Such a great ball of fire!
QUESTION Was the author Arthur Conan Doyle once accidentally set on fire? ARTHUR Conan Doyle was an avid cricketer who made ten firstclass appearances for the Marylebone Cricket Club in London, though his debut didn’t come until he was 41. He was a solid batsman and was said to bowl a tricky slow ball.
It is believed that the name of his most famous character, Sherlock Holmes, might have come from an amalgam of two Nottinghamshire cricketers, Mordecai Sherwin and Frank Shacklock.
On August 25, 1900, he took the wicket of WG Grace during a match against London County at Crystal Palace. The great man skied one of the author’s slow balls and was caught. Conan Doyle commemorated the event with a 19-verse poem in self-celebration, including: ‘Once in my heyday of cricket, One day I shall ever recall! I captured that glorious wicket, The greatest, the grandest of all.’
When MCC played Kent at Lord’s – the renowned home of English cricket – in 1903, the two doctors were team-mates.
In the second innings of the match, Bill Bradley sent down a lightning quick delivery. The ball hit Conan Doyle on his thigh — and set him on fire!
Doyle told the story in Memories And Adventures: ‘The ball had landed straight on a small tin vesta box in my trousers pocket, had splintered the box, and set the matches ablaze. It did not take me long to turn out my pocket and scatter the burning vestas over the grass.
‘WG was greatly amused. “Couldn’t get you out — had to set you on fire!” he cried.’ The only shame was that the ball wasn’t bowled by the Kent all-rounder Cuthbert Burnup.
Conan Doyle played for MCC till 1907. He finished with 231 runs at 19.25 and a solitary wicket.
Jim Braid, Crawley, Sussex, England. QUESTIONstumbled I recently upon a gift I once received, a copy of Irish Fairy Tales by Sinéad de Valera, the wife of Éamon de Valera. Did Mrs de Valera’ s literary efforts achieve much success outside Ireland? EVEN though Sinéad de Valera was widely acclaimed here for her accomplished storytelling for children, she received only slight recognition outside Ireland.
She was born Jane Flanagan, in Balbriggan, north Co. Dublin, in 1878, and trained to be a teacher. Her first post was at a national school in Dorset Street, Dublin.
As a young woman, she became involved in the great political revival of the time and joined Maud Gonne’s organisation, Inghinidhe na hÉireann (Daughters of Ireland) and changed her name to the Irish version, Sinéad Ní Flannagáin, when she joined the Gaelic League at the age of 21.
When she was teaching Irish for the Gaelic League in what is now Parnell Square, Dublin, one of her students was a young maths teacher called Éamon de Valera. They became an item, and were married in the church at Arran Quay, Dublin, on January 8, 1910.
While her husband was actively involved in the 1916 Easter Rising, she was living with her family at Greystones, Co. Wicklow, where they were supported financially by a Protestant solicitor called Dix. In 1920, she was smuggled into America, to join her husband there, using a false passport.
Although Sinéad had a great literary talent and could recite poetry at will, she didn’t begin her literary career until her husband became leader of the government for the first time, in 1932.
She started writing plays, poems and fairy stories for children, in both Irish and English, often translating from Irish to English. She was also considered a good actor, although that was one career choice she never pursued.
Her plays included such works as Cluichidhe na Gaedhilge (1935), and collections of fairy stories for children, such as Irish Fairy Stories and Fairy Tales of Ireland.
She continued to write into the 1950s and 1960s, including two plays for children in 1954, Work and Play and May Day.
In 1964, she published The Stolen Child and other stories, while that same year, 1964, she published another collection, the Four-Leaf Shamrock.
Sinéad de Valera was highly praised here for the quality of her story telling for children, creating suspense for her young readers. However, critics of her husband joked that he was the real author of Irish fairy tales!
Even though Sinéad was well published here, she only made a few forays into the cross-channel market. Her collection, Fairy Tales of Ireland, was published in London in 1947, while years later, in 1973, her Irish Fairy Tales were also published in London.
Her books were often acquired by national libraries around the world, such as the National Library of Australia.
When the then US President, John F Kennedy, visited Ireland in 1963, he was absolutely charmed by Sinéad de Valera and was delighted to find out about her literary skills for children.
But none of this added up to a major literary career outside Ireland. Part of this was due to her own personality; even though she was a prolific writer, she kept her literary career largely private. After her husband became president in 1959 this personal reserve was evident in the rare public appearances she made.
She did however keep writing until before her death in January, 1975, aged 96, on the day before what would have been her 65th wedding anniversary. Her husband died seven months later; they are buried together in Glasnevin.
While Éamon de Valera is considered probably the most important political figure in 20th century Ireland, the literary talents of his wife are largely overlooked. Keith Graham, Kingswood, Dublin QUESTION Is gaffer tape carried aboard the International Space Station for repairs? A LIFE-saving use of duct tape came during the rescue mission on Apollo 13 after an explosion on the way to the moon.
Carbon dioxide was building up in the command module and the lithium canisters used to absorb it were inadequate. So it was decided to use the ones from the now redundant lunar descent module.
However, the two sorts of canisters were not compatible, so they were joined by a collar, which used the tape very extensively. R. G. Knight, Littleover, England.
IS THERE a question to which you have always wanted to know the answer? Or do you know the answer to a question raised here? Send your questions and answers to: Charles Legge, Answers To Correspondents, Irish Daily Mail, Embassy House, Herbert Park Lane, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4. You can also fax them to 0044 1952 510906 or you can email them to charles.legge@dailymail.ie. A selection will be published but we are not able to enter into individual correspondence.