Arthur Conan Doyle & HG Wells
The literary character Sherlock Holmes enjoys world-wide popularity. Perhaps the detective is more easily identifiable than the author himself! The keen-eyed detective however had hardly any connection with the British passion. But his creator, the master story-teller Sir Arthur Isaac Conan Doyle, did.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, born in Scotland, detected and deceived one person in his entire first-class career of 10 matches, all at Lord’s between 1907 and 1910, while bowling for Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC).
Conan Doyle’s trapped victim was no criminal, but happened to be none other than the legendary cricketer Dr WG Grace, the most famous face of Victorian Britain, perhaps more than the Queen herself!
Among his numerous references to cricket in his writings, Sir Arthur authored an exemplary fictional piece surrounding the game he admired so much. The Story of Spedegue’s Dropper reveals the author’s exceptional concept of the game. A must read for all cricket lovers.
Conan Doyle’s fictional hero delivers a ball that goes 50 feet high in the air and falls on top of the stumps! The doyen of commentators John Arlott mentioned that such ‘probable fantasy’ could only come from the pen of the master of detective stories.
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Another literary persona the eminent novelist HG Wells wrote 79 novels before telling us of his love for cricket in his 80th. He reveals that his father was actually a professional cricketer for a period during which his family business sank beyond redemption, “…for him cricket was far more sacred than any religious sentiment or whatever…”Later the senior Wells – Joseph – made ends meet by coaching cricket in schools.
Despite a poverty-stricken childhood, HG (Herbert George) Wells was a visionary who authored books like The Invisible Man, The First Men in the Moon, The Time Machine, etc. Far, far beyond his generation, HG Wells conceived the ideas of time-travel, alien-invasion, biological-engineering, etc. Wife Seema points out that he is referred to as the Shakespeare of Science Fiction.
But HG Wells never tells us that his father Joseph Wells was the first-ever bowler in the world to get 4 wickets in 4 deliveries in a first-class match! Wisden Cricketer’ Almanack – attentive and articulate as always – highlighted the issue in its Book of Cricket Records. Joseph Wells achieved the exceptional feat way back in 1862 playing for Kent against Sussex.
Cricket and literature enjoy a deep and permanent companionship. No other sport can come anywhere near cricket in this respect…Tennyson, Byron, Shelly, Keats, PG Wodehouse, Noble laureate Samuel Beckett, Virginia Woolf, HG Wells, Arthur Conan Doyle… the list is endless.
Photos from left : courtesy Wikipedia (Doyle) & Britannica (Wells)
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