What May 4 Means for Sherlock Holmes Fans

<h4 style="text-align: center;"> <strong style="text-align: center;">“It is with a heavy heart that I take up my pen” [FINA]</strong></h4><h4 style="text-align: center;"><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fK_C!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F21126d7d-1ecc-42be-bd3c-88e217c74c42_500x327.jpeg" style="text-align: left;" target="_blank"><div class="image2-inset" style="display: inline !important;"><picture><img alt="May the 4th be with you (Victorian style)" class="sizing-normal" data-attrs="{"src":"https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/21126d7d-1ecc-42be-bd3c-88e217c74c42_500x327.jpeg","srcNoWatermark":null,"fullscreen":null,"imageSize":null,"height":327,"width":500,"resizeWidth":null,"bytes":null,"alt":"May the 4th be with you (Victorian style)","title":"May 4, 1891","type":null,"href":null,"belowTheFold":false,"topImage":false,"internalRedirect":null,"isProcessing":false,"align":null,"offset":false}" height="327" sizes="100vw" src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fK_C!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F21126d7d-1ecc-42be-bd3c-88e217c74c42_500x327.jpeg" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fK_C!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F21126d7d-1ecc-42be-bd3c-88e217c74c42_500x327.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fK_C!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F21126d7d-1ecc-42be-bd3c-88e217c74c42_500x327.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fK_C!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F21126d7d-1ecc-42be-bd3c-88e217c74c42_500x327.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fK_C!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F21126d7d-1ecc-42be-bd3c-88e217c74c42_500x327.jpeg 1456w" title="May 4, 1891" width="500" /></picture></div></a></h4><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fK_C!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F21126d7d-1ecc-42be-bd3c-88e217c74c42_500x327.jpeg" target="_blank"><div class="image2-inset"><div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>Find yourself anywhere online today and you’ll come across the phrase or hashtag “May the Fourth be with you.” But it’s not a date recognized only by fans of Star Wars.</p><p>For anyone who has read “The Final Problem,” the date of May 4 is less celebratory than melancholy, as that’s the short story in which Sherlock Holmes confronts his archenemy <strong>Professor Moriarty</strong> (who we’ve inexplicably never heard of up until this point in the Canon) and both of them tumble off the cliff into the Reichenbach Falls. </p><p><br /></p><h1 data-pm-slice="1 1 []">Sherlockian Road Trip</h1><div class="callout-block" data-callout="true"><h4 style="text-align: left;"><strong><em>“come away with me for a week to the Continent.”</em></strong></h4></div><p>As you may recall, after Holmes appeared in Watson’s consulting-room and recounted his interaction with Moriarty, the two fled to the Continent, eventually landing in Switzerland:</p><blockquote><strong style="text-align: center;"><em>“</em></strong><strong><em>It was upon the 3rd of May that we reached the little village of detour, where we put up at the Englischer Hof, then kept by Peter Steiler the elder. Our landlord was an intelligent man, and spoke excellent English, having served for three years as waiter at the Grosvenor Hotel in London. At his advice, upon the afternoon of the 4th we set off together with the intention of crossing the hills and spending the night at the hamlet of Rosenlaui. We had strict injunctions, however, on no account to pass the falls of Reichenbach, which are about half-way up the hill, without making a small detour to see them.</em></strong><b><i>”</i></b></blockquote><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>It was here that Conan Doyle chose the final resting place for Sherlock Holmes - a rest that was intended to be eternal but that we now know lasted nearly a decade. The description of the Reichenbach Falls is a fitting one for the epic struggle of good versus evil that took place later in the story:</p><blockquote><strong style="text-align: center;"><em>“</em></strong><strong><em>It is, indeed, a fearful place. The torrent, swollen by the melting snow, plunges into a tremendous abyss, from which the spray rolls up like the smoke from a burning house. The shaft into which the river hurls itself is an immense chasm, lined by glistening, coal-black rock, and narrowing into a creaming, boiling pit of incalculable depth, which brims over and shoots the stream onward over its jagged lip. The long sweep of green water roaring forever down, and the thick flickering curtain of spray hissing forever upwards, turn a man giddy with their constant whirl and clamour. We stood near the edge peering down at the gleam of the breaking water far below us against the black rocks, and listening to the half-human shout which came booming up with the spray out of the abyss.</em></strong><strong style="text-align: center;"><em>”</em></strong></blockquote><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><pre class="text"> </pre></div><h1>Watson Gets Fooled</h1><div class="callout-block" data-callout="true"><h4 style="text-align: left;"><strong><em>“In a tingle of fear I was already running down the village street”</em></strong></h4></div><p>And after Watson was lured back to the Englischer Hof with the story of a patient in need (good old Watson!), he returned to the falls to find a note from Sherlock Holmes along with his alpenstock and silver cigarette case. He was led to conclude that that inevitable happened:</p><blockquote><strong style="text-align: center;"><em>“</em></strong><strong><em>An examination by experts leaves little doubt that a personal contest between the two men ended, as it could hardly fail to end in such a situation, in their reeling over, locked in each other’s arms. Any attempt at recovering the bodies was absolutely hopeless, and there, deep down in that dreadful cauldron of swirling water and seething foam, will lie for all time the most dangerous criminal and the foremost champion of the law of their generation.</em></strong><strong style="text-align: center;"><em>”</em></strong></blockquote><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><img alt="" class="sizing-normal" data-attrs="{"src":"https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/c38e659d-d652-420d-8b55-af06b7ad01ad_437x640.jpeg","srcNoWatermark":null,"fullscreen":null,"imageSize":null,"height":640,"width":437,"resizeWidth":null,"bytes":null,"alt":null,"title":null,"type":null,"href":null,"belowTheFold":false,"topImage":false,"internalRedirect":null,"isProcessing":false,"align":null,"offset":false}" height="640" sizes="100vw" src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!sVj5!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc38e659d-d652-420d-8b55-af06b7ad01ad_437x640.jpeg" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!sVj5!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc38e659d-d652-420d-8b55-af06b7ad01ad_437x640.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!sVj5!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc38e659d-d652-420d-8b55-af06b7ad01ad_437x640.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!sVj5!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc38e659d-d652-420d-8b55-af06b7ad01ad_437x640.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!sVj5!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc38e659d-d652-420d-8b55-af06b7ad01ad_437x640.jpeg 1456w" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="437" /></span></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="text-align: left;">Sidney Paget’s frontispiece for the story in the </span><em style="text-align: left;">Strand</em><span style="text-align: left;">, which is a major spoiler</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="image2-inset" style="text-align: center;"><picture><source sizes="100vw" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!sVj5!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc38e659d-d652-420d-8b55-af06b7ad01ad_437x640.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!sVj5!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc38e659d-d652-420d-8b55-af06b7ad01ad_437x640.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!sVj5!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc38e659d-d652-420d-8b55-af06b7ad01ad_437x640.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!sVj5!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc38e659d-d652-420d-8b55-af06b7ad01ad_437x640.jpeg 1456w" type="image/webp"></source></picture><div></div></div><figcaption class="image-caption"><br /></figcaption></figure></div><p>But aside from the colorful descriptions of both the setting and the action, this story above many others shows Watson’s emotional side. Over the course of two short years, readers had gotten to know Holmes and Watson through 12 stories that made up <strong><em>The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes</em></strong> and 11 stories that comprised <strong><em>The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes</em></strong> (as well as the previously published <strong><em>A Study in Scarlet</em></strong><em> </em>and <strong><em>The Sign of Four</em></strong>). That’s less than half of what would eventually become the entire Canon of 60 stories — stories that would be published over the course of the following 35 or so years.</p><p>For Watson as well as for the readers, that’s an intense run of stories — tales that fill us with wonder as we’ve been learning about the habits, eccentricities, limits and capabilities of the most intriguing detective that the world has ever known. </p><p>Is it any wonder then that his sudden and tragic loss affected us so deeply?<a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!GaMt!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F79b21ec4-015b-4ea7-a6ca-bd15e8ae12ae_400x291.png" target="_blank"></a></p><p style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Watson realizing what happened to Holmes" class="sizing-normal" data-attrs="{"src":"https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/79b21ec4-015b-4ea7-a6ca-bd15e8ae12ae_400x291.png","srcNoWatermark":null,"fullscreen":null,"imageSize":null,"height":291,"width":400,"resizeWidth":null,"bytes":null,"alt":"Watson realizing what happened to Holmes","title":"Dr. Watson, realizing the outcome at the Reichenbach Falls","type":null,"href":null,"belowTheFold":false,"topImage":false,"internalRedirect":null,"isProcessing":false,"align":null,"offset":false}" height="291" sizes="100vw" src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!GaMt!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F79b21ec4-015b-4ea7-a6ca-bd15e8ae12ae_400x291.png" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!GaMt!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F79b21ec4-015b-4ea7-a6ca-bd15e8ae12ae_400x291.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!GaMt!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F79b21ec4-015b-4ea7-a6ca-bd15e8ae12ae_400x291.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!GaMt!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F79b21ec4-015b-4ea7-a6ca-bd15e8ae12ae_400x291.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!GaMt!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F79b21ec4-015b-4ea7-a6ca-bd15e8ae12ae_400x291.png 1456w" title="Dr. Watson, realizing the outcome at the Reichenbach Falls" width="400" /></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!GaMt!