The Diogenes Club
Encyclopedia
The Diogenes Club is a fictional gentleman's club created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and featured in several Sherlock Holmes
stories, most notably "The Greek Interpreter
". It seems to have been named after Diogenes the Cynic
(although this is never explained in the original stories) and was co-founded by Sherlock's indolent older brother, Mycroft Holmes
.
The club is described by Sherlock Holmes in the stories thus:
It is described as a place where men can go to read without any distractions, and as such the number one rule is that there is no talking, to the point where club members can be excluded for coughing.
that the Diogenes Club is anything but what it seems to be, several later writers have developed and made use of the idea that the club was founded as a front for the British secret service
. Although the club itself is not referred to in such a way in the original stories, this common supposition may have its root in the fact that Mycroft Holmes, in "The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans
," is revealed to be the supreme and indispensable brain-trust
behind the British government, who pieces together the collective government secrets and then advises the best course of action. Given that Mycroft Holmes is established both as a co-founder of the club, and an indolent
man who almost exclusively travels only between his home, his office, and the Club, this extrapolation would appear to be a logical one.
This idea was largely popularised by The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes
, a 1970s motion picture directed by Billy Wilder
, and has been frequently used in pastiche
s of Conan Doyle's original stories.
British fantasy
writer Kim Newman
has written a series of stories chronicling the activities of various agents of the Club (described in his stories as "an institution that quietly existed to cope with matters beyond the purview of regular police and intelligence services") from the late 19th through the 20th centuries, particularly in the 1920s, 1940s and 1970s. In Newman's stories, the cases investigated by the Club are generally paranormal
or occult
in nature and occasionally science fiction
.
The Club came under fire from Winston Churchill
, but survived until shut down by Margaret Thatcher
(who is shown as being a brainwashed agent of a rival agency of the Club). The Club is replaced by a quango
called the Institute of Psi Tech (I-Psi-T, pronounced 'Eyesight'). The Diogenes Club is a central motif in several collections of Newman's stories, including Seven Stars (2000), where one mystery in particular is explored through many decades by generations of Diogenes-related investigators; The Man from the Diogenes Club (2006), featuring the 1970s agent Richard Jeperson
; and The Secret Files of the Diogenes Club (2008). The story "The Man Who Got Off The Ghost Train", written for The Man from the Diogenes Club collection, reveals a number of Diogenes Club members, including Carnacki
, Adam Adamant, Flaxman Low
, Robert Baldick
, Cursitor Doom, and Sir Henry Merrivale
. (At least in the case of Merrivale, we already know this, of course, from the novels of Carter Dickson.) The story "Swellhead" also mentions Dion Fortune
as an agent of the Club, and that its files included the identity of Jack the Ripper
, the secret of what really happened to the Mary Celeste
, and what the alleged Roswell UFO
actually was (apparently, not an alien as conventionally understood).
The Diogenes Club is also featured in Newman's Anno Dracula series
, where it is explicitly identified as the British Secret Service. In the first novel
, it is chaired by Mycroft Holmes, Admiral Sir Mandeville Messervy
and Waverly
. In the sequel, The Bloody Red Baron
, the club's Ruling Cabal consists of Holmes, Mansfield Smith-Cumming
, and Newman's original character Charles Beauregard. Beauregard becomes Chairman following Mycroft's death in the novel. In the second sequel novel, Dracula Cha Cha Cha, Beauregard was stated as having resigned as Chairman after the end of World War II
, being succeeded by his protege Edwin Winthrop. In the short story "Who Dares Wins", set in 1980, Richard Jeperson has become the Club's Chairman. Among the agents used by the Diogenes Club in the Anno Dracula series are Daniel Dravot
, Elliott Spencer
, and Hamish Bond
.
The club, and its connection to the secret service, was featured in the Doctor Who
Virgin New Adventures
novel All-Consuming Fire
, a Doctor Who/Sherlock Holmes crossover
novel, which also refers to Newman's character Beauregard. An upcoming follow-up to this, in Big Finish
's Bernice Summerfield
series of audio adventures is The Adventure of the Diogenes Damsel
.
