The Open and Inclusive Worldwide Online Sherlockian Society (Really, We're about Having Fun)
Can you identify where this house that Arthur Conan Doyle occupied is located? The brass plaque commemorates his period in residence.And, if you can identify the location, can you shed any light on when and for what purpose Sir Arthur was in residence in this house?
The International Exhibition of Sherlock Holmes brings this world to life as never before as you step into Conan Doyle’s Victorian London and work side-by-side with his legendary detective. You will become Holmes’ eyes and ears as he tackles a baffling new case in a world steeped in innovation and experimentation. Along the way you’ll see a dazzling array of original manuscripts, publications, period artifacts, film and television props and costumes. You’ll learn to use investigative tools and techniques from Holmes himself, and test yourself with exciting, interactive crime-solving opportunities.
Mr. Turnbloom has been participating in the Non-Member Individual Category of the Treasure Hunt and the Weekly Quiz, and has been doing very well. We are honored by his decision to join the Society and would offer our members that you have a formidable quizzer amongst the membership.
Dean’s biography reads:
Dean Turnbloom lives and writes in southern California after growing up in southern Indiana. His political side can be seen in his former avocation as an editorial cartoonist and in his series of books that display the national prize winning cartoons of your favorite editorial cartoonist, Prizewinning Political Cartoons. This series informs the readers about the national contests for editorial cartoonists as well as displaying the work and bios of the cartoonists themselves.
In fiction, Dean’s tastes run to the macabre. His first short story was published in L&L Dreamspell’s Horror edition. He has a self-published short story available for those who would like to sample his work, The Banshee of the Rannoch Moor. His first novel, published by MX Publishing in the UK and available everywhere in both paperback and digital editions is SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE WHITECHAPEL VAMPIRE (a review is found on the Dr Watson’s Library page).
Please welcome Dean with the Society’s traditional greeting to new members:
“You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive.”
Francine is a member of the Baker Street Irregulars, “Lady Francis Trelawney Hope” and the Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes, as well as numerous other clubs.
Richard is a Baker Street Irregular, “The Battered Tin Dispatch-Box” and is the Co-Founder of the Turf Builders of Baker Street, as well as a number of additional clubs.
Their memberships include:
Francine Kitts:
» The Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes (The Third Pillar from the Left)
» The Mini-Tonga Scion Society
» The Montague Street Lodgers of Brooklyn
» Watson’s Tin Dispatchers
» The Baskerville Bash Committee
» The Baker Street Irregulars (Lady Hilda Trelawney Hope)
» Mrs. Hudson’s Cliffdwellers of New Jersey (A Study in Scarlet)
» The Admirable Beach Society
Richard Kitts:
» The Baker Street Irregulars (The Battered Tin Dispatch-Box)
» The Montague Street Lodgers of Brooklyn
» Watson’s Tin Dispatchers
» The Turf Builders of Baker Street (co-Founder)
» Mrs. Hudson’s Cliffdwellers of New Jersey (Cox and Company)
» The Admirable Beach Society
Francine and Richard live on Staten Island, New York. Please join in a warm welcome to our new members.
“You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive.”
Buttons began reading the Sacred Canon at age 8 and has re-read it completely once every year, either in the winter or the summer, ever since. This year is the 62nd re-reading of the Canon. But, he also re-reads all of the Thomas Hardy novels every fall; all of Dickens every winter; all of Christie’s Poirot every spring; and all of Kenneth Grahame’s novels every summer; plus other things around the edges, such as Solar Pons and Luis Borges in recent years. He has maintained this routine for over 38 years. As such, he seldom ever emerges from the 19th century and almost never is outside British literature, the only exception being his constant reading and re-reading of the ancient Japanese and Chinese poetry he studied at university and the collected poetry of Wallace Stevens each year.
The process of reading, for Buttons anyway, requires a large, comfortable, over-stuffed chair, a footstool, and a proper floor lamp over the left shoulder. A chair-side table is a requisite, in order to manage the coffee, and apple or two, the bowl of nuts, or the odd adult beverage. A black, round #2 pencil and a half-sheet of foolscap is there also in the event a note needs to be made, or a quiz question comes to mind. In fall and winter, a throw is added for the warmth that often precedes the inevitable nap.
