I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere

The Symmetry of Sherlock

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"a little short and thick for symmetry" [NAVA]</h4>
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Sherlock Holmes said, "Art in the blood is liable to take the strangest forms." And with his penchant for noticing details that others fail to notice, one might wonder if his tendencies border on the obsessive.<br />
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Take, for example, the classic scene in which Holmes asked Watson about a very common architectural feature in Baker Street, in this scene, described by Watson:<br />
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I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I remarked," the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled, until you explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good as yours."<br />"Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen the steps which lead up from the hall to this room."<br />"Frequently."<br />"How often?"<br />"Well, some hundreds of times."<br />"Then how many are there?"<br />"How many! I don't know."<br />"Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, because I have both seen and observed."</blockquote>
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That level of detail and minutiae — a level that escapes the average person — is what sets Sherlock Holmes apart.</div>
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So when Steve Lawes, the principal cinematographer for the series, had an opportunity, he was equally as obsessive about the details of some of his shots. In particular, <a href="https://vimeo.com/cgmzz">Celia Gómez</a> determined that a number of shots were arranged in a perfectly symmetrical fashion. She created <a href="https://vimeo.com/183124955" target="_blank">a short video</a> (embedded below) that highlights her astute observations.<br />
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It's quite clever, and the cinematography reflects the nature of Holmes's ordered mind. What do you think? </div>
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<i>Tip of the deerstalker: We originally discovered this video via Bob Katz, BSI ("Dr. Anstruther") on Facebook, where he shared a link to <a href="http://www.ew.com/article/2016/09/23/sherlock-video-symmetry-cinematography" target="_blank">an article on Entertainment Weekly</a>.</i><br />
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The Symmetry of Sherlock

"a little short and thick for symmetry" [NAVA] Sherlock Holmes said, "Art in the blood is liable to take the strangest f...

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by Scott Monty

Review — The R.X. Problem (The Adventures of Watts and Sherlock Book 1)

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"in which the future city was sketched out" [STUD]</h4>
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Sherlock Holmes and science-fiction have a surprisingly good relationship. Many great science-fiction authors from Harlan Ellison to Isaac Asimov to <a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2016/04/interview-with-sci-fi-legend-jack.html" target="_blank">Jack McDevitt</a> have written their own Holmes scholarship and pastiches. Perhaps because, unlike fantasy, science-fiction must be grounded in the realm of logic and possibility, it is much easier to see Holmes dealing with mechanical menaces than fairies or gnomes.  Spooks need not apply, but computers are another matter.  Which brings us to Katie Magnusson's delightful cyberpunk Holmes story collection, <i>The R.X. Problem (The Adventures of Watts and Sherlock, Book 1)</i>.<br />
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In this book which technically is a short story collection but has a narrative thread connecting all of the tales together, we have a Holmesian character (not Sherlock Holmes, though he is inspired  by the great detective) who becomes roommates with Dr. Watts, a wounded veteran who now has a portion of his body replaced with cybernetics — much better treatment than poor Dr. Watson received for his injury from Maiwand. After being discharged from combat, Watts must find a roommate, and he is connected with the mysterious Sherlock, a consulting detective from a Historic Colony (a village where people still live as if it is the Victorian time period), who now resides in the city.<br />
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While the beginning of the story is a futuristic revision of the introductory chapters of <i>A Study in Scarlet</i>, once the mysteries begin, we are in all new adventures. A smart move on Ms. Magnusson's part. She sprinkles in connections to Doyle's adventures such as adding in Irregulars and a Lestrade stand-in with Detective Murphy, but the vision of this dystopian future in which corporations run what remains of the world and a vast wasteland is all that's left of the suburbs is entirely her own creation. We have traditional Holmes adventures grounded in this bleak futuristic world which makes for a great read. The overarching mystery connecting the stories together deals with a new highly addictive street drug known as "sunshine" and its connection to the supposedly benevolent R.X. corporation.<br />
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The writing is quite good and rightly focuses on the development of the friendship between the two men. Sherlock is very much like Sherlock Holmes. When reading his voice, you can feel the Doyle connection. Watts is quite different from Dr. Watson. He is a gruff, no nonsense doctor jaded from his battle experience. I found his voice to be more like that of characters from Chandler than characters from Doyle, and that is not a criticism. He makes a nice bridge between the two worlds, save with one exception. At one point, Watts uses a vulgar expletive. It isn't necessarily out of character, but it did not seem to fit the book, and I almost saw Dr. Watson taking Watts to task for using such a term in his name. <br />
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My only other complaint is one that fits with most other cyberpunk books — the technology. It is difficult to find the right footing in a futuristic world and while some of the changes such as easily getting an arm replacement are visionary, they are juxtaposed with standard technology that feels like it too should be more advanced. In a world where people can literally plug into the Internet via connections in their arms, they are still using cell phones and sending text messages.  In a world where people can get a mechanical leg replacement at a local hospital or even in the black market, police still have to send DNA evidence away to a lab to get tested. It is a minor complaint, but it is one that took me out of the stories on a few occasions. The writing is of such high quality, however, that it did not take me long to be rapt in the tales again.<br />
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On a different point, the story I found to be the absolute best in the collection was also the most traditional. "A Murder in the Colony," has Sherlock returning to his home historic colony and solving a murder that his father supposedly committed. It is not completely traditional. The new technology is important to the tale, but for the most part, the characters must only use what was available in the Victorian time period as well as their wits. The relationship between Sherlock and his parents is strained and we get glimpse into what made the man become the futuristic consulting detective.  Even if you are not a fan of anything non-traditional with Sherlock Holmes, I still recommend reading this collection if only for this story.  It is truly exceptional.<br />
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I look forward to Katie Magnusson's next Watts and Holmes collection (the book ends with a sneak peek at the second volume), and I also hope she writes a traditional collection of Holmes tales as well.  She is a talented writer and can easily write for both worlds. <br />
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<i>The R. X. Problem (The Adventures of Watts and Holmes Book 1)</i> is available as a <a href="https://www.amazon.com/R-X-Problem-Adventures-Watts-Sherlock/dp/1532929242/" target="_blank">paperback</a> and  an <a href="https://www.amazon.com/R-X-Problem-Adventures-Watts-Sherlock-ebook/dp/B01EAZN066/" target="_blank">ebook</a> on Amazon.  You can also visit the series' <a href="http://www.wattsandsherlock.com/" target="_blank">website</a>.<br />
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<i style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman";">Derrick Belanger is the author of the #1 bestselling book in its category <a amzn-ps-bm-asin="1519511957" class="amzn_ps_bm_tl" data-amzn-link-id="9e2003200f68f2fe44eb4bcdd1a73f6d" data-amzn-ps-bm-keyword="Sherlock Holmes: The Adventure of the Peculiar Provenance" href="http://www.amazon.com/Sherlock-Holmes-Adventure-Peculiar-Provenance/dp/1519511957/ref=as_li_bk_tl/?tag=thebakerstree-20&linkId=9e2003200f68f2fe44eb4bcdd1a73f6d&linkCode=ktl" id="amznPsBmLink_3292728" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Sherlock Holmes: The Adventure of the Peculiar Provenance</a><img alt="" border="0" height="0" id="amznPsBmPixel_3292728" src="https://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?source=bk&t=thebakerstree-20&bm-id=default&l=ktl&linkId=9e2003200f68f2fe44eb4bcdd1a73f6d&_cb=1451973203084" style="border: none; height: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 0px;" width="0" />, which was in the top 200 bestselling books on Amazon. He also is the author of the MacDougall Twins with Sherlock Holmes books, the latest of which is <a amzn-ps-bm-asin="B017862MVS" class="amzn_ps_bm_tl" data-amzn-link-id="5293cce6e7483fecbc2d08a80a6fd7fa" data-amzn-ps-bm-keyword="Curse of the Deadly Dinosaur" href="http://www.amazon.com/Deadly-Dinosaur-MacDougall-Sherlock-Holmes-ebook/dp/B017862MVS/ref=as_li_bk_tl/?tag=thebakerstree-20&linkId=5293cce6e7483fecbc2d08a80a6fd7fa&linkCode=ktl" id="amznPsBmLink_7842789" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Curse of the Deadly Dinosaur</a><img alt="" border="0" height="0" id="amznPsBmPixel_7842789" src="https://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?source=bk&t=thebakerstree-20&bm-id=default&l=ktl&linkId=5293cce6e7483fecbc2d08a80a6fd7fa&_cb=1451973247482" style="border: none; height: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 0px;" width="0" />, and he edited the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle horror anthology <a amzn-ps-bm-asin="B00P4E8AVI" class="amzn_ps_bm_tl" data-amzn-link-id="a71c0c4edf6b4a9c56848bf35d8b468a" data-amzn-ps-bm-keyword="A Study in Terror: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Revolutionary Stories of Fear and the Supernatural" href="http://www.amazon.com/Study-Terror-Revolutionary-Stories-Supernatural-ebook/dp/B00P4E8AVI/ref=as_li_bk_tl/?tag=thebakerstree-20&linkId=a71c0c4edf6b4a9c56848bf35d8b468a&linkCode=ktl" id="amznPsBmLink_5010397" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">A Study in Terror: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Revolutionary Stories of Fear and the Supernatural</a><img alt="" border="0" height="0" id="amznPsBmPixel_5010397" src="https://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?source=bk&t=thebakerstree-20&bm-id=default&l=ktl&linkId=a71c0c4edf6b4a9c56848bf35d8b468a&_cb=1451973259426" style="border: none; height: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 0px;" width="0" />. Mr. Belanger has recently started the publishing company <a href="http://www.belangerbooks.com/" target="_blank">Belanger Books</a> which released the Sherlock Holmes anthology <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Watson-Sherlock-Anthology-Stories/dp/1533202273/" target="_blank">Beyond Watson</a>. Derrick Belanger also is a frequent contributor to I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere. He resides in Colorado and continues compiling unpublished works by Dr. John H. Watson.</i><br />
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Review — The R.X. Problem (The Adventures of Watts and Sherlock Book 1)

"in which the future city was sketched out" [STUD] Sherlock Holmes and science-fiction have a surprisingly good relationshi...

