Letter to Theodore Cook about Olympic Games (ca. 1908)
This undated letter was written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to Sir Theodore Andrea Cook, a British art critic, writer and one of the three British representatives on the International Olympic Committee.
Letter
Dear Cook
I presume that the 'private' upon your letter does not apply to Lord Northcliffe since my only object in writing was to get an answer to his query.
There has never been any mystery about who you are dealing with. I have been trying to reconcile you to a hostile press. This press obviously contains the Times, Daily Mail, Evening News and all that group, but also papers which will follow the lead of that group. Behind them is a large & influential section of the public. It is not correct to speak as if it were only the Times, though Times men happen to be carrying out the negotiations. I regard myself as a mediator between you.
There has never been any thought of the Times guaranteeing a penny. The suggestion has always been that it and the others will countenance an appeal to the public if satisfied and not otherwise. We have some assurance that the appeal will not be a fiasco, but that comes from the public. The idea that the Times would finance the Olympic Games is on the face of it a most mischevious one.
- Yours sincerely
- A C D.
