History Creator / RonaldKnox

** ''The criminal [[ChekhovsGunman must be someone mentioned in the early part of the story]], but must not be anyone whose thoughts the reader has been allowed to follow.''
** ''All [[OurGhostsAreDifferent supernatural]] or [[AWizardDidIt preternatural agencies]] are ruled out as a matter of course.''
** ''Not more than one secret room or [[SecretUndergroundPassage passage]] is allowable, and such a passage may only be in a house or building for which it is appropriate by [[OldDarkHouse age]] or purpose.'' Msgr. Knox discourages establishing such passageways unless the action takes place in a house where such a passageway is to be expected. He cites an example from a story of his own, in which the house belonged to Catholics in penal times.
** ''No [[AppliedPhlebotinum hitherto undiscovered poisons may be used, nor any appliance]] which will need [[{{Technobabble}} a long scientific explanation at the end]].''
** ''[[ScaryMinoritySuspect No Chinaman must figure in the story.]]'' This is an admonition against using minorities as a suspect, something prevalent in the dodgy detective fiction of his time (think Fu Manchu). In his words, "Why this should be so I do not know, unless we can find a reason for it in our western habit of assuming that the Celestial is over-equipped in the matter of brains, and under-equipped in the matter of morals."
** ''No [[LuckBasedSearchTechnique accident]] must ever [[DeusExMachina help the detective]], nor must he ever have [[IJustKnew an unaccountable intuition]] [[BatDeduction which proves to be right]].'' Msgr. Knox clarifies that it is legitimate for a detective to have a moment of inspiration, but he must verify these by investigation first. As an example, he states that a detective should look for the lost will inside a grandfather clock because this is what he would have done if he were in the criminal's place, not because of some unaccountable intuition.
** ''[[DetectiveMole The detective must not himself commit the crime.]]'' This is when the author vouches for the statement that the detective is a detective. That said, a criminal can fake being a detective and provide a RedHerring or two in an attempt to throw the characters and the audience off.
** ''The detective must not light on any clues which are [[CluelessMystery not instantly produced]] for the inspection of the reader.''
** ''The stupid friend of the detective, [[TheWatson the "Watson"]], must not conceal any thoughts which pass through his mind; his intelligence must be slightly, but very slightly, below that of the average reader.''
** ''[[TwinSwitch Twin brothers]], and [[BodyDouble doubles]] generally, must not appear unless we have been [[ChekhovMIA duly prepared]] for them.''

-->''"The process of coming to believe in particular doctrines and then coming to change your view is not, in real life, a strict logical process, with ergo's and distinguo's for its milestones. Your religion builds itself up you know not how; some habits of thought stepped into unconsciously, others imbibed from study, others acquired by prayer."''

Eventually, Rev. Knox, took a leave of absence from Trinity for a year and a half at Shrewsbury to reappraise his religious convictions, where he ultimately resolved to become a Catholic. He met the Jesuit and convert, Fr. C.C. Martindale, SJ, who was gathering material for a biography of Benson, and abruptly asked him to be received into the Church because he "didn't believe the Church of England had a leg to stand on", but Fr. Martindale, in response, advised Knox to hold it off until he had positive reasons for becoming a Catholic. Knox returned home from Shrewsbury for the Christmas holidays in 1916, and he met opposition from his father, who threatened to resign as bishop if he became a Catholic, but Knox responded that his decision in a matter of conscience should not be influenced by how others interpret this. That said, Knox, at the suggestion of the convert and Oratorian, Fr. John Talbot, CO, Knox made a retreat at the Benedictine abbey of Farnborough. There, Knox was received into the Church on 22 September 1917 by Fr. Abbot, Sir David Hunter-Blair, a convert baronet.