Most recently, The Diogenes Club has been featured in the Facebook
/MySpace
game Bloodlines as a secret section of the British Secret Service, formally titled "Her Majesty's Secret Service, Occult Branch".
's Wold Newton Universe
, specifically The Other Log of Phileas Fogg
, it is stated that the real Diogenes Club was the Athenaeum Club
, but that Arthur Conan Doyle changed the name for his stories.
The club also appears in Nicholas Meyer
's novel The Seven-Per-Cent Solution
, Alan Moore
's The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier
graphic novel, the computer game Sherlock Holmes - Case of the Rose Tattoo
, the Dark Horse Comics
Predator: Nemesis
comic, and in the short story "Closing Time" from Neil Gaiman
's collection of short fiction Fragile Things
.
Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal used to sell a "Diogenes Club: better living through omniscience" T-shirt but it has since been discontinued.
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
stories, most notably "The Greek Interpreter
The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter
"The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter", one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is one of 12 stories in the cycle collected as The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. The story was originally serialised in Strand Magazine in 1893. This story...
". It seems to have been named after Diogenes the Cynic
Diogenes of Sinope
Diogenes the Cynic was a Greek philosopher and one of the founders of Cynic philosophy. Also known as Diogenes of Sinope , he was born in Sinope , an Ionian colony on the Black Sea , in 412 or 404 BCE and died at Corinth in 323 BCE.Diogenes of Sinope was a controversial figure...
(although this is never explained in the original stories) and was co-founded by Sherlock's indolent older brother, Mycroft Holmes
Mycroft Holmes
Mycroft Holmes is a fictional character in the stories written by Arthur Conan Doyle. He is the elder brother of the famous detective Sherlock Holmes.- Profile :...
.
The club is described by Sherlock Holmes in the stories thus:
It is described as a place where men can go to read without any distractions, and as such the number one rule is that there is no talking, to the point where club members can be excluded for coughing.
Relation to British Secret Service
Although there is no hint in the original Sherlock Holmes canonCanon (fiction)
In the context of a work of fiction, the term canon denotes the material accepted as "official" in a fictional universe's fan base. It is often contrasted with, or used as the basis for, works of fan fiction, which are not considered canonical...
that the Diogenes Club is anything but what it seems to be, several later writers have developed and made use of the idea that the club was founded as a front for the British secret service
Secret service
A secret service describes a government agency, or the activities of a government agency, concerned with the gathering of intelligence data. The tasks and powers of a secret service can vary greatly from one country to another. For instance, a country may establish a secret service which has some...
. Although the club itself is not referred to in such a way in the original stories, this common supposition may have its root in the fact that Mycroft Holmes, in "The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans
The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans
"The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans" is one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It is one of eight stories in the cycle collected as His Last Bow...
," is revealed to be the supreme and indispensable brain-trust
Brains Trust
Brains Trust may be:* Brain Trust, US advisors* The Brains Trust, a United Kingdom radio/television programme...
behind the British government, who pieces together the collective government secrets and then advises the best course of action. Given that Mycroft Holmes is established both as a co-founder of the club, and an indolent
Laziness
Laziness is a disinclination to activity or exertion despite having the ability to do so. It is often used as a pejorative; related terms for a person seen to be lazy include couch potato, slacker, and bludger....
man who almost exclusively travels only between his home, his office, and the Club, this extrapolation would appear to be a logical one.
This idea was largely popularised by The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes
The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes
The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes is a 1970 film directed and produced by Billy Wilder; he also shared writing credit with his longtime collaborator I. A. L. Diamond. It starred Robert Stephens as Sherlock Holmes and Colin Blakely as Dr. Watson...
, a 1970s motion picture directed by Billy Wilder
Billy Wilder
Billy Wilder was an Austro-Hungarian born American filmmaker, screenwriter, producer, artist, and journalist, whose career spanned more than 50 years and 60 films. He is regarded as one of the most brilliant and versatile filmmakers of Hollywood's golden age...