Now, what about you? What are your reading interests and habits? Who would care to recommend an author or two who provided you with great pleasure and enjoyment over the years? What is your number one favorite book? Buttons can never read The Hound of the Baskervilles enough, but admits his favorite book remains The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame.
In April 2007, a monument to Sherlock Holmes was unveiled outside the British Embassy in Moscow. It is the only one of its kind in the world, in that it has Holmes and Watson together. It features a pensive Holmes, clad in his signature cloak and deerstalker, standing and looking slightly upwards with one hand behind his back and holding a pipe in the other, as if contemplating a case. Beside Holmes is Dr Watson, seated on a bench and looking up towards Holmes in admiration, as it were. The statues are life-size and consumed 800 kilos of bronze in casting.
The artist, Andrei Orlov, although inspired by Sidney Paget’s sketches, sculpted Holmes in the likeness of the great Russian actor Vasily Livanov, who played the role of the Master to perfection in many Russian Movies. Orlov modelled Dr Watson after Vitaly Solomin who played Watson to Livanov’s Holmes. Vasily Livanov was the only Russian actor to be awarded the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II which was bestowed upon him in recognition of his great portrayal of Sherlock Holmes.
We are thankful to the Sherlock Holmes Society of India who first posted this article by Kumar Bhatia on its Society’s website.
The journal is 152 pages, perfect bound, and it is beautiful! Our Publisher and Editor, Joanne Yates, has gone far beyond the call of duty and, over hundreds of hours, has produced a fine, fine journal. But, you–our members and authors–have exceeded our wildest expectations. Your papers, articles, and miscellanea are both the highest quality and astonishingly high in quantity. We had to reserve at least four excellent papers for the next issue.
So, the Society is most happy to report a success in the making . . . the first issue of The Watsonian . . . and let’s all hope for many more to follow for a very long time! So, please start your papers and articles and fictional pieces for the April 2014 issue.
THE GHOST OF SHERLOCK HOLMES
Don’t start and pray, don’t leave your seats, There’s no cause for alarm :
Though I’ve arrived from warmer spheres, I mean you all no harm.
I am a ghost, a real ghost too, that nightly, earth-wards roams;
In fact I am the sceptre of Detective Sherlock Holmes.
Chorus: Sherlock Holmes – Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock, Sherlock you can hear the people cry,
That’s the ghost of Sherlock Holmes as I go creeping by .
Sinners shake and tremble, wherever this bogie roams,
And people shout ‘He’s found us out ‘ It’s the ghost of Sherlock Holmes .
Chorus: Sherlock Holmes – Sherlock Holmes
The man who plots a murder, when he sees me lift my head,
Forgets to murder anyone and ‘suicides’ instead.
An anarchist with lighted bomb, to cause explosive scenes,
Sees me and drops his bomb and blows himself to smithereens .
Chorus: Sherlock Holmes – Sherlock Holmes
The burglar who’s a-burgling, when he finds I am at large,
Get scared and says ‘Policeman, will you please take me in charge?’
The Lady who’s shop-lifting tries to put her theivings back
And says, ‘Mr Sherlock Holmes, I’m a kleptomaniac.’
Chorus: Sherlock Holmes – Sherlock Holmes
My life was more than misery, compelled to strut the earth,
And be a spy at beck and call of those who gave me birth.
But now that I’m a specter, all their misdeeds shall recoil,
I’m going to haunt ‘ Strand Magazine’ , ‘Tit-Bits’ and Conan Doyle .
Chorus: Sherlock Holmes – Sherlock Holmes
The song was written by one Richard Morton. (I am unable to ascertain the date). The music was composed, and the song sung by H.C. Barry.
The copyright as per the “Cover-Sheet ” is (or was) held by Francis Day and Hunter of Oxford Street, London, and The US copyright, by T.B.Harms and Co. of New York.
We regret that we are unable to upload the front cover photo of the sheet music that Kumar sent.
