Sir Arthur is the son of Lady Beryl Streeb-Greebling—a 'wonderful dancer' who was still dancing at 107 years of age, and who was capable of breaking a swan's wing with a blow of her nose—who inspired him to take up his life's work of teaching ravens to fly underwater. Sir Arthur claims "She came up to me in the conservatory—I was pruning some walnuts—and she said 'Arthur'—I wasn't Sir Arthur in those days—'if you don't get underwater and start teaching ravens to fly, I'll smash your stupid face off,' and I think it was this that sort of first started my interest in the whole business." However, his work is largely inconsequential. When Dudley's interviewer asks "Is it difficult to get ravens to fly underwater?" his honest response is "Well, I think the word difficult is an awfully good one here. Yes, it is. It's nigh impossible ... There they are sitting on my wrist. I say 'Fly! Fly you little devils!!' ... they drown. Little black feathery figure topples off my wrist and spirals to a watery grave. We're knee deep in feathers off that part of the coast ... not a single success in the whole forty years of training." When a perplexed Dudley asks if this makes his life a miserable failure, Sir Arthur is forced to reply, "My life has been a miserable failure, yes."