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F79b21ec4-015b-4ea7-a6ca-bd15e8ae12ae_400x291.png" target="_blank"><div class="image2-inset"><div></div></div></a></figure></div><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{"url":"%%share_url%%","text":"Share","action":null,"class":null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><br /></p><h1>Spoiler Alert </h1><div class="callout-block" data-callout="true"><h4 style="text-align: left;"><strong><em>“It is with a heavy heart that I take up my pen to write these the last words in which I shall ever record the singular gifts by which my friend Mr. Sherlock Holmes was distinguished.”</em></strong></h4></div><p>When a story opens with that kind of line, the reader has a sense of what they’re in for. We’ll never forget reading that line for the first time and feeling a little stab in the gut. The modern equivalent would be exclaiming, “Wait — <strong><em>what</em></strong>?”</p><p>Imagine Watson’s realization that this would be the case. He describes is first reaction: </p><blockquote><p><strong><em>“It was the sight of that alpenstock which turned me cold and sick...I stood for a minute or two to collect myself, for I was dazed with the horror of the thing.”</em></strong></p></blockquote><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>Even Holmes understood how his untimely departure would affect his friend, writing in his farewell note,</p><p><strong></strong></p><blockquote><strong><em>“I fear that it is at a cost which will give pain to my friends, and especially, my dear Watson, to you.”</em></strong></blockquote><p></p><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><pre class="text"> </pre></div><h1>The Public Reaction</h1><div class="callout-block" data-callout="true"><h4 style="text-align: left;"><strong><em>“in the interests of the public”</em></strong></h4></div><p>The pain was palpable to readers at the time. There is an apocryphal legend that grown men in London wore black armbands in a demonstration of mourning. We have yet to see any definitive evidence of this occurrence (and the <a href="http://bakerstreetjournal.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank"><strong><em>Baker Street Journal</em></strong></a><strong><em> </em></strong>once offered a bounty for anyone who could prove it). </p><p>But it rings true to the spirit of what happened at the time, which was an outpouring of grief over the loss of a literary character. Letters flowed to <em>The Strand Magazine </em>and to Arthur Conan Doyle himself, one even beginning <strong><em>“You brute!”</em></strong></p><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><pre class="text"><strong><em> </em></strong></pre></div><p>At least modern readers don’t have to wait eight years for Holmes to reappear in <em>The Hound of the Baskervilles </em>or ten years for the first of the stories that would make up <em>The Return of Sherlock Holmes</em>. Can you imagine what it must have been like to have to put Holmes to rest in one’s mind and to blindly wait to see if he would ever reappear?</p><p>We’re fortunate that the public outcry (and, let’s face it, a hefty payday) convinced Conan Doyle to take up his pen once more to provide us with such rich and wonderful stories to fill our desires, fuel our imagination and enrich our friendships. While May 4 may seem one for us to mourn, we’re fortunate that, as Watson observed upon Holmes’s return in “The Empty House,”</p><blockquote><p><strong><em>“once again Mr. Sherlock Holmes is free to devote his life to examining those interesting little problems which the complex life of London so plentifully presents.”</em></strong></p></blockquote><p> </p><br /><hr /><h1>May the Fourth Be With You</h1><div class="callout-block" data-callout="true"><h4 style="text-align: left;"><strong><em>“no braver man in the regiment” [BLAN]</em></strong></h4></div><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!D8j3!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6a5c390e-084a-4efb-9f0a-298c1889a742_683x512.jpeg" target="_blank"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Sherlock Holmes meets Star Wars" class="sizing-normal" data-attrs="{"src":"https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/6a5c390e-084a-4efb-9f0a-298c1889a742_683x512.jpeg","srcNoWatermark":null,"fullscreen":null,"imageSize":null,"height":512,"width":683,"resizeWidth":null,"bytes":null,"alt":"Sherlock Holmes meets Star Wars","title":"Sherlockian stormtrooper","type":null,"href":null,"belowTheFold":false,"topImage":false,"internalRedirect":null,"isProcessing":false,"align":null,"offset":false}" height="512" sizes="100vw" src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!D8j3!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6a5c390e-084a-4efb-9f0a-298c1889a742_683x512.jpeg" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!D8j3!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6a5c390e-084a-4efb-9f0a-298c1889a742_683x512.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!D8j3!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6a5c390e-084a-4efb-9f0a-298c1889a742_683x512.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!D8j3!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6a5c390e-084a-4efb-9f0a-298c1889a742_683x512.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!D8j3!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6a5c390e-084a-4efb-9f0a-298c1889a742_683x512.jpeg 1456w" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Sherlockian stormtrooper" width="683" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><em style="text-align: left;">Image credit: </em><a href="https://flic.kr/p/MUMbU" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" style="text-align: left;" target="_blank"><strong><em>bonniegrrl (Flickr)</em></strong></a></span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source sizes="100vw" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!D8j3!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6a5c390e-084a-4efb-9f0a-298c1889a742_683x512.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!D8j3!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6a5c390e-084a-4efb-9f0a-298c1889a742_683x512.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!D8j3!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6a5c390e-084a-4efb-9f0a-298c1889a742_683x512.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!D8j3!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6a5c390e-084a-4efb-9f0a-298c1889a742_683x512.jpeg 1456w" type="image/webp"></source></picture><div></div></div></a><br /></figure></div><p>One of the things that we enjoy about the Sherlock Holmes stories and those devotees who follow it, is the ability to weave in so many of life’s other interests. If you’ve got another hobby or passion, odds are you’ll find a way to incorporate it into your love of Sherlock Holmes.</p><p>Over the years, we’ve met Sherlockians who are also interested in horse racing, railroads, P.G. Wodehouse, pin collecting, the <em>Titanic</em>, antiques, handwriting analysis, coin and stamp collecting, woodworking, needlepoint, jewelry making, wine, pipe collecting, music, period firearms, Victorian attire — the list goes on and on. </p><p>Really, there’s no limit to the connections we can make between our interests, if we’re passionate enough about them.</p><p>So it was with little surprise — but with great amusement — that we looked at the above photo sent by <a href="http://www.cc-chapman.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank"><strong>a colleague</strong></a> of the individual who is a Holmes Trooper.<br /><br />We couldn’t help but think:</p><h3 style="text-align: center;"><strong><em>“May the force be with you, old chap.”</em></strong></h3><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><pre class="text"> </pre></div><h1>The Star Wars / Sherlock Holmes Connection(s)</h1><p>Star Wars<em> </em>and Sherlock Holmes. Hmm. There are seemingly endless possibilities</p><p>Well, if you consider that <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/search?ie=UTF8&keywords=Peter%20Cushing%20Sherlock&tag=scottmonty-20&index=dvd&amp;amp;linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank"><strong>Peter Cushing</strong></a><strong> </strong>and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/search?ie=UTF8&keywords=Christopher%20Lee%20Sherlock&tag=scottmonty-20&index=dvd&amp;amp;linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank"><strong>Christopher Lee</strong></a> appeared in the George Lucas series — albeit Cushing never made it past the first film (in carbon form, at least) and Lee managed to do damage in the final trilogy — and are actors who have portrayed Sherlock Holmes, there’s your connection.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ss2u!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7640aecb-5969-4816-a295-a93ff0b9d6c0_768x482.jpeg" target="_blank"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source sizes="100vw" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ss2u!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7640aecb-5969-4816-a295-a93ff0b9d6c0_768x482.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ss2u!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7640aecb-5969-4816-a295-a93ff0b9d6c0_768x482.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ss2u!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7640aecb-5969-4816-a295-a93ff0b9d6c0_768x482.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ss2u!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7640aecb-5969-4816-a295-a93ff0b9d6c0_768x482.jpeg 1456w" type="image/webp"></source><img alt="" class="sizing-normal" data-attrs="{"src":"https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/7640aecb-5969-4816-a295-a93ff0b9d6c0_768x482.jpeg","srcNoWatermark":null,"fullscreen":null,"imageSize":null,"height":482,"width":768,"resizeWidth":null,"bytes":null,"alt":null,"title":null,"type":null,"href":null,"belowTheFold":false,"topImage":false,"internalRedirect":null,"isProcessing":false,"align":null,"offset":false}" height="482" sizes="100vw" src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ss2u!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7640aecb-5969-4816-a295-a93ff0b9d6c0_768x482.jpeg" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ss2u!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7640aecb-5969-4816-a295-a93ff0b9d6c0_768x482.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ss2u!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7640aecb-5969-4816-a295-a93ff0b9d6c0_768x482.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ss2u!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7640aecb-5969-4816-a295-a93ff0b9d6c0_768x482.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ss2u!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7640aecb-5969-4816-a295-a93ff0b9d6c0_768x482.jpeg 1456w" width="768" /></picture><div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>Of course, the more astute among you will remember that Lee also portrayed Sir Henry Baskerville in Hammer’s 1959 version of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000062XEY?ie=UTF8&tag=scottmonty-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B000062XEY" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank"><strong><em>The Hound of the Baskervilles</em></strong></a>. And he holds the distinction of being the only actor to portray Holmes <em>and </em>his stately brother Mycroft, whom he played in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00005JKHF?ie=UTF8&tag=scottmonty-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00005JKHF" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank"><strong><em>The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes</em></strong></a>.<br /></p><h1><br /></h1><h1>Challenge</h1><p>Here’s an interesting challenge: can you go through the Star Wars universe and find connections between that cast and the Sherlock Holmes universe?</p><p>Drop a comment below.</p><p><br /></p><p>The game's afoot!</p><p> </p>

What May 4 Means for Sherlock Holmes Fans

  “It is with a heavy heart that I take up my pen” [FINA] Find yourself anywhere online today and you’ll come across the phrase or hashtag “...

