Sir Nigel [with Biographical Introduction]

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is known all over the world as the creator of one . The Return of Sherlock Holmes, The Great Boer War, Sir Nigel, and.
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He had met her at a party in , while Louise was still alive and fell in love at first sight. It appears that the relationship with Jean was platonic until Louise died. Conan Doyle had two children with his first wife: Mary Louise and Kingsley , and three children with his second wife: During his writing career Sir Arthur wrote twenty-one novels and over short stories.

He also published nonfiction, essays, articles, memoirs and three volumes of poetry. He left thousands of letters to the press, his mother about letters , family, friends and acquaintances, including Winston Churchill, P. Wodehouse, Theodore Roosevelt, and Oscar Wilde. From Sherlock Holmes to Spiritualism write:. He shared Dickens's sense of justice and social responsibility, his warm humanity and delight in the lively individuality of the characters he created.


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Like Dickens, he published his stories and novels, often in serial form, in the weekly magazines that were the staple of popular entertainment in the late nineteenth century. Like his younger contemporary and friend, H.

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Wells, he used his scientific education and medical training in his fiction and challenged the prevailing belief in the idea of progress. Like Wells, he also became an important public figure whose opinion was sought on the crucial issues of the day, an influential speaker at a time when the lecture was a popular event. Holmes's fictional forefather was Edgar Allan Poe's detective C. Auguste Dupin, but it was Conan Doyle who first introduced to literature the character of the scientific detective.

Holmes, one of the best known and most popular characters in English literature, is not only a successful master detective, but he is the epitome of the Victorian and imperial values. Sherlock Holmes embodies the system that he comes to protect. He is the man of reason, of science, of technology; he is from the upper class and was educated at Oxford; he eventually becomes rich; and he frequents best city clubs and other haunts of the gentleman.

After publishing the first set of Sherlock Holmes stories in the Strand Magazine between and , Doyle was not particularly proud of his detective fiction. He planned to write an opera, a book of medical short stories and a Napoleonic saga. He believed that historical romances, and not his detective stories, were his most important work.

Wilson 22 In , he tried to kill off Holmes at the height of his popularity by plunging him over the Reichenbach Falls with Professor Moriarty, Holmes's greatest enemy, but in Holmes appeared in The Hound of the Baskervilles because the reading public demanded further adventures of the great detective. As a matter of fact, Doyle did not bring Holmes back to life, but told a story that had taken place before his disappearance at the Reichenbach Falls. Doyle created the first truly great detective in fiction and gave a great impetus to detective story as a fictional form.

The tremendous popularity of Sherlock Holmes in the late Victorian and Edwardian periods can be explained by the fact that he not only embodied the late Victorian faith in the power of logic and rationality, but above all restored confidence that the British were capable to maintain law and order not only in Britain but also in the Empire at large. Although the Sherlock Holmes stories are his best fiction, Conan Doyle wrote novels and short stories in many genres.


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    7. These include historical fiction, horror and suspense, psychological thriller, science fiction, poetry, and plays for the stage. In addition, Sir Arthur wrote nonfiction works on a variety of subjects: Arthur Conan Doyle is also the author of fantasy and science fiction, which includes three novels and two short stories: The Lost World introduced his second most famous character, Professor George Edward Challenger, who guides an expedition deep into an isolated plateau in the South American jungle where some prehistoric animals dinosaurs and indigenous race of ape-like people still live. Challenger, a scientist of enormous intellect and adventurer, was designed to be a character to rival Holmes.

    The Poison Belt is an apocalyptic novel that features the same characters who appear in The Lost World. Prior to apparently extinguishing all life on the planet, the belt causes a mysterious outbreak of illness whose symptoms are irritability, loss of inhibition, coma, and pseudo death. However, they contain interesting narrative structure and their themes concern imperialism, positivist science, the male role, evolution, degeneration theory and atavism.

    Arthur Conan Doyle wrote several popular works of historical fiction. The first was Micah Clarke , which is set in the seventeenth century during the Monmouth Rebellion. The White Company recounts the history of a company of medieval English archers during the Hundred Years' War, in the years and Doyle also wrote a series of short stories about a Napoleonic hussar named Etienne Gerard, which were first published in magazines and eventually in book form: It should be noted that Conan Doyle was often disappointed at being famous chiefly for the creation of the Sherlock Holmes character.

    He had a much higher esteem of his historical novels than the Sherlock Holmes stories. Arthur Conan Doyle also wrote nonfiction. In , he published Through the Magic Door , a long essay about the charisma and charm of books. He also wrote several books dealing with public topics, such as The Crime of the Congo In , Doyle wrote several pamphlets about the war. In , Doyle published his excellent autobiography, Mysteries and Adventures , which recounts his life from early childhood, education, voyages as a ship's doctor, medical practice in Southsea, his literary endeavours, experiences from the Boer war, legal and political campaigns, interests in sports, and commitment to spiritualism.

    After return home he wrote a lengthy book, The Great Boer War , which sought to justify the British cause and to emphasise the great need for army reform and modernisation. The book was hailed in the press for its accuracy and fairness. He was reluctant to accept the title, but his mother talked him into it. Pascal There is also a theory that king Edward VII, who was an avid reader of Sherlock Holmes stories, knighted him to encourage him to write more stories about the 'master' detective'.

