The Open and Inclusive Worldwide Online Sherlockian Society (Really, We're about Having Fun)
Please join in welcoming Walter with the Society’s welcome: “You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive.”
Michele writes:
“I am the current president of Uno Studio in Holmes (Italy), Scion Society to the BSI, and also a member of the SHSL. Our society has always devoted great attention to Dr. Watson; actually, our logo depicts both Holmes and Watson, as equally important for every serious devotee of the Canon. So I heartily approve of the idea of a John H. Watson Society.”
We look forward to Michele’s participation and his contributions to the Society and hope additional friends of Dr Watson will be attracted from Italy. After all, it is the home of the good Doctor’s and Mr Holmes’s favourite cuisine.
Please extend a warm welcome to Michele with the Society’s welcome to new members: “You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive.”
“I started reading Holmes while working as a canoe guide in Maine. We had no electrical power, so entertainment was in the form of reading (by firelight and gas lamp I might add). I read Holmes to celebrate my English heritage and got hooked. 1977. Of course I know of Rathbone’s Holmes, but it took the book to really get me going.
I became a charter member of the St Charles Mo based Harpooners of the Sea Unicorn in 1989. Then in, conjunction, started Scrimshanders of the Sea Unicorn to fill even more of my Sherlockian need. Scrimshanders were first started as a way to discuss Holmes outside of what the Harpooners were doing and as a way for the officer to plan Harpooner meetings and events.. It is now a stand alone group starting this month. My Sherlockian blog is Sherlock Holmes Society of St Charles , again to fill a need the Harpooners no longer provide and to have fun with the world created by Doyle.
I edited the Harpooner newsletter, The Whaling News, as well as acting as president (Blue Whale) on and off over the years. and organized most special events for the Harpooners. Created and organized the first two Sherlockian conventions to happen in the St Louis area, The Games Afloat. Both held on an old river boat.
I have done about 33 papers for presentations at the Harpooners meetings and have worked with our local PBS station to host Jeremy Brett in the early 90’s when he was on tour to St Louis. (What a pleasure that was to meet him). Starting spring of 2014, I will be teaching a course on ‘Playing the Game; a Study of Sherlock Holmes’ at our local community college.”
Please welcome “Barney” to membership: “You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive.”
The Society welcomes Carol Cavaluzzi “Brooke” to Charter Membership. Carol lives in Jamestown, New York. We have not received her biography and more information will be posted upon receipt.
Please welcome Carol to the Society with our member greeting:
“You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive.”
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.”
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.”
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.”
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.”
The Society welcomes two distinguished Sherlockians of France to Membership:
Thierry Saint-Joanis, JHWS “Tristan”
The Society extends a warm welcome to M. Saint-Joanis, who is the president of La Société Sherlock Holmes de France. He is a member of the French Society team that won the Open International Competition of the First Annual John H. Watson Canonical Treasure Hunt.
M. Saint-Joanis’s biography:
SSHF co-founder and president since 1993. Manager of the Mycroft’s Brother editions company. Born 1960 in Thiers (near Clermont-Ferrand), France. Has been Sherlock Holmes addict since his university days studying History.
Journalist for several French newspapers and teacher at the French School of Journalism in Paris (Specialist of Investigation).
In 1988, he met Jean-Pierre Cagnat who opened to him the gates of the Holmesian World. In 1992, Thierry and Jean-Pierre Cagnat met Alexis Barquin and Yves-Charles Fercoq and decided to create a new Holmesian society which will keep green the memory of the great detective. In 1993, The Société Sherlock Holmes de France (SSHF) was born.
In February 1997, with Alexis Barquin and Pierre Bannier, author of Sherlock Holmes, a Practical Guide of the Holmesian World (in French).
In September 1997, founder of the Sherlock Holmes Worldwide Congress of the Holmesian societies In January 1998, invested irregular at the Baker Street Irregulars of New York as “Monsieur Bertillon.”
In January 2001, as editor, published It Is Always A Joy… by Jean-Pierre Cagnat.
Personal website: http://www.mycrofts.net
Member of the following societies:
» La Société Sherlock Holmes de France (Mycroft Holmes)
» The Sherlock Holmes Society of London
» Uno Studio in Holmes
» The Jeremy Brett Society of France
» The Amateur Mendicant Society (Huret)
» The Baker Street Irregulars (M. Bertillon)
» Société d’études holmésiennes de la Suisse romande
» Deutsche Sherlock Holmes Gesellschaft
» H.O.L.M.E.S.