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by Scott Monty

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 172? 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." And as we know, that story took place in the weeks leading up to the start of World War I in 1914.<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

A New Holmesian Christmas Carol

<h4 style="text-align: center;"> “her wits turned at the singing” [HOUN]  </h4><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZw6f7s3jiwRwyPV6VffZyDYf8nZU56Dmf4AWnSogh98BrHfgn0IHEFpwn2z7AmUFU1kBn3jQTbsQ4_I2Ea64Gbitbfzurg8mhaOxLaGqJxi1PGEACzJB4unA3laU6_LVSbzxWovk7cGMq1xAYfrw4BQuU4Ds1-I9vzlkHCZuSQ_CV-qiOVZQhPdSxzLju/s1280/VS--YouTube-HaveYourselfaMaryMorstanChristmas-0%E2%80%9905%E2%80%9D.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZw6f7s3jiwRwyPV6VffZyDYf8nZU56Dmf4AWnSogh98BrHfgn0IHEFpwn2z7AmUFU1kBn3jQTbsQ4_I2Ea64Gbitbfzurg8mhaOxLaGqJxi1PGEACzJB4unA3laU6_LVSbzxWovk7cGMq1xAYfrw4BQuU4Ds1-I9vzlkHCZuSQ_CV-qiOVZQhPdSxzLju/w640-h360/VS--YouTube-HaveYourselfaMaryMorstanChristmas-0%E2%80%9905%E2%80%9D.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p>We know that Watson cared enough about Sherlock Holmes to call upon him "the second morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the compliments of the season." [BLUE]</p><p>While there is no mention of Christmas caroling in "The Blue Carbuncle," a close reading of <i>A Study in Scarlet</i> finds some surprising singing happening in a rather unusual location:</p><blockquote><p>"Leaning back in the cab, this amateur bloodhound carolled away like a lark while I meditated upon the many-sidedness of the human mind."</p></blockquote><p>We also know that Watson cared enough about Mary Morstan to make her his wife following the events in <i>The Sign of Four</i>.</p><p>So it would stand to reason that there ought to be some caroling in honor of Mrs. Watson. That's the thought of <b>Paul Thomas Miller</b>, who has written and performed a new holiday standard, "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d27v-HT5Bq0" target="_blank">Have Yourself a Mary Morstan Christmas</a>" — a loving homage to the original "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas."</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="438" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/d27v-HT5Bq0" width="527" youtube-src-id="d27v-HT5Bq0"></iframe></div><br /><p>As Paul describes it: "Believe it or not, this is how it sounds <b><i>with</i></b> auto-tune. Imagine how flat I was before I tried to fix it."</p><p>While the video is captioned, here are the lyrics for those not brave enough to listen:</p><p>Have yourself a Mary Morstan Christmas.<br />Sleep alone at night.<br />From now on, your husband will be out of sight.<br />Have yourself a Mary Morstan Christmas.<br />Wonder if he's gay.<br />From now on, your husband will be miles away.</p><p>Here we are as in olden days.<br />Lonely single days are of yore.<br />Faithful friends of those dear to us.<br />Steal the cheer from us once more.</p><p>Through the years we'll sometimes be together<br />When Sherlock allows<br />And a lonely star upon the highest bough<br />And have yourself a Mary Morstan Christmas now.</p><p>Here we are as in olden days.<br />Lonely single days of yore.<br />Faithful friends of those dear to us.<br />Steal the cheer from us once more.</p><p>Through the years we'll sometimes be together<br />When Sherlock allows.<br />Hang a lonely star upon the highest bough.<br />And have yourself a Mary Morstan Christmas now.</p><p><br /></p><p>Compliments of the season, we suppose.</p><p><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Related</h3><p>You can listen to Paul Thomas Miller regale us with all sorts of wonderful humorous insights on <a href="https://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2019/07/episode-172-watson-does-not-lie-doyles.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Episode 172: Watson Does Not Lie / Doyle's Rotary Coffin</a>:</p><p><iframe allowfullscreen="" data-dashlane-classification="other" data-dashlane-frameid="6365" data-dashlane-rid="89d9e5ebe038ee03" height="192" mozallowfullscreen="true" msallowfullscreen="true" oallowfullscreen="true" scrolling="no" src="https://play.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/10519109/height/192/theme/modern/size/large/thumbnail/yes/custom-color/414851/time-start/00:00:00/playlist-height/200/direction/backward/download/yes/font-color/FFFFFF" style="border: none;" title="Embed Player" webkitallowfullscreen="true" width="100%"></iframe></p><p><br /></p>

A New Holmesian Christmas Carol

 “her wits turned at the singing” [HOUN]   We know that Watson cared enough about Sherlock Holmes to call upon him "the second morning ...

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by Scott Monty

Episode 315: The Sherlock Holmes LEGO Book Nook

<h4 style="text-align: center;">“you could just fill that gap on that second shelf” [EMPT] </h4><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMTV3ny-I9hfd2pjTLWXu_WJ65krghyphenhyphen6ZWUU1VhCpVXNbKkDcQcuts0o_quZTg-ODNA2XBjSFRTKouo-dlIViizH2K9NSMuupXJk8FaHkkCMchltoxc9PFpMaYRD33KBXhPZJpZaSm3DQlg2d2suTvgHTDnc7IrxZQkIXXJPs1ClJR-I9Ndl3GhLJ7j_t7/s1800/ihearofsherlock315-header.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1300" data-original-width="1800" height="462" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMTV3ny-I9hfd2pjTLWXu_WJ65krghyphenhyphen6ZWUU1VhCpVXNbKkDcQcuts0o_quZTg-ODNA2XBjSFRTKouo-dlIViizH2K9NSMuupXJk8FaHkkCMchltoxc9PFpMaYRD33KBXhPZJpZaSm3DQlg2d2suTvgHTDnc7IrxZQkIXXJPs1ClJR-I9Ndl3GhLJ7j_t7/w640-h462/ihearofsherlock315-header.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><p>If you discovered Sherlock Holmes when you were young, you might still recall the joy of your first reading. The world of Baker Street is fun, so much so that some adults still extend the Great Detective's career with their own stories. </p><p>Many adults also enjoy LEGO as a nostalgic, relaxing, and creative outlet. That’s why we were eager to talk to LEGO Group Design Master Antica Bracanov and Graphic Designer Crisy Dyment about their creation of the LEGO Sherlock Holmes Book Nook. </p><p>Joining us from LEGO’s offices in Billund, Denmark, Antica and Crisy take us through the concept, the process, and the community of designers, engineers, and model-makers who brought it to life. You’ll hear how the key moments and objects Sherlock Holmes fans will recognize were selected, and how they were adapted to fit LEGO’s style and humor. You’ll find there are some self-described “Sherlock Holmes nerds” on the LEGO team, too.</p><p>Speaking of Sherlockian nerds (guilty), we share upcoming events for the first half of September in our "<b>The Learned Societies</b>" segment. Then, you will not want to miss this episode’s<b> Canonical Couplet</b> quiz, which this time is <b><a href="https://ihose.co/ihosepatron" target="_blank">only open to our paying Patreon and Substack supporters</a></b>. This episode’s prize is a LEGO Sherlock Holmes Book Nook! Send your answer to comment @ ihearofsherlock.com by August 14, 2025 at 11:59 a.m. EST. If your correct answer is selected at random, you’ll win!</p><p><br /></p><p>Don't forget to become a <a href="https://ihose.co/ihosepatron" target="_blank"><b>supporter</b></a> of the show on the platform of your choice (<a href="https://www.patreon.com/posts/122378915" target="_blank">Patreon</a> | <a href="https://ihearofsherlock.substack.com/p/episode-305-bonus-content" target="_blank">Substack</a>). </p><div><div><div style="margin: 0px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><h3 style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://traffic.libsyn.com/ihearofsherlock/ihearofsherlock315.mp3" target="_blank">Download</a> [Save As] | File size: 55.6 MB, 58:07</h3><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" data-dashlane-classification="other" data-dashlane-frameid="4114" data-dashlane-rid="f6895cf181835e5b" height="192" mozallowfullscreen="true" msallowfullscreen="true" oallowfullscreen="true" scrolling="no" src="https://play.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/37616870/height/192/theme/modern/size/large/thumbnail/yes/custom-color/414851/time-start/00:00:00/playlist-height/200/direction/backward/download/yes/font-color/FFFFFF" style="border: none;" title="Embed Player" webkitallowfullscreen="true" width="100%"></iframe></div><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;"><br /></div><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;"></div><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;"><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #0000ee; text-decoration-line: underline;"><a href="https://www.episodes.fm/258126625" target="_blank">Listen to I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere anywhere you get podcasts<br /></a></span><br /></h3><h3 style="text-align: center;">Leave I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere a five-star rating on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/i-hear-of-sherlock-everywhere/id258126625?ls=1">Apple Podcasts</a> and <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/30WtRn1mnXfAtX7YaeRY5Y">Spotify</a>; listen to us <a href="https://pod.link/ihearofsherlock">wherever you listen to podcasts</a>.</h3></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><br /></div></div></div><h2 style="margin: 0px;">Sponsors</h2><div style="margin: 0px;"><ul><li><a href="https://mxpublishing.com/" target="_blank">MX Publishing</a> has a number of new Sherlock Holmes books out by various authors. You'll want to check out the breadth of their offerings by <a href="https://mxpublishing.com/" target="_blank">visiting the site</a> to learn more.</li></ul></div></div><div style="margin: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="margin: 0px;">Would you care to advertise with us? You can find <a href="https://www.ihearofsherlock.com/p/contact.html#.Vc1Qx7JViko" target="_blank">more information here</a>. Let's chat!<br /><br /></div><div style="margin: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="margin: 0px;"><div><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><ul></ul></div><h2><b>Links</b></h2><ul><li><a href="https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/sherlock-holmes-book-nook-10351" target="_blank">Sherlock Holmes Book Nook</a> (LEGO)</li><li><a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/lego-icons-sherlock-holmes-book-nook-10351-lego-systems-inc/1147390598?ean=0673419407489" target="_blank">Sherlock Holmes Book Nook</a> (Barnes & Noble)</li><li>Other episodes mentioned:</li><ul><li><a href="https://ihose.co/ihose110" target="_blank">Episode 110: Sociable and Clubbable</a></li><li>The Learned Societies: <a href="http://www.sherlockiancalendar.com/" target="_blank">Sherlockian Calendar</a></li></ul><li>Find all of our relevant links and social accounts at <a href="http://linktr.ee/ihearofsherlock">linktr.ee/ihearofsherlock</a>.</li></ul><div><div style="margin: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="align-items: center; display: flex; flex-direction: column;"><a href="https://goodpods.com/leaderboard/top-100-shows-by-category/fiction/mystery?indie=false&period=month#37883168" target="_blank"><img alt="goodpods top 100 mystery podcasts" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/goodpods-images-bucket/leaderboard_badges/fiction_mystery_top50_month.png" style="height: 77px; width: 250px;" /></a><a href="https://goodpods.com/leaderboard/top-100-shows-by-category/fiction/mystery" style="color: #6f6f6f; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 4px; text-align: center; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Goodpods Top 100 Mystery Podcasts</a></div><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>And would you consider leaving us a rating and or a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Goodpods? It would help other Sherlockians to find us.</div><div style="margin: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="margin: 0px;">Your thoughts on the show? Leave a comment below, send us an email (comment AT ihearofsherlock DOT com), call us at 5-1895-221B-5. That's (518) 952-2125.</div><div style="font-family: "times new roman";"><div style="margin: 0px;"><br /></div></div></div></div></div><div><br /></div>

