Category: News

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On June 13th…

June 13, 1900: Holmes recovered the Black Pearl of the Borgias from the sixth bust of Napoleon. [SIXN]
(Source: A Day by Day Chronology of Mr. Sherlock Holmes According to Zeisler and Christ, compiled by William S Dorn, BSI)

Illustration by Frederic Dorr Steele for Collier’s Weekly (1904)

Quote from Canon:

Holmes took a paper from his pocket and laid a ten-pound note upon the table.
“You will kindly sign that paper, Mr. Sandeford, in the presence of these witnesses. It is simply to say that you transfer every possible right that you ever had in the bust to me. I am a methodical man, you see, and you never know what turn events might take afterwards. Thank you, Mr. Sandeford; here is your money, and I wish you a very good-evening.”
When our visitor had disappeared Sherlock Holmes’s movements were such as to rivet our attention. He began by taking a clean white cloth from a drawer and laying it over the table. Then he placed his newly acquired bust in the centre of the cloth. Finally he picked up his hunting-crop and struck Napoleon a sharp blow on the top of the head. The figure broke into fragments, and Holmes bent eagerly over the shattered remains. Next instant, with a loud shout of triumph, he held up one splinter, in which a round, dark object was fixed like a plum in a pudding.
“Gentlemen,” he cried, “let me introduce you to the famous black pearl of the Borgias!”

Chips says: We presume Holmes turned the pearl back to the authorities. What he do with the reward? Should he have shared?

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Spring 2017 Watsonian

The latest issue of the Watsonian is making its way to members’ mailboxes around the world. Digital subscribers should have received a “completed order” email including a link to download the new issue. (If you have the Paperless Membership or the Print + PDF Membership and you did not receive an email, please contact Selena Buttons.)

This issue’s contributors reflect our commitment to blending the wisdom and background of great Sherlockians and the enthusiasm of those newly drawn to The Game. Some have been writing for the Watsonian since its inception, while others are appearing for the first time.

An eclectic mix of features and topics fill this issue.  Sandy Kozinn (“Roxie”) examines campfire cookery in “Roxie’s Canonical Ramblings”, Alexian Gregory (“Darwin”) explores the alleged connections between Cornish and Chaldean in “Pondicherry Ponderings”, and Lyn Adams makes an expedition to Baker Street West. The issue includes artwork from Neha Dinesh, John Foster (“Barney”), and Fran Wing (“Phoebe”). The “Billiards With…” interview series returns with a look at the Sub-librarians Scion.  Margie Deck (“Mopsy”), AKA The Pawky Puzzler, presents a cryptic challenge to solve. Essays both scholarly and personal, poetry, and pastiche can all be found with this issue’s pages.

We hope you will find something interesting, educational, entertaining, and thought-provoking in this issue. Digital (PDF) copies and details about the contents are available in the Shop: Watsonian vol. 5 no. 1.

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On June 12th…

A Day by Day Chronology of Mr. Sherlock Holmes according to Zeisler and Christ, compiled by William S Dorn, gives us two events from the same case today:

Illustration by Richard Gutschmidt (1906)

June 12, 1900: Beppo murdered Pietro Venucci. [SIXN]

“You can see for yourself that anyone going out through that open window could reach the front doorstep by taking a long stride. This was clearly what the burglar had done, so I went round and opened the door. Stepping out into the dark I nearly fell over a dead man who was lying there. I ran back for a light, and there was the poor fellow, a great gash in his throat and the whole place swimming in blood. He lay on his back, his knees drawn up, and his mouth horribly open. I shall see him in my dreams. I had just time to blow on my police whistle, and then I must have fainted, for I knew nothing more until I found the policeman standing over me in the hall.”

June 12, 1900: Beppo destroyed the fifth bust of Napoleon. [SIXN]

The spot where the fragments of the bust had been found was only a few hundred yards away. For the first time our eyes rested upon this presentment of the great Emperor, which seemed to raise such frantic and destructive hatred in the mind of the unknown. It lay scattered in splintered shards upon the grass. Holmes picked up several of them and examined them carefully. I was convinced from his intent face and his purposeful manner that at last he was upon a clue.

