Dear Sherlockians,



                                                   My wishes to all of you on May
Day! And thereafter, as Mr. Sumal Sen has had pointed out, let us congratulate
each other for touching the magic mark of 50 postings in a month! I would
reiterate what Mr. Sen has already said. Those members of the Society who do not
usually post their views or contributions frequently are being earnestly
requested to do so from now on. And we should, I feel, publicise our group as
far and as frequently as possible. But first we need an ‘official’ address, do
not we? I would particularly request Mr. Sumal Sen, Mr. Sridhar C, Mr. Tim
Symonds, Mr. Rishi Iyengar and Mr. Balaji Narasingham to post their views on
this ‘aspect’ immediately.



                                                   Now to this day’s discussion.
Why did Arthur Conan Doyle choose to name his detective ‘Sherlock Holmes’?  In
his famous “Sherlock Holmes: a Centenary Celebration” (London: John Murray,
1986), Allan Eyles informs readers that the name took much time to evolve (pp.
11). In “Memories and Adventures” (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1924), Doyle
wrote, “What should I call the fellow?...One rebelled against the elementary art
which gives some inkling of character in the name and creates Mr. Sharps or Mr.
Ferrets. First it was Sherrinford Holmes; then it was Sherlock Holmes” (Eyles
11). By supplying a photograph of Doyle’s notes for “A Study in Scarlet” on the
twelfth page, Eyles shows how Holmes and Watson were initially named
‘Sherrinford Holmes’ and ‘Ormond Sacker’, respectively.



                                                   ‘Sherlock’ and ‘Holmes’ might
have evolved particularly from two sources. First, Doyle was influenced by the
publicity for the noted American jurist and physician, Oliver Wendell Holmes’s
impending visit to England in May 1886. Wendell Holmes, like the fictional
detective, was a reputed writer of monographs, an early psychoanalyst, and an
expert on tobacco, and the budding litterateur very well knew about these
traits. William S. Baring-Gould, in the first volume of “The Annotated Sherlock
Holmes” (New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 1967) points out how Doyle went without
lunches to buy Wendell Holmes’s “Autocrat, Poet and Professor at the Breakfast
Table”. Sherlock Holmes’s creator later wrote, “Never have I so known or loved a
man whom I had never seen. It was one of the ambitions of my lifetime to look
into his face, but by the irony of Fate I arrived in his native city just in
time to lay a wreath on his newly turned grave”
  (Baring-Gould 10).  Second, Doyle was a cricket enthusiast, and in the late
1880s, Mr. Sherwin and Mr. Shacklock were two famous Nottinghamshire cricketers,
other than the bowler Mr. Sherlock of the Devon team, who were objects of
interest and hero worship to the writer. The name might also have evolved from
Alfred Sherlock, a prominent violinist of contemporary England. In context of
Lecoq’s dull witted assistant – Father Absinthe, Doyle writes, “Holmes could not
tell his own exploits, so he must have a commonplace comrade as foil – an
educated man of action who could both join in the exploits and narrate them. A
drab, quiet name for this unostentatious man. Watson would do. And so I had my
puppets and wrote my ‘A Study in Scarlet’” (Eyles 11). Moreover, Doctor James
Watson, who had practised in Manchuria before retiring to Southsea (where Doyle
himself had a chamber), was a member of Portsmouth Literary and Scientific
Society and one of the writer’s acquaintances. Holmes’s
  physician friend might well have evolved out of this extraordinarily ordinary
medical practitioner.



                                                In “Life of Sir Arthur Conan
Doyle” (London: John Murray, 1949), John Dickinson Carr tells that Doyle chose
the Irish name, ‘Sherlock’, for his detective at random. But then a family of
Sherlocks were landowners at County Wicklow, Ireland, where the Doyles once had
their own estates. As a student of heraldry, it is most likely that Arthur Conan
Doyle was well conversant with the Sherlocks’ names.



                                                In “Some Onomatological Notes on
‘Sherlock Holmes’ and Other Names in the Sacred Writings”, Duncan MacDougald,
Jr., opines that the mane ‘Sherlock’ comes from the Irish ‘scorloz’ – Shearlock
or Sherloch, which is derived from ‘searloz’ – Scurloch, Shirlock, or Sherloch,
which in turn is the Gaelic version of the Anglo-Saxon ‘scortlog’ meaning one
with shorn locks. Patrick Woulfe in “Irish Names and Surnames” (Dublin, 1923)
writes that the Anglo-Saxon family of the Sherlocks had settled in Ireland in
the thirteenth century, and members were later found in Dublin, Meath, Louth,
Wexford, Waterford and Tipperary.



                                            Another group of Sherlockian
scholars, including Christopher Morley, are of the opinion that Doyle’s name
alludes to either William Sherlock (1641-1707) or his son, the eminent Bishop
Thomas Sherlock (1678-1761). Dr. Maurice Campbell had supplied valuable reports
on Dr. James Watson, whom I have mentioned earlier in this web-posting, at the
Bruce-Partington Night Dinner at the Sherlock Holmes Society of London-office on
4 January 1956.



I would be obliged if the other eminent members of Sherlock Holmes Society of
India comment on my observations and sustain this discussion.



Thanking you,



Yours sincerely,



Pinaki Roy,

Department of English,

Balurghat College



1 May 2005 Sunday


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Dear Sherlockians,

    It has been a long time since we have touched the magic figure of
50 posts a month. This month has been special for this reason. The
last time we achieved this target was in Oct 2004, a period of 6
months. This has been possible only due to our participation. I hope
we touch 50 posts every month as a routine.

     The second point I would like to share is that though we have
membership of 55- 60, except 5 to 10 members, hardly anyone posts. I
wish all members take part in the discussion. It would be more
interesting that way.

     This is a matter, which was discussed several times. However at
the risk of repetition. I should say that our membership has been
static at 55- 60 band for quite some time. Can we try to increase it?
One way of doing this is to post our link in other Sherlockian sites,
which I have been doing and this idea had its share of success.
Sherlockians, please suggest ways and means.

       The next month, May 2005 will be our society's fourth year in
existence. I propose that we do something to make the occasion
memorable. Can we have a discussion on this?

          Members who are keen TV addicts might have watched "Biography
of Sherlock Holmes" on the History Channel at 2200hrs on 27th April
.The programme was immensely interesting and I remember watching it
sometime back. No doubt, the channel will have a re- run of this
program and members who had missed out first time can always have a
chance to catch it.
       Bye for now and keep posting
        sumal

It weas really interesting to read the members' thoughts on the hand-gun
Holmes may have used.  I have never been impressed with the accuracy of
handguns, even those in modern use, if held stretched out at arm's length in
one hand.  I used to carry a Smith & Wesson .38 revolver in my time in East
Africa and frankly if someone or something had launched at me, I can't
believe I'd have had a good chance of hitting them.  When I watch movies or
read tales of expert shots using handguns, who seem so surehanded, I just
think - baloney!