“The Song of Doctor Watson”
Words and music by Harvey Officer
Doctor John H. Watson was I,
Known as a straight and honest guy.
Was to be a Surgeon for years,
In the Northumberland Fusiliers
But wounded was I in the thigh
Or was it the Subclavian Artery?
‘Twas by a vile bullet Jezail,
Shot by the Ghazis murderous hail.
Needless that I should repeat,
How I arrived in Baker Street.
Of all the tales I have versed
A Study in Scarlet was the first.
Holmes, ‘tis true, made me the goat,
Criticized every word I wrote,
But he tried, after a while,
Even to imitate my style.
However, I did marry again,
Who was the dame I married then?
The name must be mysterious still,
Roberts declared ‘twas De Merville.
Morley, he did not agree,
Said it was Sherlock’s landlady.
But any proof I do not see,
So, it must remain a mystery.
Rightly, then, praise you my pen,
All you men and women.
Was I not willing to be?
Called by him “Elementary?”
For you see, I had to be,
Boswell to his curious vanity,
After all, but for my tomes,
What could you know of Sherlock Holmes?
Mr Brosnan lives in Oceanside, California. He was invested by the Baker Street Irregulars in 2011 with the unique investiture of “That Gap on That Second Shelf” a bookman’s comment to Watson (Holmes in disguise) upon his return to the living.
Please welcome Vincent Brosnan to the Society with our greeting to members:
“You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive.”
Howard Brody, M.D., has been the director of the Institute for the Medical Humanities at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston since 2006. Prior to this position, he served as the director of the Center for Ethics and Humanities at Michigan State University. Brody says that he chose family medicine to focus his academic career on medical ethics. By being a family doctor, Brody says he believed it would enhance his knowledge of medical ethical issues by giving him broad exposure to the problems patients and their families face between birth and death. While on the faculty at Michigan State, Brody wrote a weekly health column in the local paper to reach out to people about primary care issues that recurred with his patients. In Galveston, he wrote a weekly medical ethics column in The Galveston County Daily News until 2008 and he still contributes columns for the paper periodically. In total, Brody has written over 100 articles on medical ethics and is the author of six books on the topic, the most recent being “The Future of Bioethics.” Brody earned his medical degree in 1976 from the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine and his doctorate in philosophy in 1977, also from Michigan State. He and his wife. Daralyn, have two children, Sheila and Mark. For many years, he was an active member of the Greek Interpreters of East Lansing. Dr. Brody, invested as “Anstruther” by the Baker Street Irregulars in 1981, enjoys reading the Sherlock Holmes saga and contributing articles to the Baker Street Journal.
Please welcome Dr Brody warmly with the Society’s greeting:
“You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive.”
An addendum from commenter Marci in April 2015: Helene Yuhasova is the pen name of my Auntie Helene, who is the author, not Vincent Starrett.
The Sonnet reads: Sherlock Holmes to John H. Watson
You said of me what Plato said of him:
Who took the hemlock at his soul’s behest
That I was paragon and paradigm–
Of all you’ve known, the wisest and the best.
Discernment such as that shows goodness, too,
And certifies a wisdom long concealed–
My wisdom lay, perhaps in choosing you
To stand beside me as my foil and shield.
For you are Britain’s apotheosis;
The summum bonum of the bulldog’s breed;
A benison epitomized in this:
That strength and valour flourish in your deed . . .
Come, Watson, come! The game’s afoot and free:
The world has need of men like you–and me.
We look forward to Jackie’s participation in the Society and, perhaps, her submissions to the journal.
Please join in a warm welcome to Jackie as we extend our Society’s greeting:
“You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive.”
— William S Dorn BSI, DWNP.
from his book and card set The Limericks of Sherlock Holmes; Pencil Productions Limited, 2005.
Thank you, “Chips!”
The Society is delighted to welcome a new Charter Member: Bobbie MacBird, JHWS “Lady” from Los Angeles, California.