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On June 11th…

According to A Day by Day Chronology of Mr. Sherlock Holmes according to Zeisler and Christ, compiled by William S Dorn, on June 11, 1900, Lestrade consulted Holmes about the theft of busts of Napoleon. [SIXN]

Illustration by Sidney Paget for The Strand Magazine (1904)

“Anything remarkable on hand?” he asked.
“Oh, no, Mr. Holmes, nothing very particular.”
“Then tell me all about it.”
Lestrade laughed.
“Well, Mr. Holmes, there is no use denying that there is something on my mind. And yet it is such an absurd business that I hesitated to bother you about it. On the other hand, although it is trivial, it is undoubtedly queer, and I know that you have a taste for all that is out of the common. But in my opinion it comes more in Dr. Watson’s line than ours.”
“Disease?” said I.
“Madness, anyhow. And a queer madness too! You wouldn’t think there was anyone living at this time of day who had such a hatred of Napoleon the First that he would break any image of him that he could see.”

I love this passage, and the way it shows the friendly relationship that’s developed over the years between Lestrade, Holmes, and Watson. Lestrade just pops round from time to time for cigars and a chat about what’s new in London crime. –Selena

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On June 10th…

A Day by Day Chronology of Mr Sherlock Holmes, According to Zeisler and Christ, compiled and edited by William S Dorn, BSI and DWNP, once again gives us multiple events for the day:

June 10, 1889: Hall Pycroft was supposed to start work with Mawson and Williams. [STOC]

Illustration by Sidney Paget for The Strand Magazine (1893)

“Quite so. Why? When we answer that, we have made some progress with our little problem. Why? There can be only one adequate reason. Someone wanted to learn to imitate your writing, and had to procure a specimen of it first. And now if we pass on to the second point, we find that each throws light upon the other. That point is the request made by Pinner that you should not resign your place, but should leave the manager of this important business in the full expectation that a Mr. Hall Pycroft, whom he had never seen, was about to enter the office upon the Monday morning.”

Isaac Asimov provides us a summary in verse:

First young Pycroft had no job, then two,
And that puts him, it seems, in a stew.
First they want him no doubt.
But then Paris is out.
It’s a puzzle ___ Does Holmes get the clue?

June 10, 1900: Beppo destroyed two more busts of Napoleon. [SIXN]

Busts of Napoleon on display at the Sherlock Holmes Museum, London

Some little time ago he purchased from Morse Hudson two duplicate plaster casts of the famous head of Napoleon by the French sculptor Devine. One of these he placed in his hall in the house at Kennington Road, and the other on the mantelpiece of the surgery at Lower Brixton. Well, when Dr. Barnicot came down this morning he was astonished to find that his house had been burgled during the night, but that nothing had been taken save the plaster head from the hall. It had been carried out, and had been dashed savagely against the garden wall, under which its splintered fragments were discovered.
[…]I thought it would please you. But I have not got to the end yet. Dr. Barnicot was due at his surgery at twelve o’clock, and you can imagine his amazement when, on arriving there, he found that the window had been opened in the night, and that the broken pieces of his second bust were strewn all over the room. It had been smashed to atoms where it stood.

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On June 9th…

Another Double Day. Not the complete one-volume book, just events. (Not sorry, could not resist pun. Bad, but fun for me. –Chips)

[*Groan* –Selena]

A Day by Day Chronology of Mr Sherlock Holmes According to Zeisler and Christ, compiled by William S Dorn, BSI, gives us two events for this date.

Illustration by Sidney Paget for The Strand Magazine (1892)

June 9, 1888: Jeremiah Hayling was killed by Colonel Lysander Stark [ENGI]

“Here is an advertisement which will interest you,” said [Holmes]. “It appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this – `Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged 26, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten o’clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was dressed in,’ &c. &c. Ha! That represents the last time that the Colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy.”
“Good heavens!” cried my patient. “Then that explains what the girl said.”

