Doings of Doyle - The Arthur Conan Doyle Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

Hello and welcome to Episode 60. Today, we conclude our three-part discussion of The Lost World, Conan Doyle's classic novel from 1912.

Read the story here: https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/index.php/The_Lost_World

Read the show notes here: https://www.doingsofdoyle.com/2025/02/60-lost-world-1912-part-3.html 

The episode will be uploaded to our YouTube channel soon, where you can listen with closed captions. In the meantime, you can subscribe to our YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@doingsofdoyle

And follow us @doingsofdoyle.com on BlueSky. We don’t do Twitter no more.

Synopsis

Having allied themselves with the Indian population of the Lost World and defeated their ape man oppressors, the Challenger expedition can now explore this strange realm in greater safety, although much of their energy is also expended in working out ways to escape from the mysterious plateau. Various elaborate methods are experimented with, but there may yet be a simpler route back to civilisation where they should reap the rewards of their hardships and discoveries. And they might not be leaving entirely empty handed…

Next time

We hope to be joined by an interview guest, or else we will dip into another  case of Sherlock Holmes... 

Support the podcast

Please help us reach new listeners by leaving a rating or view on the podcast platform of your choice. And if you want to sponsor the podcast, please check out our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/doingsofdoyle

Acknowledgements

Thanks to our sponsor, Belanger Books (www.belangerbooks.com), and our supporters on Patreon and Paypal.

Image credits: Thanks to Alexis Barquin at The Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopaedia for permission to reproduce these images. Please support the encyclopaedia at www.arthur-conan-doyle.com.

Music credit: Sneaky Snitch Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/.

Hello and welcome to Episode 59. Today, we rejoin Professor Challenger and his party of intrepid adventurers as they reach The Lost World, in part two of our three-part discussion of the celebrated novel.

Read the story here: https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/index.php/The_Lost_World

Read the show notes here: https://www.doingsofdoyle.com/2025/01/59-lost-world-1912-part-2.html 

The episode will be uploaded to our YouTube channel soon, where you can listen with closed captions. In the meantime, you can subscribe to our YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@doingsofdoyle

And follow us @doingsofdoyle.com on BlueSky. We don’t do Twitter no more.

Synopsis

After the scientific and media establishments of London have dismissed the claims of the eccentric and controversial Professor Challenger to have discovered a hidden South American plateau where prehistoric signs of life still exist, he has assembled a small team of independent observers to test his assertions: the journalist-narrator Edward Malone, the comparative anatomist Professor Summerlee, and the hunter-adventurer Lord John Roxton duly cross the Atlantic aboard the liner Francisca to Manaos from where they will retrace Challenger’s route into the Amazonian interior. But upon arrival, when they open the envelope containing his instructions, a surprise awaits them, and this is only the first of many unexpected developments to welcome them into this strange new world…

Next time

We return to the Lost World for the final instalments...

Support the podcast

Please help us reach new listeners by leaving a rating or view on the podcast platform of your choice. And if you want to sponsor the podcast, please check out our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/doingsofdoyle

Acknowledgements

Thanks to our sponsor, Belanger Books (www.belangerbooks.com), and our supporters on Patreon and Paypal.

Image credits: Thanks to Alexis Barquin at The Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopaedia for permission to reproduce these images. Please support the encyclopaedia at www.arthur-conan-doyle.com.

Music credit: Sneaky Snitch Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/.

Welcome to Episode 50! This month, we look at a deeply personal work that Conan Doyle suppressed for almost thirty years before reissuing in heavily redacted form, ‘The Surgeon of Gaster Fell’ from 1890.

You can the original 1890 version here: https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/index.php/The_Surgeon_of_Gaster_Fell

Or listen to a Librivox recording of the 1918 version here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PouWLBMO0E (starts at 3:27:50).

The episode will be uploaded to our YouTube channel soon, where you can listen with closed captions. In the meantime, subscribe to our YouTube channel for updates here: https://www.youtube.com/@doingsofdoyle

Synopsis

Following a life of adventure, James Upperton, whilst still only in his late thirties, has decided to retire to a quiet and secluded corner of North West Yorkshire where he intends to pursue a course of abstruse philosophical studies. His plans and his peace are however disarranged by the arrival of a mysterious young woman and the disturbing presence near his woodland retreat of a disparate and strange male duo, the younger of whom introduces himself as the Surgeon of Gaster Fell…

Next time on Doings of Doyle

We jump forward to 1921 to enter ‘The Nightmare Room’…

Support the podcast

Please help us reach new listeners by leaving a rating or view on the podcast platform of your choice. And if you want to sponsor the podcast, please check out our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/doingsofdoyle

Acknowledgements

Thanks to our sponsor, Belanger Books (www.belangerbooks.com), and our supporters on Patreon and Paypal.

