I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere

Happy 172nd Birthday, Sherlock Holmes!

<h4 style="text-align: center;">“your celebrated friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes” [NAVA]</h4><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhFtfqUzWlwLhOSC_DIBd0RQyxz1RkrUHOGhdKOmhawkUuuabWOXBEImHvh-09t_u_Ke_DmAAOd2khRe9BPeKenb2deEWwKsWzihAFggyRNwPdQXDESj7HltHkeak0dxKeDa1STczm_2tURdMv3rXM3BVuJgnaDuKsmHdbx-kaAxTfYJG5wWzNTRmIcNwNx" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhFtfqUzWlwLhOSC_DIBd0RQyxz1RkrUHOGhdKOmhawkUuuabWOXBEImHvh-09t_u_Ke_DmAAOd2khRe9BPeKenb2deEWwKsWzihAFggyRNwPdQXDESj7HltHkeak0dxKeDa1STczm_2tURdMv3rXM3BVuJgnaDuKsmHdbx-kaAxTfYJG5wWzNTRmIcNwNx=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Today is January 6th — and that marks the date on which we traditionally celebrate Sherlock Holmes's birthday.<br /><br />We say "traditionally," because there is no definitive statement of his actual date of birth in the Canon, but beginning with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Morley">Christopher Morley</a>, the date of January 6th has become the de facto accepted date for Holmes' birthday. Why? Well, there are a couple of reasons.<br /><br />Of all of the quotes in the Canon, William Shakespeare was the most oft-quoted author. There is but one Shakespearean play that Holmes quotes twice: <i><a href="https://amzn.to/37GCVtA">Twelfth Night</a></i>. In <i>The Sign of the Four</i>, Holmes concludes, "All is well that ends well." This is from from Act IV, Scene 4. And in "The Empty House," Holmes states "'Journeys end in lovers meetings,' as the old play says," from Act II, Scene 3.<br /><br />The reason the date was chosen is that in Christianity, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_6">January 6th</a> is the Feast of the Epiphany, or officially the twelfth day of Christmas. I suppose if we were being truly technical about it, the twelfth night of Christmas would fall on <b>January 5th</b>...<div><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: center;">[<i>Erik Deckers <b>was</b> technical about it, and <a href="https://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2025/01/sherlock-holmess-birthday-is-not.html" target="_blank">wrote a good case for the 5th</a></i>]</div><br />In addition, William S. Baring-Gould in his <a href="https://amzn.to/2QrZ4G3"><i>The Annotated Sherlock Holmes</i></a>, posited that because Holmes was a little cranky on the morning of January 7th — the date on which <i>The Valley of Fear</i> began — he had a hangover, induced by birthday celebrations the evening prior.<br /><div><br /></div><div>And why 171? Scholars have fixed the year of Sherlock Holmes's birth to 1854 by virtue of a line in "His Last Bow" when he was described as "a tall gaunt man of sixty."<span style="background-color: white; color: #0e0e0e; font-family: "merriweather"; font-size: 21px;"><br /></span><br /><h3><span style="background-color: white; color: #0e0e0e; font-family: "merriweather"; font-size: 21px;">Additional Thoughts</span></h3>In an episode of <a href="https://www.sherlockholmespodcast.com" target="_blank">Trifles</a>, our weekly show where we discuss some of the minutiae in the Sherlock Holmes stories, we cover this in greater detail, and with some additional research material. Do check it out on the podcast streaming service of your choice, the embedded file below, or at <a href="https://ihose.co/trifles210">ihose.co/trifles210</a>.</div><div> <br /><iframe allow="autoplay" frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/960247957&color=%23947454&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true" width="100%"></iframe><div style="color: #cccccc; font-family: Interstate, "Lucida Grande", "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Lucida Sans", Garuda, Verdana, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; line-break: anywhere; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; text-wrap: nowrap; word-break: normal;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/sherlockholmes-trifles" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank" title="Sherlock Holmes: Trifles">Sherlock Holmes: Trifles</a> · <a href="https://soundcloud.com/sherlockholmes-trifles/sherlock-holmess-birthday" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank" title="Sherlock Holmes's Birthday">Sherlock Holmes's Birthday</a></div><br /><br />And by all means, share the news that today is Sherlock Holmes's birthday. But whatever you do, don't try to throw him a surprise party. It's an exercise in futility.</div><div><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/199257178?h=1cc30eee6e" title="vimeo-player" width="640"></iframe><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div></div><br />We hope you'll take a moment and wish Sherlock Holmes a happy birthday in your own way. If you'd like to join in here, please feel free to leave a birthday comment below.<br /><br /></div><div><br /></div></div>

Happy 172nd Birthday, Sherlock Holmes!