, and has been frequently used in pastiche
Pastiche
A pastiche is a literary or other artistic genre or technique that is a "hodge-podge" or imitation. The word is also a linguistic term used to describe an early stage in the development of a pidgin language.-Hodge-podge:...
s of Conan Doyle's original stories.
British fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
writer Kim Newman
Kim Newman
Kim Newman is an English journalist, film critic, and fiction writer. Recurring interests visible in his work include film history and horror fiction—both of which he attributes to seeing Tod Browning's Dracula at the age of eleven—and alternate fictional versions of history...
has written a series of stories chronicling the activities of various agents of the Club (described in his stories as "an institution that quietly existed to cope with matters beyond the purview of regular police and intelligence services") from the late 19th through the 20th centuries, particularly in the 1920s, 1940s and 1970s. In Newman's stories, the cases investigated by the Club are generally paranormal
Paranormal
Paranormal is a general term that designates experiences that lie outside "the range of normal experience or scientific explanation" or that indicates phenomena understood to be outside of science's current ability to explain or measure...
or occult
Occult
The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g...
in nature and occasionally science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
.
The Club came under fire from Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
, but survived until shut down by Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
(who is shown as being a brainwashed agent of a rival agency of the Club). The Club is replaced by a quango
Quango
Quango or qango is an acronym used notably in the United Kingdom, Ireland and elsewhere to label an organisation to which government has devolved power...
called the Institute of Psi Tech (I-Psi-T, pronounced 'Eyesight'). The Diogenes Club is a central motif in several collections of Newman's stories, including Seven Stars (2000), where one mystery in particular is explored through many decades by generations of Diogenes-related investigators; The Man from the Diogenes Club (2006), featuring the 1970s agent Richard Jeperson
Richard Jeperson
Richard Jeperson is a fictional 1970s psychic investigator created by British horror / fantasy author Kim Newman. He appears in many of Newman's short stories as both a central and background character, and is the focal point of a collection of short stories entitled The Man from the Diogenes...
; and The Secret Files of the Diogenes Club (2008). The story "The Man Who Got Off The Ghost Train", written for The Man from the Diogenes Club collection, reveals a number of Diogenes Club members, including Carnacki
Carnacki
Thomas Carnacki is a fictional supernatural detective created by English fantasy writer William Hope Hodgson. Carnacki was the protagonist of a series of six short stories published between 1910 and 1912 in The Idler magazine and The New Magazine....
, Adam Adamant, Flaxman Low
Gordon Pask
Andrew Gordon Speedie Pask was an English cybernetician and psychologist who made significant contributions to cybernetics, instructional psychology, experimental epistemology and educational technology....
, Robert Baldick
Robert Baldick
Robert Baldick was a British scholar of French literature, writer, joint editor of the Penguin Classics series with Betty Radice and a well-known translator. He was a Fellow of Pembroke College, Oxford....
, Cursitor Doom, and Sir Henry Merrivale
Sir Henry Merrivale
Sir Henry Merrivale is a fictional detective created by "Carter Dickson", a pen name of John Dickson Carr . Also known as "the Old Man," by his initials "H...
. (At least in the case of Merrivale, we already know this, of course, from the novels of Carter Dickson.) The story "Swellhead" also mentions Dion Fortune
Dion Fortune
Violet Mary Firth Evans , better known as Dion Fortune, was a British occultist and author. Her pseudonym was inspired by her family motto "Deo, non fortuna" , originally the ancient motto of the Barons & Earls Digby.-Early life:She was born in Bryn-y-Bia in Llandudno, Wales, and grew up in a...
as an agent of the Club, and that its files included the identity of Jack the Ripper
Jack the Ripper
"Jack the Ripper" is the best-known name given to an unidentified serial killer who was active in the largely impoverished areas in and around the Whitechapel district of London in 1888. The name originated in a letter, written by someone claiming to be the murderer, that was disseminated in the...
, the secret of what really happened to the Mary Celeste
Mary Celeste
The Mary Celeste was an American brigantine merchant ship famous for having been discovered on 4 December 1872, in the Atlantic Ocean unmanned and apparently abandoned , despite the fact that the weather was fine and her crew had been experienced and able...