Bonnie writes:
Bonnie MacBird fell in love with Sherlock Holmes at age ten and consumed the entire Canon in fourth grade, where she was sent to the principal’s office for using the word “ejaculated” in a writing assignment. A writer by profession, (TRON, many produced plays, former Universal story editor, and three time Emmy winning producer) she recently completed a Sherlock Holmes full length novel pastiche ART IN THE BLOOD, A Sherlock Holmes Adventure, for which she’s now preparing Paget style illustrations. A member of the Sherlock Holmes Society of London, the Cercle Holmesien de Paris, The Curious Collectors of Baker Street, and the originator in Los Angeles of the Sherlock Breakfast Club and also the Sherlock Holmes in Brentwood play reading series, she also can boast having seen Jeremy Brett play Watson in the 1980 production of Crucifer of Blood on Los Angeles. She has participated in the last two Great Sherlock Holmes debates in London, the first “defending” The Second Stain, and the second presenting the wonders of the writing techniques in BBC Sherlock. A frequent visitor to London, which she considers a spiritual home, she’s a huge fan of Jeremy Brett, Benedict Cumberbatch — and thinks Martin Freeman a superlative Watson. She was lucky enough to actually see them filming BBC ‘Sherlock on Gower Street early this year. And she eats at Speedy’s a lot. She occasionally engages in non Sherlockian activities such as teaching screenwriting at UCLA Extension and is married to computer scientist Alan Kay. She has a dog named Watson.”
As we can all see, Bonnie has all the prerequisites for a life steeped in Sherlockian and Watsonian devotion . . . especially with the dog. Please join in a warm welcome to Bonnie MacBird, JHWS “Lady.”
“You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive.”
Elinor writes:
“My Sherlockian history is wandering; it started in the 1990’s when I was a wee child, and I read parts of the Canon but failed to absorb them. It was reinforced in
the 2000’s when Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century was airing on TV, and that certainly caught my attention. But, it was not until the Warner Brothers movie of 2009 and the subsequent surge in Holmesian goodness that I was properly hooked. I quickly became involved in internet fandom, and am an enthusiastic writer of suggestive Holmes/Watson fiction (which can be found, for those inclined, under the pseudonym Mistyzeo at Archive of our Own). My short story/pastiche “The Adventure of the Green Zeppelin” is included in the anthology Elementary Erotica from Circlet Press in 2011.”
We look forward to having your participation and the pleasure of your company. Please join in a warm welcome to Elinor with our new member greeting:
“You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive.”
Judith: This case opens with Watson saying: “The whole question of the Netherland-Sumatra Company and of the colossal schemes of Baron Maupertuis are too recent in the minds of the public, and too intimately concerned with politics and finance, to be fitting subjects for this series of sketches.”
Questions and Ron Lies’s responses:
A. Why would being too recent in the minds of the public make these cases not fitting subjects for this series of sketches? This implies that they would be fitting later. Either a subject is fitting or not, right?
RL: No, a subject could be too painful and fresh in peoples’ minds, whereas the
passage of time might mitigate the pain.
B. Wouldn’t the fact that these cases are still fresh in the minds of the public make them more marketable? Why not strike while the iron is hot?
RL: No, I think that the Doctor Watson was trying to not to bring up again the pain and the destruction of the financial dreams of the lives of the people who were swindled by Baron Maupertuis. Watson was trying in his own way to soften the pain and the destruction to the vast numbers of people ruined by The Baron’s swindles.
C. Is it possible that Watson is just toying with his readers and making mountains out of mole hills?
RL: Doctor Watson would not toy with his readers or make mountains out of mole hills. His code of conduct would not allow him to do so. Doctor Watson was crediting the readers with reasonable intelligence. He felt some readers would wonder why the question of the Netherland-Sumatra Company and of the colossal schemes of Baron Maupertins” were not being addressed by Sherlock Holmes
and himself.
Yours in Sherlock and Watson,
“The Game is Afoot” aka Ron in Denver, JHWS “Chips”
What do you think? What other explanations may be reasonable for Holmes and Watson not acting in response to the Baron Maupertuis schemes? Please feel free to make comments. We thank “Chips” for his sending these insights on this shadowy corner of the Canon.