Talk:Leslie Charteris

Cleanup
this arcicle needs to be wikified?
 * Agreed. It needs section headers, and a list of works.  Please see Manual of Style. --Elonka 21:53, 2 June 2006 (UTC)
 * I've added a list of non-Saint works, plus the "The Saint" template which lists Saint-related works. That should cover the bibliography concerns. 23skidoo 13:55, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Also a composer?
Years ago I remember reading that it was Charteris who composed the Saint theme heard on the radio show and early movies -- that whistled tune from the radio show. A few bars of this theme is heard before the start of the main title sequence on Return of the Saint as well. Can anyone confirm that this is in fact true? 23skidoo 04:27, 20 September 2006 (UTC)

Yes. Being musically talentless I may get some of the terms wrong but there is specific 7 note (bar?) arrangement that Charteris composed and has been adapted by pretty much all the Saint impersonators from RKO onwards.--Hoppy Uniatz 07:14, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

Pronunciation
I've changed the pronunciation of Charteris (the previous writer stated it was 'charter-is'), based on something Charteris wrote:
 * When I picked myself this distinguished cognomen it never occurred to me that such a superficially simple arrangement of letters could be so easily butchered and mutilated. It is somewhat humiliating for what should by this time be a household word to hear itself so frequently pronounced as "Charteers","Sharteers","Shartroos", and worse. There is no trick to it at all if you relax. The "Chart" is pronounced exactly like "chart", the thing you steer boats with. The "er" is pronounced exactly like "er". Put them together and you get "Charter", pronounced as in Magna. The "is" is the only catch, and should be articulated by placing the tip of the tongue behind the front teeth, if any, and exhaling in a sharply sibilant manner which should not however attain the dimensions of a whistle. If either tongue or teeth are not available, a fresh soda siphon may be employed to produce a similar effect. For the benefit of those really fascinated by the subject, the British aristocracy, several of whom dangled from this family tree, pronounced the name, in their quaint way, as "Charters"; the "i" being silent as in monocle."

Having tried the technique, I concluded it must be 'charters'.—Stombs 01:36, 22 December 2006 (UTC)
 * That's clearly wrong. If he pronounced it charters, then why didn't he just say that the i is silent, and why did he go on to point out that the aristocracy quaintly pronounces it with a silent i? The BBC, which has a dedicated pronunciation unit, always pronounces it to rhyme with hiss. 2.223.82.11 (talk) 22:49, 13 March 2019 (UTC)

BBC Radio Programme on Leslie Charteris
There's a BBC Radio 4 programme on Leslie Charteris - Leslie Charteris: A Saintly Centennial - narrated by Roger Moore here:. You can listen to it online using RealPlayer. Ian Dunster 20:28, 31 July 2007 (UTC)

WP:OC
The relevant clause of WP:OC is Note also that performers should not be categorized into a general category which groups topics about a particular performance venue or production (e.g. Category:Star Trek), when the specific performance category would be deleted (e.g. Category:Star Trek script writers). A category for people who write Saint materials (novels, film scripts, etc.) would be deleted, thus the people who wrote such material should not be categorized in the Saint category. Otto4711 (talk) 02:43, 29 January 2008 (UTC)
 * This looks like your interpretation of the particular guideline. Show me precedent. A writer is not a performer. 23skidoo (talk) 02:46, 29 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Categories_for_discussion/Log/2007_February_16
 * Categories_for_discussion/Log/2007_February_16
 * Categories_for_discussion/Log/2007_February_16 Otto4711 (talk) 03:06, 29 January 2008 (UTC)

Poor Quality
This article is at least 85% concerned with The Saint and NOT about the man himself. The vast majority of the Saint material is extensively documented, appropriately, in Saint articles and does not, and should not, be duplicated here. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.155.50.152 (talk) 21:53, 27 February 2008 (UTC)
 * Then add material about the man. It's perfectly acceptable to duplicate information in the case of articles about someone who primarily associated with a topic. 23skidoo (talk) 13:35, 28 February 2008 (UTC)

Longevity
I added some discussion about the fact that Charteris' 55-years of either writing or editing the Saint is one of the longest in the history of mystery fiction. Christie spent 55 years writing about Poirot but so far that's the only other one I've been able to find that comes close, so I think it's fair to say "one of". By comparison, Doyle wrote his Holmes canon over only a 40-year period and Hamilton wrote Matt Helm over 33 years. 68.146.52.234 (talk) 15:16, 6 March 2015 (UTC)

His name
So he wasn't related to Ann Fleming, née Charteris, and her ancestors? I'm wondering how this guy was able to legally change his last name to Charteris which seems to be a nobility name in Britain. In many countries you can't legally borrow the name of a family you don't belong to, and which is restricted to only that extended family/clan, unless you're either married into the family or apply for permission from its members. Names of noble families tend to be "limited" in that sense, so it's odd that he could just say "I want to be called Charteris". He owuldn't have been able to say, "I want to be called Mountbatten" or the like. 188.150.64.57 (talk) 04:05, 21 October 2021 (UTC)


 * Well England apparently isn't one of those countries. There are plenty of English surnames that are shared by nobility and commoners alike, e.g. "Howard" or "Stafford."
 * "Mountbatten" is a made up name for one particular family that did not want to be thought German.
 * Name changes in England are not tied to class. Here's a quote from the Deed Poll office, "We will refuse a deed poll application with any name that: we have reason to believe is chosen with the intention of committing fraud [or] is (potentially) against the law — e.g. anything that promotes racial or religious hatred, derides minority groups, or promotes the use of drugs." Pascalulu88 (talk) 19:11, 27 March 2024 (UTC)

Hellfile Club ?
The article quotes William Ruehlmann as saying that the name Charteris was taken from "the roguish Col. Francis,...founder of the Hellfile Club". Assuming that this should be "Hellfire Club", that is associated with Francis Dashwood, not Francis Charteris. RGCorris (talk) 07:38, 20 August 2023 (UTC)


 * Furthermore, the Saint was never a private eye: never a detective in any normal sense of the word, and certainly never for hire. Nor was he American for the first 23 books (out of 36 by Charteris), and there is no mention of his taking out US citizenship). One can’t help wondering how reliable this source is. Paul Magnussen (talk) 04:06, 16 October 2023 (UTC)