Episode 315: The Sherlock Holmes LEGO Book Nook

“you could just fill that gap on that second shelf” [EMPT]  If you discovered Sherlock Holmes when you were young, you might still recall th...

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by Scott Monty

Baker Street Elementary – Watch Your Mouth

<h4 style="text-align: center;">“wild, profane, and godless” [HOUN] </h4><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe8XkrehPZdiVO1PlNUqcb-7qg6GldLHrVM6PCEC5dkViCca8TZR7TWHo60QIZt43t-NP5e7DrrvVxQXBnp-Bdvrik-yJKhl-BmynI0jYyhog84qgcbQii7F1sEjjEy7WvLHSfwf8ZqN21YWXowlvhXMCS9jeV9F9x_hkDFrzdsIVYPgmzDSCZ8B07fbNu/s1365/Baker%20Street%20Elementary%20206.1.JPG" 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/AVvXsEhe8XkrehPZdiVO1PlNUqcb-7qg6GldLHrVM6PCEC5dkViCca8TZR7TWHo60QIZt43t-NP5e7DrrvVxQXBnp-Bdvrik-yJKhl-BmynI0jYyhog84qgcbQii7F1sEjjEy7WvLHSfwf8ZqN21YWXowlvhXMCS9jeV9F9x_hkDFrzdsIVYPgmzDSCZ8B07fbNu/w640-h360/Baker%20Street%20Elementary%20206.1.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>For all of the realism that the Sherlock Holmes stories give us from late Victorian / early Edwardian England, we're mostly shielded from that which would make young ladies from that era collapse on the fainting couch.</div><div><br /></div><div>We are, of course, referring to profanity.</div><div><br /></div><div>We get a sense of foul language from time to time, but we're never given an exact quote. When Sir Hugo Baskerville, "a most wild, profane, and godless man" finds that the girl he kidnapped has made her escape, we get a sense as to his temper tantrum:</div><div><blockquote><div>"Then, as it would seem, he became as one that hath a devil, for, rushing down the stairs into the dining-hall, he sprang upon the great table, flagons and trenchers flying before him, and he cried aloud before all the company that he would that very night render his body and soul to the Powers of Evil if he might but overtake the wench. And while the revellers stood aghast at the fury of the man, one more wicked or, it may be, more drunken than the rest, cried out that they should put the hounds upon her."</div></blockquote></div><div>One has to imagine such a fellow as employing a few choice invectives.</div><div><br /></div><div>And although there are no profanities—even the use of "bloody" is reserved for actual sanguinary events—there are a number of insults that are peddled. </div><div><br /></div><div>Holmes himself is the subject of many of these, usually uttered by frustrated antagonists. He's been called a jack-in-office, a busybody, a rascal, a spy and thief, "Mr. Cocksure," a double traitor, and more.</div><div><br /></div><div>There are insults aplenty to be had, and you can listen to an entire discussion about them in <a href="https://www.episodes.fm/1198869691/episode/YjVkN2RmMDcyM2YzNDg0YTlhYmRlYTkxNDMxMjllMWI" target="_blank">Episode 91</a> of <i>Trifles</i>: </div><div><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" data-dashlane-classification="other" data-dashlane-frameid="21689" data-dashlane-rid="962a0144f4a8b487" height="192" mozallowfullscreen="true" msallowfullscreen="true" oallowfullscreen="true" scrolling="no" src="https://play.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/7092591/height/192/theme/modern/size/large/thumbnail/yes/custom-color/1d234a/time-start/00:00:00/playlist-height/200/direction/backward/download/yes/font-color/FFFFFF" style="border: none;" title="Embed Player" webkitallowfullscreen="true" width="100%"></iframe></div><div><br /></div><div>Meanwhile, we'll see how the boys manage to keep their mouths clean at Baker Street Elementary...</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDJ3ESdd3lECk5kzVS0TBxJZ-FBulJ7RKKUchhFO6gBjYz8rnvEHF0P_DMM6UEYrzeU5KNpTBKQeH3zOcw3o1FY2XbrXSScAHr-uEjlIN97Inz78FR4zj0fdTiHPQqAc_Wscsj48kQSHd-B7z-2sxr_dvEFcf6fvSIBdpsRsE0cA1AyahoATHtEX1F9dsE/s1365/Baker%20Street%20Elementary%20206.2.JPG" 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/AVvXsEgDJ3ESdd3lECk5kzVS0TBxJZ-FBulJ7RKKUchhFO6gBjYz8rnvEHF0P_DMM6UEYrzeU5KNpTBKQeH3zOcw3o1FY2XbrXSScAHr-uEjlIN97Inz78FR4zj0fdTiHPQqAc_Wscsj48kQSHd-B7z-2sxr_dvEFcf6fvSIBdpsRsE0cA1AyahoATHtEX1F9dsE/w640-h360/Baker%20Street%20Elementary%20206.2.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNyNb-zqyHCIT23UVniqmIdRtCWU4zRbEc_W9yGHAQixBkFbYBJx4zg6yAq_pqiIwGLr1adiGh21A_tIgh9WLiahMAjg98Ht4VpP6Qci41FYYe1pNg2nD2lBaEm537sFsxcOPzEBbMdis__cFopLcfEo0vq5NYXAGPGC04hk9b2bjEzr74U6N3CHzdr9xD/s1365/Baker%20Street%20Elementary%20206.3.JPG" 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/AVvXsEiNyNb-zqyHCIT23UVniqmIdRtCWU4zRbEc_W9yGHAQixBkFbYBJx4zg6yAq_pqiIwGLr1adiGh21A_tIgh9WLiahMAjg98Ht4VpP6Qci41FYYe1pNg2nD2lBaEm537sFsxcOPzEBbMdis__cFopLcfEo0vq5NYXAGPGC04hk9b2bjEzr74U6N3CHzdr9xD/w640-h360/Baker%20Street%20Elementary%20206.3.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx4XO6FYVdMlmMfcSF7gYvZKmndkM7vjRjUT48cjUbc_um8YRZ9usUABeUOfleJ4Qvwnsp-9_bmdAPSsV_zl7Jfv9crftl5myJ21EGBtjUAio2IH-KQtJ5czzcBg3dHpcAhJvf3whtf93P9eBI1nqyfRWt9RwVUWxF-knIlMXGkbeh5B6Qz7Vy4gcS1Laf/s1365/Baker%20Street%20Elementary%20206.4.JPG" 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/AVvXsEjx4XO6FYVdMlmMfcSF7gYvZKmndkM7vjRjUT48cjUbc_um8YRZ9usUABeUOfleJ4Qvwnsp-9_bmdAPSsV_zl7Jfv9crftl5myJ21EGBtjUAio2IH-KQtJ5czzcBg3dHpcAhJvf3whtf93P9eBI1nqyfRWt9RwVUWxF-knIlMXGkbeh5B6Qz7Vy4gcS1Laf/w640-h360/Baker%20Street%20Elementary%20206.4.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div></div></div><div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b style="background-color: white; color: #0e0e0e; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; 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 John Watson, as they and their friends work through the issues of elementary school in Victorian London. 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></div><br />

Baker Street Elementary – Watch Your Mouth

“wild, profane, and godless” [HOUN]  For all of the realism that the Sherlock Holmes stories give us from late Victorian / early Edwardian E...