+ Read more »

by Belanger Books

Episode 104: Sherlockians at Chautauqua

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"I had never heard of the institution" [GREE] </h4>
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Every four years, the Baker Street Irregulars, the New York-based literary society dedicated to studying Sherlock Holmes, arranges an excursion somewhere in the United States. These events happen outside of the usual BSI Weekend, and like the weekend itself, are open to all interested Sherlockians.<br />
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The first in 2004 took the group to Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania to the locales that inspired <i>The Valley of Fear</i>; then in 2008, the group went to Salt Lake City on the trail of <i>A Study in Scarlet</i>; in 2012, Los Angeles played host to a film-related conference. And in 2016, the group headed to the <a href="http://ciweb.org/" target="_blank">Chautauqua Institution</a> for "The Mind and Art of Sherlock Holmes."<br />
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And this time, we were there! We managed to not only listen to and see some wonderful presentations, but we gave one of our own on the future of our little publication. But in the meantime, we nabbed a few of the speakers and got their stories — stories that went beyond the presentations. We even have some audio (and video clips below) of Philip Carli at the piano during the silent showings of the William Gillette film and Eille Norwood shorts. We even have some breaking news on a newly-discovered silent Sherlock Holmes film — the last one ever produced, in 1929.<br />
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Join us to hear why this hobby is about more than the collective events and publications; it's about relationships.<br />
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<b>Notes</b></h3>
1:36 Intro<br />
6:22 Sponsor: Wessex Press<br />
7:34 On the ground in Chautauqua<br />
9:12 Interview with computer science legend Alan Kay<br />
12:39 Bonnie MacBird talks about the Vernet family<br />
14:45 Glen Miranker takes us to the WWI trenches<br />
20:30 Henry Boote, Sherlockian entertainer<br />
24:09 Tim Greer on staging Sherlock Holmes<br />
29:12 Sponsor: <i>The Baker Street Journal</i><br />
31:22 Silent films<br />
34:30 Philip Carli at the piano during the Norwood films<br />
37:15 Russell Merritt talks about the silent films — and a newly discovered one!<br />
41:59 Philip Carli accompanies the Gillette film<br />
44:42 Jeffrey Hatcher on his inspiration for Holmesian screenwriting and playwriting<br />
53:12 Closing thoughts<br />
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Sponsors</h3>
This episode includes our two longtime sponsors and we thank them. Please support our sponsors by visiting their sites:<br />
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<a href="http://traffic.libsyn.com/ihearofsherlock/ihearofsherlock104.mp3" target="_blank">Download</a> [Save As] | File size 26.5 MB, 57:32</h4>
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Links</h3>
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<li><a href="http://ciweb.org/">The Chautauqua Institution</a></li>
<li>Bonnie MacBird on <a href="http://ihose.co/ihose103">Episode 83: Art in the Blood</a></li>
<li>That <a href="https://flic.kr/p/7nAsnC">Moroccan table</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eille_Norwood">Eille Norwood</a></li>
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Additional Images / Videos</h3>
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Many more links, articles and images are available in our Flipboard magazine at  <a href="http://ihose.co/flipsherlock" target="_blank">ihose.co/flipsherlock</a>, as well as on the <a href="https://plus.google.com/communities/114565123495685504221" target="_blank">The Sherlock Holmes Community</a> on Google+ (with over 3,800 members), as well as through our accounts on  <a href="http://facebook.com/ihearofsherlock" target="_blank">Facebook</a>, <a href="http://instagram.com/ihearofsherlock">Instagram</a>, <a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2016/04/ihose-on-snapchat-just-in-time-for.html">Snapchat</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/ihearofsherlock" target="_blank">Twitter</a>  and <a href="http://ihearofsherlock.tumblr.com/" target="_blank">Tumblr</a>.</div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">--</span></div>

Episode 104: Sherlockians at Chautauqua

"I had never heard of the institution" [GREE] Every four years, the Baker Street Irregulars, the New York-based li...

+ Read more »