, and what the alleged Roswell UFO
Roswell UFO incident
The Roswell UFO Incident was the recovery of an object that crashed in the general vicinity of Roswell, New Mexico, in June or July 1947, allegedly an extra-terrestrial spacecraft and its alien occupants. Since the late 1970s the incident has been the subject of intense controversy and of...
actually was (apparently, not an alien as conventionally understood).
The Diogenes Club is also featured in Newman's Anno Dracula series
Anno Dracula series
The Anno Dracula series by Kim Newman—named after Anno Dracula , the series' first novel—is a work of fantasy depicting an alternate history in which the heroes of Bram Stoker's novel Dracula fail to stop Count Dracula's conquest of Great Britain, resulting in a world where vampires are common and...
, where it is explicitly identified as the British Secret Service. In the first novel
Anno Dracula (novel)
Anno Dracula is a 1992 novel by British writer Kim Newman, the first in the Anno Dracula series. It is an alternate history using 19th century English historical settings and personalities, along with characters from popular fiction...
, it is chaired by Mycroft Holmes, Admiral Sir Mandeville Messervy
M (James Bond)
M is a fictional character in Ian Fleming's James Bond series, as well as the films in the Bond franchise. The head of MI6 and Bond's superior, M has been portrayed by three actors in the official Bond film series: Bernard Lee, Robert Brown and since 1995 by Judi Dench. Background =Ian Fleming...
and Waverly
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is an American television series that was broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1964, to January 15, 1968. It follows the exploits of two secret agents, played by Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, who work for a fictitious secret international espionage and law-enforcement...
. In the sequel, The Bloody Red Baron
The Bloody Red Baron
The Bloody Red Baron is a 1995 novel by British author Kim Newman. It is the second book in the Anno Dracula series and takes place thirty years after the former.-Plot:...
, the club's Ruling Cabal consists of Holmes, Mansfield Smith-Cumming
Mansfield Smith-Cumming
Captain Sir George Mansfield Smith-Cumming, KCMG, CB was the first director of what would become the Secret Intelligence Service , also known as MI6...
, and Newman's original character Charles Beauregard. Beauregard becomes Chairman following Mycroft's death in the novel. In the second sequel novel, Dracula Cha Cha Cha, Beauregard was stated as having resigned as Chairman after the end of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, being succeeded by his protege Edwin Winthrop. In the short story "Who Dares Wins", set in 1980, Richard Jeperson has become the Club's Chairman. Among the agents used by the Diogenes Club in the Anno Dracula series are Daniel Dravot
Daniel Dravot
Daniel Dravot is a fictional character in Rudyard Kipling's short story The Man Who Would Be King, subsequently made into a feature film in 1975. In the film, he is portrayed by Sean Connery.-In the short story:...
, Elliott Spencer
Pinhead (Hellraiser)
Pinhead is a fictional character from the Hellraiser series. Created by Clive Barker and portrayed by Doug Bradley, Pinhead is a prominent figure in the series, mostly featured as the main antagonist....
, and Hamish Bond
James Bond (character)
Royal Navy Commander James Bond, CMG, RNVR is a fictional character created by journalist and novelist Ian Fleming in 1953. He is the main protagonist of the James Bond series of novels, films, comics and video games...
.
The club, and its connection to the secret service, was featured in the Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
Virgin New Adventures
Virgin New Adventures
The Virgin New Adventures were a series of novels from Virgin Publishing based on the British science-fiction television series Doctor Who...
novel All-Consuming Fire
All-Consuming Fire
All-Consuming Fire is an original novel written by Andy Lane and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The novel is a crossover with Arthur Conan Doyle's fictional detective Sherlock Holmes featuring the characters of both Holmes and Doctor Watson, and also...
, a Doctor Who/Sherlock Holmes crossover
Fictional crossover
A fictional crossover is the placement of two or more otherwise discrete fictional characters, settings, or universes into the context of a single story. They can arise from legal agreements between the relevant copyright holders, or because of unauthorized efforts by fans, or even amid common...
novel, which also refers to Newman's character Beauregard. An upcoming follow-up to this, in Big Finish
Big Finish Productions
Big Finish Productions is a British company that produces books and audio plays based, primarily, on cult British science fiction properties...