“your celebrated friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes” [NAVA] Today is January 6th — and that marks the date on which we traditionally celebrate Sher...

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by Scott Monty

Baker Street Elementary – Resolved

<h4 style="text-align: center;">“full of energy and resolution” [GLOR]<span>  </span></h4><h4 style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvkzv-i32cNOVQwaGX0IR-TYCEoiZ52KnuVXeYVuynKPcjOg2idZ9nkm-mdms6W7Ua4OtuGgAuc8CztAscYy5uVTkRYU6hPZLAMu9wGd-2nd_ysyM4-Aov6ztKTMx90d1NZVmTfsSbd8qMsTybGwNWR1PJ690A2D5djAcQUnZDVkpSbZgbyrzTCkPTY8o/s1365/Baker%20Street%20Elementary%20218.1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1365" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvkzv-i32cNOVQwaGX0IR-TYCEoiZ52KnuVXeYVuynKPcjOg2idZ9nkm-mdms6W7Ua4OtuGgAuc8CztAscYy5uVTkRYU6hPZLAMu9wGd-2nd_ysyM4-Aov6ztKTMx90d1NZVmTfsSbd8qMsTybGwNWR1PJ690A2D5djAcQUnZDVkpSbZgbyrzTCkPTY8o/w640-h360/Baker%20Street%20Elementary%20218.1.JPG" width="640" /></a></h4><div>January 1st always begins with hope for the New Year: a clean slate is offered up, and it is ours on which to write our intentions for the year. These often take the form of resolutions.</div><div><br /></div><div>It has been long posited that Sherlock Holmes and John H. Watson met on New Year's Day, 1881, as told in <i>A Study in Scarlet</i>. While there are no dates mentioned in the text, there are clues that lead us to believe this may be the case:</div><div><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Watson runs into an old friend Stamford at the Criterion Bar; that he was at or outside such an establishment indicates he may have been trying to drown his sorrows (we later learn his brother was an alcoholic, so it's not out of the question that Watson might share some of those habits).</li><li>When they find Sherlock Holmes, he is alone in the laboratory. It could indicate that it was a holiday, since he was the only one there.</li><li>The entire purpose of Watson looking for a roommate is because he was taking stock of his finances and knew he needed "some less pretentious and less expensive domicile" than his hotel. He tells us: "On the very day that I had come to this conclusion..." </li><li>This is anecdotal, but of the 13 appearances of the word "resolute" in the Canon, five of them appear in <i>A Study in Scarlet</i>. Such language must have a deeper meaning, particularly of Watson's and Hope's commitments to making things happen.</li></ol><div>Given all of those facts, it is not unlikely that Watson was making a resolution on New Year's Day to change his habits and his lifestyle.</div></div><div><br /></div><div>We should be grateful for his commitment to improving himself. That fateful decision has improved the world (or at least the world of Sherlockians).</div><div><div><br /></div><div>Let's see who's committed to improving the experience at Baker Street Elementary...</div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOr9WueC6XuHEKgwznalUh3uMptKyk9Lf3EM3mM596FFqflly9ydkD0KL7WjyM9RZ9NQmXu3bfz3LwTecuoWSgxAdF5Tox7JMll7gDbdZqQ_K70qbm9ewxCVnk7CUK3_YV29jWv67i-FF_hX5CKiSg47jGFb3a7n8HfMgUMsr1Mx2CQPWrHmjxqX21PUY/s1365/Baker%20Street%20Elementary%20218.2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1365" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOr9WueC6XuHEKgwznalUh3uMptKyk9Lf3EM3mM596FFqflly9ydkD0KL7WjyM9RZ9NQmXu3bfz3LwTecuoWSgxAdF5Tox7JMll7gDbdZqQ_K70qbm9ewxCVnk7CUK3_YV29jWv67i-FF_hX5CKiSg47jGFb3a7n8HfMgUMsr1Mx2CQPWrHmjxqX21PUY/w640-h360/Baker%20Street%20Elementary%20218.2.