The Cerebral Tentacle No. 1863

The Cerebral Tentacle No. 1863 (december 1997, p. 1)

The Cerebral Tentacle No. 1863 is the fifth and last issue of the magazine of The Arthur Conan Doyle Study Group, published in december 1997 by Mark Chadderton.

The cover is illustrated with an article from the Nash's Pall Mall Magazine (1914) co-signed by Arthur Conan Doyle.

The Cerebral Tentacle No. 1863

The Cerebral Tentacle No. 1863 (december 1997, p. 2)

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Introduction

This 5th issue of the the ACDSG newsletter marks our first year in operation, having been initially set up to provide additional Doylean study and news for those members of our parent company — The Franco-Midland Hardware Company. It was thought that a lot of members would be interested in finding out more about ACD, aside from their enjoyment of the Sherlock Holmes Stories, but unfortunately, this has not been the case — and membership of this particular Branch Office has remained, throughout our first year, disappointingly low. It is becoming increasingly hard to find contributions for each issue, and this may lead to your newsletter not coming out on it's current Quarterly Basis ?

However, we shouldn't get too downdbeat just yet, because the reaction we have had, has all been very positive, and this serves as necessary encouragement to continue against what appears to be a lack of interest in ACD compared to SH ; again — perhaps this should serve to inspire us all to spread the Doylean word even more amongst the exclusively Holmesian.

To finish off this introduction on a positive note — A huge thank you to those members who have put in time, effort and encouragement throughout our first year — you know who you are...

Newsletter Covers

The cover to this newsletter is slightly different from the 4 previous issues, in that it incorporates 2 different pages, instead of the single page reproduction that usually covers both back and front. The 2 page appeal from 1914 appeared in the 1st amalgamated issue of NASH'S & PALL MALL MAGAZINE (See cutting opposite), it is not listed in the GREEN & GIBSON Bibliography, so it is not clear to what extent ACD's involvement in this particular cause was, beyond giving his name in support. Maybe an ACD Study Group member can supply further details ? Of additional interest is the suggestion that this particular appeal would hopefully appear "in every magazine published in the Kingdom." Again, does anyone have a similar item from a different magazine ?

Newsletter Synopsis

Unfortunately, we have to mark this issue with the news of another sad loss to the Doylean world — that of Dame Jean Conan Doyle. Brian Pugh, curator of the Conan Doyle (Crowborough) Establishment has kindly written a few words upon this sad event, and it is he also, who has agreed to supply a new column for this newsletter — News from Crowborough, which will be welcomed by the majority of our own membership, in that most of you are members of the CD(C)E too. As requested in our last issue, we also have a review of the recent film; "Photographing Fairies", although no one took the offer up to supply their thoughts on the recent Booth Biography... the production of our separate publication, containing articles on SGUAR, has had to have been put back as some promised articles haven't been submitted; but don't forget, if you still wish to send in some thoughts upon this first story from our "CONAN DOYLE STORIES" course of study, you still have time... Our two main features this issue have been gratefully received from Syd Goldberg and Richard Stacpoole-Ryding. From Syd's Doylean collection, we are reproducing an interview with ACD, which is not listed in GREEN & GI3SCN'S 8ibliography, and Richard has kindly submitted the text of a talk he gave on his ancestor Henry de Vere Stacpoole, at Undershew for the FMHC ACD Day on 19/5/96 (*NBSPB#27/p.8*)... also between these pages you will find a reproduction of one of the latest adverts for a popular alcoholic beverage, recently seen in the monthly magazine "FHM" (October 1997, pp. 126-137.) Where is the quote from?... answers on a postcard etc. etc...

'Budd-Ing' Detectives

Well done to GEOFF BUDD and ANDREAS LIESE, for being the only members to have noticed that the answers to our two competition questions, set in our third issue, were hidden underneath the colour photograph of Mrs. Georgina Doyle and Mr. Richard Doyle unveiling the FMHC plaque, on page 15 of our last issue (#4). They have both claimed the prizes that were originally on offer.