by Scott Monty

An Interview with the John H. Watson Society Treasure Hunt Master

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“This is treasure
trove indeed." [BLUE]</h4>
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Every August, online Sherlockians can count on the <a href="http://johnhwatsonsociety.com/treasure-hunt">John H. Watson Society Treasure Hunt</a>
taxing their knowledge of the sacred writings. 
Having just ended its fourth annual treasure hunt on September 1, we
interviewed “The Napoleon of Questions” behind the event, Margie Deck.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>I Hear of Sherlock
Everywhere: How did the John H. Watson Society Treasure Hunt get started?  Have you been associated with it since the
beginning?</b></h4>
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<b>Margie Deck:</b>
The Treasure Hunt, along with the John H. Watson Society as a whole, was the
brain-child of the late Don ‘Buttons’ Libey. He was a brilliant, enthusiastic,
friendly and kind man.  He conceived the
Treasure Hunt in 2013 as an individual competition. I read a posting he made at <i>Welcome
Holmes</i> about the society and the hunt. My first thoughts were that I wanted to give it a try, and, instead of
going it alone, I wanted to try it as part of a team made up of some of my Sherlockian
friends from <a href="http://soundofthebaskervilles.com/">The Sound of the Baskervilles</a>. I wrote to Buttons asking if the JHWS would consider adding a
team division to the hunt; he readily agreed. 
Our Sherlockian friendship began at that time, and I was fortunate to enjoy
working with him until his passing in early 2015. </div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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The first Treasure Hunt was insanely difficult and
wonderfully entertaining. I have no idea
how many hours we worked on it but, in the end, the SOBs prevailed--and my SOB
team mate and best friend, Sheila Holtgrieve, and I were solidly hooked on the
process. I believe that first year two
teams and one individual, the very clever Denny Dobry of Reading, Pennsylvania,
<a href="http://johnhwatsonsociety.com/treasure-hunt/results">actually finished it</a>. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Buttons was posting a weekly quiz for the JHWS at that time.
Sheila and I started doing those each week in order to practice for the next
Treasure Hunt.  With Buttons’ urging, I began
a puzzle column for <i><a href="http://johnhwatsonsociety.com/the-watsonian">The Watsonian</a></i>; we discussed quizzing and the Treasure Hunt
process often.  Buttons wrote the 2014
edition of the hunt, and the SOBs earned High Honors that year as well.  <o:p></o:p></div>
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In late December 2014, Buttons asked me to write the 2015
Treasure Hunt. I declined because I
wanted to be a contestant one more time, and, to be honest, I was a little
nervous about the whole idea. I made a commitment at that time to write the
2016 edition. When he passed away suddenly in March, it seemed only right that
I volunteer to write for 2015. He had previously asked me to do so, and I
wanted to help the JHWS continue. His
loss was a crushing blow for me personally and for the society. It literally
takes a dozen people to do all the tasks he took care of for JHWS. I miss him
every day.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I wrote the 2015 and the 2016 edition; I’m very proud of the
work. I like to think Buttons would be proud of it as well.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>IHOSE: How have you
seen the treasure hunt change over the years?</b></h4>
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<b>MD:</b> The main
change has been the number of participants actually submitting an entry. We have doubled each year, and I’m hopeful
2016 will be our best year yet in number of competitors. One thing I have loved about the Treasure
Hunt is that it has been an international competition from the beginning.
Having teams from various countries makes our competition unique. In 2015, we
added teams from Canada and the UK to compete with our returning French, Italian
and American teams. This year we added
competitors from <a href="http://www.sherlockholmessociety.in/">The Sherlock Holmes Society of India</a>. I hope the growth
continues.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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One change I
instituted is the scoring by points. Each question is, of course, one point unless it has more than one
element, and then each element has a point. I believe in the 2016 edition, questions range from one point to up to
four or five points. I added this simply
to make the hunt more competitive. Holmes said playing the game is its own reward but I think we still like
to win. The points help mix it up a bit.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The other changes in the hunt are in the writing process. Buttons
crafted his hunts with lengthy threads where one answer was required in order
to have the needed information to answer the next question.  The threads were good fun, but I made the decision
to not use them. His threads required
the use of a specific edition of the Canon due to the need for specific page
numbers and word counts. I thought we might have more competitors if any
edition of the Canon would suffice as a reference. Also, Buttons’ hunts required access to a
great deal of the scholarship, including the old and new series of <i><a href="http://www.bakerstreetjournal.com/">The Baker Street Journal</a></i> and <i>The Baker Street Miscellanea</i>. When I was a competitor, I did not have access
to those publications, and I found it difficult to work on the threads without
them at hand. So, again, I hoped to increase our numbers by not requiring that
access.<o:p></o:p></div>
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However, I do want to honor the scholarship and I do include
some scholarship questions. When I write questions that require going outside
the Canon, I spend some time on the internet looking for the sought
answer. I do not use a question from
outside the Canon that I cannot find an answer for with an internet search of
some sort.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>IHOSE: Have you
already started working on next year's devilish questions yet?  How far in advance do you start?</b></h4>
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<b>MD: </b>Actually, as
the plan is now, I will be a competitor again in 2017. The amazing Michele Lopez of the <a href="http://www.unostudioinholmes.org/homepage.htm">Uno Studio in Holmes</a> of Italy has
agreed to be Treasure Hunt Master next year. He is a driving force within the Sherlockian community in Italy, and his
team scored High Honors in the 2015 Treasure Hunt, and Honors in 2014. He has written some of the weekly quizzes at
JHWS and I know he is going to be a terrific hunt master.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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Asking Michele to write next year’s hunt was my idea; I
think all volunteer organizations need a healthy spirit of rotation in order to
thrive. Taking a break should help my
creative process and keep my question writing from becoming stale; it is also
good to be reminded what it is like to be a competitor. I hope to come back as Treasure Hunt Master
in 2018, or 2019, depending on how things work out.  Should something go awry with our plan, I
will write in 2017 if needed. Hopefully,
I will have plenty of notice as it does take some time to craft the questions. <o:p></o:p></div>
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In 2015, I did not know until March, of course, that I
needed to write the hunt, so I had from March 15 to July 31. I finished the final draft about July 20<sup>th</sup>. For 2016, I knew that I had a year to
prepare.  I started drafting ideas in
October, and writing questions in earnest in January; the final draft was
complete around July 1. For my writing
process, I need about six months. I do
not know how long it took Buttons to write the first hunt; I know he did the
second one in a month. I would not be
able to do it in a month.  But then, he
had read the Canon from beginning to end every single year for thirty
consecutive years. He knew his Holmes
and Watson.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The time it takes to finish somewhat depends on the time my
proof reader has available to work with me. 
While I believe Buttons worked alone, I do not want to.  For 2015, my friend, the very astute Melissa Anderson
of the Peoria-based <a href="http://www.sherlockpeoria.net/Hansom_pages/Hansomsmain.html">Hansoms of John Clayton</a>, worked with me, and in 2016, my SOB teammate Sheila Holtgrieve and
I were back working together.   <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>IHOSE: Can you
describe the question making process for us?</b></h4>
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<b>MD: </b>For me, the
first step is, oddly enough, the last question. “What is the treasure for the year?” must be answered first. Once that question is sorted, I spend a great
deal of time just reading. When
something seems interesting to me, I make a note, and then go back to
reading. Like most people I know, I have
a stack of Sherlockian books in the house. I open one at random, read a few paragraphs,
make a few notes, close it, pickup another one and do the same thing. Before long, I have a stack of notes about
things I found interesting from different sources. I take those topics to the Canon, and start
searching for the applicable parts of the stories. I often get side-tracked. I will be reading a story, looking for one
thing based on the notes I made, find something else more interesting, and
start working on it. Once I am clear on the idea for the question, then I start
working on the wording. The question
must not be too easy but it must be answerable. This year I chose a quote from the Canon for the theme, and then crafted
the questions in a manner that reflected the theme.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Once I have some questions written, I share them with my
proof-reader. Besides the standard
check-for-grammar-typing-spelling-errors, I ask my helper to apply a three-part
assessment to each question:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<ol>
<li>When you read the question, do you understand what you
are being asked to find? </li>
<li>Do you see something in the wording that gives you a clue
as to where to begin to look for an answer?</li>
<li>Does the answer I have seem appropriate for the question
as written?</li>
</ol>
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If the helper cannot answer yes to each of the three
questions, then I re-write it until she can. One question this year was re-written at least six times. Sheila went one step farther this year and
drafted some question ideas as well; while she didn’t actually write questions,
her ideas were very helpful. Being a
three-year veteran of the hunt, she has some mad quizzing skills and I trust
her instincts. <o:p></o:p></div>
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When I have 100 questions written, I read the document out
loud to see if it actually flows. Reading aloud engages a different part of the brain than reading
silently; Sheila and I read it aloud in June, and found two errors that had
been on the thing for months that our eyes simply didn’t ‘see.’ It is an interesting process. I like that you used the word ‘devilish’ when
referring to the questions. As a matter
of fact, Sheila referred to them the same way. I have no idea why I can write them that way.  I just can.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>IHOSE: What was your
inspiration for the mixture questions that were added to this year's hunt?</b></h4>
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<b>MD: </b>The mixtures
idea came from the quote used for the theme—“…that mixture of imagination and
reality which is the basis of my art…”  I was telling someone about the chosen theme, and I said “Here, I go.
I’m going to mix things up,” and the idea for the structure just popped into my
head.  <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>IHOSE: Sherlockian
research and mentions of Holmes in other writer's works have appeared in
questions from time to time.  How far do
you allow yourself to stray from the Canon when making the questions?</b></h4>
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<b>MD: </b>As I’ve noted
before in this discussion, I want to honor the scholarship in a few questions,
and occasionally something really interesting relating to Holmes and Watson
will pop up in another, non-Sherlockian text. When I find something I would like to use, I use Google, or a similar
search engine to see if I can arrive at the information online. If I can, then I start working with the
information to craft a question. If I am
directly quoting another writer, I try to make it very clear so the treasure
hunter can see that he or she has the option of searching for those exact
words. </div>
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<b>IHOSE: Have you had
any upset participants when a ruling didn't go in their favor?</b></h4>
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<b>MD: </b>My experience
has always been positive. Actually I
think the only person ever even a tiny bit snappy about the Treasure Hunt was <i>me</i>; I was fussy with Buttons about a
certain question pertaining to a proper noun in 2014. If anyone were to be
grumpy with me, I would probably write it off to “third-week fatigue” and just
go on. That was certainly the case with
me, Buttons, and that proper noun. I understand it.  I have yet to have a truly rotten experience
with a Sherlockian about anything.  </div>
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For those of us that read <a href="http://ihose.co/ihose56" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Brad Keefauver</a>’s blog at <i><a href="http://sherlockpeoria.blogspot.com/">Sherlock Peoria</a></i>, we know that he has had some opinions about the Treasure Hunt,
and, last year, he wrote a piece calling me out a bit for going too far to help
someone with a question about the Treasure Hunt. His words were blunt but he was absolutely
right. I appreciate the honesty.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>IHOSE: What is your
favorite Canonical story?</b></h4>
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<b>MD: </b>Most of the
time, my favorite is "Charles Augustus Milverton," but I like "The Adventure of the Dying Detective" quite a bit, and I have a soft spot
for "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle." I guess that means that I am
unable to name just one. I can tell you
that "The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone" is my least favorite, except for that one line about Watson never
failing to play the game. Love that!</div>
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<b>IHOSE: The John H.
Watson Society Treasure Hunt is available all over the world because of online
communication.  What are your thoughts on
the rise of online Sherlockiana?</b></h4>
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<b>MD: </b>In 2003 I
discovered the online group <i>Welcome
Holmes</i>, and it changed my life. 
Talking with Sherlockians from everywhere became an integral part of my
life; when I moved to the Pacific Northwest in 2006, I joined The Sound of the
Baskervilles, and added the fellowship of a local group. I would not want to give up either way of
having Sherlockian friends.<br />
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Now, ten
years later, online communication has exploded and it seems quaint to think
there was a time it wasn’t available. Since BBC Sherlock became a force on the net, I feel happily
over-whelmed by it all. I’ve given up trying to keep up, and as a tiny fish in
vast ocean, I enjoy what comes my way and do not worry too much about the
rest. I have never really enjoyed
Sherlockian pastiche and therefore I tend to pass up the fanfic, and I don’t
participate in Facebook, so I miss a lot. I have made some lasting, wonderful friendships online and I’m grateful
for that. I understand there are some
dust-ups online from time to time between various mind-sets about what
constitutes being a Sherlockian. I stay
out of the fray. I think online
Sherlockiana is a blessing.</div>
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<br />
[<i>Editor's note:</i> follow Margie on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/pawkypuzzler" target="_blank">@pawkypuzzler</a>]<br />
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<b>IHOSE:  Is there anything else you would like to share with
the I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere readers about the John H. Watson Society or
its treasure hunt?</b></h4>
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<b>MD: </b>I appreciate
your time and attention. I hope you will consider forming a Treasure Hunt team
next year. Or perhaps joining The John H
Watson Society—the publications are amazing. 
Or both!</div>
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<b>Margie Deck</b> is a
member of The Sound of the Baskervilles and The John H. Watson Society. She also volunteers for <a href="http://www.sherlock-seattle.org/">Sherlock Seattle</a>.  She has been interested in Holmes since 2003, and active in Sherlockian societies since 2006.</div>
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<a href="http://www.johnhwatsonsociety.com/" target="_blank">The John H. Watson Society</a> was established in 2013 and is
always seeking new members at all stages of involvement in Watsonian,
Sherlockian and Holmesian interests.  Their
publication, <i>The Watsonian</i>, is
published on a bi-annual basis.  The
society also publishes members’ longer works as part of their <a href="http://johnhwatsonsociety.com/product-category/publications/fiction-series">Fiction Series</a> and <a href="http://johnhwatsonsociety.com/product-category/publications/monograph-series">Monograph Series</a>.<o:p></o:p><br />
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--<br />
<br /></div>

An Interview with the John H. Watson Society Treasure Hunt Master

“This is treasure trove indeed." [BLUE] Every August, online Sherlockians can count on the John H. Watson Society Treasure Hun...

