Leslie Charteris and his Saint books: some further thoughts

When the idea of featuring Leslie Charteris's Saint books first came to me, I expected the article to be a short one. I soon realised that there was far too much material of interest for even a long article, so I produced a second post about the Saint stories. That still wasn't enough to cover everything I wanted to say about the books and their author!

This article contains most of the remaining material.

A few green references
After finding many fascinating occurrences of the colour green in the lives and works of various writers including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, I decided to see what I could dig up for Leslie Charteris and the Saint. While the results of the investigation are nowhere near what I found for other authors, some references seem worth a mention.

Leslie Charteris spent the last years of his life, from 1967 to 1993, in Englefield Green, a village in Surrey.

Leslie Charteris co-wrote scripts for Sherlock Holmes radio programmes with a Denis Green in the 1940s. 

Rather confusingly, some Saint stories are narrated by a Dennis Green, who appears to be a different person from the one above.

Simon Templar, aka The Saint, is known as the Robin Hood of modern crime; Robin Hood is traditionally depicted dressed in Lincoln Green.

The Saint lives for a while in an apartment that overlooks London's Green Park.

The short story The Export Trade features a gang of jewel thieves called the Green Cross Bunch. 

In the short story titled The Green Goods Man, the Saint puts a stop to the activities of a conman who produces counterfeit pound notes, the 'green goods' of the title.

A few early editions of Saint books were published with green covers:

Upton Sinclair on the politician's paymasters

Several good, relevant and topical quotations from the American muckraking journalist and author Upton Sinclair have been featured on here, most recently in the article about honest politicians.

These wise words are from his 1940 novel World's End:

"If you wanted to understand a politician you mustn't pay too much attention to his speeches, but find out who were his paymasters. A politician couldn’t rise in public life, in France any more than in America, unless he had the backing of big money, and it was in times of crisis like this that he paid his debts.”

This applies to the present day and the UK too.

There is currently much speculation here about possible  funding sources for some politicians: for example, there are allegations that they are getting money from Russia, China, big business or billionaires. 

Maybe some politicians really are are just pawns and puppets.

We need to follow the money!

The day of reckoning probably will come for some of these politicians. They have laid themselves open to pressure and blackmail from their handlers, backers and paymasters. There is a price for everything, and debts must be paid.

Sixteen years of blogging and still not finished yet!

This is the third article to highlight an anniversary for this blog, which was launched on September 9th 2009.

The first one marks the major milestone of the tenth anniversary. 

The second milestone article was published on the occasion of the fifteenth anniversary.

I now think it best to mark the occasion with annual summaries.

I still monitor the Blogger Stats as, although I produce articles mainly for my own benefit, it is fascinating to see what people are reading - and from which countries. There have been some changes since my previous report.

Three articles about Benjamin Disraeli now appear in the top 20 All-Time statistics; one of them has even moved into the list of 10 most Popular Posts. This is unexpected, but it is good to see that Disraeli is still a person of interest.

I have no idea why the article about Diana Wynne Jones's witch Gwendolen Chant should have recently slipped into the top 20 posts!

I have managed to keep to my commitment to produce two posts per month. 

I still hope to find enough material for at least another year's worth of articles, even though my debts to certain authors and books in the form of tribute posts are well on the way to being paid off and I seem to have exhausted many relevant topics.

The cupboard is by no means bare: I have a list of leads and ideas for articles, and I plan to work through them for as long as the inclination to produce articles lasts and I still get some satisfaction from working on and publishing them. 

I will also need some more inspiration from Odin!

A few more words about John Buchan's Greenmantle

Several of John Buchan's books have been featured and/or referenced in a variety of articles on here. I didn't expect to have anything more to say about him and his works, but I recently came across something that has inspired yet another Buchan-themed post.

I found some merchandise in the form of commemorative mugs; some of them have a picture inspired by Greenmantle, my favourite John Buchan story. This reminded me of the book and prompted me to look for a few more things to say about Buchan's exciting adventure story, or 'shocker' as he called it. 