-----Original Message-----
From: SherlockHolmesSocietyofIndia@...
[mailto:SherlockHolmesSocietyofIndia@...] On Behalf Of sridhar
C
Sent: 27 April 2005 15:28
To: SherlockHolmesSocietyofIndia@...
Subject: Re: [sherlock holmes society of india] On Sherlock Holmes's handgun


Dear Sherlockians,

The revolvers in use at the beginning of the last quarter of the nineteenth
century were mainly 'rimfire' weapons which used cartridges in which the
fulminate (unstable, explosive compound from fulminic acid) - was in the
rim. Not only were many revolvers of large calibre made for this form of
ammunition, but the small .22 calibre which is today the only survivor of
the rimfire system was popular both for small 'ladies" revolvers and also
for Saloon Pistols with an even smaller load, the No. 1 Bulleted Breech Cap.
It is undoubtedly one of these weapons which was used by Holmes for indoor
practice. The weapon is essentially a target arm which makes little noise
and accomplishes little damage. The bulleted breech cap contained no powder
and depended for its propellant value on the charge of fulminate in the rim.
The early French bulleted breech caps were of double construction, as was
the .442 'Boxer ' service revolver cartridge ; it appears that Dr. Watson
loosely applied the term '
  Boxer ' to all such double-based caps. This had a very light trigger-pull
and was sometimes termed ' hair-trigger '.

Serious revolvers:

Though there are many references to Holmes's revolver or revolvers, there
are none which enable us to identify them with certainty. It seems that he
possessed at least two of the types exhibited.

The first of these is the medium-sized Tranter revolver Of .442 calibre.
This is a very powerful weapon, yet not too big for personal carriage. It
fires the contemporary Army and Police 'central fire cartridge and was
essentially designed for self-defence. This was close-range weapon. The
specimen was retailed by Wilkinson's of Pall Mall who at that time were
prominent in supplying military and police equipment.

The second Holmes revolver is a small, heavy, but relatively effective
weapon, the .320-bore Webley No. 2. Essentially a pocket pistol it takes up
little room but would be adequate for dealing with the most determined
criminal. It was the smallest really practicable weapon of its time. It is
likely that this is what Holmes was thinking of when he refers, in the
Speckled Band to an 'Eley's No. 2 '. The Eley cartridges of the time were
sold in boxes labelled to say which weapons they fitted; and ' Eley No. 2 '
is probably a confusion arising out of a box marked in large letters ' Eley
' and, in smaller letters, 'for the Webley Pistol No. 2 Moreover, some
Webley pistols were marketed with ' Eley .3 20 on the barrel to prevent
confusion with the Smith and Wesson .32, which was not the same as the
British or Continental .320, or the similar .32 Colt.

Presentation revolver:

Although Holmes received many presents, such as an emerald pin (The
Bruce-Partington Plans) and a gold snuff-box (A Case of Identity), there is
no reference to a presentation revolver. However, it seems so inherently
probable that Holmes would at some time have received one, that we have
taken the liberty of exhibiting an unusually fine specimen of the type we
should expect. It is an Adams muzzle-loading revolver. This superb gold
damascened Adams was invented and produced about 1850 and was the favourite
Service revolver during the Crimean war. Both in design and in efficiency it
was considerably ahead of the contemporary Colt single-action percussion
revolver. It is of 54 bore (.500 in.) and is provided with a powder flask
and bullet mould. Rather frail gold-beater's skin ' cartridges ' were also
used in this weapon but each chamber had to be separately loaded from the
front; then a separate copper percussion cap had to be placed from the rear
on the nipple of each chamber. While
  muzzle-loading arms still predominated during the American Civil War, an
almost complete changeover to breech-loading weapons began about 1865 and
was complete by 1880.

Well, that's all I could make out from my search on Google. Any comments?


Sridhar
PS: Ref: Westminster Libraries and Archives.
PPS: JT Edson (a popular Western writer), in his Floating Outfit and certain
other series related to the Fog, Blaze, and Counter clans, also talks about
the different types and uses of revolvers used at around the same period
around the world. I'll have to do a lot more research on that and the one
thing I am short on is patience (and time!). :)) Any takers?



pinaki roy <monkaroy@...> wrote:


Dear Sherlockians,



The picture of Sherlock Holmes would never be complete without his
deerstalker cap, the famous briar-root pipe and his gun. Now, we may well
wonder what type of gun did the detective use. Was it a pistol or a
revolver? Considering that the revolver had been invented in 1836 by Samuel
Colt, an American, its usage could well have been promulgated in the
1880s-1890s.



The only reference to the type of Holmes's handgun - a 'hair-trigger' that
fires the centre-fire Boxer cartridge can be found in the fifth line of "The
Musgrave Ritual", and we can deduce it was a pistol probably without a
magazine. So had he missed Tonga on that fateful night on the Thames, he
would not have had another chance to fire!



In "Annie Oakley in Baker Street", Robert Keith Leavitt writes, "The
hair-trigger pistol is an inherently dangerous weapon, prohibited in match
shooting, impractical for sport and impractical in the extreme for detecting
operations. Almost certainly this one was a single-shot 'salon' pistol of
continental make". In "The Book of the Pistol" (New York: Robert McBride and
Company, 1917), Hugh Pollard calls the hair-trigger pistols "wonderfully
complicated.so delicate.as to [be] practically worthless for ordinary use.
For trick work, like shooting the pips off the ace of cards, they are
invaluable". The pistol had a long barrel and an emaciated-looking butt,
with large hammer, trigger and trigger guard.



As for the Boxer cartridges, Leavitt opines that the name 'Boxer' was used
in England as a generic name for any centre-fire cartridge - a form of
ammunition perfected in 1867 by Colonel Boxer of the Royal Army. But
considering that the centre-fire cartridges could not be made in small
calibres or very low power (the smallest Boxer bullet was of .310 calibre,
slightly small that the present day .32 with 100 foot pounds of muzzle
energy), Holmes's attempts to mark "V.R" would have frustratingly concluded
only in huge chunks of broken walls. That is why in "Catalogues of the
Sherlock Holmes Exhibition" held at Abbey House, London, in 1951, it has
been suggested that the Boxer bullets were, in reality, 'rimfire' cartridges
which was nearer to the modern day .22. Such cartridges would produce little
noise or damage.



I would like to know what our other esteemed members have to say on this.



Thanking you,



Yours sincerely,



Pinaki Roy,

Department of English,

Balurghat College


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Dear Sherlockians,

The revolvers in use at the beginning of the last quarter of the nineteenth
century were mainly 'rimfire' weapons which used cartridges in which the
fulminate (unstable, explosive compound from fulminic acid) - was in the rim.
Not only were many revolvers of large calibre made for this form of ammunition,
but the small .22 calibre which is today the only survivor of the rimfire system
was popular both for small 'ladies" revolvers and also for Saloon Pistols with
an even smaller load, the No. 1 Bulleted Breech Cap. It is undoubtedly one of
these weapons which was used by Holmes for indoor practice. The weapon is
essentially a target arm which makes little noise and accomplishes little
damage. The bulleted breech cap contained no powder and depended for its
propellant value on the charge of fulminate in the rim. The early French
bulleted breech caps were of double construction, as was the .442 'Boxer '
service revolver cartridge ; it appears that Dr. Watson loosely applied the term
'
  Boxer ' to all such double-based caps. This had a very light trigger-pull and
was sometimes termed ' hair-trigger '.