Image credits: Thanks to Alexis Barquin at The Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopaedia for permission to reproduce these images. Please support the encyclopaedia at www.arthur-conan-doyle.com.

Music credit: Sneaky Snitch Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/.

Hello and welcome to Episode 49. This month, we look at a classic Conan Doyle short story, one the author felt was “gloomy but of [his] best” - ‘The Pot of Caviare’ from 1908.

You can read the story here: https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/index.php/The_Pot_of_Caviare

Or listen to an audio recording by Greg Wagland here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yah89KYMwr8

The episode will be uploaded to our YouTube channel soon, where you can listen with closed captions. In the meantime, subscribe to our YouTube channel for updates here: https://www.youtube.com/@doingsofdoyle

Synopsis

During the Boxer Rebellion in China in 1900, the small European garrison of Ichau is barely holding out against a besieging Boxer army. A relief force is expected but its progress is uncertain. Hope and fears both run high, and the defenders begin to weigh up their options: relief, death or capture by a merciless foe.

Next time on Doings of Doyle

We reach out fiftieth episode (good heavens) and spend it in the company of ‘The Surgeon of Gaster Fell,’ which first appeared in Chambers’ Journal in 1890, and which Conan Doyle sought to suppress in later life…

Support the podcast

Please help us reach new listeners by leaving a rating or view on the podcast platform of your choice. And if you want to sponsor the podcast, please check out our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/doingsofdoyle

Acknowledgements

Thanks to our sponsor, Belanger Books (www.belangerbooks.com), and our supporters on Patreon and Paypal.

Image credits: Thanks to Alexis Barquin at The Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopaedia for permission to reproduce these images. Please support the encyclopaedia at www.arthur-conan-doyle.com.

Music credit: Sneaky Snitch Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/.

This episode, we travel to the Scottish borders at the end of the Napoleonic Wars for Conan Doyle’s 1892 novella The Great Shadow.

You can read the story here: https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/index.php/The_Great_Shadow

Listen to the podcast below or at the Podcaster of your choice.

Read the show notes here.

The episode will be released on our YouTube channel and available for viewing with closed captions in a day or two. Subscribe to the channel here: www.youtube.com/@doingsofdoyle

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Visit our website to find out how to sponsor the podcast via Paypal or Patreon.

Next time on Doings of Doyle…

We talk to Glen and Cathy Miranker about their forthcoming facsimile edition of Conan Doyle’s notes for his 1910 speech ‘The Romance of Medicine.’

Acknowledgements

Thanks to our sponsor, Belanger Books (www.belangerbooks.com), and our supporters on Patreon and Paypal.

Image credits: Thanks to Alexis Barquin at The Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopaedia for permission to reproduce these images. Please support the encyclopaedia at www.arthur-conan-doyle.com.

Music credit: Sneaky Snitch Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

This episode, we break from our usual format to take a look at the last twelve months in the Doylean universe and make some recommendations of adaptations, events, and publications you may have missed.

Apologies to anyone we have left out. So much happened last year, it was hard to keep track! If you know of something we have overlooked, please give it a mention in the comments.

You can read the shownotes at www.doingsofdoyle.com 

The episode will be released on our YouTube channel in the next few hours, with closed captions shortly after.

And if you are enjoying the podcast, please leave a rating or review on your podcaster of choice, or sponsor us on PayPal or Patreon. Thank you!

Next time on Doings of Doyle

We step back two hundred years to the Scottish borders and the Battle of Waterloo in The Great Shadow (1892). You can read the story at the wonderful Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopaedia.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to our sponsor, Belanger Books (www.belangerbooks.com), and our supporters on Patreon and Paypal.

Image credits: Thanks to Alexis Barquin at The Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopaedia for permission to reproduce these images. Please support the encyclopaedia at www.arthur-conan-doyle.com.

Music credit: Sneaky Snitch Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

This episode, we return to a different incarnation of Goresthorpe Grange in ‘Selecting A Ghost’ from December 1883.

You can read the story here: https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/index.php/Selecting_a_Ghost

And read the show notes here: https://www.doingsofdoyle.com/2023/12/46-selecting-ghost-ghosts-of.html. 

Listen to the podcast on your podcaster of choice. 

The episode will be released on our YouTube channel in the next few hours, with closed captions shortly after.

And if you are enjoying the podcast, please leave a rating or review on your podcaster of choice, or sponsor us on PayPal or Patreon. Thank you!