(I know this picture is usually thought to be our Thumbless Engineer, but with a little imagination I imagine this could have been the fate of Mr. Hayling. –Chips)

June 9, 1889: Hall Pycroft began marking off all of the hardware sellers in Paris [STOC]

“‘You will eventually manage the great depot in Paris, which will pour a flood of English crockery into the shops of one hundred and thirty-four agents in France. The purchase will be completed in a week, and meanwhile you will remain in Birmingham and make yourself useful.’
“‘How?’
“For answer he took a big red book out of a drawer. ‘This is a directory of Paris,’ said he, ‘with the trades after the names of the people. I want you to take it home with you, and to mark off all the hardware sellers with their addresses. It would be of the greatest use to me to have them.’
“‘Surely there are classified lists?’ I suggested.
“‘Not reliable ones. Their system is different to ours. Stick at it and let me have the lists by Monday, at twelve. Good-day, Mr. Pycroft; if you continue to show zeal and intelligence, you will find the company a good master.’ […]”

No matter as why Pycroft was told he was doing it, I associate this job with copying the Encyclopedia Britannica in another case. Both tasks would keep a (not-so-bright?) person out of the way. –Chips

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On June 8th…

According to A Day by Day Chronology of Mr Sherlock Holmes, According to Zeisler and Christ, compiled and edited by William S Dorn, BSI and DWNP, on June 8, 1889: Hall Pycroft took a train to Birmingham to meet Harry Pinner. [STOC]

Lickey Incline 5 geograph-2180870

You can imagine, Dr. Watson, how pleased I was at such an extraordinary piece of good fortune. I sat up half the night hugging myself over it, and next day I was off to Birmingham in a train that would take me in plenty of time for my appointment. I took my things to an hotel in New Street, and then I made my way to the address which had been given me[…]

Illustration by WH Hyde for Harper’s Weekly (1893)

[…]I followed him to the top of a very lofty stair, and there right under the slates were a couple of empty and dusty little rooms, uncarpeted and uncurtained, into which he led me. I had thought of a great office with shining tables and rows of clerks such as I was used to, and I daresay I stared rather straight at the two deal chairs and one little table, which, with a ledger and a wastepaper basket, made up the whole furniture.

Every time I read this story, I often wonder just how with it Hall Prycroft was. The old expression keeps popping into my mind: If it seems too good to be true…! –Chips

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On June 7th…

Another day with two cases in two years on the same day. Confused yet? Here we go.

June 7 1889: Arthur Pinner offered Hall Pycroft a job with Franco-Midland Hardware Company [STOC]

Illustration by WH Hyde for Harper’s Weekly (1893)

Well, I was sitting doing a smoke that very evening after I had been promised the appointment, when up came my landlady with a card which had `Arthur Pinner, financial agent,’ printed upon it. I had never heard the name before, and could not imagine what he wanted with me, but of course I asked her to show him up. In he walked – a middle-sized, dark-haired, dark-eyed, black-bearded man, with a touch of the sheeny about his nose. He had a brisk kind of way with him and spoke sharply, like a man that knew the value of time.

[The description of Pinner includes an offensive slang term for a Jewish person. I always disliked comments like that even if those descriptions were in common use at the time. -Chips]

June 7, 1900: Beppo destroyed the first bust of Napoleon. [SIXN]

“The first case reported was four days ago,” said he. “It was at the shop of Morse Hudson, who has a place for the sale of pictures and statues in the Kennington Road. The assistant had left the front shop for an instant when he heard a crash, and, hurrying in, found a plaster bust of Napoleon, which stood with several other works of art upon the counter, lying shivered into fragments.

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On June 6th…

A Day by Day Chronology of Mr Sherlock Holmes, According to Zeisler and Christ, compiled and edited by William S Dorn, BSI and DWNP, gives us two entries for Sherlockian events in two different years. So here we go.