» The Elusive Bicyclists (L. Armstrong)
» Le Club des Hydropathes holmésiens (Founder)
» The Beacon Society
» La Lega dei Presidenti (France)
» SSHF For Holmes (Admin)
» The Master’s Masons
» The Sign of Fort d’Agra (Deerstalker 1)
» La seconde tache
» Les Amis du Musée SSHF
» Le peloton des cyclistes solitaires
» The Pissing Three Quarter
Thierry also has an astounding, full scale reproduction of the sitting rooms at 221B Baker Street created within his home. The website displaying photos of the rooms is: http://www.sherlock-holmes.fr/murder-party/2-a-visit.htm. A visit to this website is a must!
Please join in a warm welcome to Thierry Saint-Joanis and extend our Society’s traditional greeting: “You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive.”
Alexis Barquin, JHWS “Olivier”
The Society welcomes warmly M. Alexis Barquin, the co-member in the Treasure Hunt for Team France of La Société Sherlock Holmes de France. M. Barquin is also co-founder and Secretary of La Société Sherlock Holmes de France and is instrumental in the management of the priceless Sherlockian resource, Sherlockian Who’s Who.
Alexis Barquin’s biography is:
SSHF co-founder and secretary since 1993. SSHF Webmaster since 1996.
Born 1968 in Paris, France. Has been holmesian since his university days studying chemistry.
He joined the Société des Amis d’Henri Fournaye in 1991, and was an active member of La Lettre de Baker Street managed by Jean-Marc Faure. In 1992, La Société des Amis d’Henri Fournaye closed. One year later, La Lettre de Baker Street was closed too.
Alexis met Thierry Saint-Joanis and decided to create a new Holmesian society which will keep green the memory of the great detective. In 1993, La Société Sherlock Holmes de France (SSHF) was born.
Since, Alexis Barquin has created the SSHF website which is the best Holmesian ressource in french on the web; and http://www.sh-whoswho.com.
Personal website: http://www.sshf.com
Member of the following societies
» La Société Sherlock Holmes de France (John M. Watson)
» The Hounds of the Internet
» The Beacon Society
» H.O.L.M.E.S.
» SSHF For Holmes (Admin)
» La seconde tache
» Sherlock Holmes Club of Latin America
» Le peloton des cyclistes solitaires
» The Pissing Three Quarter
Please welcome M. Alexis Barquin and extend the warm greeting of the Society:
“You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive.”
Jean Upton and Roger Johnson of the Sherlock Holmes Society of London pose on the set of BBC television’s “Sherlock” during the filming of “The Reichenbach Fall” in 2011. At the recent Sherlock Holmes Through Time and Place conference in Minneapolis, they reported on their experiences as a guest of the show’s producers, showed video, and made it clear that anything they may have seen that hints at an explanation of “The Empty Hearse” is not for the world to know. “Sherlock” co-creator Mark Gatiss took the photo. With thanks to www.sherlockiannet.com and Mr Chris Redmond for the photo and caption appearing on his wonderful Sherlockian.Net
The Society is honoured to extend Charter Membership to Roger Johnson, JHWS “Count” and Jean Upton, JHWS “Countess” both distinguished Sherlockians, scholars and authors.
Mr Johnson writes:
“It’s good to know that appreciation of Dr Watson is growing. I’m a long-time member of the Friends of Dr Watson here in England, though I’m rarely able to attend meetings, and I’m in frequent contact with the Watsonians.”
Roger Johnson, BSI (“The Pall Mall Gazette”), ASH (“Shinwell Johnson”), PSI (“Geoffrey Thompson”) is a retired librarian. His introduction to the world of Sherlock Holmes was through an American, the late Luther L Norris. Like Holmes himself, he maintains that it is always a joy to meet an American. He joined the Sherlock Holmes Society of London in 1968. For thirteen years he presented the Society’s annual film evening, and since 1982 he has written and distributed its
newsletter, The District Messenger. In 2007 he succeeded Nicholas Utechin
as joint-editor of The Sherlock Holmes Journal.
Jean Upton, ASH (“Mrs Farintosh”), BSI (“Elsie Cubitt”) attended her first meeting of the Sherlock Holmes Society of London in 1987 – at Granada Studios, where Jeremy Brett and Edward Hardwicke were filming Wisteria Lodge. Jean has contributed essays, reviews and illustrations to books and periodicals on both sides of the Atlantic, and her portrait of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle hangs in the restaurant of the Sherlock Holmes pub in London. Jean Upton and Roger Johnson met through the Society, and were married in 1992. Since 1993 they have acted as curators/housekeepers of the 221B study at the Sherlock Holmes pub. Their book The Sherlock Holmes Miscellany was published in 2012. Reviews of their book are universally favourable, as here:
THE SHERLOCK HOLMES MISCELLANY by Roger Johnson & Jean Upton
“This is the best introduction to Sherlock Holmes that I know and it also serves as a valuable work of reference. Written by two experts, presented with wit and published as an attractive hardback at a very modest price – there’s no better bargain for the beginner or the regular reader.” -Amazon reader review.