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by Scott Monty

Sherlock Holmes's Birthday is NOT January 6th After All

<p></p><h4 style="clear: both; text-align: center;">“We have judged it best that you should come late” [ENGR]</h4><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg7XopZzTBzANRyJ6POjrwk3sbYof-j4W7z-CT2c4HgExShiThbOw7OcDuQSi9Y7dMa2RdaXPwCzgmgqfyNGxG0YFEInkXg1LG6YzKZeMQp7CxJcCk5JgFsKIw28cbw-NNyW9RLqwcqZtFdsLyhfNSiVvgs3XuncM4dALOCHe9ouj-l6hgqVXUamIYLuMju" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1150" data-original-width="1595" height="462" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg7XopZzTBzANRyJ6POjrwk3sbYof-j4W7z-CT2c4HgExShiThbOw7OcDuQSi9Y7dMa2RdaXPwCzgmgqfyNGxG0YFEInkXg1LG6YzKZeMQp7CxJcCk5JgFsKIw28cbw-NNyW9RLqwcqZtFdsLyhfNSiVvgs3XuncM4dALOCHe9ouj-l6hgqVXUamIYLuMju=w640-h462" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><i><b>Editor's note:</b> This may seem like heresy to traditional Sherlockians, who've been celebrating Sherlock Holmes's birthday on January 6th for nearly a century.</i></p><p><i>Erik Deckers, longtime contributor to the Canonical Couplet on the IHOSE podcast and chief instigator behind the satirical <a href="https://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2024/12/prepare-yourself-for-h-con.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">H & W Con</a>, has written to tell us our math hasn't been mathing. Whether or not you choose to believe him, he provides an informative history and some convincing facts. </i></p><p><i>We'll let Erik tell it himself.</i></p><p><br /></p><p>We've been making a terrible mistake about Sherlock Holmes's birthday.</p><p>It's widely believed that Holmes's birthday was <a href="https://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2025/01/happy-171st-birthday-sherlock-holmes.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">January 6, 1854</a>, but it's not.</p><p>Why? What's so special about that particular date in the first place?</p><p>In "His Last Bow," even though he was in disguise as "an Irish-American," Holmes was described as</p><blockquote><p>. . . a tall, gaunt man of sixty, with clear-cut features and a small goatee beard which gave him a general resemblance to the caricatures of Uncle Sam."</p></blockquote><p>Since "His Last Bow" was published in 1914, we, along with most chronologists, can assume Holmes was then born in 1854.</p><p>But where did we get January 6th?</p><p>Because Christopher Morley says so.</p><p>In his article in the January 6, 1933 issue of <i>The Saturday Review of Literature</i>, when Holmes would have turned 79, Morley said:</p><blockquote><p>"I have not looked up the date, but if, as an astrologer has suggested, Sherlock Holmes was most likely born in January, some observance is due. Therefore, if the matter has never been settled, I nominate January 6th (the date of this issue of the <i>Saturday Review</i>) as his birthday…"</p></blockquote><p>Morley further reasoned that because Holmes quotes Shakespeare's <i>Twelfth Night</i> twice — ever — in the canon, it means he was interested in that play because his own birthday was on the twelfth night after Christmas. (Which is a stretch. After all, Holmes mentioned murder at least 72 times in the canon, but that doesn't mean he loved <i>Sweeney Todd</i>.)</p><p>In <i>The Sign of the Four</i>, Holmes quips, "All is well that ends well" from Act IV, Scene 4. In "The Empty House," Holmes says, "'Journeys end in lovers meetings,' as the old play says," from Act II, Scene 3.</p><p>Except Morley got the date wrong.</p><p>And it all has to do with how we count the twelve days of Christmas.</p><p><br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">What Are the Twelve Days of Christmas?</h2><p>The twelve days of Christmas — the time, not the song — was proclaimed by the Council of Tours in 567 to be a "sacred and festive season." As a result, they filled those days with various feasts and observances that are celebrated by the Roman Catholics and Orthodox churches to the east (i.e., the Eastern Orthodox, Eastern Catholic, and Oriental Orthodox).</p><p>This sacred and festive season is what led to the original song, "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Twelve_Days_of_Christmas_(song) " target="_blank">The Twelve Days of Christmas</a>." </p><p>Which you just started singing in your head.</p><p>TDOC is an English Christmas carol first published in 1780 and is known as a <b>cumulative song</b>. That means, says Wikipedia, "the lyrics take the form of a stanza of at least two lines. In each verse, the text of the first line introduces a new item, and the other line uses the words to begin a list that includes items from all the preceding verses." (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cumulative_song " target="_blank">Wikipedia</a>)</p><p>There have been a number of different melodies associated with the "Hey Jude" of Christmas music, although the one you're singing in your head comes from a 1909 traditional folk melody arranged by English composer Frederic Austin.</p><p>Seriously, it's in your head now; you can't escape it.</p><p><br /></p><p>The original song lyrics from 1780 actually match up with what we sing today with one exception ("three Colly birds"), but they have varied over the last 244 years.</p><p><br /></p><p>For example, in a manuscript by Cecily Baring-Gould (the great-aunt of <a href="https://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/Hymns_and_Carols/twelve_days_of_christmas-2.htm" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">William Baring-Gould</a>) from around 1840, she says that a "partridge in a pear tree" was actually "part of a juniper tree." On the fourth and fifth days, my true love gave "four Colley birds" and "a golden ring." There were also "eight hares a-running," "ten lords a-playing," "eleven bears a-baiting," and "twelve bulls a-roaring."</p><p>[This is an interesting rabbit trail in itself. William Baring-Gould's father, Sabine Baring-Gould co-authored a book, <i><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/56625/56625-h/56625-h.htm" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Songs of the West: Folk Songs of Devon & Cornwall Collected from the Mouths of the People</a></i> in 1889 in which he credits his aunt, Cecily Baring-Gould, having written the words and music to Twelve Days of Christmas in "about 1840."]</p><p>In the 1864 book <i><a href="https://archive.org/details/householdfriend00fielgoog/page/n57/mode/2up?view=theater " rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Household Friends for Every Season</a></i>, Thomas Hughes lists "a partridge and a pear tree," "three fat hens," "four ducks quacking," and "five hares running." </p><p><br /></p><p>In 1892, William Bell Scott quoted a "very pretty peacock in a pear tree," "four Corley birds," and "eleven ladies a-louping."</p><p>The gifts my true love gave have varied greatly, but we didn't land on the final order until 1909 with Frederic Austin's re-arranging of the original folk melody, and even then, he used the very first set of lyrics we know and. . . love(?) today.</p><p><b><i>FIVE GOOOOLD RINGS!</i></b></p><p>Seriously, it'll be in your head all day.</p><p><br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">When and What Are the Actual Twelve Days?</h2><p>The original twelve days of Christmas were filled with liturgical feasts and celebrations observed by the Roman Catholic Church and most Orthodox Churches. Here are several of the different historical observations of the twelve special days.</p><p>1 – Dec. 25th – Christmas Day.<br />2 – Dec. 26th – St. Stephen's Day. Also known as Boxing Day.<br />3 – Dec. 27th – Feast of St. John, Apostle and Evangelist. Also known as Wrestling Day. <br />4 – Dec. 28th – Feast of the Holy Innocents.<br />5 – Dec. 29th – Memorial of St. Thomas Becket, Bishop and Martyr.<br />6 – Dec. 30th – Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.<br />7 – Dec. 31st – Feast of Pope St. Sylvester I.<br />8 – Jan. 1st – Feast of the Circumcision of Christ.<br />9 – Jan. 2nd – Feasts of St. Basil the Great and St. Gregory of Nazianzus.<br />10 – Jan. 3rd – Memorial of the Holy Name of Jesus.<br />11 – Jan. 4th – Unknown. <br />12 – Jan. 5th – Epiphany Eve. </p><p><br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">When is Twelfth Night?</h2><p>Twelfth Night, also known as Epiphany Eve — which is far less exciting than Christmas Eve — marks the coming of the Epiphany, a Christian feast day that marks the visit of the magi, Jesus' baptism, and the wedding at Cana, where Jesus turned water into wine.</p><p>Not all on the same day, of course.</p><p>But, depending on which tradition you belonged to — Western Christianity or Eastern Orthodoxy — the date of Twelfth Night was either January 5th or 6th, depending on when the counting began on Christmas Day or the day after.</p><p>Except, why would you count the twelve days of Christmas and not include, you know, the Actual Day Of Christmas?</p><p>That's just not right. And since Holmes is from the western arm of Christianity, he and his family would have celebrated — or at least sung — the twelve days of Christmas starting on December 25th.</p><p>Which means. . . </p><p><br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Holmes's Birthday Is On January 5th, Not the 6th</h2><p>Here in the West, Lutherans, Anglicans, Methodists, and United Protestant congregations all celebrate Epiphany on January 6th, and they all agree that the Twelfth Day and the Twelfth Night are on the 5th. It's one of the only things they agree on.</p><p>And that all means:</p><p>1) If Holmes was born on the twelfth day of Christmas, and</p><p>2) The twelfth day of Christmas is on January 5th, then</p><p>3) Holmes's birthday is on Thursday, January 5th, 1854, the day before Epiphany.</p><p><br /></p><p>Just think about this for a while, count the actual days, and sing the song over and over again. (It hasn't left your brain anyway.)</p><p>Eventually, the numbers will align, the stars will be in their places, and you'll have an. . . um. That is, a sort of, what's that called when something comes to you in a bolt of realization?</p><p>--</p><p><br /></p><p>Read Erik's regular column, <i><a href="https://laughing-stalk.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Laughing Stalk</a></i></p><p><br /></p>

Sherlock Holmes's Birthday is NOT January 6th After All

“We have judged it best that you should come late” [ENGR] Editor's note: This may seem like heresy to traditional Sherlockians, who...