's Bernice Summerfield
Bernice Summerfield
Bernice Surprise Summerfield is a fictional character created by author Paul Cornell as a new companion of the Seventh Doctor in Virgin Publishing's range of original full-length Doctor Who novels, the New Adventures...
series of audio adventures is The Adventure of the Diogenes Damsel
The Adventure of the Diogenes Damsel
The Adventures of the Diogenes Damsel is a Big Finish Productions audio drama featuring Lisa Bowerman as Bernice Summerfield, a character from the spin-off media based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who.- Plot :...
.
Most recently, The Diogenes Club has been featured in the Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
/MySpace
MySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
game Bloodlines as a secret section of the British Secret Service, formally titled "Her Majesty's Secret Service, Occult Branch".
Other appearances
In Philip José FarmerPhilip José Farmer
Philip José Farmer was an American author, principally known for his award-winning science fiction and fantasy novels and short stories....
's Wold Newton Universe
Wold Newton family
The Wold Newton family is a literary concept derived from a form of crossover fiction developed by the science fiction writer Philip José Farmer...
, specifically The Other Log of Phileas Fogg
The Other Log of Phileas Fogg
The Other Log of Phileas Fogg is a science fiction/Steampunk parallel history novel written by American author Philip José Farmer in 1973. It was originally published by DAW Books and later reprinted in 1979 by Hamlyn and again in 1982 by Tor Books...
, it is stated that the real Diogenes Club was the Athenaeum Club
Athenaeum Club, London
The Athenaeum Club, usually just referred to as the Athenaeum, is a notable London club with its Clubhouse located at 107 Pall Mall, London, England, at the corner of Waterloo Place....
, but that Arthur Conan Doyle changed the name for his stories.
The club also appears in Nicholas Meyer
Nicholas Meyer
Nicholas Meyer is an American screenwriter, producer, director and novelist, known best for his best-selling novel The Seven-Per-Cent Solution, and for directing the films Time After Time, two of the Star Trek feature film series, and the 1983 television movie The Day After.Meyer graduated from...
's novel The Seven-Per-Cent Solution
The Seven-Per-Cent Solution
The Seven-Per-Cent Solution: Being a Reprint from the Reminiscences of John H. Watson, M.D. is a 1974 novel by American writer Nicholas Meyer. It is written as a pastiche of a Sherlock Holmes adventure, and was made into a film of the same name in 1976....
, Alan Moore
Alan Moore
Alan Oswald Moore is an English writer primarily known for his work in comic books, a medium where he has produced a number of critically acclaimed and popular series, including Watchmen, V for Vendetta, and From Hell...
's The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier is an original graphic novel in the comic book series The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Kevin O'Neill. It was the last volume of the series to be published by DC Comics. Although the third book to be...
graphic novel, the computer game Sherlock Holmes - Case of the Rose Tattoo
The Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes
The Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes is an adventure game series developed by Mythos Software and published by the American computer game company Electronic Arts for DOS in the 1990s...
, the Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent American comic book and manga publisher.Dark Horse Comics was founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson in Milwaukie, Oregon, with the concept of establishing an ideal atmosphere for creative professionals. Richardson started out by opening his first comic book...
Predator: Nemesis
Predator (comics)
The Predator comic books are part of the Predator franchise published by Dark Horse Comics.-Stories:*Predator **1-4 by Mark Verheiden, Chris Warner and Ron Randall, June 1989-March 1990...
comic, and in the short story "Closing Time" from Neil Gaiman
Neil Gaiman
Neil Richard Gaiman born 10 November 1960)is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, audio theatre and films. His notable works include the comic book series The Sandman and novels Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book...
's collection of short fiction Fragile Things
Fragile Things
Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders is a collection of short stories and poetry by English author, Neil Gaiman. It was published in the US and UK in 2006 by HarperCollins and Headline Review....
.
Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal used to sell a "Diogenes Club: better living through omniscience" T-shirt but it has since been discontinued.