+ Read more »

by Rob Nunn

Petr Kopl's Sherlock Holmes — A Review

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"...with the same feverish animation as before" [DYIN]</h4>
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Graphic novel and comic book adaptations of Sherlock Holmes often use canon as a departure point, crafting unique tales that create a properly Victorian atmosphere of high drama.<br />
<br />
Czech artist <a href="http://www.petrkopl.cz/" target="_blank">Petr Kopl's</a> adaptations of <b>"<a href="http://mxpublishing.com/product/9781780926803/A+Scandal+In+Bohemia+%E2%80%93+A+Sherlock+Holmes+Graphic+Novel" target="_blank">A Scandal In Bohemia</a>"</b> and <b><i><a href="http://mxpublishing.com/product/9781780927237/The+Hound+of+The+Baskervilles++%E2%80%93+A+Sherlock+Holmes+Graphic+Novel" target="_blank">The Hound of the Baskervilles</a></i></b> (both translated by Paul and Jana Simpson and released by MX Publishing) are a rare breed of pastiche: integrating the Canon and other Victorian-era references into a great mix that make for an astoundingly fun read.<br />
<br />
One of Kopl's strengths in both novels is his reliance on the original Sherlock Holmes stories to guide his storytelling, making these novels feel very Holmesian in spirit. (It's no wonder that the <a href="http://www.sherlockholmes.cz/" target="_blank">Czech Society of Sherlock Holmes</a> granted him an honorary membership in 2000). His adaptation of <b>A Scandal in Bohemia</b> manages to integrate <a href="http://sherlockholmes.stanford.edu/readings2.html" target="_blank">"The Adventure of the Speckled Band"</a> seamlessly, making it part of the overall story without any artificiality. Although seemingly the most retold Holmes tale in the canon, Kopl's adaptation of <b><i>The Hound of the Baskervilles</i></b> manages a pitch-perfect atmosphere of brooding horror and malevolence.<br />
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What makes both of Kopl's Holmes adaptations work is a strong sense of wit. Despite the slightly exaggerated quality of his art, Kopl never plays his Holmes and Watson strictly for laughs...although there are some legitimately laugh-out-loud moments. Kopl also integrates many clever references to other Victorian literary figures such as Phineas Fogg and a familiar character who got on the wrong train. (To say more would be spoiling). There is only one false note - an appearance by a more fantastic Victorian-era character - but otherwise these are spectacular works of Sherlockian lore.<br />
<br />
(Note: Kopl indicates that these two novels are part of a larger series narrative; however, both of these work very well as stand-alone reads. The third in the series—not reviewed for this article—is "<a href="http://mxpublishing.com/product/9781780928357/The+Final+Problem+%E2%80%93+A+Sherlock+Holmes+Graphic+Novel" target="_blank">The Final Problem</a>").<br />
<br />
With many artists and writers crafting graphic novel adaptations of the canon, there is a diverse range of works for Sherlockian scholars and fans to enjoy. Petr Kopl's "<b>A Scandal In Bohemia"</b> and <b><i>The Hound of the Baskervilles</i></b> are excellent starting points).<br />
<br />
All three of these Holmesian adaptations are available from <a href="http://mxpublishing.com/product/9781780926803/A+Scandal+In+Bohemia+%E2%80%93+A+Sherlock+Holmes+Graphic+Novel" target="_blank">MX Publishing</a>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqUNVcvxr-zrT3g-WOG9RmO0sihgST-1Z6anUCEB7U06p0d3ezJlIeE9KN3pa3yjZh9-f7WIy83wZ7tj2sYJUf1NeDvlwY8sbyIZp1TjB-P9PZhan_LnBS7X_q8Ix9iGc_VU52O8eZ6iVL/s1600/Kopl+FINA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqUNVcvxr-zrT3g-WOG9RmO0sihgST-1Z6anUCEB7U06p0d3ezJlIeE9KN3pa3yjZh9-f7WIy83wZ7tj2sYJUf1NeDvlwY8sbyIZp1TjB-P9PZhan_LnBS7X_q8Ix9iGc_VU52O8eZ6iVL/s200/Kopl+FINA.jpg" width="140" /></a>   <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicpwA0fmAI7HA98K7CQFGps7NUhjO2FP8KyHYgZ9nu2Wim45nWuePrZOIlyT8zkq4T-_i0Fqaxs5zZ-QU9FDBWOId0qRjL7WRY1rDWjkwlpsP2vRCVGL6ypx7rn4vkJH-gg1V-MuQgDVNE/s1600/Kopl+HOUN.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicpwA0fmAI7HA98K7CQFGps7NUhjO2FP8KyHYgZ9nu2Wim45nWuePrZOIlyT8zkq4T-_i0Fqaxs5zZ-QU9FDBWOId0qRjL7WRY1rDWjkwlpsP2vRCVGL6ypx7rn4vkJH-gg1V-MuQgDVNE/s200/Kopl+HOUN.jpg" width="133" /></a>   <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP6_bn_3qxBPERoJi9_eUUBFm9893S20W_xUJYTq9vP6uv9HM8FY0dzEl8UnpKFg8o4TGyhnX_tpkTIkpQJpbob1fQvpS0QR-pDoCsxx92iBlnsHtW8THllyOhfOEYkzrbJW1SDXyMRYJa/s1600/Kopl+SCAN.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP6_bn_3qxBPERoJi9_eUUBFm9893S20W_xUJYTq9vP6uv9HM8FY0dzEl8UnpKFg8o4TGyhnX_tpkTIkpQJpbob1fQvpS0QR-pDoCsxx92iBlnsHtW8THllyOhfOEYkzrbJW1SDXyMRYJa/s200/Kopl+SCAN.jpg" width="149" /></a></div>
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As a bonus, here's a video of Petr Kopl at work on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9oXwBXDf-k" target="_blank">a portrait of Sherlock Holmes</a>.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/T9oXwBXDf-k?rel=0" width="640"></iframe><br /></div>
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<i>Special thanks to Robert Skel for his assistance in acquiring review copies</i><br />
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</i></div>

Petr Kopl's Sherlock Holmes — A Review

"...with the same feverish animation as before" [DYIN] Graphic novel and comic book adaptations of Sherlock Holmes often us...

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by Gordon D

Episode 103: Coupling with Sherlock Holmes — Al & Julie Rosenblatt

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"they were said to be a most united couple." [DANC] </h4>
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You might call them the first couple of the Baker Street Irregulars. Albert ("Inspector Bradstreet") and Julia ("Mrs. Turner") Rosenblatt have graced the Sherlockian scenes as a couple since the early 1970s.<br />
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We had a chance to visit them at their home in New York, where we heard about a little girl named Margie and an unrelated trip to Meiringen were responsible for sparking the interest that led to so many amazing things.<br />
<br />
From arranging the quinquennial Sherlockian dinners at the Culinary Institute of America with Master Chef Fritz Sonnenschmidt, BSI ("Simpson's") to writing <i>Dining with Sherlock Holmes</i>, and providing us with the BSI year-in-review in verse and a second generation Sherlockian, Al and Julie have been sparking plugs for many others. <br />
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Join us to hear why this hobby is about more than the collective events and publications; it's about relationships.<br />
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We thank Mary Miller for her ongoing and generous support of our program on <a href="http://patreon.com/ihearofsherlock" target="_blank">Patreon</a>. Won't you be part of this ongoing success story?<br />
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<h3>
<b>Notes</b></h3>
1:36 Intro<br />
2:55 Listener comments<br />
7:33 Your comments, please<br />
9:35 Sponsor: The Wessex Press<br />
10:38 Meet Al and Julie Rosenblatt<br />
12:37 We have Margie to thank for Julie's first meeting with Sherlock Holmes<br />
14:10 Al's first meeting with Sherlock Holmes and a trip to Meirengen<br />
16:15 The Baker Street Irregulars come onto the scene<br />
18:23 Julie's educational efforts<br />
20:00 Sherlock Holmes and the law, including retired Sherlockians sitting in for fun<br />
22:30 Betsy, their Sherlockian progeny<br />
24:51 Al and Betsy begin their BSI Weekend in verse partnership<br />
29:00 The Venn diagram of a Sherlockian couple<br />
30:42 The beginnings of the Culinary Institute dinners<br />
36:57 The cookbook<br />
38:13 Master Chef Fritz Sonnenschmidt is on the scene<br />
44:52 Splitting attention between the BSI and ASH<br />
47:39 Memories of Julian Wolff<br />
50:03 Sponsor: <i>The Baker Street Journal</i><br />
51:45 A conversation with Julian about the difference between fact and fiction<br />
53:30 Women in the BSI<br />
1:00:25 Julie receives her investiture and the pair becomes the first entry in the Florin Society<br />
1:05:30 Non-Sherlockian interests and what's next<br />
1:10:00 It started with Sherlock Holmes, but now it's about friendship<br />
1:11:02 Final remarks</div>
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Sponsors</h3>
This episode includes our two longtime sponsors and we thank them. Please support our sponsors by visiting their sites:<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.wessexpress.com/" target="_blank">Wessex Press</a>, where you can find such books as <i>Sherlock Holmes, Conan Doyle and The Bookman</i>. </li>
<li><a href="http://www.bakerstreetjournal.com/" target="_blank"><i>The Baker Street Journal</i></a>, where relationships are discovered and rediscovered. </li>
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Would you care to become a sponsor? You can find <a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/p/contact.html#.Vc1Qx7JViko" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">more information here</a>.</div>
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<a href="http://traffic.libsyn.com/ihearofsherlock/ihearofsherlock103.mp3" target="_blank">Download</a> [Save As] | File size 35.2 MB, 1:16:44</h4>
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Links</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.ciachef.edu/" target="_blank">The Culinary Institute of America</a></li>
<li><i><a href="https://affiliates.abebooks.com/c/2670720/77416/2029?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.abebooks.com%2Fservlet%2FSearchResults%3Fsts%3Dt%26cm_sp%3DSearchF-_-home-_-Results%26ref_%3Dsearch_f_hp%26tn%3DDining%2520with%2520Sherlock%2520Holmes%253A%2520A%2520Baker%2520Street%2520cookbook%26an%3DRosenblatt" target="_blank">Dining With Sherlock Holmes</a></i></li>
<li><a href="https://www.ciachef.edu/grad-speaker-fritz-sonnenschmidt/" target="_blank">Fritz Sonnenschmidt</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2013/12/special-episode-free-sherlock.html" target="_blank">Betsy Rosenblatt, BSI</a> ("Lucy Ferrier")</li>
<li><i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Opening-Statements-Jurisprudence-Legacy-Dutch/dp/1438446578/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1472566454&sr=1-1" target="_blank">Opening Statements: Law, Jurisprudence, and the Legacy of Dutch New York</a></i></li>
</ul>
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Your thoughts on the show? Leave a comment below, send us an email (comment AT ihearofsherlock DOT com), call us at (774) 221-READ (7323).<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">--</span></div>

Episode 103: Coupling with Sherlock Holmes — Al & Julie Rosenblatt

"they were said to be a most united couple." [DANC] You might call them the first couple of the Baker Street Irregulars....

