from "The Adventure of the Cottingley Fairies"

While sipping tea at breakfast, my eyes pored over the finely detailed image of a little girl in the middle of what could only be described as a ring of dancing fairies. My companion across the table did not appear to have noticed it.

"Holmes, have you seen Conan Doyle's article in today's Strand?" I asked.

"I regret to say that I have," he replied. "Unscientific rubbish. Two girls playing with fairies in the woods? Let me know when they capture a specimen and bring it back to the laboratory for analysis."

"But the girls have taken several photographs, clear as day, of the fairies!" I protested. "Look here; as real as you like on the front page."

"That means nothing," he snapped back. "Photographs can be easily manipulated if one knows how."

"Surely two little girls from Cottingley could not have had such knowledge. Here; look again at the images."

Holmes glanced briefly at the page, then returned his attention to his toast.

"Definitely manipulated, Watson," he calmly said. "I can tell from some of the pixies, and from having seen quite a few photography shops in my time."

The Dream Lives On

You've certainly heard a snippet of this before, and you may have heard the whole thing before, but everyone needs to hear this speech at least once.