Serious revolvers:

Though there are many references to Holmes's revolver or revolvers, there are
none which enable us to identify them with certainty. It seems that he possessed
at least two of the types exhibited.

The first of these is the medium-sized Tranter revolver Of .442 calibre. This is
a very powerful weapon, yet not too big for personal carriage. It fires the
contemporary Army and Police 'central fire cartridge and was essentially
designed for self-defence. This was close-range weapon. The specimen was
retailed by Wilkinson's of Pall Mall who at that time were prominent in
supplying military and police equipment.

The second Holmes revolver is a small, heavy, but relatively effective weapon,
the .320-bore Webley No. 2. Essentially a pocket pistol it takes up little room
but would be adequate for dealing with the most determined criminal. It was the
smallest really practicable weapon of its time. It is likely that this is what
Holmes was thinking of when he refers, in the Speckled Band to an 'Eley's No. 2
'. The Eley cartridges of the time were sold in boxes labelled to say which
weapons they fitted; and ' Eley No. 2 ' is probably a confusion arising out of a
box marked in large letters ' Eley ' and, in smaller letters, 'for the Webley
Pistol No. 2 Moreover, some Webley pistols were marketed with ' Eley .3 20 on
the barrel to prevent confusion with the Smith and Wesson .32, which was not the
same as the British or Continental .320, or the similar .32 Colt.

Presentation revolver:

Although Holmes received many presents, such as an emerald pin (The
Bruce-Partington Plans) and a gold snuff-box (A Case of Identity), there is no
reference to a presentation revolver. However, it seems so inherently probable
that Holmes would at some time have received one, that we have taken the liberty
of exhibiting an unusually fine specimen of the type we should expect. It is an
Adams muzzle-loading revolver. This superb gold damascened Adams was invented
and produced about 1850 and was the favourite Service revolver during the
Crimean war. Both in design and in efficiency it was considerably ahead of the
contemporary Colt single-action percussion revolver. It is of 54 bore (.500 in.)
and is provided with a powder flask and bullet mould. Rather frail gold-beater's
skin ' cartridges ' were also used in this weapon but each chamber had to be
separately loaded from the front; then a separate copper percussion cap had to
be placed from the rear on the nipple of each chamber. While
  muzzle-loading arms still predominated during the American Civil War, an almost
complete changeover to breech-loading weapons began about 1865 and was complete
by 1880.

Well, that's all I could make out from my search on Google. Any comments?


Sridhar
PS: Ref: Westminster Libraries and Archives.
PPS: JT Edson (a popular Western writer), in his Floating Outfit and certain
other series related to the Fog, Blaze, and Counter clans, also talks about the
different types and uses of revolvers used at around the same period around the
world. I'll have to do a lot more research on that and the one thing I am short
on is patience (and time!). :)) Any takers?



pinaki roy <monkaroy@...> wrote:


Dear Sherlockians,



The picture of Sherlock Holmes would never be complete without his deerstalker
cap, the famous briar-root pipe and his gun. Now, we may well wonder what type
of gun did the detective use. Was it a pistol or a revolver? Considering that
the revolver had been invented in 1836 by Samuel Colt, an American, its usage
could well have been promulgated in the 1880s-1890s.



The only reference to the type of Holmes’s handgun – a ‘hair-trigger’ that fires
the centre-fire Boxer cartridge can be found in the fifth line of “The Musgrave
Ritual”, and we can deduce it was a pistol probably without a magazine. So had
he missed Tonga on that fateful night on the Thames, he would not have had
another chance to fire!



In “Annie Oakley in Baker Street”, Robert Keith Leavitt writes, “The
hair-trigger pistol is an inherently dangerous weapon, prohibited in match
shooting, impractical for sport and impractical in the extreme for detecting
operations. Almost certainly this one was a single-shot ‘salon’ pistol of
continental make”. In “The Book of the Pistol” (New York: Robert McBride and
Company, 1917), Hugh Pollard calls the hair-trigger pistols “wonderfully
complicated…so delicate…as to [be] practically worthless for ordinary use. For
trick work, like shooting the pips off the ace of cards, they are invaluable”.
The pistol had a long barrel and an emaciated-looking butt, with large hammer,
trigger and trigger guard.



As for the Boxer cartridges, Leavitt opines that the name ‘Boxer’ was used in
England as a generic name for any centre-fire cartridge – a form of ammunition
perfected in 1867 by Colonel Boxer of the Royal Army. But considering that the
centre-fire cartridges could not be made in small calibres or very low power
(the smallest Boxer bullet was of .310 calibre, slightly small that the present
day .32 with 100 foot pounds of muzzle energy), Holmes’s attempts to mark “V.R”
would have frustratingly concluded only in huge chunks of broken walls. That is
why in “Catalogues of the Sherlock Holmes Exhibition” held at Abbey House,
London, in 1951, it has been suggested that the Boxer bullets were, in reality,
‘rimfire’ cartridges which was nearer to the modern day .22. Such cartridges
would produce little noise or damage.



I would like to know what our other esteemed members have to say on this.



Thanking you,



Yours sincerely,



Pinaki Roy,

Department of English,

Balurghat College


__________________________________________________
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Dear Sherlockians,
   Apart from being a dead eye shot, there is nothing much  known
about Sherlock Holmes's markmanship. I think, Dr Watson with his
Indian Army basckground must be familiar with various rifles existing
at that point of time and presumably a good shot
sumal

Dear Sherlockians,



                                    The picture of Sherlock Holmes would never be
complete without his deerstalker cap, the famous briar-root pipe and his gun.
Now, we may well wonder what type of gun did the detective use. Was it a pistol
or a revolver? Considering that the revolver had been invented in 1836 by Samuel
Colt, an American, its usage could well have been promulgated in the
1880s-1890s.



                                      The only reference to the type of Holmes’s
handgun – a ‘hair-trigger’ that fires the centre-fire Boxer cartridge can be
found in the fifth line of “The Musgrave Ritual”, and we can deduce it was a
pistol probably without a magazine. So had he missed Tonga on that fateful night
on the Thames, he would not have had another chance to fire!



                                     In “Annie Oakley in Baker Street”, Robert
Keith Leavitt writes, “The hair-trigger pistol is an inherently dangerous
weapon, prohibited in match shooting, impractical for sport and impractical in
the extreme for detecting operations. Almost certainly this one was a
single-shot ‘salon’ pistol of continental make”. In “The Book of the Pistol”
(New York: Robert McBride and Company, 1917), Hugh Pollard calls the
hair-trigger pistols “wonderfully complicated…so delicate…as to [be] practically
worthless for ordinary use. For trick work, like shooting the pips off the ace
of cards, they are invaluable”. The pistol had a long barrel and an
emaciated-looking butt, with large hammer, trigger and trigger guard.