Please join in extending a warm welcome to both Roger Johnson and Jean Upton as they now begin what we hope will be a long and valuable membership in The John H Watson Society.
“You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive.”
“You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive.”
Kenneth Siarkiewicz, JHWS “Cooper”
Mr Siarkiewicz joins us from Tucson, Arizona. He has been a Sherlockian since the early 1900’s and reads deeply in the Canon and the Baker Street Journal. We look forward to his participation and contribution to the Society.
Eric Swope, JHWS “Punch”
Mr Swope joins us from Mishawaka, Indiana. He is a member of the following:
» The Society of the Solitary Cyclists
» The Illustrious Clients of Indianapolis
» The Sherlock Holmes Society of London
» The Norwegian Explorers of Minnesota
» The Red Circle of Washington, D.C.
» The Bootmakers of Toronto
» The Mycroft Holmes Society of Syracuse
» The Younger Stamfords
» The Nashville Scholars of the Three Pipe Problem
» The John H Watson Society
He writes:
“I am a third generation Californian with a life long affection for both John H. Watson and the Great Detective himself. I specialize in rare Sherlockiana and enjoy my involvement with numerous societies. I am the secretary for the Society of the Solitary Cyclists and just recently attended my first Sherlockian conference in Minneapolis. I enjoy reaching out to the younger generation about Sherlockian
interests.”
We welcome “Punch” and look forward to his participation in “things Watsonian.”
Margaret Nelson, JHWS “Annie”
Mrs Nelson lives in Seattle and is a member of The Sound of the Baskervilles (SOB’s). Margaret was a member of the Open Team Competition that won First Place in the First Annual John H Watson Canonical Treasure Hunt with a perfect score of 100 points. She enjoys growing old garden roses. Recently she wrote a mini-monograph, Moss Roses in Two Classic Victorian Mysteries. Of course it includes the rose in The Naval Treaty.
Allen Nelson, JHWS “Trix”
Mr Nelson resides in Seattle with his bride Margaret and was also a member of the winning Open Team Competition in the JHWS Treasure Hunt.
He is also a member of the Sherlock Holmes Society of London and the Sound of the Baskervilles. In 2009 he went to a meeting of the Sherlock Holmes Society of London to hear a lecture on the battle of Maiwand. The next year, we both traveled to Salisbury where he again met the lecturer, Colonel (Retired) M.J. Cornwell, who is the Curator of the Rifles, Berkshire (Watson’s regiment) and Wiltshire Museum.They have a large copper beech tree on the grounds. They also had displays about the first battle of Maiwand and the modern war in Afghanistan. Ironically, the Nelson’s new son-in-law is in the infantry and has been to Afghanistan twice. He was several times asked “I perceive you have been in Afghanistan…” when he came to a SOB meeting.
“At about the age of 11 I discovered a volume of collected Holmes stories on one of the large bookshelves in my Grandmother’s living room in Westfield, New Jersey. I devoured the volume during my short visit at her house over my Thanksgiving vacation from school. I have since read the canon many times over and have encouraged many of my literarily-minded friends to do so as well. I later discovered pastiche collections and Sherlockian scholarly writings and have enjoyed them very much.
During my graduate studies, the focus of which was Victorian literature, I was
pleased to be able to study the Canon and the life of Arthur Conan Doyle with
new understanding and purpose, to present several papers on the subject (which I
may begin to revise for possible future submissions), and to continue to get other people hooked. My thesis did not end up being specifically focused on Holmes, but on Poe and Hawthorne, and some of the similarities between some of their characters and Holmes’ reasoning and deductive abilities. More recently I’ve been teaching writing at the local university and a community college, and have been
incorporating Holmes stories in a variety of classroom exercises. I began receiving the Baker Street Journal in 2007, and I am extremely excited to be regularly receiving another periodical devoted to the study the Canon.
Thank you for inviting me to become a charter member. I am pleased and honored.
Please welcome “Monty” to membership with our greeting: “You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive.”
We are delighted to welcome as a Charter Member Ann Margaret Lewis of Indianapolis as a Charter Member. Ann writes:
“Ann Margaret Lewis, ASH (“Vatican Cameo”) is the author of the Murder in the Vatican: The Church Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes and The Watson
Chronicles: A Sherlock Holmes Novel in Stories (to be released January 2014 from Wessex Press). She is a member of the Illustrious Clients of Indianapolis and the Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes.”
We look forward to having another published author among our ranks and to Ann’s contributions to the journal. Please welcome “Cameo” to our Society and extend to her our greeting:
“You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive.”