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3Wx2b8GLMUtfKUrhPA_9VfZFUHAELusHOrLknj2l6nujsunR-09rc6sW5vgWdkGPR0_52SmmYSO5LfsARrO0Z6ikgvWIn_vuIhQRCa8DVB-schb9DblF3m7qU8Eds-08QUsJUpGV63YmSI7Nx5DAfCKWpQ4xH8OSRn-5bq1-bNM9SVE4tExqQa2dfqhI/s1365/Baker%20Street%20Elementary%20218.3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1365" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3Wx2b8GLMUtfKUrhPA_9VfZFUHAELusHOrLknj2l6nujsunR-09rc6sW5vgWdkGPR0_52SmmYSO5LfsARrO0Z6ikgvWIn_vuIhQRCa8DVB-schb9DblF3m7qU8Eds-08QUsJUpGV63YmSI7Nx5DAfCKWpQ4xH8OSRn-5bq1-bNM9SVE4tExqQa2dfqhI/w640-h360/Baker%20Street%20Elementary%20218.3.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7TYLZuNa6pUuvdynqrInulu_fN2N5EsulqNWB7PQhKZpbmjkLYrzwduh5TCUWT2PhID6fVyULRmx23yrYmFOxnInRQvExHoxQP-4KKaoiUK4cR6FUU1I0xbfNB3cMAJUPgblSo_hZktRKtD5z4SCJJ_sHYvQoObzeAqPMTnaWd_6WZTzn16iH4foGBXo/s1365/Baker%20Street%20Elementary%20218.4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; 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font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><i>Baker Street Elementary</i></b><span face="" style="background-color: white; color: #0e0e0e; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"> follows the original adventures of Sherlock Holmes and <a class="b-tooltip-container" data-preview="" href="https://www.google.com/search?ved=1t:260882&q=John+Watson+Sherlock+Holmes&bbid=6321981775136876837&bpid=3408911776569555507" target="_blank"><span class="b-tooltip" style="display: none;"><iframe src="/share-widget?w=poi&o=t&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Fsearch%3Fved%3D1t%3A260882%26q%3DJohn%2BWatson%2BSherlock%2BHolmes%26bbid%3D6321981775136876837%26bpid%3D3408911776569555507"></iframe></span>John Watson</a>, as they and their friends work through the issues of elementary school in <a class="b-tooltip-container" data-preview="" href="https://www.google.com/search?ved=1t:260882&q=Victorian+London&bbid=6321981775136876837&bpid=3408911776569555507" target="_blank"><span class="b-tooltip" style="display: none;"><iframe src="/share-widget?w=poi&o=t&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Fsearch%3Fved%3D1t%3A260882%26q%3DVictorian%2BLondon%26bbid%3D6321981775136876837%26bpid%3D3408911776569555507"></iframe></span>Victorian London</a>. An archive of all previous episodes can be viewed at the <a href="https://www.dfw-sherlock.org/baker-street-elementary.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Baker Street Elementary website</a></span><span face="" style="background-color: white; color: #0e0e0e; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">.</span></div><div><div><br /></div><div><span face="" style="background-color: white; color: #0e0e0e; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span><span face="" style="background-color: white; color: #0e0e0e; font-size: 14px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGyHxoov2AdCNzI-sA382WHyzmCYKmU5vuVxxUUbwgmzd_zESpxNTWBoDo-0BOUVmZPf0EpIOXFT9y59il288HBvx1-_JJJXxHhZAn2orzWJPWbYZasKlLBplbQMHDaY9thgs_w1diI7ch/s1600/Baker+Street+Elementary.jpg" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: medium; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGyHxoov2AdCNzI-sA382WHyzmCYKmU5vuVxxUUbwgmzd_zESpxNTWBoDo-0BOUVmZPf0EpIOXFT9y59il288HBvx1-_JJJXxHhZAn2orzWJPWbYZasKlLBplbQMHDaY9thgs_w1diI7ch/s640/Baker+Street+Elementary.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><br /><br />