                                      As for the Boxer cartridges, Leavitt opines
that the name ‘Boxer’ was used in England as a generic name for any centre-fire
cartridge – a form of ammunition perfected in 1867 by Colonel Boxer of the Royal
Army. But considering that the centre-fire cartridges could not be made in small
calibres or very low power (the smallest Boxer bullet was of .310 calibre,
slightly small that the present day .32 with 100 foot pounds of muzzle energy),
Holmes’s attempts to mark “V.R” would have frustratingly concluded only in huge
chunks of broken walls. That is why in “Catalogues of the Sherlock Holmes
Exhibition” held at Abbey House, London, in 1951, it has been suggested that the
Boxer bullets were, in reality, ‘rimfire’ cartridges which was nearer to the
modern day .22. Such cartridges would produce little noise or damage.



I would like to know what our other esteemed members have to say on this.



Thanking you,



Yours sincerely,



Pinaki Roy,

Department of English,

Balurghat College


__________________________________________________
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Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Thanks to Mr. Tim for his timely reply. It was really interesting. Thanks to Mr.
Rishi for the link.

Vishwesh


Tim Symonds <tim.symonds@...> wrote:
The rooms at Baker Street are of course an insight into the lifestyle of
Victorian/Edwardian people of Holmes' and Watson's background and profession
but it's also worth looking into the sets built for the many Sherlock Holmes
plays.  I was very pleased to see my favourite (now deceased) uncle's name,
Stanley Van Beers, mentioned in The Sherlock Holmes Scrapbook by Peter
Haining, first published by New English Library in 1973, revised and
corrected in 1974, and later republished by Treasure Press in 1986 by
arrangement with Hodder & Stoughton.



The author writes:



'In January 1953, after a thorough revision by Arthur Rose and Ernest
Dudley, 'The Return of Sherlock Holmes' was revived with great success at
the New Theatre, Bromley.  It was correctly set in the period of the 1890s
and the most meticulous attention to the fine points of Holmesian detail was
displayed by the producer, Stanley Van Beers.'



Stanley Van Beers was the uncle I refer to above, and it couldn't have been
much later he had a heart attack and died a day or so after I visited him in
King's College Hospital.



Also, somewhere around my office I have a photograph I purchased quite
recently from an Oxfam bookshop near Regent's Park (about 500 yards from the
famed Baker Street dwelling) portraying what must be an accurate
representation of Sherlock Holmes' study.  If I can find it I'll try to scan
it into my machine and send it to the group.  Otherwise I imagine I can get
it reproduced by a lab.







-----Original Message-----
From: SherlockHolmesSocietyofIndia@...
[mailto:SherlockHolmesSocietyofIndia@...] On Behalf Of
vishwesh vyawahare
Sent: 24 April 2005 08:02
To: SherlockHolmesSocietyofIndia@...
Subject: [sherlock holmes society of india] movies and serials on sherlock
holmes





Dear Sherlockians,



May I request the esteemed members of the group to please provide
information regarding the various movies/TV serials made on Holmes. Where
can one get information? Are there any sites from where one can download (or
purchase) those? Also it would be most interesting to hear the verbatim
description of the famous 221B, Baker Street suit, from any of our member,
who was lucky enough to visit it.



best,

vishwesh



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The rooms at Baker Street are of course an insight into the lifestyle of
Victorian/Edwardian people of Holmes' and Watson's background and profession
but it's also worth looking into the sets built for the many Sherlock Holmes
plays.  I was very pleased to see my favourite (now deceased) uncle's name,
Stanley Van Beers, mentioned in The Sherlock Holmes Scrapbook by Peter
Haining, first published by New English Library in 1973, revised and
corrected in 1974, and later republished by Treasure Press in 1986 by
arrangement with Hodder & Stoughton.



The author writes:



'In January 1953, after a thorough revision by Arthur Rose and Ernest
Dudley, 'The Return of Sherlock Holmes' was revived with great success at
the New Theatre, Bromley.  It was correctly set in the period of the 1890s
and the most meticulous attention to the fine points of Holmesian detail was
displayed by the producer, Stanley Van Beers.'



Stanley Van Beers was the uncle I refer to above, and it couldn't have been
much later he had a heart attack and died a day or so after I visited him in
King's College Hospital.



Also, somewhere around my office I have a photograph I purchased quite
recently from an Oxfam bookshop near Regent's Park (about 500 yards from the
famed Baker Street dwelling) portraying what must be an accurate
representation of Sherlock Holmes' study.  If I can find it I'll try to scan
it into my machine and send it to the group.  Otherwise I imagine I can get
it reproduced by a lab.







-----Original Message-----
From: SherlockHolmesSocietyofIndia@...
[mailto:SherlockHolmesSocietyofIndia@...] On Behalf Of
vishwesh vyawahare
Sent: 24 April 2005 08:02
To: SherlockHolmesSocietyofIndia@...
Subject: [sherlock holmes society of india] movies and serials on sherlock
holmes





Dear Sherlockians,



May I request the esteemed members of the group to please provide
information regarding the various movies/TV serials made on Holmes. Where
can one get information? Are there any sites from where one can download (or
purchase) those? Also it would be most interesting to hear the verbatim
description of the famous 221B, Baker Street suit, from any of our member,
who was lucky enough to visit it.



best,

vishwesh



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> May I request the esteemed members of the group to please provide
information regarding the various movies/TV serials made on Holmes.


http://www.imdb.com is always a good place to start.

Dear Sherlockians,

May I request the esteemed members of the group to please provide information
regarding the various movies/TV serials made on Holmes. Where can one get
information? Are there any sites from where one can download (or purchase)
those? Also it would be most interesting to hear the verbatim description of the
famous 221B, Baker Street suit, from any of our member, who was lucky enough to
visit it.

best,
vishwesh

__________________________________________________
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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Excellent. I dont' have much to add; but Conan Doyle's apparent volte
face, in denying that Fletcher Robinson had any role in the writing,
could well have been due to pressure from his publishers, in the
interests of controlling any bad publicity. But it's probably
impossible to ever verify this hypothesis.

>I recall reading that Doyle didn't really take to finger-printing.

At the time, the Bertillon system of anthropometry was all the rage.
Eventually, it fell out of use, because it was too complex and prone
to error. Holmes reflected that fashion: he praises the Bertillon
system in one story.

I cannot add much to Pinaki Roy's excellent account of the origins of the
Hounds but here goes:



I believe most authors get their inspiration and plot-line from often casual
remarks by others, and the art is to work this spark into a fully-fledged
fire. As Pinaki mentions, Conan Doyle was told of the legend of a frightful
hound on the moors during a golfing holiday.  This holiday took place after
Doyle had sought election, unsuccessfully, to the House of Commons (during
his candidacy newspapers referred to Doyle as 'Shurlacombs').  It was during
the golfing holiday he was introduced to the plot and setting, and because
immense pressure had grown up from the public and publisher for more Holmes'
stories, he decided to use parts of the old legend.  The 'real' legend
related the story of a supernatural hound avenging a cruel murder in
history-rich Dartmoor.

To freshen his mind on the spooky atmosphere of these moors (nobody, even
today, would happily spend a night alone on them), Doyle made a special trip
to Dartmoor in April 1901.  4 months later the first instalment of the
Hounds appeared in the Strand.  He had promised his mother it would be 'a
real Creeper'. (Incidentally, I have never seen anything about his mother or
whether he shared ideas for stories with her etc., yet she seems to have
been close to him.)