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by Scott Monty

Happy 171st Birthday, Sherlock Holmes!

<h4 style="text-align: center;">“he was a born boon companion” [VALL]</h4><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRgY_ymKWDr-geVICyGk-9ZM2MTm_O9WXVb_7hSXEleMbjIv4DOUuZU0tKuV-1NzuCPSMnNuDWljCd2qWatZYbe1uMGFadzwz8DFjXYkrCqcwqcUVUYQ5_psO726uRRm2KgwDuUVSfZecBCfBPJmI1PhC6pUrwnY4RJECIX3Md0lrgm7sqAN4FXViFBOlh/s1232/Case%20Notes%20cake%20-%20Amateur%20Mendicant%20Society.jpg"><img border="0" data-original-height="924" data-original-width="1232" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRgY_ymKWDr-geVICyGk-9ZM2MTm_O9WXVb_7hSXEleMbjIv4DOUuZU0tKuV-1NzuCPSMnNuDWljCd2qWatZYbe1uMGFadzwz8DFjXYkrCqcwqcUVUYQ5_psO726uRRm2KgwDuUVSfZecBCfBPJmI1PhC6pUrwnY4RJECIX3Md0lrgm7sqAN4FXViFBOlh/w640-h480/Case%20Notes%20cake%20-%20Amateur%20Mendicant%20Society.jpg" 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>...<br /><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>

Happy 171st Birthday, Sherlock Holmes!

“he was a born boon companion” [VALL] Today is January 6th — and that marks the date on which we traditionally celebrate Sherlock Holmes...

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by Scott Monty

Prepare Yourself for H&W Con

<h4 style="text-align: center;"> “pestering me any more with your silly talk” [BLUE]</h4><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC2_ueqorzw1RUkNkM-NlXu2dm_FJBVA1Gj4aysvr5rpVhyrU_4vokwkaoAK1hAa6VhD0BlkZqdpzb-JsEIY07LkwY5rOWixCSZvbPg2J9YIHdK8U623U3TY-ms0Q4F3THm5hyJOvUuLZSDIMdzE-sKb0opfv9QYzuVcdHskfwhVg9sBMyA1JQtZfiKVbk/s1000/Holmes%20and%20Watson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC2_ueqorzw1RUkNkM-NlXu2dm_FJBVA1Gj4aysvr5rpVhyrU_4vokwkaoAK1hAa6VhD0BlkZqdpzb-JsEIY07LkwY5rOWixCSZvbPg2J9YIHdK8U623U3TY-ms0Q4F3THm5hyJOvUuLZSDIMdzE-sKb0opfv9QYzuVcdHskfwhVg9sBMyA1JQtZfiKVbk/w640-h360/Holmes%20and%20Watson.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><p>It's always a joy when we hear about new Sherlock Holmes-related events, particularly when the attendees are guaranteed to have fun.</p><p>So it was particularly gratifying to see that Erik Deckers' <i><a href="https://laughing-stalk.blogspot.com/2024/10/date-location-announced-for-holmes.html" target="_blank">Laughing Stalk</a></i> carried the following press release related to that cult classic, Holmes & Watson (covered here previously in "<a href="https://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2018/09/a-very-different-holmes-and-watson.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">A Very Different Holmes and Watson</a>"):</p><p></p><blockquote><p>(SIOUX CITY, IOWA)—Organizers today announced the dates and location for the eagerly awaited H&W Con, the <i>Holmes & Watson</i> convention based on the hilarious and timeless comedy classic starring Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly.</p><p>The convention will be held on the weekend of March 1 – 3 in Sioux City, Iowa, at the Dakota Dunes Roadside Motel and Convention Center.</p><p>Attendees can attend panel discussions, visit the Merchandise Room to purchase apparel, collectibles, and books, cosplay as their favorite characters, and read their favorite fan fiction at live readings. Organizers recently added the event "<i>Holmes & Watson</i> After Dark," a reading of erotic fan fiction.</p><p>Attendees will also be able to get autographs and attend panel discussions by notable cast members of the film.</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Mark Anthony Dawson, who played the uncredited role "Beefeater #1," will sign autographs and lead a Q&A session about his work on the film, including questions about the craft table and his brief interactions with Will Ferrell's personal assistant.</li><li>Attendees can also attend a viewing of a pre-recorded Zoom video Q&A with Wesley Kent-Hargreaves, who portrayed Weird Child Companion.</li><li>The uncle of Hector Bateman-Harden, who portrayed Young Sherlock Holmes, will be selling original headshots of his famous nephew in the Merchandise Room for $10 apiece or two for $18.</li></ul><p></p><p><br /></p><p>"This is a big deal for us," said Dakota Dunes assistant night manager Carl Alcorn. "We haven't had any celebrities of Mr. Dawson's magnitude here in several years. We once had Hacksaw Jim Duggan stop in for a night when his van broke down, but that was in 1995 after he retired."</p><p><br /></p><p>One of the most looked-forward-to panel discussions is entitled "Embracing the Silliness: How <i>Holmes & Watson</i> Changed My Outlook and Saved My Life," hosted by a mystery panelist known only as The Accordionist.</p></blockquote><p></p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjcAGGy2G1yF5ZMNhB4AYiGBmfEL-NBD1UR1aqIZVxrjxSfQwg2281UDUk_yPQe_RPFc_OrnA8W4QxSyOgNRk_dCdOMAj-dybyVlN3MUfBUu3OjzEsA_Q3e4yh1tvSpchjRfkWjJCInHrgx2f1uJbM9LFsepbs6CYnBEZyhnjz1BtsXQ6evXxPOGq23xJ80" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="450" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjcAGGy2G1yF5ZMNhB4AYiGBmfEL-NBD1UR1aqIZVxrjxSfQwg2281UDUk_yPQe_RPFc_OrnA8W4QxSyOgNRk_dCdOMAj-dybyVlN3MUfBUu3OjzEsA_Q3e4yh1tvSpchjRfkWjJCInHrgx2f1uJbM9LFsepbs6CYnBEZyhnjz1BtsXQ6evXxPOGq23xJ80=w300-h400" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">The only known photo of The Accordionist</span></i></td></tr></tbody></table><br />"I loved this film the moment it came out," said The Accordionist from <a href="https://scottmonty.com/" target="_blank">his home studio in southeast Michigan</a></p><blockquote><p>. "Most of my friends think I hate it, but really, I have not loved a comedy film more. Ferrell and Reilly are the modern-day Laurel and Hardy, and they're not given enough credit for their amazing body of work. Holmes & Watson was the pinnacle of their comedy genius."</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2019/02/sherlock-holmes-brings-home-major-film.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><i>Holmes & Watson</i> won Golden Raspberries in 2019</a> for Worst Picture, Worst Director, Worst Supporting Actor, and Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-off or Sequel.</p><p>Photos of the Golden Raspberries will be on display in the Autograph Area and Breakfast Nook, where fans can take selfies with the photos for $10.</p><p><br /></p><p>"It's an honor just to have been part of this amazing cast and crew," said Jacob McGrath, who will attend H&W Con and work as the Merchant Room's overnight security guard. "I was just minding my own business, drinking and sitting in an alley, when I was picked to be an extra for the courtroom scene. Their craft table was amazing. I hadn't seen that many Twinkies and Ding Dongs in one place. And now I get to honor the memory of that wonderful production by guarding over its collectibles. You guys are providing meals, too, right?"</p></blockquote><p></p><p><br /></p><p>While this is obviously a parody (in case you haven't figured it out yet), one wonders if such a convention might be possible...?</p><p><br /></p><div><br /></div>

Prepare Yourself for H&W Con

 “pestering me any more with your silly talk” [BLUE] It's always a joy when we hear about new Sherlock Holmes-related events, particular...