June 6, 1889: Hall Pycroft received a letter offering him a berth with Mawson and Williams. [STOC]

Illustration by Sidney Paget for The Strand Magazine (1893)

“At last I saw a vacancy at Mawson and Williams’, the great stockbroking firm in Lombard Street. I daresay E.C. is not much in your line, but I can tell you that this is about the richest house in London. The advertisement was to be answered by letter only. I sent in my testimonial and application, but without the least hope of getting it. Back came an answer by return saying that if I would appear next Monday I might take over my new duties at once, provided that my appearance was satisfactory. No one knows how these things are worked. Some people say the manager just plunges his hand into the heap and takes the first that comes. Anyhow, it was my innings that time, and I don’t ever wish to feel better pleased. The screw was a pound a week rise, and the duties just about the same as at Coxon’s.

Question from Chips: In the last sentence of the quote above, a rise in pay is referred to as “a screw”. Why?

Answer from the English Oxford Living Dictionaries:

British – dated, informal [in singular]
An amount of salary or wages.
‘he’s offered me the job with a jolly good screw’

June 6, 1890: Busts of Napoleon were sold to Morse Hudson and the Harding Brothers. [SIXN]

Busts of Napoleon on display at the Sherlock Holmes Museum, London

“Now, Watson, let us make for Gelder and Co., of Stepney, the source and origin of busts. I shall be surprised if we don’t get some help down there.”
[…] A reference to his books showed that hundreds of casts had been taken from a marble copy of Devine’s head of Napoleon, but that the three which had been sent to Morse Hudson a year or so before had been half of a batch of six, the other three being sent to Harding Brothers, of Kensington.

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On June 4th…

According to A Day by Day Chronology of Mr Sherlock Holmes, According to Zeisler and Christ, compiled and edited by William S Dorn, BSI and DWNP, on June 4, 1902, Holmes confronted Isadora Klein. [3GAB]

A minute later we were in an Arabian Nights’ drawing-room, vast and wonderful, in a half gloom, picked out with an occasional pink electric light. The lady had come, I felt, to that time of life when even the proudest beauty finds the half-light more welcome. She rose from a settee as we entered; tall, queenly, a perfect figure, a lovely mask-like face, with two wonderful Spanish eyes which looked murder at us both.

Illustration by Frederic Dorr Steele for Liberty (1926)

“In the first place you must give back this manuscript.”
She broke into a ripple of laughter, and walked to the fireplace. There was a calcined mass which she broke up with the poker. “Shall I give this back?” she asked. So roguish and exquisite did she look as she stood before us with a challenging smile that I felt of all Holmes’s criminals this was the one whom he would find it hardest to face. However, he was immune from sentiment.
“That seals your fate,” he said coldly. “You are very prompt in your actions, madame, but you have overdone it on this occasion.”

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On June 3rd…

Edward Hardwicke as Watson and Jeremy Brett as Holmes (1994)

According to A Day by Day Chronology of Mr Sherlock Holmes, According to Zeisler and Christ, compiled and edited by William S Dorn, BSI and DWNP, on June 3, 1902, Holmes visited Mrs Maberly at Three Gables. [3GAB]

We found The Three Gables a very different establishment to the orderly household of the previous day. A small group of idlers had assembled at the garden gate, while a couple of constables were examining the windows and the geranium beds. Within we met a gray old gentleman, who introduced himself as the lawyer, together with a bustling, rubicund Inspector, who greeted Holmes as an old friend.
“Well, Mr. Holmes, no chance for you in this case, I’m afraid. Just a common, ordinary burglary, and well within the capacity of the poor old police. No experts need apply.”
“I am sure the case is in very good hands,” said Holmes. “Merely a common burglary, you say?”

