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Conan Doyle Not Significant.

It's not just us who have politicians who don't respect cultural heritage. Like the ridiculous debacle with Rais Yatim and Bok House, Britain's Culture Secretary, Tessa Jowell, won't save the mansion where Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote The Hound of the Baskervilles.

From The Scotsman:
...the Culture Secretary has refused to save Undershaw, where Conan Doyle created Sherlock Holmes, because the Scottish writer "does not occupy a significant enough position in the nation's consciousness".

The house was partly designed in 1897 by Conan Doyle himself, along with architect Joseph Henry Hall, and was used by the writer to entertain many literary guests including Bram Stoker and the young Virginia Woolf.
"Does not occupy a significant enough position in the nation's consciousness". How dumb can you get?

I guess all politicians are cut from the same cloth, no matter where they hail from.
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Comments

  1. Anonymous8/2/07 11:37 am

    What she means is, "I'd never heard of Conan Doyle until all this ruckus ensued. How can he possibly be important?"

    Yeah, despite the fact that he got knighted, he's really not important and didn't contribute much to the country. Yeah.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous8/2/07 2:20 pm

    I thought that ACD was just an author, and creator of one of the most famous characters ever written (some believe he really existed). I would say that in itself was quite a feat.
    But this man did far more. If you read Julian Barnes "Arthur and George", you will disover that Doyle took up a miscarriage of justice case highlighted it in the media, made a lot of noise - and eventually the English legal system was changed to create the Courts of Appeal Criminal Division. I would say that this man has played a significant role to ensure fairness of the justice system in England (and by extension to other places in the Commonwealth).

    ReplyDelete
  3. bibliobibuli8/2/07 3:21 pm

    ohhh i have such a good spooky story about this very house ... must tell you later

    (xeus would love it)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ted Mahsun8/2/07 5:31 pm

    irene, animah: If even Conan Doyle doesn't occupy a "significant enough position in the nation's consciousness", I wonder who does? J.K. Rowling??

    sharon: yes, yes! you must!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous9/2/07 11:55 am

    Ted: Rowling? No, no, Jeffry Archer :-P

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ted Mahsun9/2/07 12:11 pm

    No way! Posh Spice!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous11/2/07 6:44 pm

    Hi! I've been reading your blog from the beginning..Thank you for your wonderful work! Keep up the good work.

    ReplyDelete
  8. bibliobibuli13/2/07 2:19 pm

    'tis a story for a foggy winter's night ... but yes, just buy me coffee one day and it's yours

    ReplyDelete
  9. Ted Mahsun13/2/07 2:22 pm

    Haha.. no problem... but would a foggy monsoon night do?

    ReplyDelete

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