan Doyle Society weekend in Barnsley. David Stuart Davies (left), Julie Allen (Periquito Hotels), Christopher Roden, Kathryn White and Tonia Hollam and Ben Godon of Periquito Hotels prior to the evening's entertainment.
The cast of 'Fixed Point: (left to right) Anne Jordan, Nik Foster, Ken Greenwood and David Stuart Davies.
(Photograph courtesy of The Sherlock Holmes Gazette)
'An Introduction to Conan Doyle Weekend Periquito Hotel, Barnsley, 21-22 September 1991
As a freelance journalist I am frequently called upon to write about subjects of which I know very little, if anything at all. This is not the disadvantage it might first appear to be. Rather, I think the art of good journalism is to research and interview a subject, digest the knowledge and pass it on in a readable and understandable form.
It was in this frame of mind that I tackled an approach made to me in January to write a magazine about Sherlock Holmes. I had never even read a Sherlock Holmes story, but at least I knew they were written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, so I was one step ahead already.
What I did not reckon on was being completely overtaken by the fictional character and his author. My quest to find out as much as possible about the detective, was also one to find out all I could about his creator, for there was no way The Gazette would 'play the game'.
So the Introduction to Arthur Conan Doyle weekend at the Periquito Hotel, Barnsley, was a magnificent opportunity to get to know more of author of whom I was already in awe.
I had joined The Arthur Conan Doyle Society five months previously because it seemed the ideal avenue along which to travel in a journey to find out what made the great man tick. It must have been an awesome task for Christopher Roden and David Stuart Davies to compile a weekend of activities that would even touch the tip of the iceberg — but they did.
There was an opportunity to peruse and buy some new and secondhand Conan Doyle books. Just the cross section available immediately gave one an insight into the sheer breadth of the author's wide-ranging talents.
Those talents are carried forward by others. Such has been Doyle's inspiration to David Stuart Davies, for instance, that we were treated to a special dramatic presentation about the life and death of Sherlock Holmes, written by the Northern Musgraves' co-president.
The play, Fixed Point, revealed a very deep understanding of the close relationship between Holmes and Watson that special linking of two souls that can only happen once in a lifetime. All credit too, to the actors Anne Jordan, Nik Foster and Ken Greenwood, who played their parts most professionally alongside the author.
Another special link was admirably detailed by Christopher Roden, when he presented a paper on Conan Doyle and The Strand Magazine. As Christopher recalled in the words of editor, Greenhough Smith the magazine was in its infancy, good story writers were scarce and then came 'a gift from heaven, a godsend in the shape of a story that brought happiness.' The story was A Scandal in Bohemia, the author: Conan Doyle, recognised by Greenhough Smith as 'the greatest short story writer since Edgar Allan Poe.'
Thus formed an association that survived from 1891 to 1930 and that really made me stop and think. About strange, happy coincidences of timing that happen occasionally in life. What would one have been without the other? Who made whom great?
Kathryn White, co-president of The Northern Musgraves, picked up the thread between the first and last Sherlock Holmes story. Strange how the theme of links and bonds kept interweaving: Watson and Holmes, Holmes and Doyle, Doyle and The Strand.
Then another — David Stuart Davies and Christopher Roden's jointly-written Through The Magic Door. Presented between courses of the Victorian dinner, the intention was to provide an outline of some of Doyle's works, other than Holmes. Fictional characters seemed to come alive via the Ken Greenwood/David Stuart Davies double-act, or was it Holmes and Watson?
I just did not know. It becomes so confusing this overlapping of real and unreal, fact and fantasy. Doyle's characters become alive, become real people. Real people become Doyle's characters. Yes, the magic was slipping through the door. You could almost feel his presence in the dining room.
Was he there? No. He died sixty one years ago. But he is still alive; his spirit does live on through all the lives of the people in that Barnsley dining room. Joined together by sheer enjoyment of the author's works, this introduction really seemed to be working, I thought to myself!
There was more — Brigadier Etienne Gerard. I knew in an instant, he would become a firm favourite of mine. I have never read any before, but Christopher Roden's excellent narration from the Brigadier's own memoirs more than whetted my appetite.
More and more aspects of Doyle's life were brought to the forefront — his love of sport; his fascination with the supernatural and spiritualism.
The latter topic was taken up next morning by Joe Cooper, psychic investigator and author of The Case of the Cottingley Fairies. He had a harder time portraying this particular side of Conan Doyle, than any of the previous performers or speakers.
His was a topic that seemed to fall on stony ground. I had the feeling there were many in the audience who would have preferred to ignore Doyle's spiritualistic inclinations altogether as if it would somehow get in the way of Sherlock Holmes. Joe Cooper sensed that too and played with his audience, straying from the brief: to chair a discussion on Doyle's spiritualism and examine whether the Sherlock Holmes stories suggested that Doyle himself was a medium. He attempted to be outrageous but, in the end, both audience and speaker were equally the losers. Joe Cooper is a very interesting man. In my quest for knowledge of Doyle, I have an open mind and I want to hear about all aspects of him.
I had been mesmerised a little earlier by the video presentation, which included film coverage of Doyle speaking to camera about Sherlock Holmes and how he had been moulded upon Joseph Bell. Fiction overlapping fact yet again.
I recalled a few lines from the previous evening's presentation: '... this man, Arthur Conan Doyle, leads you through the magic door of the imagination, of storytelling. But alas, though you shut that door, you cannot seal it.'
Sitting in the back of the car coming back from Barnsley, I found myself reading The Exploits of Brigadier Gerard, bought that morning. Already, there were other sides of Doyle's work I was exploring. From never having read any Holmes at the beginning of the year, I am working my way through the stories on account of The Gazette.
The punishing publishing schedule leaves hardly any time at the moment for reading but, although I have such little time at present for just reading for pleasure, it will not always be so hectic.
The weekend in Barnsley opened a door for me. I came away with so many different thoughts about Doyle and all his writings. Though I can shut the door for now, I can never again seal it.
Elizabeth Wiggins is the mastermind behind The Sherlock Holmes Gazette, the new lively and topical quarterly magazine. The third issue has just been published, and Elizabeth tells us that the first issue in 1992 will be a 'Conan Doyle Special'. It's a magazine not to be missed and promises such as this make it all the more important for anyone with an interest in Conan Doyle to book their subscription now. More information, together with subscription details, appear elsewhere in this journal.
- Article courtesy Christopher Roden, founder of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society (1989-2003).