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by Scott Monty

Remembering Gene Wilder

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"in Mr. Wilder's absence" [PRIO]</h4>
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Gene Wilder has passed away at the age of 83, <a href="http://variety.com/2016/film/news/gene-wilder-dead-dies-willie-wonka-young-frankenstein-1201846745/" target="_blank">according to Variety</a>.</div>
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He was a legendary comedic actor, and his roles took him from the ridiculous (Leo Bloom in Mel Brooks' film <i>The Producers</i>) to the sublime (the lead in <i>Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory</i>). His association with Mr. Brooks spanned such other comedies as <i>Blazing Saddles</i> and <i>Young Frankenstein</i>, which have both reached legendary status.</div>
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The success of those films led Wilder to write and direct his own, including the less-than-acclaimed <i><a href="https://amzn.to/3Awaa0D" target="_blank">The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother</a> </i>in 1975. In this spoof, he starred as Sigerson Holmes, the youngest of the three Holmes brothers, who was eternally jealous of Sherlock's success. Marty Feldman co-starred as Orville Sacker (an homage to Ormond Sacker, the original name Sir Arthur Conan Doyle planned to give Watson). They met under the following circumstances:</div>
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<a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001204/?ref_=tt_trv_qu">Orville</a>: Are you Mister S., for Sigerson, Holmes?<br />
<a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000698/?ref_=tt_trv_qu">Sigerson Holmes</a>: Perhaps.<br />
<a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001204/?ref_=tt_trv_qu">Orville</a>: Do you have a brother whose first name is Sherlock?<br />
<a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000698/?ref_=tt_trv_qu">Sigerson Holmes</a>: I do not.<br />
<a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001204/?ref_=tt_trv_qu">Orville</a>: You do have a brother?<br />
<a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000698/?ref_=tt_trv_qu">Sigerson Holmes</a>: I do.<br />
<a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001204/?ref_=tt_trv_qu">Orville</a>: Might I inquire as to his first name?<br />
<a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000698/?ref_=tt_trv_qu">Sigerson Holmes</a>: "Sheer luck."</blockquote>
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It's not the greatest of Sherlock Holmes films — not by a long shot — but it's one in the pantheon of hundreds of movies about the great detective. And it's the one through which Gene Wilder left his mark (and his passing knowledge of the Canon, incidentally).<br />
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The film also starred Madeline Kahn and Dom Deluise, with Leo McKern as Professor Moriarty. Nicholas Smith of <i>Are You Being Served?</i> fame appeared as the landlord, and <a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2015/12/nicholas-smith-had-two-sherlock-holmes.html#.V8SVrpgrLb0" target="_blank">passed away last December</a>. </div><div><br /></div><div>And of course, Thorley Walters and Douglas Wilmer made cameo appearances as Dr. Watson and Sherlock Holmes. <a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2016/03/remembering-douglas-wilmer-bsi.html#.V8SVrpgrLb0" target="_blank">We also remembered Wilmer</a> after he passed away earlier this year.</div>
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With Wilder's death, all of the principal actors in <i>Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother</i> have now left the stage.</div>
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R.I.P. Gene Wilder (1933-2016)<br />
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Remembering Gene Wilder

"in Mr. Wilder's absence" [PRIO] Gene Wilder has passed away at the age of 83, according to Variety . He was a lege...

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by Scott Monty

Jay Finley Christ — An Old Irregular

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"His name is still honoured." [3GAR]</h4>
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Somebody asked me a question the other day about Jay Finley Christ, BSI ("The Final Problem"), a Sherlockian whose immense contributions to scholarship (and fun) are by no means forgotten more than 50 years after his death. The Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia has <a href="https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/index.php?title=Jay_Finley_Christ" target="_blank">an extensive survey of his life and work</a>, including the observation that "He is mostly famous for having created <a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2015/02/canonical-abbreviations-no-short.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">the system of abbreviations which shorten in 4 letters the titles of 60 Sherlock Holmes stories</a>." <br />
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He was also the author of much good-natured Sherlockian writing, including a number of poems, among them "<a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2009/08/in-vaults-thor_21.html#.V7fSxpgrLb0" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Old Tin Box</a>" (about Holmes's unpublished cases), issued as a pamphlet in 1946, and "The Story I Like Best," published in the <i><a href="http://bakerstreetjournal.com/" target="_blank">Baker Street Journal</a></i> in 1947, with this quatrain that I have quoted in more than one context:<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">  Good Sherlock took full many a crook</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">In Adventures beyond compare;</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">And the best of the lot is the crafty plot</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Of the man with the flaming hair.</span></blockquote>
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There was also "The Song of Hiawatson" in 1956, a mashup of Sherlock Holmes with Longfellow's "Hiawatha," which perhaps was more widely known then than it is sixty years later.<br />
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Christ was a Chicagoan, recruited into the ranks of the Hounds of the Baskerville [sic] by Vincent Starrett himself. He was a professor of business administration at the University of Chicago for many years, and moved in the city's literary circles as well. Some of his works of Sherlockian scholarship, chronology and reflection appeared under his own name, some under the nom-de-plume of J. A. Finch.<br />
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The debt we owe him is not just for the four-letter abbreviations, but for his invention of Sherlockian reference works, specifically the <i>Irregular Guide to Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street</i>, published in 1947, for which the abbreviations were devised. Though a bit eccentric, like Sherlock Holmes's own good old index, the <i>Irregular Guide</i> is still one of the reference books to which I turn most often — when, for example, I want to find all the mentions of weather in the canonical tales, or all the references to boxers' ears. <br />
<br />
Jay Finley Christ retired in 1950 and settled in Michigan City, Indiana, where he cranked up his Sherlockian production for the remaining 13 years of his life. He read and wrote in a little outbuilding — a man-cave, we would call it now — which his widow, Maud Christ, described later: "Jay built it all himself, even the fireplace, and put 221B over the door. Here he spent the happiest hours of his life."<br />
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I was just becoming a Sherlockian when he died, in December 1963, so I never communicated with him, but a little later I did have some correspondence with Maud Christ, who kindly sent me some souvenirs of the great man. Most interesting among them was a little tin, or at least steel, box containing several dozen 35-millimeter slides that he had made, presumably for some of the non-credit Sherlockian lectures. They were clumsy by today's graphic standards, photographed mostly in black and white from print material, and sandwiched in glass, but they included some classic images. They are now in the <a href="http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/books-video-music/specialized-collections/literature-genre-doyle.jsp" target="_blank">Arthur Conan Doyle Collection at the Toronto Public Library</a>.<br />
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Later, I was able to acquire a real collectible: Christ's copies of the three-and-a-quarter volumes of the old series <i>Baker Street Journal</i>. He had had them bound in blue cloth, with his name ("J. F. Christ") stamped in gold on the spine, and I continue to refer to them regularly. <br />
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Unexpectedly, those volumes provide a window into the sad story of how the Baker Street Journal began bravely but later faltered, amid the financial woes of the publisher, Ben Abramson. It had been Christ's habit to note on each issue the date when it reached Michigan City, so that volume 1 number 1 is inked "Recd Feb 8, 1946". Volume 2, number 1, was slower to appear — "Posted 2/20 Recd 3/1/47" — and volume 3, number 1 did not show up until March 20 of 1948. After that, as the Journal's schedule slipped and eventually petered out, Christ made no more such notes.<br />
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<i>Image credit: <a href="https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/index.php?title=File:Jay-finley-christ2.jpg" target="_blank">The Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia</a></i><br />
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<br /></div>

Jay Finley Christ — An Old Irregular

"His name is still honoured." [3GAR] Somebody asked me a question the other day about Jay Finley Christ, BSI ("The Final...