    Arthur Conan Doyle became interested in the paranormal in the late s and studied it for the rest of his life.

    Nigel Gresley

    In the last quarter of his life, he abandoned literary career and devoted himself to spreading the spiritualist message throughout the world. He lectured on spiritualism in Great Britain, Australia, and South Africa, and the United States, during which he covered 55, miles and addressed a quarter of a million people. In , he published The History of Spiritualism in two volumes at his own expense.

    Sir Arthur was a large, vigorous, active man, with all of the Englishman's traditional fondness for sports. He was an outstanding sportsman; he played football, and billiards. He was also a keen cricketeer.


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    Barrie creator of Peter Pan. He also practised boxing and was a pioneer motorist and a rally-driver. In the s, he started ski-touring to Switzerland. He was an occasional bowler and keen golfer. Conan Doyle was always a partisan of the underdog. He campaigned successfully against miscarriages of justice. He conducted a long campaign to defend the half-British and half-Indian solicitor George Edaljii, who had been accused of mutilating animals.

    Julian Barnes' novel, Arthur and George recounts this episode in his life.

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    Doyle exposed inconsistencies in the police investigation and Slater was finally freed. Towards the end of his life Sir Arthur suffered angina which he contracted during his exhausting world tours. He died of heart failure on July 7, , in Crowborough, East Sussex, leaving his widow Jean, their three children, Dennis, Adrian and Jean, and his daughter Mary, by his first wife. His eldest son, Kingsley, who served in World War One, was seriously wounded at the Battle of the Somme; later he developed pneumonia which he contracted during his convalescence and died in aged The last words of Conan Doyle were addressed to his wife.

    He whispered smiling to her: Legend has it that as a devoted spiritualist, he was first buried in an upright position in the garden of his home at Crowborough. The house in Crowborough was sold, but the graves remained until , when the Doyle family decided to fulfil Lady Jean's original wish that they be buried together at All Saints. The remains of Sir Arthur and Lady Jean were exhumed from the garden and reinterred in the churchyard.

    After a short private ceremony the couple were laid horizontally to rest. The epitaph on the gravestone in the churchyard at Minstead in the New Forest, Hampshire, reads: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a versatile and complex personality; he was physician by education, keen sportsman, war correspondent, campaigner for social justice, creator of the world's most famous fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, author of historical and social novels, and active Spiritualist.

    As Douglas Kerr has written in his recent book: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Introduction Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is known all over the world as the creator of one of the most famous fictional characters in English literature, the master detective Sherlock Holmes, but he was much more than the originator of modern detective literature. The origin of the surname Doyle had an ancient Irish surname, ranking twelfth in the list of the most common surnames in Ireland. In his Memories and Adventures Conan Doyle writes that his boyhood in Edinburgh was Spartan at home and more Spartan at the Edinburgh school where a tawse-brandishing schoolmaster of the old type made our young living miserable.

    As Andrew Lykett writes: Pascal 18 As a young boy Arthur was an avid reader, and one of his most favourite books was Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe.

    Pascal 13 In , Arthur Conan Doyle began to study medicine at his mother's suggestion at the University of Edinburgh, which had been one of the best medical schools at that time. Harris During his medical studies, Arthur desperately tried to earn money for his living and to support his family. From Sherlock Holmes to Spiritualism write: The Professor Challenger stories Although the Sherlock Holmes stories are his best fiction, Conan Doyle wrote novels and short stories in many genres.

    Sir Nigel - Kindle edition by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Reference Kindle eBooks @ leondumoulin.nl

    Christensen Historical romances Arthur Conan Doyle wrote several popular works of historical fiction. Nonfiction Arthur Conan Doyle also wrote nonfiction. Interest in spiritualism Arthur Conan Doyle became interested in the paranormal in the late s and studied it for the rest of his life. Other accomplishments Sir Arthur was a large, vigorous, active man, with all of the Englishman's traditional fondness for sports. Death and legacy Towards the end of his life Sir Arthur suffered angina which he contracted during his exhausting world tours.

    Robinson ; Robinson declined and suggested the much younger Gresley. Gresley developed an interest in breeding wild birds and ducks in the moat; intriguingly, among the species were Mallard ducks. The Second World War forced the postponement of the project , which was completed in the early s.

    A memorial plaque to Gresley's achievements was unveiled at Edinburgh Waverley railway station in It was created by the Gresley Society and incorporates line drawings of his Flying Scotsman and Mallard locomotives. Following the redevelopment of the site previously home to Doncaster College, the square outside the new Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council Offices and Cast Theatre was named Sir Nigel Gresley Square, in honour of the designer of some of the most famous steam locomotives built at Doncaster Plant Works following a public poll of Doncaster residents hosted by the Doncaster Free Press.

    Peter Davies and two of Nigel Gresley's grandsons, in May A statue of Gresley was unveiled at King's Cross station in London on 5 April , the 75th anniversary of his death. Locomotives of the Great Northern Railway. Locomotives of the London and North Eastern Railway. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

    For the canal builder, see Sir Nigel Gresley, 6th Baronet. Morton's Media Group Ltd.