Despite the fact Holmes was apparently already dead when the Hounds was
written, Doyle seemed unwilling to admit he had given way to strenuous
public demand by writing a further 'Holmes' and he therefore used the device
of setting the Hounds in pre-Reichenbach days.  It was not until 2 years
later when an American publisher offered him an unprecedented advance of
US$5000 did Doyle genuinely revive the daring Duo, writing 13 new stories in
a matter of months.  As observers at the time commented, his readers were
waiting.  When 'The Adventure of the Empty House' appeared in the Strand in
October 1903, readers were waiting.  One woman remembered that the scenes in
the bookshops 'were worse than anything I ever saw at a bargain-sale'.



Regarding Doyle's belief in spiritualism, it sprang to the fore after he
attended a séance in 1916 and believed he had been put in touch with the
spirit of his wife's dead brother.  He became a very ardent advocate of
spiritualism to the point he expressed a belief in another world populated
not only by the souls of the dead but also fairies and elves.  He dedicated
the rest of his life (14 more years, dying on July 7 1930) and much of his
money to this cause.

His death itself was reminiscent of what might have been Holmes' death if
Holmes had died of natural causes.  As others have written: 'Doyle took his
last breath at home surrounded by mementoes of a life lived to the full -
billiard cues, boxing gloves, a photo of a ship called the Conan Doyle, and
a portrait of the actor William Gillette in his most celebrated role:
Sherlock Holmes’.









-----Original Message-----
From: SherlockHolmesSocietyofIndia@...
[mailto:SherlockHolmesSocietyofIndia@...] On Behalf Of pinaki
roy
Sent: 22 April 2005 18:11
To: sherlockholmessocietyofindia@...
Subject: [sherlock holmes society of india] Sorry...here's the correct
response to Mr. Sumal Sen's observations on "The Hound of the Baskervilles"





Dear Sherlockians,



         Sorry for the earlier posting without a bibliography! Now here is
the corrected version.I begin by heartily thanking Mr. Sumal Sen for his
article on “The Hound of the Baskervilles” posted on the internet on 22
April 2005. The novel was first serialised in “The Strand Magazine” between
August 1901 and April 1902. In context of M.H. Abrams’s definition of a
Gothic novel as being one that contains a medieval castle and atmosphere, a
persecuted lady and supernatural happenings (Abrams 111), “The Hound of
Baskerville” with a sombre early Victorian atmosphere, the dilapidated
Baskerville Hall, the persecuted Mrs. Stapleton and the ghostly hound, is
definitely one. Perhaps it is the most read Gothic romance after Bram
Stoker’s “Dracula” (1897) and Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” (1818).







                                         Roger Garrick-Steele’s charges might
not lack substance after all! There is definitely a strong connection
between the novel and Arthur Conan Doyle’s friend, Bertram Fletcher Robinson
whose “The Chronicles of Addington Peace” was published by Harper from
London in 1905. According to Professor Christopher Freling Frayling, whose
research was recently aired on the “Discovery” Channel, Robinson had
contributed a significant, if not the total, section to the novel. On a
Sunday evening in March 1901, a windy day, Robinson narrated the story of a
spectral hound visiting the Dartmoor marshes to Doyle when both were on a
golfing holiday at the Royal Links Hotel, Cromer, Norfolk. In the last week
of the same month, both Doyle and Robinson sat together working on chalking
out the details, but William S. Baring-Gould points out that initially Doyle
had not thought of it as another Holmesian adventure (Baring-Gould 113).
Though later Robinson firmly denied

  that he had any hand in the development of “The Hound of the Baskervilles”,
Doyle dedicated the novel to him and acknowledged his help in the footnote
to the August 1901 edition of “The Strand Magazine”, and then in the first
book edition published by M/s. George Newnes Limited, London, in 1902.
However, there was a near denial in the dedication published in the book
edition by McClure Phillips, Inc., New York in 1902. In his ‘Preface’ to
“The Complete Sherlock Holmes”, Doyle finally wrote, “Then came ‘The Hound
of the Baskervilles’. It arose from a remark by that fine fellow whose
premature death was a loss to the world, Fletcher Robinson, that there was a
spectral dog near his home at Dartmoor. That remark was the inception of the
book, but I should add that the plot and every word of the actual narrative
was my own.” (Baring-Gould 113).







                                             There is no hamlet of Grimpen in
Dartmoor. However, there is a village called Widecombe-in-the-Moor famous
for the Widecombe Fair – the inspiration for one of the more popular English
ballads. As Frayling suggests, Doyle knew a former steward of one of the
Widecombe aristocrats, and it was from him that the writer borrowed the
surname of Baskerville. The “grey, melancholy hill” was Brent Tor, one of
the more impressive Dartmoor hills vividly described in Sabine
Baring-Gould’s “A Book of Dartmoor”. As the model from the Baskerville Hall,
William S. Baring-Gould suggests the Lew House/Hall at Lew Trenchard, near
Lew Down, Devon (Baring-Gould 40). Not only does the Hall’s construction fit
Doyle’s description, but also the Hall contains a number of reputed
paintings, including one by Reynolds and another by Kneller, and the
coat-of-arms of the owners of the Lew Hall contains a ringed bear’s head.
Frayling has also spoken about a Dartmoor

  family’s coat-of-arms being a dog’s head. Julian Wolff, on the other hand,
has identified Baskerville Hall with one at Mount Edgcumbe in Devonshire
(Baring-Gould 40).







I would request our other eminent members to wage discussion on this.







Yours sincerely,







Pinaki Roy,



Department of English,



Balurghat College







Select bibliography:







Abrams, Meyer Howard. "A Glossary of Literary Terms". 7th ed. Singapore:
Harcourt Asia Private Limited, 2000.



Baring-Gould, William S. "The Annotated Sherlock Holmes". Volume 2. New
York: Clarkson N. Potter, Inc., 1967.



"The Wordsworth Companion to Literature in English". Ian Ousby, et al., eds.
Ware-Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Editions Limited, 1988. Rpt. 1998.



"Merriam Webster's Encyclopaedia of Literature". Springfield: Merraim
Webster, Inc., 1995.















---------------------------------

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  Yahoo! Small Business - Try our new resources site!



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]









Yahoo! Groups Links



     http://in.groups.yahoo.com/group/SherlockHolmesSocietyofIndia/



     SherlockHolmesSocietyofIndia-unsubscribe@...



     http://in.docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/













[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Dear Sherlockians,

         Sorry for the earlier posting without a bibliography! Now here is the
corrected version.I begin by heartily thanking Mr. Sumal Sen for his article on
“The Hound of the Baskervilles” posted on the internet on 22 April 2005. The
novel was first serialised in “The Strand Magazine” between August 1901 and
April 1902. In context of M.H. Abrams’s definition of a Gothic novel as being
one that contains a medieval castle and atmosphere, a persecuted lady and
supernatural happenings (Abrams 111), “The Hound of Baskerville” with a sombre
early Victorian atmosphere, the dilapidated Baskerville Hall, the persecuted
Mrs. Stapleton and the ghostly hound, is definitely one. Perhaps it is the most
read Gothic romance after Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” (1897) and Mary Shelley’s
“Frankenstein” (1818).