[PS: In two days you will read a song dedicated (Maybe not the right word) to the female villain of this tale!!! -Chips]

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On June 2nd…

According to A Day by Day Chronology of Mr Sherlock Holmes, according to Zeisler and Christ, compiled and edited by William S Dorn, BSI and DWNP, on June 2, 1902, the house agent presented Mrs Maberly terms of sale for Three Gables. [3GAB]

Mary Ellis as Mary Maberly in “The Three Gables” (1994)

“Yesterday the man arrived with the agreement all drawn out. Luckily I showed it to Mr. Sutro, my lawyer, who lives in Harrow. He said to me, `This is a very strange document. Are you aware that if you sign it you could not legally take anything out of the house – not even your own private possessions?’ When the man came again in the evening I pointed this out, and I said that I meant only to sell the furniture.
” `No, no; everything,’ said he.
” `But my clothes? My jewels?’
” `Well, well, some concession might be made for your personal effects. But nothing shall go out of the house unchecked. My client is a very liberal man, but he has his fads and his own way of doing things. It is everything or nothing with him.’
” `Then it must be nothing,’ said I. And there the matter was left, but the whole thing seemed to me to be so unusual that I thought – ”
Here we had a very extraordinary interruption.

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On May 31st…

According to A Day by Day Chronology of Mr Sherlock Holmes, according to Zeisler and Christ, compiled and edited by William S Dorn, BSI and DWNP, on May 31, 1902, a house agent agreed to Mrs Maberly’s terms for sale of Three Gables. [3GAB]

Three days ago I had a call from a man who said that he was a house agent. He said that this house would exactly suit a client of his, and that if I would part with it money would be no object. It seemed to me very strange, as there are several empty houses on the market which appear to be equally eligible, but naturally I was interested in what he said. I therefore named a price which was five hundred pounds more than I gave. He at once closed with the offer, but added that his client desired to buy the furniture as well, and would I put a price upon it. Some of this furniture is from my old home, and it is, as you see, very good, so that I named a good round sum. To this also he at once agreed. I had always wanted to travel, and the bargain was so good a one that it really seemed that I should be my own mistress for the rest of my life.

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Friend and Biographer Series: JHWS ‘Hyacinth’

Speaking of my old friend and biographer, I would take this opportunity to remark….Watson has some remarkable characteristics of his own, to which in his modesty he has given small attention…

Hello Watsonians,

Today we add to our series of brief biographic interviews with some of the members of JHWS. Our members, like the good Dr. Watson, have some remarkable characteristics of their own, and we would like to give some small attention to them.

Please welcome our Canadian friend Stephanie Thomas.  I enjoyed her comments very much (especially that ‘soft spot’) and I think you will enjoy them too.

Thanks,

Margie

JHWS/’Mopsy’

  1. Name and bull pup moniker –

Stephanie Thomas, JHWS “Hyacinth”

  1. Current (city, state, country) location –

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

  1. How long have you been a devotee of Dr. Watson?

I have been a devotee of the good doctor since I read the Hound of the Baskervilles in junior high.  I have always had a soft spot for Dr. Watson because he is intelligent, brave and loyal, and not self-centred like Holmes.

  1. Do you have a favorite canonical story?

My favorite story is ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ because it was the first Holmes story I read, Sir Henry Baskerville is Canadian, and Toronto is mentioned.  It is also my favorite because Dr. Watson has an opportunity to work on his own solving the mystery, and readers get to see how intelligent Watson is.  That is something we do not always get to see in the Canon because usually Watson focusses on Holmes’ work.  Runners up are The Adventure of the Speckled Band and The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle.

  1. What is your favorite quote from the canon?

My favorite quote is from ‘The Adventure of the Three Garridebs’: “You’re not hurt, Watson?  For God’s sake, say that you are not hurt!”

My heart melted when I first read this passage.  Although it is obvious in the other stories that Holmes is fond of Watson, it is in the Three Garridebs where Holmes comes out and says how much he cares for his friend.