Synopsis

After making his fortune in the grocery business, Argentine D’Odd has developed a raft of social pretension and acquired property and ancestry to match. He now lives in a moated Mediaeval castle, with his own coat of arms and a carefully chosen gallery of instant ancestor portraits. All his new and venerable home lacks is a resident ghost, and now his wife’s resourceful cousin, Jack Brocket, has met a man in a pub who can remedy that defect…

Next time on Doings of Doyle

2023 was an eventful year for Conan Doyle scholarship. We take a look at some of the highlights and look forward to 2024.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to our sponsor, Belanger Books (www.belangerbooks.com), and our supporters on Patreon and Paypal.

Image credits: Thanks to Alexis Barquin at The Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopaedia for permission to reproduce these images. Please support the encyclopaedia at www.arthur-conan-doyle.com.

Music credit: Sneaky Snitch Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

This episode, we discuss what is believed to be the first story Conan Doyle submitted to a publisher, ‘The Haunted Grange of Goresthorpe’ (c.1877).

You can read the story here: https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/index.php/The_Haunted_Grange_of_Goresthorpe

This episode will also be released on our Youtube channel, www.youtube.com/@doingsofdoyle. Closed captions will be available two days after the video is uploaded.

Synopsis

Following a particularly atrocious multiple murder in the mid-eighteenth century, Goresthorpe Grange in Norfolk has stood empty and uninhabited for a century, especially given the additional stories of vengeful ghosts who can drive the inquisitive over the brink of insanity. Yet Tom Holton, a friend of the estate’s young heir, has his own theories about the supernatural and wishes to test them by spending a night in the haunted grange. At first his friend demurs, but is soon caught up in Tom’s enthusiasm and together the two young men submit themselves to a terrifying ordeal…

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Next time on Doings of Doyle…

We return to a different Goresthorpe Grange in ‘Selecting a Ghost: The Ghosts of Goresthorpe Grange’ (1883), Conan Doyle’s pastiche of the genre. You can read the story here: https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/index.php/Selecting_a_Ghost

Acknowledgements

Thanks to our sponsor, Belanger Books (www.belangerbooks.com), and our supporters on Patreon and Paypal.

Image credits: Thanks to Alexis Barquin at The Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopaedia for permission to reproduce these images. Please support the encyclopaedia at www.arthur-conan-doyle.com.

Music credit: Sneaky Snitch Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

This episode, we welcome to the podcast author, journalist, and biographer Andrew Lycett to talk about his latest book, The Worlds of Sherlock Holmes, released in October 2023.

The Worlds of Sherlock Holmes (2023)

Questing was Sherlock Holmes’s business. He famously adopted the latest forensic techniques, channelled the Victorian passion for enquiry, kept abreast of the key scientific breakthroughs of his age, and conducted his investigations in an enigmatic and stylised manner. And the brains behind it all was, of course, the great Arthur Conan Doyle.

In this deep dive into the contemporary world of Holmes and Conan Doyle, biographer Andrew Lycett explores all that encompasses the world of the great detective – tracing the infamous character’s own interests, personality and mythologised biography alongside that of his creator’s.

From the Victorian crazes for detection and séance, to contemporary developments in science and psychology, Lycett weaves together everything that inspired Conan Doyle in creating the world’s most famous detective and one of fiction's most enduring, enigmatic and recognisable characters.

Purchase from the publisher here.

Next time on Doings of Doyle

We take a look at one of Conan Doyle’s earliest works, ‘The Haunted Grange of Goresthorpe (c.1877), which was unpublished in his day and finally printed in 2000. You can read the story here: https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/index.php/The_Haunted_Grange_of_Goresthorpe  

Acknowledgements

Thanks to our sponsor, Belanger Books (www.belangerbooks.com), and our supporters on Patreon and Paypal.

Image credits: Thanks to Alexis Barquin at The Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopaedia for permission to reproduce these images. Please support the encyclopaedia at www.arthur-conan-doyle.com.

Music credit: Sneaky Snitch Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

YouTube vide created by @headlinerapp.

This episode, we return to Baker Street at the same time as Sherlock Holmes. It’s ‘The Adventure of the Empty House’ from September 1903.

You can read the story here: https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/index.php/The_Adventure_of_the_Empty_House

An audiobook version read by Greg Wagland can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-Hj_bi9Qto 

Listen here or at our Youtube channel, www.youtube.com/@doingsofdoyle. Closed captions will be available two days after the video is uploaded.

Next time on Doings of Doyle…

We are joined by Andrew Lycett, author of the excellent biography Conan Doyle – The Man who Created Sherlock Holmes (2007), to discuss his latest book The Worlds of Sherlock Holmes (2023), which is available from all good bookshops now.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to our sponsor, Belanger Books (www.belangerbooks.com), and our supporters on Patreon and Paypal.

Image credits: Thanks to Alexis Barquin at The Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopaedia for permission to reproduce these images. Please support the encyclopaedia at www.arthur-conan-doyle.com.

Music credit: Sneaky Snitch Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/