In addition to writing detective fiction, Fr. Knox was also a satirist, having written ''Essays in Satire'' (1928). Three of these essays include "Studies in the Literature of Sherlock Holmes", a work of mock-scholarship that assumes the existence of Holmes, Watson, et al.; "The Authorship of In Memoriam", which sought to prove that Queen Victoria, not Creator/AlfredLordTennyson, was the author of the poem; and "Reunion All Round", which mocked Anglican tolerance by appealing to the Anglican Church a la Creator/JonathanSwift to absorb Muslims, atheists, and even Catholics who had murdered Irish children. He was also an occasional radio broadcaster, having once presented in January 1926 ''Broadcasting the Barricades'', a simulated live report of revolution in London, which caused a national furor as a public scare incident (Creator/OrsonWelles stated that the hoax inspired him to do a radio dramatization of ''The War of the Worlds'', which led to similar panic among American listeners).

In 1946, not long after World War II, the Assumptionists left Aldenham, and Lord Acton sold the estate. Msgr Knox became chaplain to the Asquiths at Mells, near Bath. While working on his translation of the Bible, he completed ''Enthusiasm'' (1950), which he had been writing intermittently since 1918, and he wrote ''On Englishing the Bible'' (1949), in which he explains his purpose and procedure in translating another translation of the Bible.

* FairPlayWhodunnit: Msgr. Knox wrote a preface for ''The Best Detective Stories of the Year'' in 1928, in which he codified ten rules for detective stories. Even so, he does not expect every writer to conform to these rules and points out that some of the stories selected in the volume have transgressed the rules he proposed in some way. The rules are as follows:

** ''[[ScaryMinoritySuspect No Chinaman must figure in the story.]]''
** ''No [[LuckBasedSearchTechnique accident]] must ever [[DeusExMachina help the detective]], nor must he ever have [[IJustKnew an unaccountable intuition]] [[BatDeduction which proves to be right]].''

** ''[[DetectiveMole The detective must not himself commit the crime.]]'' This is when the author vouches for the statement that the detective is a detective. That said, a criminal can fake being a detective and provide RedHerrings in an attempt to throw the characters and the audience off.

Msgr Knox was appointed a Pronotary Apostolic ad instar by the Holy See in 1951 and a member of the Pontifical Academy five years later. The National University of Ireland conferred an honorary D.Litt. unto him in 1954, and he delivered the annual Romanes Lectures for 1957 at Oxford. He also delivered a panegyric in memory of the famous Catholic writer Creator/HillaireBelloc, and he influenced the reception into the Church in 1957 of a close friend and neighbour at Mells, the poet Siegfreid Sassoon.

Fr. Knox was a satirist, having written ''Essays in Satire'' (1928). Three of these essays include "Studies in the Literature of Sherlock Holmes", which assumes the existence of Holmes, Watson, et al; "The Authorship of In Memoriam", which sought to prove that Queen Victoria, not Creator/AlfredLordTennyson, was the author of the poem; and "Reunion All Round", which mocked Anglican tolerance by appealing to the Anglican Church a la Creator/JonathanSwift to absorb Muslims, atheists, and even Catholics who had murdered Irish children. He was also an occasional radio broadcaster, having once presented in January 1926 ''Broadcasting the Barricades'', a simulated live report of revolution in London, which caused a national furor as a public scare incident (Creator/OrsonWelles stated that the hoax inspired him to do a radio dramatization of ''The War of the Worlds'', which led to similar panic among American listeners).

In 1936, Fr. Knox was elevated as a Monsignor, being included into the hierarchy in a committee to revise The Westminster Hymnal. Two years later, Cardinal Hinsley offered Msgr. Knox the presidency of St. Edmund's, Ware, in 1938, but both his confessor and his close friend and counselor, Fr. M.C. D'Arcy, SJ, advised him not to accept on the grounds that he is not the administrator type and that his talents are better employed for writing, preaching, and lecturing. Instead, he was given the task of making a new English translation of the Bible. This translation, which came to be known as the "Knox Bible", served as his principal occupation for most of his remaining years, translating from the Vulgate while constantly using the Greek and Hebrew texts for cross-referencing.

* ''Captive Flames'' (1940): A collection of sermons about some of his favourite saints, including St Cecilia, St Dominic, St Joan of Arc and St Ignatius of Loyola

* The "Slow Motion" series: A collection of sermons he gave to schoolgirls, in which he talks about different parts of the Mass, the Creed, and the Gospels.