  1. If you could speak directly to anyone in the canon, who would you choose and why?

Like Lily, I would choose to talk to Mrs. Hudson.  She must have so many fascinating stories about having Holmes and Watson as lodgers, and she knows more about Dr. Watson than what he reveals to us in the Canon.  In ‘A Study in Scarlet’, Watson mentions that he has another set of vices when he is well.  Mrs. Hudson probably knows what those vices are, and she would know how many wives Watson had, and what happened to them.  Number two on my list would be Dr. Watson.  With his gift for story-telling, and his pawkish sense of humour, he would be an interesting and entertaining person to talk to.

  1. Are you fond of any particular canon adaptations—pastiche, radio, or film?

My favorite adaption is the Granada series starring Jeremy Brett, David Burke, and Edward Hardwicke.   The casting is spot on and I like that the series is true to the Canon.  My favorite film is ‘Murder by Decree’, with Christopher Plumber as Holmes and James Mason as Watson, where Holmes and Watson are hunting Jack the Ripper.  I also like Jude Law’s portrayal of Dr. Watson in the Guy Ritchie films.

  1. Do you have a local Watsonian/Sherlockian/Holmesian group you meet with on a regular basis?

My local Sherlockian society is the Bootmakers of Toronto.  I am also a member of the Friends of the Arthur Conan Doyle Collection, Toronto Public Library (ACD Friends).

  1. Do you have any recent Watsonian/Sherlockian/Holmesian projects/events you would like to tell us about?

I don’t have any Sherlockian projects on the go.  In January I attended the BSI Weekend in New York City.

  1. If you had a magic wand, allowing you to add, subtract, change one thing in your Watsonian/Sherlockian/Holmesian world, what would it be?

I would like to see more young fans joining Sherlockian societies instead of confining their interest in Holmes and Watson to social media.  I have met so many great people and made many friends by attending Bootmakers of Toronto meetings and ACD Friends events, going to Holmes and Doyle themed conferences, and attending gatherings such as the BSI Weekend.  It would be a shame if these opportunities to meet Sherlockians face-to-face died out because the next generation of Sherlockians only “meet” online.  I would also like to see more fans of BBC’s Sherlock reading Dr. Watson’s original stories.

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Dr Watson’s Finest Moment

[Note from Chips: I have the author’s permission to use this for our membership to enjoy. For a society that honors the contributions of Dr Watson, I think it is a fitting tribute to the Good Doctor.]

WATSON’S FINEST MOMENT

by Carl L Heifetz

Prepared for The Formulary, The Journal of the Friends of Doctor Watson

April 17, 2006

The “sacred” Canon reveals many excellent instances that may fulfill the object of this essay – to describe the finest moment in the life and career of John H. Watson, M.D.

Could it be the time that he stood bravely on the deck of the Aurora, revolver in hand, facing down the dangerous Tonga and his poisoned dart in The Sign of Four, or, in the same adventure, when he walked, alone and unprotected, late at night through a dangerous part of London seeking Toby? How about the time that he steadfastly acted as a British jury in “The Adventure of the Abbey Grange?” The list is virtually endless.

Although many other episodes could be cited as exemplifying the subject of this discourse, I maintain that the best exemplar was the occasion in which Dr. Watson agreed to shares Baker Street quarters with Mr. Sherlock Holmes.

Look at the circumstances that would have mitigated against this decision. Watson was weak and weary from his horrible experiences. His leg and shoulder ached constantly, forcing him towards excessive drink. His constitution had been weakened by a case of enteric fever. He was probably also suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. And, no doubt, his nerves were very highly susceptible to anxiety, admitting later to “keeping a bull pup.” Yet, he agreed to share a suite with a man described as a very sinister companion; a man who greeted him with a mysterious statement concerning the fact that he had been in Afghanistan, a statement which could put most men’s nerve on edge, and then ran around yelling about some test for blood. It is indeed a tribute to Dr. Watson that he must have seen some very positive outcomes associated with a future relationship with the “mad scientist” whom he had just met.

