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"I can hardly explain it" [NOBL]


There are quite a few of us who are scratching our heads at the latest developments with Undershaw, the one-time home of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

You can read our original post on the matter from last July, as well as a post that contained a letter from a number of scholars imploring that English Heritage grant Undershaw Grade II status to protect it as an historical landmark.

Evidently Tessa Jowell, the Culture Minister thinks that the house is not worthy because Conan Doyle - how did she put it - does not occupy a "position in the nation's consciousness." No, certainly not with Sherlock Holmes being named as one of the U.K.'s cultural icons. Nor with Conan Doyle being the J.K. Rowling of his day. Nor with a Tube station decked out in Sherlock Holmes illustrations.



Even Alfred Lord Tennyson's grandmother's house got a Grade II listing, so the bar can't be that high...

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3 comments:

Anonymous said... February 8, 2007 at 10:16 AM

Where are all the completist collectors? Hey, lots of people own one of the manuscripts, even more own first editions of all sorts. One collector even owns a pre-first edition.

Why not be the first Sherlockian to own one of the Literary Agents homes? Now that is a unique situation!

Bobby the Bike

Burt said... February 8, 2007 at 6:23 PM

Hi, Bobster: A great idea. Let's pool our resources, make the offer and start designing the water-slide!

--3P

Anonymous said... February 9, 2007 at 12:45 PM

The "Crossing the Reichenbach Waterslide" will eventually draw all the Sherlockians, but few will be in a hurry to enjoy the attraction.

Bobby the Bike

 
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