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:His appearance made me gasp. I was prepared for something strange, but not for so overpowering a personality as this. It was his size, which took one's breath away-his size and his imposing presence. His head was enormous, the largest I have ever seen upon a human being. I am sure that his top hat, had I ventured to don it, would have slipped over me entirely and rested on my shoulders. He had the face and beard, which I associate with an Assyrian bull; the former florid, the latter so black as almost to have a suspicion of blue, spade-shaped and rippling down over his chest. The hair was peculiar, plastered down in front in a long, curving wisp over his massive forehead. The eyes were blue-grey under great black tufts, very clear, very critical, and very masterful. A huge spread of shoulders and a chest like a barrel were the other parts of him which appeared above the table, save for two enormous hands covered with long black hair. This and a bellowing, roaring, rumbling voice made up my first impression of the notorious Professor Challenger. He was also a pretentious and self-righteous scientific jack-of-all-trades. Although considered by Malone's editor, Mr McArdle, to be "just a homicidal megalomaniac with a turn for science", his ingenuity could be counted upon to solve any problem or get out of any unsavoury situation, and be sure to offend and insult several other people in the process. Challenger was, in many ways, rude, crude, and without social conscience or inhibition. Yet he was a man capable of great loyalty and his love of his French wife was all encompassing. Like Sherlock Holmes, Professor Challenger was based on a real person — in this case, a Professor Rutherford , who had lectured at Conan Doyle's medical school. FICTIONAL BIOGRAPHY Early years According to '' The Lost World '', the character was born in Largs , a village in Strathclyde , Scotland , in 1863 . He studied at Edinburgh University , where he studied Medicine , Zoology and Anthropology . BOOKS By Arthur Conan Doyle
By other authors
'' as Professor Challenger from the 2001 BBC adaptation ''The Lost World'' .]] PROFESSOR CHALLENGER ON SCREEN AND STAGE Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was the first person to portray Professor Challenger, dressing up as the professor for the photographs included in ''The Lost World'''s initial publication. Wallace Beery played Challenger in the classic 1925 film version of '' The Lost World ''. Claude Rains played him in the 1960 film version. John Rhys-Davies was Challenger in the 1992 film version and its sequel (from the same year), '' Return To The Lost World ''. Patrick Bergin played the angry professor in the 1998 film version. Peter McCauley played G.E. Challenger in the 1999-2002 Television Series . Bruce Boxleitner also played Challenger in the 2005 film ''King of the Lost World''. A 2001 TV movie adaptation with Bob Hoskins portraying Professor Challenger. Airing in the UK over Christmas Day and Boxing Day in 2001, it was the first British film adaptation. Directed by Christopher Hall and Tim Haines, producers of the BBC 's dinosaur documentary '' Walking With Dinosaurs '', the BBC/A&E version adds a female member of the expedition, the ward of an unsympathetic Christian missionary. EXTERNAL LINKS
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