The Cerebral Tentacle No. 1861
The Cerebral Tentacle No. 1861 is the third issue of the magazine of The Arthur Conan Doyle Study Group, published in june 1997 by Mark Chadderton.
The cover is illustrated with the article from The Strand Magazine (march 1899) titled Pigs of Celebrities including a drawing by Arthur Conan Doyle.
The Cerebral Tentacle No. 1861
Introduction
Welcome to the third 'Cerebral Tentacle' newsletter, which we hope will be to your liking. Indeed, most of the feedback that we have had from members concerning what we have so far produced has been on the positive side. We still remain a small group in terms of membership numbers, and this makes it vitally important that you all try to contribute something of Doylean interest, this could be anything from an article or book that you have seen, or purchased (old or new), to perhaps just a few thoughts you may like to share on ACD's writing and/or life. Thank you to those who have sent in items for future issues. Please remember that this is YOUR newsletter so it is YOUR news and views that will enable this STUDY GROUP to evolve.
Newsletter Covers
Once again, we would ask that any members who have any rarely seen nieces on ACD or unusual items, suitable for reproducing as a 'Cerebral Tentacle' cover, should submit a photocopy to either of the addresses given at the end of this newsletter. The cover for this issue is from a 5 page article (pp 338-342) in "The Strand Magazine" (Issue #99 — March 1899), entitled 'Pigs of Celebrities'. It was written by Gertrude Bacon (!!!), and the article is basically a discussion on collecting autographs, but with the twist that each contributor had to draw, with their eyes shut 'that familiar animal the pig'. Each drawing was assessed for characteristics of the drawer, and inevitably ACD's sketch gets the S.H. treatment. ACD's pig is arguably the least pig-like of the 13 reproduced, although it does perhaps resemble a certain Hound that he would be writing about within a couple of years... by the way, the 'Sir Henry' referred to immediately above ACD's hound-like pig is Sir Henry Irving, who earlier in the 1890's had scored a great success with his portrayal of Corporal Gregory Brewster in ACD's adaptation of STRAG ; "Waterloo — A Drama in One Act". This particular issue of "The Strand Magazine" is of further interest to the Doylean, in that it also contains the first appearance of BEE24, as well as 2 pieces by ACD's friend and neighbour of this period : Grant Allen. Indeed, the section that immediately precedes 'The Pigs of Celebrities' is Allen's opening chapter of his novel "Hilda Wade" — a novel that ACD wrote the final 2 Chapters for, due to Allen's untimely death through ill health. If any member would like a photocopy of the full S pages of the 'Pigs of Celebrities' article, please write in to the usual address (no payment will be required).
"THE CONAN DOYLE STORIES"
Starting with our next issue, we are going to focus our croup studies on the first chronological story from our basic study boox, "The Conan Doyle Stories". Members are requested to send in any article, or perhaps just a few lines of thought, upon SQUAR for inclusion in that issue.
- Copyright remains to the individual authors.
