Beverley Nichols and an ungrateful Conan Doyle

I came across some unexpected material while looking for information about the novelist Beverley Nichols, who is of interest here mainly because of his children's books: I found some connections to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle that are worth highlighting. 

While Conan Doyle's best-known fictional character is a private detective, he also created a witch; conversely, while the witch Miss Smith is one of Beverley Nichols's best-known  characters, he also created a private detective: this was Horatio Green, who appears in five crime novels.

As previously mentioned, Beverley Nichols wrote a book to support the official British position on India; Conan Doyle too produced propaganda materials for the government - this was during the First World War.

Both Nichols and Conan Doyle were contributors to The Strand Magazine; incidentally, Winston Churchill, who was friends with these men and admired their writing, wrote several articles for this magazine.

Beverley Nichols hated his father, who like Conan Doyle's father was an alcoholic; Conan Doyle is said to have come to hate his 'son', Sherlock Holmes.

The mystery of the biography
Another minor mystery in Beverley Nichols's life involves a completely false rumour that he was writing a biography of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle! 

From his 1948 letter to someone who offered to help him with the book:

“Dear Dr. Ernest,  Thank you so much for your kind offer of assistance. I do appreciate it as such, but I have to confess that this is the first I have heard about my forthcoming biography on Conan Doyle! The subject would certainly prove to be an interesting one, but he cannot imagine how the idea originated. 'It is all most mysterious.' “

Perhaps some people learned that Nichols had written an article about Conan Doyle in the past, and Chinese whispers turned this into writing a whole book about him in the present.

Cults and the cutting of personal connections: Part I

Another member of the old Conservative Conspiracy Forum highlighted a feature that is often found in cults when she said this: 

“Personal loyalty and love must be sacrificed for 'the cause'.”

This is very true. Such sacrifices are standard practice in many sinister organisations. 

The article about the inversion of values in cult members contains some examples of people ignoring their personal responsibilities in favour of working for the cause; it is even worse when cult members cut their personal connections altogether. I have seen some examples and been on the receiving end of this myself. Many more examples can be found online, including admissions from ex-members. 

This article contains more recycled material from my posts on the old forum.

Why do cult members cut off contact with family and friends?
“So why would a cult member cut all contact with you? There are several possible reasons. We know that a non-member might be dropped for rocking the boat by saying the wrong thing, criticising the organisation, the lifestyle or the leader or asking awkward questions. This is unforgivable in their eyes.”

This applies to individuals who question various aspects of the organisation rather than a member's entire network of connections; it is what happened to me when I asked about some disturbing information I had read.

“They may be telling you indirectly that they have better, higher, more important things to do than socialise with an unbeliever. 

A few words about Beverley Nichols

The prolific novelist, playwright, journalist, composer - and many other things including political activist - Beverley Nichols was born on September 9th 1898, so he shares a ninth day of the ninth month birthday with this blog. 

His four childen's books that feature the witch Miss Smith are the main reason for his appearance here, but there is a little more to say about him to mark the occasion.

Beverley Nichols and witches
I am still wondering where Beverley Nichols got his ideas about witches and evil from. I also wonder why The Wickedest Witch in the World (1971) was written so long after the Woodland Trilogy – there is a gap of 21 years.

There is a story called Super Witch: A Story for Children of all Ages in his unpublished papers; it is dated circa 1971.

We will probably never know why he returned to writing about witches at this time.

Houses and gardens
Beverley Nichols wrote a series of books about his houses and gardens. 

I learned recently that his book Down the Garden Path was the inspiration for Sellar & Yeatman's Garden Rubbish.

These books, which are all very good reads and are now what he is best remembered for, were illustrated by the great decorative artist Rex Whistler.