                                         Roger Garrick-Steele’s charges might not
lack substance after all! There is definitely a strong connection between the
novel and Arthur Conan Doyle’s friend, Bertram Fletcher Robinson whose “The
Chronicles of Addington Peace” was published by Harper from London in 1905.
According to Professor Christopher Freling Frayling, whose research was recently
aired on the “Discovery” Channel, Robinson had contributed a significant, if not
the total, section to the novel. On a Sunday evening in March 1901, a windy day,
Robinson narrated the story of a spectral hound visiting the Dartmoor marshes to
Doyle when both were on a golfing holiday at the Royal Links Hotel, Cromer,
Norfolk. In the last week of the same month, both Doyle and Robinson sat
together working on chalking out the details, but William S. Baring-Gould points
out that initially Doyle had not thought of it as another Holmesian adventure
(Baring-Gould 113). Though later Robinson firmly denied
  that he had any hand in the development of “The Hound of the Baskervilles”,
Doyle dedicated the novel to him and acknowledged his help in the footnote to
the August 1901 edition of “The Strand Magazine”, and then in the first book
edition published by M/s. George Newnes Limited, London, in 1902. However, there
was a near denial in the dedication published in the book edition by McClure
Phillips, Inc., New York in 1902. In his ‘Preface’ to “The Complete Sherlock
Holmes”, Doyle finally wrote, “Then came ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’. It
arose from a remark by that fine fellow whose premature death was a loss to the
world, Fletcher Robinson, that there was a spectral dog near his home at
Dartmoor. That remark was the inception of the book, but I should add that the
plot and every word of the actual narrative was my own.” (Baring-Gould 113).



                                             There is no hamlet of Grimpen in
Dartmoor. However, there is a village called Widecombe-in-the-Moor famous for
the Widecombe Fair – the inspiration for one of the more popular English
ballads. As Frayling suggests, Doyle knew a former steward of one of the
Widecombe aristocrats, and it was from him that the writer borrowed the surname
of Baskerville. The “grey, melancholy hill” was Brent Tor, one of the more
impressive Dartmoor hills vividly described in Sabine Baring-Gould’s “A Book of
Dartmoor”. As the model from the Baskerville Hall, William S. Baring-Gould
suggests the Lew House/Hall at Lew Trenchard, near Lew Down, Devon (Baring-Gould
40). Not only does the Hall’s construction fit Doyle’s description, but also the
Hall contains a number of reputed paintings, including one by Reynolds and
another by Kneller, and the coat-of-arms of the owners of the Lew Hall contains
a ringed bear’s head. Frayling has also spoken about a Dartmoor
  family’s coat-of-arms being a dog’s head. Julian Wolff, on the other hand, has
identified Baskerville Hall with one at Mount Edgcumbe in Devonshire
(Baring-Gould 40).



I would request our other eminent members to wage discussion on this.



Yours sincerely,



Pinaki Roy,

Department of English,

Balurghat College



Select bibliography:



Abrams, Meyer Howard. "A Glossary of Literary Terms". 7th ed. Singapore:
Harcourt Asia Private Limited, 2000.

Baring-Gould, William S. "The Annotated Sherlock Holmes". Volume 2. New York:
Clarkson N. Potter, Inc., 1967.

"The Wordsworth Companion to Literature in English". Ian Ousby, et al., eds.
Ware-Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Editions Limited, 1988. Rpt. 1998.

"Merriam Webster's Encyclopaedia of Literature". Springfield: Merraim Webster,
Inc., 1995.







---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
  Yahoo! Small Business - Try our new resources site!

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Dear Sherlockians,



                                          I heartily thank Mr. Sumal Sen for his
article on “The Hound of the Baskervilles” posted on the internet on 22 April
2005. The novel was first serialised in “The Strand Magazine” between August
1901 and April 1902. In context of M.H. Abrams’s definition of a Gothic novel as
being one that contains a medieval castle and atmosphere, a persecuted lady and
supernatural happenings (Abrams 111), “The Hound of Baskerville” with a sombre
early Victorian atmosphere, the dilapidated Baskerville Hall, the persecuted
Mrs. Stapleton and the ghostly hound, is definitely one. Perhaps it is the most
read Gothic romance after Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” (1897) and Mary Shelley’s
“Frankenstein” (1818).



                                         Roger Garrick-Steele’s charges might not
lack substance after all! There is definitely a strong connection between the
novel and Arthur Conan Doyle’s friend, Bertram Fletcher Robinson whose “The
Chronicles of Addington Peace” was published by Harper from London in 1905.
According to Professor Christopher Freling Frayling, whose research was recently
aired on the “Discovery” Channel, Robinson had contributed a significant, if not
the total, section to the novel. On a Sunday evening in March 1901, a windy day,
Robinson narrated the story of a spectral hound visiting the Dartmoor marshes to
Doyle when both were on a golfing holiday at the Royal Links Hotel, Cromer,
Norfolk. In the last week of the same month, both Doyle and Robinson sat
together working on chalking out the details, but William S. Baring-Gould points
out that initially Doyle had not thought of it as another Holmesian adventure
(Baring-Gould 113). Though later Robinson firmly denied
  that he had any hand in the development of “The Hound of the Baskervilles”,
Doyle dedicated the novel to him and acknowledged his help in the footnote to
the August 1901 edition of “The Strand Magazine”, and then in the first book
edition published by M/s. George Newnes Limited, London, in 1902. However, there
was a near denial in the dedication published in the book edition by McClure
Phillips, Inc., New York in 1902. In his ‘Preface’ to “The Complete Sherlock
Holmes”, Doyle finally wrote, “Then came ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’. It
arose from a remark by that fine fellow whose premature death was a loss to the
world, Fletcher Robinson, that there was a spectral dog near his home at
Dartmoor. That remark was the inception of the book, but I should add that the
plot and every word of the actual narrative was my own.” (Baring-Gould 113).



                                             There is no hamlet of Grimpen in
Dartmoor. However, there is a village called Widecombe-in-the-Moor famous for
the Widecombe Fair – the inspiration for one of the more popular English
ballads. As Frayling suggests, Doyle knew a former steward of one of the
Widecombe aristocrats, and it was from him that the writer borrowed the surname
of Baskerville. The “grey, melancholy hill” was Brent Tor, one of the more
impressive Dartmoor hills vividly described in Sabine Baring-Gould’s “A Book of
Dartmoor”. As the model from the Baskerville Hall, William S. Baring-Gould
suggests the Lew House/Hall at Lew Trenchard, near Lew Down, Devon (Baring-Gould
40). Not only does the Hall’s construction fit Doyle’s description, but also the
Hall contains a number of reputed paintings, including one by Reynolds and
another by Kneller, and the coat-of-arms of the owners of the Lew Hall contains
a ringed bear’s head. Frayling has also spoken about a Dartmoor
  family’s coat-of-arms being a dog’s head. Julian Wolff, on the other hand, has
identified Baskerville Hall with one at Mount Edgcumbe in Devonshire
(Baring-Gould 40).