Mugs as Buchan memorabilia:

Greenmantle covers

The picture on the mug of the prophet Greenmantle in his turban reminded me that the cover art on some editions of the book is often of poor quality and doesn't do justice to the story. John Buchan deserves better!

Here are two examples of such covers:

This one is of slightly better quality:

Defence Against the Dark Arts Part XXXI: Hugh Lofting's Doctor Dolittle books

Even though they don't contain material suitable for quoting on here, I felt that the Rupert Bear books deserved a mention because of the very positive effect that they had on me when I first encountered them. Featuring these books was a way of repaying my debt to them.

It is much the same with Hugh Lofting's Doctor Dolittle books, which I first came across in the public library when I was very young: I thought it time to say a few words about the books and their author in return for the great enjoyment that they gave me as a child. 

I loved the stories with their amusing and unusual illustrations by the author. I admired Doctor Dolittle for his humanitarianism and dedication to animal welfare; I envied him for his travels and adventures with his animal companions.

I didn't notice anything wrong at the time, but, just as with the Rupert books, some of the material is now considered unacceptable because of the racial stereotyping. The Dr. Dolittle books have been issued in revised editions, but it is still possible to find the original versions in the Open Library. 

Something about the Doctor Dolittle books
Although the simple text makes it easy to get through each book very quickly, it would take a while to re-read all 15 or so of them, so for now I will just mention some highlights from my memories.

I particularly liked the first two books in the series i.e. The Story of Doctor Dolittle (1920), which introduces the main characters, and The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle (1922), which features the Great Glass Sea-snail.

Honest politicians really are doomed!

This is another post in the topical series that features alarming and pessimistic politics-related quotations.

These words from Taylor Caldwell appear in the article about the lack of honour in politics:

“An honest politician is either a hypocrite—or he is doomed.” 

Upton Sinclair wrote something that supports this proposition:

“Such was the new technique for the conquest of power. Fool those who were foolable, buy those who were buyable, and kill the rest.”

From Wide Is the Gate (1943)

The above extract reminds me of how potential troublemakers are dealt with in John Christopher's Guardians:

“We are constantly on the alert for trouble...Anyone showing creative intelligence and initiative stands out conspicuously from the mob and can be dealt with.”

“Dealt with” means eliminated! 

Upton Sinclair is yet another writer whose life and works I hope to investigate when I have more time.

More alarming words from Taylor Caldwell

Taylor Caldwell has been referenced in several articles, including a recent one that features some of her alarming words about wars.

Her works, not to mention her life, deserve a closer look, but the reader's dilemma of 'so many books, so little time' applies here. It is always possible to find some good extracts and produce a short article as a compromise however, and I have come across some more quotable material that is particularly relevant to what is happening in the US and the UK - and many other nations. 

This proposition is from The Story of Honoria, an article that was first published in a magazine in 1957:

“It is a stern fact of history that no nation that rushed to the abyss ever turned back. Not ever, in the long history of the world. We are now on the edge of the abyss. Can we, for the first time in history, turn back?”

I am not knowledgeable enough to be able to confirm that in the past no nation that rushed headlong towards disaster ever turned back, but it seems very likely. Perhaps the momentum just carried them along until it was too late to stop. 

I wonder what Taylor Caldwell would think of the current UK and US political situations. We could well be on the brink of an abyss right now.

This is an extract from Captains and the Kings, a historical novel that was first published in 1972:

“...who do you honestly believe rules any nation? The apparent rulers, or the real ones behind the scenes who manipulate a nation’s finances for their own benefit? Mr. Lincoln is as helpless as you and I. He can only, unfortunate man, give his people slogans, and slogans, it would appear, are what the people want. I have yet to hear of a nation that ever rejected a war.” 

Great  minds think alike. This is very similar to what Benjamin Disraeli said about the Hidden Hand. The big question here is, who are these secret rulers and puppet masters?