Fr. Knox was appointed Chaplain to the Catholic undergraduates at Oxford, which his four post-Reformation predecessors unofficially designated as Catholic Chaplain to the University, ministering to them until 1939. In the meantime, Fr. Knox wrote some classic detective stories, like ''The Viaduct Murder'' (1925), ''Footsteps at the Lock'' (1928), and ''Double Cross Purpose'' (1937), and he even [[FairPlayWhodunnit codifying the rules for detective stories into a "decalogue"]] in his ''Introduction to The Best Detective Stories of the Year'' (1928). He was also an occasional radio broadcaster, having once presented in January 1926 ''Broadcasting the Barricades'', a simulated live report of revolution in London, which caused a national furore as a public scare incident (Creator/OrsonWelles stated that the hoax inspired him to do a radio dramatization of ''The War of the Worlds'', which led to similar panic among American listeners).

Fr. Knox was also a satirist, having written ''Essays in Satire'' (1928). Three of these essays include "Studies in the Literature of Sherlock Holmes", which assumes the existence of Holmes, Watson, et al; "The Authorship of In Memoriam", which sought to prove that Queen Victoria, not Creator/AlfredTennyson, was the author of the poem; and "Reunion All Round", which mocked Anglican tolerance by appealing to the Anglican Church a la Creator/JonathatnSwift to absorb Muslims, atheists, and even Catholics who had murdered Irish children.

Eventually, Rev. Knox, took a leave of absence from Trinity for a year and a half at Shrewsbury to reappraise his religious convictions, where he ultimately resolved to become a Catholic. He met the Jesuit and convert, Fr. C.C. Martindale, SJ, and abruptly asked him to be received into the Church because he "didn't believe the Church of England had a leg to stand on", but Fr. Martindale, in response, advised Knox to hold it off until he had positive reasons for becoming a Catholic. Knox returned home from Shrewsbury for the Christmas holidays in 1916, and he met opposition from his father, who threatened to resign as bishop if he became a Catholic, but Knox responded that his decision in a matter of conscience should not be influenced by how others interpret this. That said, Knox, at the suggestion of the convert and Oratorian, Fr. John Talbot, CO, Knox made a retreat at the Benedictine abbey of Farnborough. There, Knox was received into the Church on 22 September 1917 by Fr. Abbot, Sir David Hunter-Blair, a convert baronet.

* ''A Spiritual Aeneid'' (1918): Msgr Knox's autobiography, in which he chronicles his conversion to the Catholic faith from the Anglican faith. He likens his conversion to that of Virgil's ''Literature/{{Aeneid}}'', in that the physical journey of Aeneas toward Rome provided a well-polished mirror to the spiritual voyage of Knox to that other, perfect Rome--the Eternal City of Christendom. In this work, Msgr Knox stated that Chesterton, who was a High Church Anglican at the time, played a role in his conversion to the Catholic faith. Amusingly, when Chesterton converted in 1922, ''he'' said Msgr Knox influenced ''him''!
* ''The Belief of Catholics'' (1927): A book of Catholic apologetics in which he examine's modernity's aversion to religion and aims to address those "essential and unavoidable" questions to which religion must provide the answers, like "Does God exist?" "Does he reveal himself to humanity?" "Is a loving relationship between God and human beings a myth or a reality?" "Is the Catholic Church what it claims to be: the means and end of salvation as promised by Jesus Christ?" It is often seen as a Catholic counterpart to Creator/CSLewis's ''Mere Christianity''.

* A translation of Literature/TheBible (1940, 1949): Often called the "Knox Bible". Msgr Knox translated the Vulgate while constantly cross-referencing to the Greek and Hebrew texts.

