Luncheon in honour of Commander Peary
On 3 may 1910, Arthur Conan Doyle was invited at a complimentary luncheon in honour of Commander Peary held at the Royal Societies Club, St. James's-street, London. He gave a speech about romance writers and the rarity of undiscovered lands to settle their characters.
Attendees
- President : Lord Halsbury
- Speakers :
- Commander Peary
- The Swedish Minister
- Admiral Sir George Nares
- Lord Roberts
- Lord Strathcona
- Sir George H. Reid (High Commissioner for Australia)
- Admiral Sir Lewis Beaumont
- Sir G. Taubman Geldie
- The Bishop of Kensington
- Commander E. Simpson (Naval Attaché, American Embassy)
- Mr. W. Phillips (First Secretary, American Embassy)
- Captain Muirhead Collins, Official Secretary, Australian Commonwealth
- Rear-Admiral A. M. Field
- Sir David Gill
- Captain R. F. Scott, R.N.
- Sir Hiram Maxim
- Mr. H. de Windt
- Mr. Hall Jones
- Major L. Darwin
- Captain Bartlett
- Colonel E. M. Wilson
- Sir J. Jardine, M.P.
- Mr. John Thomson
- Dr. Scott Keltie
- Sir A. Conan Doyle
- Mr. G. E. Buckle
- Professor Sir H. von Herkomer
- Admiral P. Aldrich
- Mr. J. Teall
- Mr. T. Bryant
- Daniel Bey and Mundji Bey (of the Turkish Embassy)
- Colonel Fielden
- Mr. Fabian Ware
- Rear-Admiral H. E. P. Cust
- Professor R. E. Gregory
- Sir J. McFadyean
- Canon Rawnsley
- Mr. H. R. Mill
- Dr. W. N. Shaw
- Major P. Sykes
- Professor Mayo Robson
- Colonel A. King
- Lieutenant-Colonel Gifford
- Commander B. Neate
- Rev. J. D. Pierce
Editions
- in The Book of Public Speaking, Vol. 2 (1913, Caxton Publishing Co. [UK]) as Literature
- in A.C.D. - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society Vol. 7 (1996/7 [UK]) as Literature
Conan Doyle speech
SIR A. CONAN DOYLE
LITERATURE
[Speech delivered May 3, 1910, at a complimentary luncheon to Commander Peary. Sir A. Conan Doyle responded to the toast "Literature."]
MR. CHAIRMAN AND GENTLEMEN:— I saw the poster of some enterprising firm as I was making my way to this luncheon party, which indicated how to squeeze an ox into a teacup. [Laughter.] That is a small feat compared with squeezing "Literature" into an after-luncheon speech. It is difficult, but my motto in life has been that the best way to overcome a difficulty is to avoid it [laughter] — a motto which will not commend itself to our guest. The subject of literature is perhaps hardly to be treated on such an occasion as this, and I certainly do not feel that I am the man to do it justice. There are one or two small cognate matters, however, to which I might make reference.
The writers of romance have always a certain amount of grievance against explorers. It is the grievance that explorers are continually encroaching on the domain of the romance-writer. [Laughter and cheers.] There has been a time when the world was full of blank spaces, in which a man of imagination might be able to give free scope to his fancy. [Laughter.] But owing to the ill-directed energy of our guest and other gentlemen of similar tendencies, these spaces are rapidly being filled up; and the question is where the romance-writer is to turn when he wants to draw any vague and not too clearly-defined region. [Laughter.] Romance-writers are a class of people who very much dislike being hampered by facts. [Laughter.] They like places where they can splash about freely, and where no one is in a position to contradict them. There used to be in my younger days a place known as Tibet. [Laughter.] When we wanted a place in which to put a mysterious old gentleman who could foretell the future, Tibet was a useful spot. [Laughter.] In the last few years, however, a commonplace British army has passed through Tibet, and they have not found any Mahatmas. [Laughter.] One would as soon think now of placing an occult gentleman there as of placing him in Piccadilly Circus. [Laughter.]
Then there is Central Africa, which my friend Mr. Rider Haggard as a young man found to be a splendid hunting-ground. There at least was a place where the romance-writer could do what he liked; but since those days we have the railway and the telegraph, and the question is when they come down to dinner whether they are to wear a tail-coat or whether a smoking-jacket will do. [Laughter and cheers.] I thought also that the Poles would last my time, but here is Commander Peary opening up the one and Captain Scott is going to open up the other. Really I do not know where romance-writers will be able to send their characters in order that they may come back chastened and better men. [Laughter.] There are now no vast regions of the world unknown to us, and romance-writers will have to be more precise in their writings. When I was young I remember that I began a story by saying that there was a charming homestead at Nelson, seventy miles north-west of New Zealand. A wretched geographer wrote to me to say that seventy miles north-west of New Zealand was out at sea. [Laughter and cheers.] Even now I cannot write about the open Polar Sea without Commander Peary's writing and contradicting me. [Laughter and cheers.] There are other minor grievances of the romance-writer. I saw a picture the other day of a melancholy-looking chicken which said: "Ah well, what does anything matter? We begin as an egg and we end as a feather duster." [Laughter.] I think that the whole philosophy of the world is comprised in the aphorism of that chicken. [Laughter.] But all the same, I wish to add my feeble word as to our natural pride not only that an American, but an American who had an old British, Anglo-Saxon stock name, has been the man who has won this honour. [Cheers.]
Reports
- Commander Peary on his Expedition (4 may 1910, The Times)