I would request our other eminent members to wage discussion on this.



Yours sincerely,



Pinaki Roy,

Department of English,

Balurghat College








---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
  Yahoo! Small Business - Try our new resources site!

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Yes, the Hounds is a very spooky tale.  Along with 'the dog that didn't bark
in the night' in a separate tale, I think Holmes' realisation the victim had
been running for his life, not 'tip-toeing' as the local Constable had
surmised, is superb detection.

Re. Conan Doyle and modern methods which were coming in in the early 19th
Century, I recall reading that Doyle didn't really take to finger-printing.
Maybe he thought it was cheating, and would enable inferior detectives to
come in on Holmes' intellectually-superior deduction patch?



-----Original Message-----
From: SherlockHolmesSocietyofIndia@...
[mailto:SherlockHolmesSocietyofIndia@...] On Behalf Of sumalsn
Sent: 22 April 2005 14:36
To: SherlockHolmesSocietyofIndia@...
Subject: [sherlock holmes society of india] Hi



Holmes still walks

LONDON'S gas lit existence was eerie enough without the baying of the
hound, and the gigantic footprints it left outside the country home
of the Baskervilles. Developing a legend into a classic thriller, Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle immortalised the story of a huge dog whose very
sight on the shadowy moors of England would shock a man into death.

The Hound of the Baskervilles is perhaps the favourite of Sir
Arthur's four detective novels, where Sherlock Holmes leaves behind
fascinating clues to masterly deduction. It is a tale which has just
about every ingredient to make great reading. If there is terror and
murder on the Grimpen Mire, there is also romance and comic humour.
The spooky fog that engulfs the lonely vastness of the marsh is often
contrasted with the brightness of the day when the sun's rays drives
away the horror of the night before. The terrifying cry of the hound
and the romantic interlude of the couple in love produce the kind of
mystery, which Holmes loved to crack.

In fact, Sherlock Holmes is one of the few fictional heroes who have
sailed past his creator; another can be James Bond, conceived by Ian
Fleming. But the magnetism of the pipe-smoking, cocaine-snorting
Holmes is not really a match for Bond's suave and sexy image. Maybe,
Sir Arthur's icon lived in real times, mingled with ordinary people
whose fears and worries arose from everyday affairs and tragedies.
Fleming's creation lived in different times, and exercised his mind
over issues that were far above the ground.

Understandably, the Royal Society of Chemistry has just honoured
Holmes with a fellowship, the first time an imaginary character is
being recognised. It said: "Many years ago, Holmes was using what
would one day be forensic science in detection. Thanks to his science
today, more crimes are solved than ever before." This coincided with
100 years of The Hound of the Baskervilles, which was serialised in
The Strand from August 1901 to April 1902.

But the canine curse of the Baskervilles might never have reared its
monstrous head had it not been for an overwhelming public protest
over Holmes' death in the white waters of the Reichenbach Falls in
Switzerland. Sir Arthur had killed his detective in "The Final
Problem", at the end of 11 stories, collectively called "The Memoirs
of Sherlock Holmes", and published in The Strand.

Holmes' fans would not agree to this. The display of mass emotion was
unimaginable: more than 20,000 Strand readers cancelled their
subscriptions, and young men and women appeared on the streets of
Britain sporting black armbands and veils! They mourned the demise of
their favourite guy, but they were a lot unhappier because Conan
Doyle had let incompetence and evil triumph over talent and goodness
by allowing Holmes to die, and the wicked Professor Moriarty to
perhaps live.

Sir Arthur relented, though after eight years, and he began penning
what would become the best piece of his literary enterprise, The
Hound of the Baskervilles. It remains the most endearing, the sales
statistics of the English manor-house mysteries of Dame Agatha
Christie notwithstanding. The allusions to the scary swamp, the
sinister Mr. and Mrs. Barrymore and the scourge of the "devil of a
dog" evoke quicker responses from readers polled than either the
China-blue eyes of Miss Marple or Monsieur Poirot's "little grey
cells". Indeed, men and women who have never read mysteries have
invariably read The Hound...

However, can such a thriller be without drama outside its covers? A
couple of years ago, Rodger Garrick-Steele, a former psychologist and
aspiring writer, caused a furore in literary circles in general and
among Sherlockians in particular, when he claimed that Conan Doyle's
friend, Berram Fletcher Robinson, was the true author of The Hound of
the Baskervilles. Steele added more spice: Sir Arthur, in order to
avoid being exposed as a fraud, persuaded Robinson's wife, with whom
he was having an affair, to poison her husband. The Sherlock Holmes
Society quickly dismissed this as a "complete fabrication".

But this allegation merely fuelled additional interest in Holmes.
David Pirie's recent BBC drama, "Murder Rooms" and book, The
Patient's Eyes explore Conan Doyle's relationship with his mentor in
medicine, the Edinburgh forensic physician, Joseph Bell.

It is not only historians and documentary filmmakers who are keeping
alive our man from 221, Baker Street. Modern writers continue to
visualise prose in the Victorian sleuth's name. In 1992, Michael
Dibdin's The Last Sherlock Holmes Story saw him stalking Jack the
Ripper on London's East End. Andrew Boucher has made a career out of
his New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.

Conan Doyle himself was never able to escape the shadow of his alter
ego. Although he took his spiritualism much more seriously than his
crime fiction, his final passages, published three years before his
death in 1930, was Sherlock Holmes' Casebook.

Beginning with A Study in Scarlet in 1887, the violin-playing Holmes
walked past intrigues and conspiracies for over half a century. That
was, of course, through the Doyle's inkpot. But the enigma survives,
as does the passion to keep Holmes on his feet. Forever.











Yahoo! Groups Links

Holmes still walks

LONDON'S gas lit existence was eerie enough without the baying of the
hound, and the gigantic footprints it left outside the country home
of the Baskervilles. Developing a legend into a classic thriller, Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle immortalised the story of a huge dog whose very
sight on the shadowy moors of England would shock a man into death.

The Hound of the Baskervilles is perhaps the favourite of Sir
Arthur's four detective novels, where Sherlock Holmes leaves behind
fascinating clues to masterly deduction. It is a tale which has just
about every ingredient to make great reading. If there is terror and
murder on the Grimpen Mire, there is also romance and comic humour.
The spooky fog that engulfs the lonely vastness of the marsh is often
contrasted with the brightness of the day when the sun's rays drives
away the horror of the night before. The terrifying cry of the hound
and the romantic interlude of the couple in love produce the kind of
mystery, which Holmes loved to crack.

In fact, Sherlock Holmes is one of the few fictional heroes who have
sailed past his creator; another can be James Bond, conceived by Ian
Fleming. But the magnetism of the pipe-smoking, cocaine-snorting
Holmes is not really a match for Bond's suave and sexy image. Maybe,
Sir Arthur's icon lived in real times, mingled with ordinary people
whose fears and worries arose from everyday affairs and tragedies.
Fleming's creation lived in different times, and exercised his mind
over issues that were far above the ground.