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by Chris Redmond

“Elementary, my dear Watson” — The Birth of a Quotation

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"placing it upon record." [BLAN]</h4>
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<br />
To anyone who has heard of Sherlock Holmes, “Elementary, my dear Watson” is always <i>the</i> quotation.<br />
<br />
Sherlockians know that the phrase is not a Doylean original, but still we have placed it together with the deerstalker and the curved pipe on our sacred canonical mantelpiece. We definitely do feel an emotion akin to love for it. Conan Doyle used “elementary” a few times in the Sherlock Holmes stories, and “my dear Watson” many times. In “The Crooked Man” (1893) both of these components are included. But there are 52 words between them.<br />
<br />
It is often stated that the line was first used in the American movie <i>The Return of Sherlock Holmes</i> from 1929. Sherlock Holmes was played by Clive Brook, and this was the first sound film about the detective. At the end of the movie Brook delivered the famous line.<br />
<br />
Other sources—e.g., Christopher Redmond’s <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Quotations-from-Baker-Street/dp/1896032168/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1471444433&sr=8-1&keywords=quotations+from+baker+street" target="_blank">Quotations from Baker Street</a></i> (2009)—point out a much earlier occurrence: <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Psmith-Journalist-Collectors-Wodehouse-P/dp/1590201051/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1471444454&sr=8-1&keywords=Psmith%2C+Journalist" target="_blank">Psmith, Journalist</a></i> by P. G. Wodehouse, published as a book in 1915. The story had run as a serial in <i>The Captain</i> from October 1909 to March 1910. And it was in the February issue that Psmith murmured, “Elementary, my dear Watson, elementary.” No earlier occurrences have until now been known. But they do exist.<br />
<br />
Half a year before the first installment of Wodehouse’s serial, the astronomer and Harvard professor Edward C. Pickering claimed that there was a way of signalling to the planet Mars. It all depended on correct positioning of mirrors that should reflect the sunlight. “Elementary mathematics,” as Pickering expressed it himself. Or as that statement was commented in an American news item: “‘Elementary, my dear Watson,’ as Sherlock Holmes was wont to say. ‘Elementary.’” (<i>The Times Dispatch</i>, 24 August 1909)<br />
<br />
Wodehouse did not coin the classic words. Nor did that Richmond, Virginia, newspaper. On the contrary the line seems to have been commonly known—the wording in the <i>Times Dispatch</i> indicates that—and during the following years it appeared in a number of magazines and newspapers:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><i>The Washington Herald</i>, 10 August 1910, from an article about a real-life detective: “Mr. Holmes always insisted that his methods were simplicity run riot. His most famous deductions invariably were characterized by himself as ‘elementary my dear Watson; elementary.’”</li>
<li><i>The New York Times</i>, 30 April 1911, from an article about the detective William J. Burns: “‘Elementary, my dear Watson,’ says Sherlock Holmes. And since it’s not elementary, but rather occult and esoteric, the reader is apt to feel annoyed and to think the expression pure ostentation on Sherlock’s part. However it isn’t. Detectives all talk that way. Doyle is realistic, after all.”</li>
<li><i>Kansas City Star</i>, 2 December 1911, from another article about Burns: “As Sherlock Holmes himself might put it, ‘Quite elementary, my dear Watson.’”</li>
</ul>
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Always cited as a matter of course that this was Sherlock Holmes’s most famous line. And certainly with no knowledge that that was not so.<br />
<br />
During the following years the line appeared in widely differing contexts in magazines like the British<i> Sketch</i> (1912), the American <i>Everybody’s Magazine</i> (1913), the American <i>Western Electric News</i> (1913) and <i>The Journal of the American Medical Association</i> (1914). Sometimes the line was used with a reference to Sherlock Holmes, but more and more it stood by itself, with no reference to the source at all. “Elementary, my dear Watson” had become a common phrase. The line could be used in connection with anything; it didn’t need to be about detectives.<br />
<br />
In the <i>Louisville Courier-Journal</i> the following four-line funny story was published at the end of 1914:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“Does Wombat own or rent his house?”<br />
“Rents it.”<br />
“How do you know?”<br />
“I know all right. He scratches matches on the paint.”</blockquote>
This had obviously nothing to do with Sherlock Holmes. But the headline for the four lines was nevertheless “Elementary, Watson”—since the story was about sharp wit, and such was best represented by Holmes’s most famous line. (In this case in a shorter version, since ”my dear” were cut.) And over the years also in travesty versions. The word ”elementary” was sometimes changed to other words that sounded similar to get a comical effect. And on 2 February 1920 <i>The New-York Tribune</i> wrote in a political commentary: “That is elementary, my dear Senator.” The origin in the Holmes quotation is evident, and the reader is expected to understand it.<br />
<br />
During the ’20s the use of the phrase widespread. Agatha Christie included it in the Tommy and Tuppence novel <i>The Secret Adversary</i>:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“Good morning,” said Tommy amicably. “You have not used Pear’s soap, I see.”<br />
Conrad growled threatingly.<br />
“No light repartee, have you, old bean? There, there, we can’t always have brains as well as beauty. What have we for lunch? Stew? How did I know? Elementary, my dear Watson—the smell of onions is unmistakable.”</blockquote>
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The line also worked in advertising. The picture shows an advert for suits, from <i>The New-York Tribune</i> 14 May 1921.<br />
<br />
And it is in an ad that we can find the first published appearance of the line, even if it is in a slightly parodic form.<br />
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In the late fall of 1901 an advertisement for Charles Ford’s Bile Beans for Biliousness was published in many British newspapers (e.g., <i>Northampton Mercury</i> 15 November 1901). This alleged cure-all had been popular for more than ten years, and many thought it really worked. (Adverts for the medicine were often designed to look like editorial text—the only thing that revealed that it was an advert was the letters ADVT at the end of the text.) The ad had the headline “Sherlock Holmes’s Latest” and was written as a Sherlock Holmes parody. Here follows the beginning of the text:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
One winter’s morning, a few years after my marriage, I was lying by my hearth, smoking a red herring, and nodding over the Encyclopedia Britannica, for my day’s work had been a hard one. Since first meeting Shylock Combs my practice as a doctor had, as a matter of course, rapidly declined. My presentation clock had chimed 4.47 a.m., and I was in the act of blowing out the gas when I heard the clang of my front door speaking tube. Thinking it must be the milkman I went into the hall, opened the door, and, to my astonishment, Shylock Combs stood upon my step. “Ah, Potson,” he said; “I hoped I should not be too early to catch you. I perceive the wind has changed round to N.N.E. by S.W. again.” I was astounded, as he had not had time to observe the thermometer in my bedroom. He noticed my amazement and smiled that wonderful smile of his. “Elementary, my dear Potson,” he said; “I observed the left-hand side of your moustache inclined about 47 5/8 degrees towards the west, and coming as I did from Butcher-street I at once deduced from which quarter the wind was blowing.”</blockquote>
Here we find, in 1901, the quotation “Elementary, my dear Potson,” an obvious parody on the classic line. But no smoke without fire, and no parody without something to parody. From where then did the quotation come? We can but speculate about this, since we don’t have any written evidence. I have neither any examples of appearances of the line between 1901 and 1909. It is however evident that the quotation spread in both Great Britain and the U.S., and on a wide front in widely differing contexts. <br />
<br />
The origin of the quotation must be something that united the U.S. and Great Britain. And there was only one Holmes-related success that ranged over both continents. It wasn’t a book; it was nothing that had been written in the newspapers. It was William Gillette’s 1899 play <i>Sherlock Holmes</i>. It had been playing London in 1901. And that makes it no mystery that a quotation from the popular play was used in a British advertisement the same year—the play had by then been seen by a great many Englishmen.<br />
<br />
With the continued concurrent performances and tours of the play in the U.S. and in Europe during the first decades of the 20th century, it influenced people’s idea of Sherlock Holmes. To many theatergoers the master detective in the play became more real than the canonical Holmes. The deerstalker and curved pipe came to be connected with Holmes largely thanks to the play. Professor Moriarty had previously only figured in one single short story, but here he was established as the Napoleon of crime. And it is not unlikely that the famous quotation was born there.<br />
<br />
In the script Holmes once says “elementary, my dear fellow.” But since he also says “my dear Watson” a number of times, it might very well have happened that “elementary, my dear fellow” turned into “elementary, my dear Watson” after Gillette—and the other actors who played Holmes—had performed the play for some years, even though they never changed the written script.<br />
<br />
And even if the line was never actually uttered in the play, the audiences might very well have collectively mixed together those two phrases into one and thought that they had heard “elementary, my dear Watson.” In all probability it
was through the spoken line that the phrase was coined, and it happened thanks
to William Gillette. Conan Doyle had created Sherlock Holmes as a character,
but there is no doubt that it was Gillette’s success that turned the master
detective into one of the world’s most famous and recognizable symbols.

<br />
<br />
<b><i>Author's note:</i></b> I wrote this some time ago, wanting to elaborate on some facts I mention in my book <i>From Holmes to Sherlock</i> (published in Swedish in 2013), and I thought it fitting to post my findings in connection with the forthcoming English edition in 2017. However, since <a href="http://quoteinvestigator.com/2016/07/14/watson/" target="_blank">Quote Investigator</a> posted a similar article a few weeks ago – based on pretty much the same sources – I see no reason to wait any longer with sharing these observations.<br />
<br />
<b><i>Editor's note:</i></b> In addition to the English edition of <i>From Holmes to Sherlock</i>, Mattias is also the co-editor (with Matt Laffey) of <i><a href="http://wessexpress.com/html/newspaper.html" target="_blank">Sherlock Holmes and Conan Doyle in the Newspapers</a></i>, a multi-volume project under the banner of Wessex Press.<br />
<br />
--<br />
<br />

“Elementary, my dear Watson” — The Birth of a Quotation

"placing it upon record." [BLAN] To anyone who has heard of Sherlock Holmes, “Elementary, my dear Watson” is always the quot...