Let us consider the serious consequences had Dr. Watson not decided that it would be in his best interests to share rooms with this eccentric gentleman. Just imagine, we might never have heard of Sherlock Holmes.

His personal reticence would have dimmed whatever other records there were of his accomplishment. Think of it: The world would never have been the same; we would all have been deprived of the main focus of our scholarly pursuits.

Let us all sing the praises of Dr. Watson, and his finest moment – the beginning of an adventurous life for Dr. Watson and all of us who relish Dr. Watson’s accounts.

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From Limerick Corner

I have the author’s permission to publish this limerick, and I felt that there is such a great description here I wanted my fellow members to see and appreciate the quality. Tomorrow I have an article about Dr Watson’s finest moment by this same author that I think you will really
enjoy. My first love in Sherlockian research is limericks so this one is first. I hope you understand and allow me my passion. -Chips

SHERLOCK HOLMES LIMERICK
by Carl & Sandie Heifetz

(Presented at the Pleasant Places of Florida Sherlock Holmes Birthday Bash, January 17, 1998; Cité Grill: Dundin, Florida), Published in The Hounds Collection Vol. 4, p 70, Bill Barnes 1999.

Sherlock Holmes, a detective from London,
Could not tolerate puzzles too humdrum.
He looked at all trifles,
Butts, tracks, and air rifles,
And used Science to solve each conundrum.
He was the best London detective,
Who thought police methods defective,
He placed his reliance,
On methods of Science,
And used logic that was quite objective.
On all of the clues he would meditate,
While smoking his pipe would eliminate,
All items impossible,
But not the improbable,
And then his hypotheses validate.

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Stephen Fry and Sherlock Holmes

If any fictional character can be said to be immortal, it is Sherlock Holmes.


So begins Simon Callow’s review of the new audio version of (most of) the Canon from Audible, read by Stephen Fry, in the New York Times Book Review: The Sound of Sherlock: Stephen Fry Voices the Master Sleuth.

After recounting a few of the many adaptations and pastiches that have appeared over the years – including The Seven-Per-Cent Solution, Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, and House – he returns to the ongoing interest in the Canon since its original publication.

The reasons for Holmes’s enduring fascination are easy to understand. He restores logic to an unruly, disturbingly incomprehensible world. Initial chaos — the crime — appears to be without meaning. The great detective, inhumanly brilliant, makes sense of things again. […] We come to him like frightened children, in search of explanations. He will never fail us. At least in the realm of crime — though not in the territory of the human heart — he sheds light where there has previously only been darkness. He is clever Daddy, who leaves us reassured, able to sleep at night. But he is by no means perfect. Conan Doyle’s coup de maître, as Watson might say, is to make his hero a flawed man, prone to deep melancholia, liable to escape into cocaine- or opium-induced oblivion. He has the soul of an artist, as demonstrated in his violin playing: He is prepared to please Watson by knocking off some Mendelssohn or Wagner, but when left to himself, he “scrapes carelessly” at the fiddle thrown across his knee. Sometimes, Watson tells us, the chords were sonorous and melancholy, sometimes fantastic and cheery: obviously an avant-gardist at work. Holmes’s behavior, tut-tuts Watson, is bohemian: His papers are piled up higgledy-piggledy all over his rooms, he is entirely disorganized domestically, he is given to long bouts of brooding silence. Nothing that is not germane to his work as a consulting detective is allowed to clutter up his mind. He is indifferent to literature, knows little of history, and cosmology has no part in his intellectual framework. This, too, has endeared Holmes to his readers: The genius is vulnerable, his mental prowess bought at a cost.