Eventually, Rev. Knox, took a leave of absence from Trinity for a year and a half at Shrewsbury to reappraise his religious convictions. There, he resolved to become a Catholic and met the Jesuit and convert, Fr. C.C. Martindale, SJ, and abruptly asked him to be received into the Church because he "didn't believe the Church of England had a leg to stand on". Fr. Martindale, in response, advised Knox to hold it off until he had positive reasons for becoming a Catholic. Knox returned home from Shrewsbury for the Christmas holidays in 1916, and he met opposition from his father, who threatened to resign as bishop if he became a Catholic, but Knox responded that his decision in a matter of conscience should not be influenced by how others interpret this. That said, Knox, at the suggestion of the convert and Oratorian, Fr. John Talbot, CO, Knox made a retreat at the Benedictine abbey of Farnborough. There, Knox was received into the Church on 22 September 1917 by Fr. Abbot, Sir David Hunter-Blair, a convert baronet.

In his first three years at Oxford,

* ''A Spiritual Aeneid'' (1918): Msgr Knox's autobiography, in which he chronicles his conversion to the Catholic faith from the Anglican faith. He likens his conversion to that of Virgil's ''Literature/{{Aeneid}}'', in that the physical journey of Aeneas toward Rome provided a well-polished mirror to the spiritual voyage of Knox to that other, perfect Rome—the Eternal City of Christendom.

* A translation of Literature/TheBible (1940, 1949): Often called the "Knox Bible". Msgr Knox translated the Vulgate with constant cross-referencing with the Greek and Hebrew texts.

In 1906, his last year at Eton, Knox fell seriously ill and was visited by a High Church Anglican vicar. This was his first contact with the High Church movement in the Church of England, and he would latch onto it for ten more years; at the same time, his father attained leadership of the Evangelical Party, greatly opposing the High Church movement.

When his mother died in 1892, Ronald spent four years at Creeton with his uncle, a bachelor cleric named Lindsay Knox. Lindsay taught Ronald the catechism, mathematics, French, Greek, Latin, and the Bible, all of them becoming lifelong influences. He was eventually educated with his older brother Dillwyn at Summer Fields School, entering Eton College with a scholarship in 1900. In addition to receiving a lot of intellectual development, Knox resolved upon a religious vocation, making a [[CelibateHero self-imposed vow of celibacy]] both as a form of self-denial and "to attend upon the Lord without impediment."

-->''"The process of coming to believe in particular doctrines and then coming to change your view is not, in real life, a strict logical process, with ergo’s and distinguisho’s for its milestones. Your religion builds itself up you know not how; some habits of thought stepped into unconsciously, others imbibed from study, others acquired by prayer."''

* ''A Spiritual Aeneid'' (1918):
* ''The Belief of Catholics'' (1927):
* ''Captive Flames'' (1940):
* A translation of Literature/TheBible (1940, 1949):
* The "Slow Motion" series:
** ''The Mass in Slow Motion'' (1948):
** ''The Creed in Slow Motion'' (1949):
** ''The Gospel in Slow Motion'' (1950):
** ''Enthusiasm'' (1950):

When his mother died in 1892, Ronald spent four years at Creeton with his uncle, a bachelor cleric named Lindsay Knox. Lindsay taught Ronald the catechism, mathematics, French, Greek, Latin, and the Bible, all of them becoming lifelong influences. He was eventually educated with his older brother Dillwyn at Summer Fields School, entering Eton College with a scholarship in 1900. In addition to receiving a lot of intellectual development, Knox resolved upon a religious vocation, making a [[CellibateHero self-imposed vow of celibacy]] both as a form of self-denial and "to attend upon the Lord without impediment."

Monsignor Ronald Arbuthnott Knox (17 February 1888 – 24 August 1957) was an English Catholic priest, theologian, radio broadcaster, and mystery novelist.

In the literary world, he is known for creating his ten rules for detective fiction and codifying the FairPlayWhodunnit.

Msgr Ronald Knox is not to be confused with [[Characters/BlackButlerGrimReapers Ronald Knox]], a Grim Reaper from Manga/BlackButler, though the reaper is named after him.

In the literary world, he is known for creating his ten rules for detective fiction and codifying the FairPlayWhodunnit.