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by Mattias Boström

Episode 102: Summer at Baker Street

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"In summer it is a favourite resort" [VALL] </h4>
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How often do you think of hot summer weather when you read the Sherlock Holmes stories? According to our calculations, it should be about 25%. But it doesn't seem that way, does it? It turns out that 16 of of the 60 stories took place in the summer months.<br />
<br />
 For those of you keeping track at home, they are (according to William S. Baring-Gould):<br />
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<ul>
<li>"The Boscombe Valley Mystery" - June 1889</li>
<li>"The Man with the Twisted Lip" - June 1889</li>
<li>"The Engineer's Thumb" - Summer 1889, alternatively August or July</li>
<li>"The Stockbroker's Clerk" - June</li>
<li>"The Crooked Man" - Summer - August, 1888/9</li>
<li>"The Greek Interpreter" - Summer</li>
<li>"The Norwood Builder" - August 1894/5</li>
<li>"The Dancing Men" - July 1898</li>
<li>"Black Peter" - July 1895</li>
<li>"The Six Napoleons" - July/August 1900</li>
<li>"The Cardboard Box" - August late '80s</li>
<li>"His Last Bow" - August 1914</li>
<li>"The Mazarin Stone" - Summer 1903</li>
<li>"The Three Garridebs" - June 1902</li>
<li>"The Lion's Mane" - July 1907</li>
<li>"The Retired Colourman" - Summer 1898</li>
</ul>
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We also take you to the Norwegian Explorers' triennial conference The Misadventures of Sherlock Holmes in Minneapolis, courtesy of our intrepid correspondent Steve Mason. We also reflect on your kind words from our 100th episode and enjoy Christopher Morley's "Sherlock Holmes Prayer" as our Gas-Lamp. Erik Deckers tries his skill at "Mental Exaltation" - will he be successful?<br />
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And perhaps there's an Easter egg somewhere as well...<br />
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<h3>
<b>Notes</b></h3>
1:32 Introduction and welcome<br />
2:57 Sherlock Holmes's childhood and summers<br />
7:18 Sponsor - Wessex Press, "a blended, splendid catalog"<br />
8:32 A special report from the Misadventures of Sherlock Holmes conference in Minnesota<br />
20:02 Summertime in the Canon<br />
37:16 Sherlock Holmes Brand spot<br />
38:16 A reflection on <a href="http://ihose.co/ihose100" target="_blank">Episode 100</a><br />
40:38 Mental Exaltation<br />
49:49 Gas Lamp<br />
55:47 Sponsor - <i>The Baker Street Journal</i><br />
57:57 Closing thoughts</div>
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<h3>
Sponsors</h3>
This episode includes our two longtime sponsors and we thank them. Please support our sponsors by visiting their sites:<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.wessexpress.com/" target="_blank">Wessex Press</a>, featuring a "blended, splendid catalog" of over 50 Sherlock Holmes items. </li>
<li><a href="http://www.bakerstreetjournal.com/" target="_blank"><i>The Baker Street Journal</i></a>, where you can find the summer issue of the 2016 BSJ. </li>
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Would you care to become a sponsor? You can find <a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/p/contact.html#.Vc1Qx7JViko" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">more information here</a>.</div>
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<a href="http://traffic.libsyn.com/ihearofsherlock/ihearofsherlock102.mp3" target="_blank">Download</a> [Save As] | File size 28.7 MB, 1:01:55</h4>
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<h3>
Links:</h3>
<ul>
<li>William S. Baring-Gould's <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Illustrated-Caldecott-Greenaway-Historical-Baring-Gould/dp/B0014YL4WY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1471239069&sr=8-1&keywords=Sherlock+Holmes+of+Baker+Street" target="_blank">Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street: A Life of the World's First Consulting Detective</a></i></li>
<li>Tim Johnson on <a href="http://ihose.co/ihose67" target="_blank">Episode 67</a> </li>
<li><i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Baker-Street-Four-Wheeler-Sixteen-Sherlockiana/dp/B005CK9ZEA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1471239147&sr=8-1&keywords=A+Baker+Street+Four-Wheeler" target="_blank">A Baker Street Four-Wheeler</a></i> </li>
<li><i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Standard-Doyle-Company-Christopher-Sherlock/dp/0823212920/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1471239170&sr=8-2&keywords=Standard+Doyle+Company" target="_blank">Standard Doyle Company </a></i></li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sd5ZLJWQmss">C.W. McCall - Convoy</a> (YouTube)</li>
</ul>
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Episode 102: Summer at Baker Street

"In summer it is a favourite resort" [VALL] How often do you think of hot summer weather when you read the Sherlock Ho...