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by Scott Monty

Baker Street Elementary – An Impish Habit

<h4 style="text-align: center;">“You are certainly joking, Holmes” [BLUE] </h4><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji5dtdwmA5Y0hUGznccuJ9nsD3iLIY3kr_sIBWerAosyNNqgQ0uUnxa_YKevFwhcZRU5CXRzaPPkNOKPMXHXHuA7liL8dgNaL63FP8xOV3eyI-Hj-bz0tmWdHN1ljtoi_0lPNiZ75dXITGLkNOR6h7Fbln0YXDur9ZdFTyHA078tSfzK8e4ufLukizu4S1/s480/Baker%20Street%20Elementary%20181.1.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="384" data-original-width="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji5dtdwmA5Y0hUGznccuJ9nsD3iLIY3kr_sIBWerAosyNNqgQ0uUnxa_YKevFwhcZRU5CXRzaPPkNOKPMXHXHuA7liL8dgNaL63FP8xOV3eyI-Hj-bz0tmWdHN1ljtoi_0lPNiZ75dXITGLkNOR6h7Fbln0YXDur9ZdFTyHA078tSfzK8e4ufLukizu4S1/s16000/Baker%20Street%20Elementary%20181.1.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Sherlock Holmes was a practical joker.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">The great consulting detective — known for his deductive reasoning skills, his numerous monographs, and the seriousness with which he took his work — enjoyed practical jokes.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">He admitted it himself in "The Mazarin Stone," when he returned the jewel to its rightful owner:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">“Too bad, Lord Cantlemere, too bad!” cried Holmes. “My old friend here will tell you that I have an impish habit of practical joking. Also that I can never resist a dramatic situation. I took the liberty—the very great liberty, I admit—of putting the stone into your pocket at the beginning of our interview.”</div></blockquote></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">He used a similar ruse (but didn't admit it) with the Right Honourable Trelawney Hope in "The Second Stain," when he slipped the missing document back into the despatch box.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">So when clients, the police, or perpetrators claimed actions were practical jokes — such as in "The Dancing Men," "The Five Orange Pips," or "The Norwood Builder," respectively — Holmes, an inveterate practical joker as well as a world-class consulting detective, knew that such suggestions were incorrect.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Add to this Holmes's delight in fooling others with his various disguises, and we find a wonderfully mischievous sense of humor beneath the logical exterior. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><h3 style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Related: </b></h3><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><i>Trifles </i>Episode 259: <a href="https://www.sherlockholmespodcast.com/2021/12/episode-259-did-sherlock-holmes-have.html" target="_blank">Did Sherlock Holmes Have a Sense of Humor?</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" data-dashlane-frameid="2403" data-dashlane-rid="00cc39d2589cad5f" data-form-type="" height="192" mozallowfullscreen="true" msallowfullscreen="true" oallowfullscreen="true" scrolling="no" src="https://play.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/21502643/height/192/theme/modern/size/large/thumbnail/yes/custom-color/676767/time-start/00:00:00/playlist-height/200/direction/backward/download/yes/font-color/FFFFFF" style="border: none;" title="Embed Player" webkitallowfullscreen="true" width="100%"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">And to think it might have all started at Baker Street Elementary...</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div></div></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbzsFopH9iwhhVYrzDDFVIvqTKWZrIek9cEq8zq6TfR_dBEIWgpO3UBfi79I-DO9ZiqXDYs0GyFHmZ8V50m3vGnOsVVihMEd9bWlvC7CLXdTaRNVGcBuN_OiNqvJWioBjcXN3xfxIb3BnqV-oGPZs1zsn_m8IZ4wF0oCI7fyL3_iwlgFmZCLkcjB2lZNsn/s480/Baker%20Street%20Elementary%20181.2.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="384" data-original-width="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbzsFopH9iwhhVYrzDDFVIvqTKWZrIek9cEq8zq6TfR_dBEIWgpO3UBfi79I-DO9ZiqXDYs0GyFHmZ8V50m3vGnOsVVihMEd9bWlvC7CLXdTaRNVGcBuN_OiNqvJWioBjcXN3xfxIb3BnqV-oGPZs1zsn_m8IZ4wF0oCI7fyL3_iwlgFmZCLkcjB2lZNsn/s16000/Baker%20Street%20Elementary%20181.2.JPG" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVWKWvQR6PuXJjS_qymaMYqGIRqAyymg4EMJWp4LhyvpDvONIr3BwwnwvhuaJRbRloRkhT1KP9IkI2Fc_NaZjCFJV3-Z_3T-pLcI-Kmtr7tS0xIvZPoAMYsIfwg4_YVA3Nt-7tiH2RyHGKO1L64c1kRwVBhfCsX4uCVmMzeLTIPIh0L59yFcNRAUWZgjux/s480/Baker%20Street%20Elementary%20181.3.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="384" data-original-width="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVWKWvQR6PuXJjS_qymaMYqGIRqAyymg4EMJWp4LhyvpDvONIr3BwwnwvhuaJRbRloRkhT1KP9IkI2Fc_NaZjCFJV3-Z_3T-pLcI-Kmtr7tS0xIvZPoAMYsIfwg4_YVA3Nt-7tiH2RyHGKO1L64c1kRwVBhfCsX4uCVmMzeLTIPIh0L59yFcNRAUWZgjux/s16000/Baker%20Street%20Elementary%20181.3.JPG" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitS_6teuAzTzzHcNicKa4WJCLyYnnXsktDAW-TfjleVXJpL4G9gAvnS5wBOCwXnEXzQTJn6ldZ8XhlSQ4PcTWlZHFZ8E1U3bUGyBFlDJV3VTk3SO-HlQ5jju_V2OzIVZ9WiSyhu0Fod_JnBsqA3W2da8USB2v2aj7Fx95527M-7fyHJ8Xc_UFYjNFvRaW3/s480/Baker%20Street%20Elementary%20181.4.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="384" data-original-width="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitS_6teuAzTzzHcNicKa4WJCLyYnnXsktDAW-TfjleVXJpL4G9gAvnS5wBOCwXnEXzQTJn6ldZ8XhlSQ4PcTWlZHFZ8E1U3bUGyBFlDJV3VTk3SO-HlQ5jju_V2OzIVZ9WiSyhu0Fod_JnBsqA3W2da8USB2v2aj7Fx95527M-7fyHJ8Xc_UFYjNFvRaW3/s16000/Baker%20Street%20Elementary%20181.4.JPG" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div></div></div><div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b style="background-color: white; color: #0e0e0e; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; 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 John Watson, as they and their friends work through the issues of elementary school in Victorian London. An archive of all previous episodes can be viewed at </span><a href="http://www.bakerstreetelementary.org/" style="background-color: white; color: #006f85; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; text-align: left;">www.bakerstreetelementary.org</a><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><br /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">–</div></div>

Baker Street Elementary – An Impish Habit

“You are certainly joking, Holmes” [BLUE]  Sherlock Holmes was a practical joker. The great consulting detective — known for his deductive r...