FMHC A.G.M.

At the recent A.G.M. on 6/12/97; of Doylean interest to our membership, will be the news that Mrs Georgina Doyle has accepted the rôle of being the Doyle family representative for the FMHC, and was elected as an Honorary Director. Malcolm Payne was also elected for inclusion on the Company Roll of Honour, for his services to Doylean Scholarship.

"The New Revelation"

This is the 3rd Rupert Books Monograph, and is 'The London Spiritualist Alliance speech of 1917', pre-dating the book of the same name that came out in 1918. The price is £10 plus postage and can be ordered from 58/59 Stonefield, Bar Hill, Cambridge, CB3 8IE, England. We will carry a review of this 'previously unrecorded pamphlet' in our next issue.

Doyle Was The Finest Man I Have Ever Met

By Richard Stacpoole-Ryding.

"Doyle was the finest man I have ever met, taking him by and large." (1) This was Henry de Vere Stacpoole's opinion of Arthur Conan Doyle. The two men had quite a lot in common, being born within 4 years of each other — ACD, 1859 & Stacpoole, 1863; both were of Irish extraction. Both also had dominant mothers and lacked a strong father figure. Stacpoole's father died early and ACD's became an alcoholic and died in a mental hospital.

Like ACD, Henry de Vere Stacooole had a profession more or less forced on him. Neither of them had any particular desire to become a Doctor. The mother was the force behind the entry into the medical profession in each case and neither of the two were successful in it. ACD had a better medical degree than Stacpoole but, once having become a physician, Stacpoole was prouder of his profession. At the beginning of "MICE AND MEN", his first autobiography published in 1942, he described himself as 'Writer, Physician and Justice of the Peace for the County of Essex.'

What is it about medicine that causes it's practitioners to turn to literature? Perhaps it may be a retreat to a controllable world from a world where disease is often not to be controlled. In the case of ACD and Stacpoole it was probably the result of having too much time on their hands when patients refused to come!

Both men tried the sea as an opening for their professional talents. ACD sailed on a whaling ship and later on passenger/cargo ships. Characteristically he was frank about his ships. We know their names, where they sailed and the events of their voyages. Equally characteristically Stacpoole tells us nothing except that he had 'a time of voyages.' (2) Evidence in his work suggests that the 'voyages' were to the Eastern Pacific and that they may have been in cable layer, but there is no direct proof of this. What is certain, is that Stacpoole resided in the Southampton area for a while before and after his voyages and set up a practise there.

They shared the frustration of achieving success by a route which each despised. ACD invented Sherlock Holmes and then found that he was famous as SH's creator, not as the serious historical writer he yearned to be. Stacpoole wrote "THE BLUE LAGOON" and was a best seller after years of painful effort. How he regretted the means of his triumph! An acqaintance of his once recalled Stacpoole called the book 'this piece of rubbish.' No doubt he would have liked to have been famous as the translator of Villon and Sappho, which he did very well, but he was stuck with Dick and Emmeline, the main characters from "THE BLUE LAGOON". Even poisoning them failed to rid him of them; they were resurrected in edition after lucrative edition, in a play and 4 films to date. we can certainly see the parallel with ACD here, although obviously on a smaller scale.

Big, handsome men, they seen to have been attractive to women. Both married twice, although in marrying the sister of his dead wife, Stacpoole may possibly have been considered a little eccentric. He is said to have believed that in some way the spirit of his 1st wife Margaret was incarnated in his 2nd, an unorthodox belief for a loyal Church of England man to hold. ACD, son of a staunch Catholic family, abandoned his faith in the course of his medical training, to find a different one later — Spiritualism. Both men had minds which roved beyond the bounds of orthodox religion. The paranormal fascinated them, whether it was Stacpoole's belief that the spirit of a dog left behind in Essex showed itself on a photograph taken on the Isle of Wight, or the Firm

Yours Conanically,

Mark Chadderton — Editor.

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