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by Scott Monty

John Bennett Shaw and the Terrible, Hysterical, NSFW Essay

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"this really is something a little recherché" [MUSG]</h4>
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About three years ago, we shared a list of the <a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2013/09/the-top-10-most-suggestive-lines-from.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Top 10 Most Suggestive Lines from the Sherlock Holmes Stories</a>. This was from a little publication we assembled some two decades prior called <i>Some Sherlockian Sillies</i>. (Privately printed, Boston, 1997)</div>
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Imagine our delight when we were alerted to the existence of a paper along those same lines that John Bennett Shaw delivered to the Baker Street Irregulars, which later ended up in print. We later discovered that <i><a href="https://bakerstreetirregulars.com/the-baker-street-journal/" target="_blank">The Baker Street Journal</a></i> rejected it (not surprising, as straight-laced BSI editor Julian Wolff, BSI ("The Red-Headed League") was likely red-faced after John's reading at the dinner). </div>
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But after this rejection, the essay landed in the hands of young Bruce Kennedy, BSI ("Bannister"), who edited a publication called <i>Shades of Sherlock</i>. This particular essay appeared in Number 18, from August 14, 1971, which we effortlessly tracked down on eBay.</div>
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After receiving permission from John Bennett Shaw's children, we're reproducing it here. And just for fun, here's the Shaws' response:<br />
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"My position is that you and anyone and anyone to come after us can use, re-use but not without attribution anydamnthing my father ever wrote.  He wrote it for you, for me and for anyone and everyone who had the time and good will to read it."</blockquote>
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We're glad to see the Shaw apples didn't fall too far from the tree.</div>
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So then, without further ado, we bring you this long-forgotten and ribald work. </div>
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<i><b>WARNING: there is some risque material below. While this is typically a family publication, we must provide an advance alert. If you're offended by off-color material </b></i><b><i>— well, first</i></b><i><b> we're sorry for you, as you might not get as much humor out of life </b></i><b><i>— </i></b><i><b>and second, you might want to hit the "back" button on your browser. But why miss out? Consider yourself forewarned.</b></i></div>
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<h4 style="text-align: left;">
Editorial</h4>
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On <a href="http://www.bsitrust.org/2015/10/the-1971-bsi-dinner.html" target="_blank">January 8, 1971, the annual dinner</a> of the Baker Street Irregulars was held at the Player's Club [sic] in New York City. All of these yearly get-togethers are similar in many respects, but usually differ greatly in the type of papers read.</div>
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Most of these papers run in the comical vein and this year was no exception including, among others, a rather unconventional translation into French of one of the Holmes episodes and another by our own John Bennett Shaw which is my subject for this editorial.</div>
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"To Shelve or to Censor" was read to some ninety uproarious Irregulars by the author who, obviously, enjoyed the topic even more than did his audience. This paper dealed [sic] with many "lewd" references in the Canon, and, admittedly, was not in the best of taste. Immediately after its reading, it was promptly refused by <i>The Baker Street Journal</i>. However, because it gave an indirect plug for an essay in our anthology <i><a href="https://amzn.to/2KujJFt" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Four Wheels to Baker Street</a></i> ("On My Knees" by H.W. Starr), that I invited John to send it in for a future issue of SOS. And so, dear reader, in this issue you will find a brief sample of the scholarly work and efforts which go into making a typical meeting of the BSI so successful...</div>
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<h3 style="text-align: center;">
To
Shelve or to Censor: Some Disturbing Thoughts About and Disgusting Evidence
From the Sherlock Holmes Canon</h3>
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A paper read at the meeting of the Baker Street Irregulars, January 8, 1971</div>
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By John Bennett Shaw</div>
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I must begin my discussion with a personal reference which is concerned with circumstances surrounding my disturbing discoveries. Discoveries I must now grudgingly reveal. Last summer was a most eventful period in my life: I remarried, adopted two lovely and literate girls aged 12 and 14, and decided to move to Santa Fe, New Mexico. This was a decision which made me pause and consider as I had in my house more than twenty thousand books. I had to reduce this quantity to a manageable amount, say six thousand. One consideration for preservation in the Shaw Library was its relation to the world of Mr. Holmes, and another almost as important was the value and influence these books would have on my new girls. It happened that at the time I was in the process of rereading most of the Watson Canon and, heaven forbid, it dawned upon me that I just couldn't let the girls read such "literature." I made the mistake of reading some of the passages that shocked me aloud to my wife and she at once suggested either a locked room or packing the girls off to a convent.<br />
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The decision is not yet made, but I feel I must call this whole matter to your attention.<br />
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I was familiar with the tongue-in-cheek (excuse that word, I should have said jowl) salacity bruited about by some Sherlockians such as Bill Starr's "On My Knees." I had discounted this for knowing Bill I knew he had a dirty mind, coming from Philadelphia and all that. Even the last issue of <i>The Baker Street Journal</i> had an article about "busts": one can't pass this by without pointing out that this sheet is edited by a man appropriately named Wolff. I also recalled an article that incensed me some years ago by a man inappropriately named Wellman (his mind, I thought, could not be "well") who opined that Holmes was living in sin with Mrs. Hudson. And the noted social critic Stout even suggested that <a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2014/02/watson-actually-was-woman.html#.V6wQ15grLb0" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Watson was a woman</a> — I wish to God it was that simple.<br />
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Now I feel I must go on — I must share with you my notes made during that hot August in Tulsa (and let me say that my rereading these stories was the hottest thing going in Tulsa at this time) and as gentlemen, scholars, fathers and family men, and members of this (I almost said "uplifting") society, I ask you to excuse the vulgarity, suggestiveness, and shock that these excerpts will convey.<br />
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<h4>
A Study in Scarlet</h4>
Hope, perhaps with more than revenge in mind, said <i>"I hung about all day but he never came…(and) I made my way into his room…"</i> Also, Hope is described as having <i>"speedily recovered from his temporary impotence."</i><br />
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The Sign of the Four</h4>
<i>"The man who addressed us mounted the box"</i>…then <i>"pulled up with a jerk."</i> Holmes makes some references that seem pointed; <i>"his stick," "I was limp," "I awoke with a start"</i> and almost immediately after this he said <i>"I can come with you."</i> Remember that most of these remarks were made to Watson to whom he says in the same story <i>"Watson, you never recognized my merits as a housekeeper."</i><br />
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"A Scandal in Bohemia"</h4>
<i>"As a lover he would have placed himself in a false position"</i> (this whole paragraph is fraught with psychological overtones and sexual undertones). There is reference to "sensitive instrument" and <i>"crack," "you have been getting wet lately" </i>and <i>"you have a clumsy and careless servant girl." </i>Watson says <i>"I fail to see how you worked it out"</i> and Holmes <i>"rubbed his long nervous hands together."</i> And in this story menstruation is first mentioned in the Canon: <i>"Women are naturally secretive and they like to do their own secreting."</i><br />
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"The Red-Headed League"</h4>
(Again suggestive imagery) <i>"with an apology for my intrusion I was about to withdraw when Holmes pulled me…" "You could not possibly have come at a better time"</i> and a little later on <i>"try the settee…" "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love"</i> (and I could have stopped quoting it here and it would have been bad enough) (Holmes goes on) <i>"of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions…" </i>A few pages later <i>"All the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect happiness, gently waving his long fingers…" </i>Then, later in the story, the banker tells the detective <i>"still I confess that I miss my rubber. It is the first Saturday night for seven and twenty years that I have not had my rubber"</i> (at least his habits were regular). Again with obvious double meaning Holmes says to detective Jones <i>"it will be the man upon whom you lay your hands."</i> John Clay must have been bi-sexual as Jones says of him <i>"He'll crack a crib"</i> (cribhouse I assume) <i>"in one week and be raising…"</i><br />
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"A Case of Identity"</h4>
The second reference to menstruation. <i>"She pulled a little handkerchief from her muff."</i> In this story there is much talk of <i>"a ball."</i> Alas, the girl must work in a brothel as she says <i>"I can often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day."</i><br />
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"The Cardboard Box"</h4>
<i>"Imagine my surprise then, when looking at Miss Cushing, I perceived that her EAR corresponded exactly with the female EAR which I had just inspected…there was some shortening of the PINNA…"</i> Holmes goes on to talk with her and then says <i>"she at once gave me some"</i> and a bit later <i>"and the matter had begun to straighten itself out wonderfully."</i><br />
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<i>The Hound of the Baskervilles</i></h4>
There is a doubly confusing statement that could refer to Reik's Orgone Box and the female anatomy: <i>"I have not pushed it to the length of getting into a box to think…"</i> And there is a highly charged scene which could refer to self-abuse near the end of Chapter XI: <i>"waiting with somber patience for the coming of its tenant"</i> (one wonders, could Watson be thinking of his army days and really mean "lieutenant") and Watson goes on <i>"I shrank back into the darkest corner and cocked…"</i> and of all things Holmes says <i>"I really think that you will be more comfortable outside than in"</i> (to paraphrase the old Burlesque story "Take it out"). And toward the end of the story (I almost said "tale") Holmes talks of the sexual difficulties of Stapleton <i>"he could not help interrupting with a passionate outburst."</i><br />
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"Silver Blaze"</h4>
Even the favorite "Silver Blaze" has some shockers in it. On the first page Watson says to Holmes <i>"I should be most happy to go down with you."</i> Then there is the oft-quoted mildly vulgar episode about the dog that did nothing in the nighttime…he was either well-trained, constipated, or there was no female nearby. Also, they talk in the story about arousing the lads in the loft and about pulling jockey and of practicing on sheep (not a new idea at all).<br />
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"The Illustrious Client"</h4>
There is a reference to crepitation: <i>"The girl broke in like a whirlwind."</i> On the same page is a reference that leads one to believe that the Baron was a most versatile lover: <i>"he'll have you one way or the other."</i> Just in passing let me mention that a few pages later when Holmes and Watson were in intimate conversation, Watson says <i>"I am here to be used, Holmes."</i><br />
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"The Blanched Soldier"</h4>
Even in this very dull story one finds the constantly recurrent theme of homosexuality as one soldier speaks of another <i>"he was my mate and we took the rough and smooth together…"</i> And of Watson, the butler (did the butler do it?) says: <i>"I think you might run short in the night-time."</i> And again one soldier says of another: <i>"he pulled me."</i> And the evil old butler, described as rubbing his skinny hands, says: <i>"Yes, sir, he is very hard at it just now. I'm frightened for his health. He gets paler and thinner…"</i> And on the very next page Bill refers to a gentleman who has recently visited Holmes: <i>"He's a stiff 'un."</i> It is in this story that Holmes says to Watson <i>"Your morals don’t' improve…"</i> (How could they? Mine don't!)<br />
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"The Three Gables"</h4>
A notorious gaffe or double-entendre appears in this story. You will remember the story: young Maberly died of a broken heart in Milan and his effects were returned to England to his mother. She was robbed and Holmes was called into the investigation. He asked her if she had anything of value and she said: <i>"I am sure that there was nothing in my son's trunks."</i> No wonder he died of a broken heart!!!<br />
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"Charles Augustus Milverton"</h4>
The great detective and Victorian gentleman described how he wooed Agatha the housemaid: <i>"I am a plumber with a rising business…" </i>and <i>"I have got all I wanted…"</i> And a most frankly carnal remark from "Silver Blaze" - <i>"so spirited a creature must surely have awakened the soundest sleeper when he felt the prick…"</i><br />
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"The Empty House"</h4>
In EMPT appears this excerpt, upon which I would not wish to comment: <i>"He cuddled the misshapen butt into his shoulder, giving a little sigh of satisfaction."</i> And in the same case-history appears this shameful dialogue starting with the passage commented upon by Professor Starr in his treatise in which Holmes reports that Mrs. Hudson works it from the front. The passage goes on to have Holmes say, <i>"You observed all the precautions, Mrs. Hudson?"</i> And she replied, without apparent shame, <i>"I went to it on my knees, sir, just as you told me,"</i> and he merely says <i>"excellent."</i> And in the very next paragraph there is talk of a beautiful bust.<br />
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Sex seem to have been in the minds of both Holmes and Watson. For example in <b>"The Sussex Vampire"</b> they talk of a boy being circumcised - and this has no real bearing on the story at all. In the same episode, Ferguson says to Holmes, <i>"Don't play with me,</i>" and ever faithful Watson hastens to say, <i>"I should be glad if I could be of use."</i> And then he says <i>"I followed the girl, who was quivering with strong emotion…"</i><br />
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An in <b>"The Three Gables"</b> Watson openly comments <i>"in my position as partner…" </i>and <i>"I am particularly careful to avoid any indiscretion."</i><br />
And in <b>"The Problem of Thor Bridge"</b> Holmes states that Mrs. Gibson <i>"somewhat overdid it by holding it in her hand."</i><br />
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Shockingly, in <b>"The Creeping Man,"</b> Holmes says to Watson, <i>"There is always Nature, Watson, Nature and Josiah Amberly - you can be in close communication with both."</i><br />
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Another frank description appears in <b>"The Man with the Twisted Lip"</b>: <i>"a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up…"</i><br />
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In the noted case <b>"His Last Bow,"</b> Holmes says, <i>"We need not hurry ourselves, Watson. We are safe from interruption. Would you mind touching…"</i> And, at the very end of this story Holmes says, <i>"Start her up, Watson."</i> Who, for God's sake is she?<br />
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Of his only brother Mycroft, Holmes reports (in <b>"The Greek Interpreter"</b>) that he, Mycroft, was well known in certain circles, The Diogenes Club, for example. Watson asks about this club and Holmes replies, <i>"The Diogenes Club is the queerest club in London and (note this!) Mycroft is one of the queerest men."</i><br />
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I have covered (and even the innocent word 'covered' carries, for me, salacious connotations) a bit more than half of the 60 cases of the Great Detective and I think I have made my point (there I go again). In conclusion, I do want to consider a bit of careful examination, one of his most noted cases - a case that is well written up by Dr. Watson and is everybody's favorite - a case that is so well written that, until now, few realized it is a description of a sex orgy. <b>"The Speckled Band"</b> is such a carefully camouflaged tale (T-A-L-E), such a welter of prurience, lust and impudicity that one who is a gentleman cannot countenance keeping it upon his shelves, unless, of course, he does so for research and analysis, and only if then he released his findings to serve as a warning to fathers, clergy, and other do-gooders.<br />
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The opening paragraphs of this story are among the most carnal in literature: for example, these direct quotations: <i>"working as he did rather for love…" "When we were sharing rooms…"</i>,  of Holmes Watson said <i>"he was a late riser…"</i> and of himself Watson says <i>"I was regular in my habits…</i>" Then Holmes says, <i>"Very sorry to knock you up…Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up…she retorted</i> (what a euphemism that is!) <i>upon me, and I upon you."</i><br />
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Later on in the same shameful narrative, Miss Stoner says, <i>"He is a hard man…"</i> and Holmes immediately replies,<i> "you have been cruelly used"</i> and then <i>"this is a very deep business…."</i> And Miss Stoner must have been a virgin as it is said that <i>"the wall must have been pierced."</i> And a few pages later she says <i>"I am in your hands"</i> and in the next sentence Holmes says <i>"both my friend and I must spend the night in your room."</i><br />
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And so on through this shameful recounting of Victorian debauchery. At the very end Dr. Roylott at least must have found satiety for his is described thusly: <i>"across his lap lay the short stock…"</i><br />
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Gentlemen, I could go on: I could quote you the episode where <i>"they laid her on the sofa"</i>; I could analyze the 25 stories not covered in this shameful expose — but I know I need not. You now have a glimmering that all is not serene and wholesome at 221B Baker Street in gas-lit London and in the year 1895.<br />
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I leave my judgment making, if any be needed, to psychologists and psychiatrists and, God forbid, to moralists. I can only leave with you the disturbing thought that I have had that Moriarty and Moran are a pair of prudish Irish immigrants compared to Mrs. Hudson's roomers.<br />
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