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by Scott Monty

Baker Street Elementary – Misleading Man

<h4 style="text-align: center;">“I would have made a highly efficient criminal” [CHAS]  </h4><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPtvyJf-vj60TMakz1pLwHssUo-wnmq7yKzAoK_deRiELaWVxA7EYzr70BiPGpDsCJMUr5lffLziTN-w-MQOXMJ3o2jaK1q51hJkq08eixOWuY9ga5VRTwEYWorg9hfKwbxFfL4jNHzJYZKQ-Yja8_63A6CgCFtSBZdMotQ5nP2xMcMpO5HqKDt7g1n7MC/s480/Baker%20Street%20Elementary%20175.1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="384" data-original-width="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPtvyJf-vj60TMakz1pLwHssUo-wnmq7yKzAoK_deRiELaWVxA7EYzr70BiPGpDsCJMUr5lffLziTN-w-MQOXMJ3o2jaK1q51hJkq08eixOWuY9ga5VRTwEYWorg9hfKwbxFfL4jNHzJYZKQ-Yja8_63A6CgCFtSBZdMotQ5nP2xMcMpO5HqKDt7g1n7MC/s16000/Baker%20Street%20Elementary%20175.1.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Sherlock Holmes always sought the truth. As he reminded Watson, </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">“How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?” [SIGN]</div></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">He let data lead him where he needed to go, even if the conclusion was less than ideal. But he was careful about collecting that data:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">“Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing,” answered Holmes thoughtfully. “It may seem to point very straight to one thing, but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something entirely different.” [BOSC]</div></blockquote></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Yet he would allow Scotland Yard and the official police force to follow their own misguided attempts at capturing criminals from time to time, almost intentionally misleading them.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">In "Wisteria Lodge," he encouraged Inspector Baynes to “follow your path and I will follow mine,” and he allowed Lestrade to continue to pursue his theory of monomania in "The Six Napoleons." </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Why would he do this? For one, it allowed him an unfettered path to pursue his own inquiries. And for another, it kept them in his good graces, so they would continue to come to him for assistance.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">In fact, our introduction to the official police in <i>A Study in Scarlet</i> gives it away:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"></div><blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">“My dear fellow, what does it matter to me. Supposing I unravel the whole matter, you may be sure that Gregson, Lestrade, and Co. will pocket all the credit. That comes of being an unofficial personage.”</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br />“But he begs you to help him.”<br /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">“Yes. He knows that I am his superior, and acknowledges it to me; but he would cut his tongue out before he would own it to any third person.”</div></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"></div></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Of course, at Baker Street Elementary, it began a little more nefariously...</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOHyb6KrSImEUx2DCCfDlGkc9g8Gs5iZSbFmmb3-dcjksQIGEa25pQrLjyUkl_wfQgC4WGXUTvjamaCgqRXrpT4xtBNmgMt2NiUH_YrYcNpM0UsCvbrU0dNneVdCziNLcxNdDGlSuYH6Uyn4-525VD3S-8ykQCA91hE94FdAN6IB3XSbI4mmfJmDQ6sNkE/s480/Baker%20Street%20Elementary%20175.2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="384" data-original-width="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOHyb6KrSImEUx2DCCfDlGkc9g8Gs5iZSbFmmb3-dcjksQIGEa25pQrLjyUkl_wfQgC4WGXUTvjamaCgqRXrpT4xtBNmgMt2NiUH_YrYcNpM0UsCvbrU0dNneVdCziNLcxNdDGlSuYH6Uyn4-525VD3S-8ykQCA91hE94FdAN6IB3XSbI4mmfJmDQ6sNkE/s16000/Baker%20Street%20Elementary%20175.2.JPG" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ2xchmJmdjzzde6vEjNdic2zv4hsM2Nt8ICxbVSSVEPYgEAA4mqyJ2EseZGKAJF6dOJFB0G7vJD4UkG47P0tgCQu9lx0PGbW4hR690oCXnaImh8B8Yr7fPj15b-rf-OdR-eA6dYmdzE5e-waDYn4Y3mco7F1xLY79FmwW15v3uiVIJ6gQx5NBnIK4t_Pm/s480/Baker%20Street%20Elementary%20175.3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="384" data-original-width="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ2xchmJmdjzzde6vEjNdic2zv4hsM2Nt8ICxbVSSVEPYgEAA4mqyJ2EseZGKAJF6dOJFB0G7vJD4UkG47P0tgCQu9lx0PGbW4hR690oCXnaImh8B8Yr7fPj15b-rf-OdR-eA6dYmdzE5e-waDYn4Y3mco7F1xLY79FmwW15v3uiVIJ6gQx5NBnIK4t_Pm/s16000/Baker%20Street%20Elementary%20175.3.JPG" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; 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margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="384" data-original-width="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVCo_D4jpfyufh9wv6Fe1rg5CA2aFBBNHmazIWMkJndHKTFZ7VzknGuIrCAGnOTtQR8JP721MRR54BmrD5xZraap_LME_Dg1z1MYFN8zuXK1ydxm6L-CeVDRbFggH_n02ROn8iXMEPwW3GanAJJE7enrTDKZf6i1iuv5xX185ABB7A7GDhMRFT-GF4uNR4/s16000/Baker%20Street%20Elementary%20175.5.JPG" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk0FnL-6NofA0HFkmcT1n3-0t4c-1Nk-PlA7L_ogPnJfEidnnI2dk6o5RM1sRQGC883GvWTFbRTV-6hTqFeQmJQh9qXZGF9hH-6n-FAOQbLw-BSKOXZLZ3z0MAF4XGriCBpXLf47ExnJd5SGvbmyiPh2rFm_UB2xpWzNpiPBqgO86BR5Pg6eC9cRsSaxJJ/s480/Baker%20Street%20Elementary%20175.6.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="384" data-original-width="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk0FnL-6NofA0HFkmcT1n3-0t4c-1Nk-PlA7L_ogPnJfEidnnI2dk6o5RM1sRQGC883GvWTFbRTV-6hTqFeQmJQh9qXZGF9hH-6n-FAOQbLw-BSKOXZLZ3z0MAF4XGriCBpXLf47ExnJd5SGvbmyiPh2rFm_UB2xpWzNpiPBqgO86BR5Pg6eC9cRsSaxJJ/s16000/Baker%20Street%20Elementary%20175.6.JPG" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; 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color: #0e0e0e; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; 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 John Watson, as they and their friends work through the issues of elementary school in Victorian London. An archive of all previous episodes can be viewed at </span><a href="http://www.bakerstreetelementary.org/" style="background-color: white; color: #006f85; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; text-align: left;">www.bakerstreetelementary.org</a><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><br /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div>

Baker Street Elementary – Misleading Man

“I would have made a highly efficient criminal” [CHAS]   Sherlock Holmes always sought the truth. As he reminded Watson,  “How often have I ...

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by Scott Monty

The Story Behind the Greatest Sherlockian Hoax of All Time

<h4 style="text-align: center;"> “wondering whether the whole thing was an elaborate hoax” [STOC] </h4><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh4BBWBaOADsYBqcAn-OWLOQrCiRiX1LLhV-QSIMPgg_mvr59HDmBn8q-HNsds5OeR_zsGD1YE0cocC2X-BcrqkKcqEqG63DU-87S135kf8e4ZgLpqs-jSzM-mI55PrUWRn92fbJ7H1Ax9-LVYf6ibUzdLye_osuKffO2_pwMu_68q8QNWifKgHfDoXAPJZ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="866" data-original-width="1179" height="470" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh4BBWBaOADsYBqcAn-OWLOQrCiRiX1LLhV-QSIMPgg_mvr59HDmBn8q-HNsds5OeR_zsGD1YE0cocC2X-BcrqkKcqEqG63DU-87S135kf8e4ZgLpqs-jSzM-mI55PrUWRn92fbJ7H1Ax9-LVYf6ibUzdLye_osuKffO2_pwMu_68q8QNWifKgHfDoXAPJZ=w640-h470" width="640" /></a></div></div><p></p><div>Today marks 17 years since one of the greatest Sherlockian hoaxes since... well, we were going to say since the Cottingley Fairies, but that wasn't strictly Sherlockian, was it?</div><div><br /></div><div>Back in 2007, the entertainment world was in a bit of a Sherlock Holmes drought. We were 13 years past "The Cardboard Box," the final episode in the Granada Sherlock Holmes series, made popular in part by Jeremy Brett in the starring role. And it was three years before <i>Sherlock</i> with Benedict Cumberbatch would debut, and five years before <i>Elementary</i> with Jonny Lee Miller would make its first appearance. </div><div><br /></div><div>The talk of the town in 2007 was a potential movie project dreamt up by former Warner Bros. producer Lionel Wigram, who had been working on a concept for about 10 years. In March, Warner Bros. finally committed to the idea and the project was announced.</div><div><br /></div><div>But who would they seek to don the deerstalker in this iconic role? What Hollywood star would have the screen presence combined with an ability to draw box office audiences?</div><div><br /></div><div>Speculation had already surfaced on some entertainment news sites and discussion forums that Russell Crowe was a candidate. Many in the Sherlockian community wrinkled their noses at such a ridiculous miscasting. Crowe was hardly the right type for Holmes.</div><div><br /></div><div>Who might be a better candidate?</div><div><br /></div><div>We immediately thought back to 1985 and Nicholas Rowe in his appearance in <i>Young Sherlock Holmes</i>. His similarity in looks to Dr. Joseph Bell, the inspiration for Sherlock Holmes, was uncanny, and he would have been the proper age in 2007 to play a true Sherlock Holmes.</div><div><br /></div><div>So we whipped up some background and convincing narrative and, on April 1, posted this item: "<a href="https://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2007/04/is-long-row-veil_1.html" target="_blank">Nicholas Rowe to Reprise His Role in Updated Sherlock Holmes Movie</a>." </div><div><br /></div><div>Of course, this was years before he'd have a cameo in the Ian McKellen-starring film <i>Mr. Holmes</i> in 2015:</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgr_VN9HNy21aeBfNsH3AIevQXuWJbWKB4TtD7hOHCy0jstu5R7RxLEzLb_cOtllOFhpEDb7yQhFfC0K__pM9eXXVwAnIiXkHoIV6F2EWURFH4QJQBGOet_J80qdKPRZy_fbg9wjBmbEYTpWK9xIIj46NHvwFva3WEJIIqdiow2lpOeFtytTWWMm4qKBDe4" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="337" data-original-width="599" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgr_VN9HNy21aeBfNsH3AIevQXuWJbWKB4TtD7hOHCy0jstu5R7RxLEzLb_cOtllOFhpEDb7yQhFfC0K__pM9eXXVwAnIiXkHoIV6F2EWURFH4QJQBGOet_J80qdKPRZy_fbg9wjBmbEYTpWK9xIIj46NHvwFva3WEJIIqdiow2lpOeFtytTWWMm4qKBDe4=w640-h360" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Since those innocent early(ish) days of the Internet, it has become customary to view news stories with incredulity or even cynicism. But we were operating on the bleeding edge of things, and aside from a link at the bottom of the story alerting readers <a href="https://hoaxes.org/aprilfool/" target="_blank">to background info</a> and the date of the byline, there was nothing to indicate foul play was afoot.</div><div><br /></div><div>Well, the public ate it up and for a brief moment, <i>I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere</i> became a source for Hollywood news. </div><div><br /></div><div>We <a href="https://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2007/04/had-fooled-us-3gar_2.html" target="_blank">came clean</a> the following day, revealing the hoax.</div><div><br /></div><div>And Robert Downey, Jr. went on to be selected to play the role in the Guy Richie-directed <i>Sherlock Holmes</i> (2009) and sequel <i>Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows</i> (2011), both of which were global box office smash hits, raking in over $500 million each.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Be careful what you read out there on April Fool's Day. The game is afoot.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>

The Story Behind the Greatest Sherlockian Hoax of All Time

 “wondering whether the whole thing was an elaborate hoax” [STOC]  Today marks 17 years since one of the greatest Sherlockian hoaxes since.....

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by Scott Monty