“12 Scenes from Holmes’s Career” by Sidney Paget

The audio recording also includes some forewords from Fry himself, which Callow says “constitute one of the set’s major pleasures, illuminated by informed enthusiasm and personal revelation: In one he rather touchingly recounts how his first encounter with Holmes, at a very early age, changed his life, leading him on to truancy, expulsion from school and, finally, briefly, prison.” For Fry’s vocal performance, Callow has nothing but praise:

In the Holmes books, he reads just under a thousand pages in his wonderfully even and infallibly intelligent voice, touching the characters in deftly — the books field a very large number of well-educated middle-aged men, and it must have been difficult to differentiate one from another. Otherwise, he finds a variety of accents and tones for the many foreigners Holmes encounters; his American accents are lightly done, without attempting, for example, a Utah accent in “A Study in Scarlet.”

Callow concludes, “There are other complete recorded Holmeses (as it happens, the current collection omits the last book of all, presumably on copyright grounds), but none that sustains the course so buoyantly, and none with the added pleasure of the reader’s pithy commentary on each book.”

There is a “Definitive Edition” available in the UK that includes The Case-Book, but it is not available in the United States. Maybe that edition will be released this side of the pond when those stories (finally) roll into the US public domain.

Have you listened to the Stephen Fry audiobook, or any other audio version of the Canon?

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A Bit on Tid Bits

I always meant the definition of Tid Bits to be as the Oxford English Dictionary defines it: “a small and particularly interesting item of gossip or information”.

So, from time to time I will be adding a small and, to me, particularly interesting item of gossip or information. I hope you find the tid bit interesting too. If not, please let me know. This is my baby, so Selena is not to be blamed, just me in this case for as long as it lasts.

Yours in Sherlockian fun and information, “Chips” aka “Tid Bits”

Tid Bit for Today

Are you looking for a dentist in the Denver metro area? You might give him a try. The tooth with the deerstalker looks a little loopy, maybe from the Novocaine?

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On May 26th…

eter Cushing as Holmes and Nigel Stock as Watson (1964)

“Chips” writes that today marks the birth of his favorite actor to play Sherlock Holmes: he put an emotion into Holmes as one who could be aloof, standoffish because of his knowledge but underneath a warm caring human who loved Watson as a brother and cared for his clients.

Peter Wilton Cushing was born on May 26, 1913, in Kenley, Surrey, England. He played Sherlock Holmes many times, beginning with Hammer Films’ The Hound of the Baskervilles in 1959, which was the first Holmes adaptation filmed in color. He went on to play Holmes in 16 episodes of the BBC’s Sherlock Holmes series, though only six episodes have survived. Twenty years later, he portrayed an older Holmes in the television movie, Sherlock Holmes and the Masks of Death.

Cushing was a Sherlockian, and as such insisted on including lines from the stories into the TV episodes. He also included actions such as writing on his sleeve cuff in Study in Scarlet. Unfortunately, the series was underfunded and given no time to film quality episodes, so Cushing and the BBC parted company.

In Starring Sherlock Holmes: A Century of the Master Detective on Screen, film historian David Stuart Davies notes:

Cushing requested that the costumes for the series replicated those shown in the Paget illustrations. The BBC agreed, and in doing so exploded the myth of Holmes’s Inverness cape…

 

Sources:  A Curious Collection of Dates: Through the Year with Sherlock Holmes by Leah Guinn (JHWS “Amber”) and Jaime N Mahoney (JHWS “Tressa”), IMDB.com, and the Peter Cushing Appreciation Society UK.

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Start the Presses (Again)!

watsonian-cover-squareThe Spring 2017 issue of the Watsonian is currently being printed and will soon be winging its way to mailboxes around the world. Digital subscribers will receive an email including a link to download the new issue.

Our publication schedule is now two issues per year: the Spring issue in May and the Fall issue in November.

This is the last issue in many members’ subscriptions. If your membership expires on June 30th, you will not receive the Fall issue unless you renew. Not sure when you’re due for renewal? Membership dates can be found on the Members Page, and mid-year renewals (through December 2018) are available in the Shop.

If you’ve been meaning to join, it’s not too late! Membership is available for the 2017 calendar year, and you will receive both the Spring and Fall 2017 issues of the Watsonian. Don’t miss out on the art, essays, fiction, and puzzles that make up each issue of our excellent journal!