Understandably, the Royal Society of Chemistry has just honoured
Holmes with a fellowship, the first time an imaginary character is
being recognised. It said: "Many years ago, Holmes was using what
would one day be forensic science in detection. Thanks to his science
today, more crimes are solved than ever before." This coincided with
100 years of The Hound of the Baskervilles, which was serialised in
The Strand from August 1901 to April 1902.

But the canine curse of the Baskervilles might never have reared its
monstrous head had it not been for an overwhelming public protest
over Holmes' death in the white waters of the Reichenbach Falls in
Switzerland. Sir Arthur had killed his detective in "The Final
Problem", at the end of 11 stories, collectively called "The Memoirs
of Sherlock Holmes", and published in The Strand.

Holmes' fans would not agree to this. The display of mass emotion was
unimaginable: more than 20,000 Strand readers cancelled their
subscriptions, and young men and women appeared on the streets of
Britain sporting black armbands and veils! They mourned the demise of
their favourite guy, but they were a lot unhappier because Conan
Doyle had let incompetence and evil triumph over talent and goodness
by allowing Holmes to die, and the wicked Professor Moriarty to
perhaps live.

Sir Arthur relented, though after eight years, and he began penning
what would become the best piece of his literary enterprise, The
Hound of the Baskervilles. It remains the most endearing, the sales
statistics of the English manor-house mysteries of Dame Agatha
Christie notwithstanding. The allusions to the scary swamp, the
sinister Mr. and Mrs. Barrymore and the scourge of the "devil of a
dog" evoke quicker responses from readers polled than either the
China-blue eyes of Miss Marple or Monsieur Poirot's "little grey
cells". Indeed, men and women who have never read mysteries have
invariably read The Hound...

However, can such a thriller be without drama outside its covers? A
couple of years ago, Rodger Garrick-Steele, a former psychologist and
aspiring writer, caused a furore in literary circles in general and
among Sherlockians in particular, when he claimed that Conan Doyle's
friend, Berram Fletcher Robinson, was the true author of The Hound of
the Baskervilles. Steele added more spice: Sir Arthur, in order to
avoid being exposed as a fraud, persuaded Robinson's wife, with whom
he was having an affair, to poison her husband. The Sherlock Holmes
Society quickly dismissed this as a "complete fabrication".

But this allegation merely fuelled additional interest in Holmes.
David Pirie's recent BBC drama, "Murder Rooms" and book, The
Patient's Eyes explore Conan Doyle's relationship with his mentor in
medicine, the Edinburgh forensic physician, Joseph Bell.

It is not only historians and documentary filmmakers who are keeping
alive our man from 221, Baker Street. Modern writers continue to
visualise prose in the Victorian sleuth's name. In 1992, Michael
Dibdin's The Last Sherlock Holmes Story saw him stalking Jack the
Ripper on London's East End. Andrew Boucher has made a career out of
his New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.

Conan Doyle himself was never able to escape the shadow of his alter
ego. Although he took his spiritualism much more seriously than his
crime fiction, his final passages, published three years before his
death in 1930, was Sherlock Holmes' Casebook.

Beginning with A Study in Scarlet in 1887, the violin-playing Holmes
walked past intrigues and conspiracies for over half a century. That
was, of course, through the Doyle's inkpot. But the enigma survives,
as does the passion to keep Holmes on his feet. Forever.

Looks interesting. Will certainly read it through. Thanks for th elink.

>I guess it's time for another complete read of PGW. :)

Just needed an excuse, eh? Well, go for it!

Salutations,

First I would like to inform this special group of a little known
historical personage. I am including her in my book, which the
research for is painstaking and arduous. Please note that in real
life, she attempted to emulate a fictional detective which was quite
popular at that time. Clearly the defineing element for her, is that
she participated in the London "elements"........at the risk of her
very person.....in all aspects. You may find additional information
elsewhere, but this brief essay should prove quite enlightening for
those who wish to broaden their horizon. She will be a key character
in my book, obviously the storyline will center around morality and
illusions of propriety.....a central theme in ACD stories, if taken
from an oblique perspective. As an afterthought....by the
way.......she was Indian

http://iupjournals.org/victorian/vic42-1.html#f20

I look forward to visiting India and perhaps even meeting one or two
fellow Sherolkians.

I remain,

Yours Truly...

James27Word



P.S.  It seems no one cared to solve my simple clues....oh well...

Dear Sherlockians,

         I shall be highly obliged if our esteemed Society members post on this
site the names of some of the reputed Indian fictional detectives and their
assistants, if any (other than those in Bengali), and their writers (belonging
to the late 19th and twentieth centuries). Prompt replies are being earnestly
solicited.

                                                              - Pinaki Roy

__________________________________________________
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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Or to steal a certain autobiography of Lord Emsworth's younger brother, Galahad
"Gally" Threepwood who had had a very roguish sort of youth and seems to have
known most of the prominent leaders of society in their own not-so-conservative
and goody-goody youth. He never went to sleep before 3 in the morning and never
got up until 12ish in the noon.


Sridhar
PS: Gally never drank tea, which he considers to be the worst poison on Earth.
PPS: As a matter of fact, I guess I got my aversion of tea from him :))
PPPS: One of the most loveable characters of PGW.
PPPPS: Sorry to go off on a tangent like this!

sumalsn <no_reply@...> wrote:

Dear Sherlockians,
Percy Pilbeam wasthe guy who wasusually hiredto stop thetheft or
detect the theft of the Empress of Blandings ,Lord Emsworth's prizepig
sumal





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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Dear Sherlockians,
Percy Pilbeam wasthe guy who wasusually hiredto stop thetheft or
detect the theft of the Empress of Blandings ,Lord Emsworth's prizepig
sumal

Dear Sherlockians,
There is no doubt that Sherlock Holmes was based upon Dr Joseph Bell
and partly upon Auguste Dupin also.
sumal

Right u r! Just checked it up! I guess it's time for another complete read of
PGW. :)


Sridhar

rishiiyengar <rishiiyengar@...> wrote:


> Must be one of those Blandings Castle novels starring Percy Pilbeam
(the most hated detective of all!), I guess.


Nope, Psmith, Journalist actually. You'll find the etext on gutenberg.
>
> Sridhar
>
> rishiiyengar <rishiiyengar@y...> wrote:
>
>
> >
> > PG Wodehouse and crosswords? Sounds interesting.
>
> There's a nice link between PGW and ACD: "Elementary my dear Watson"
> probably comes from Wodehouse.
>
>
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------
> Yahoo! Group

s Links
>
>    To visit your group on the web, go to:
> http://in.groups.yahoo.com/group/SherlockHolmesSocietyofIndia/
>
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> SherlockHolmesSocietyofIndia-unsubscribe@...
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>
>
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>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]





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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

> Must be one of those Blandings Castle novels starring Percy Pilbeam
(the most hated detective of all!), I guess.


Nope, Psmith, Journalist actually. You'll find the etext on gutenberg.
>
> Sridhar
>
> rishiiyengar <rishiiyengar@y...> wrote:
>
>
> >
> > PG Wodehouse and crosswords? Sounds interesting.
>
> There's a nice link between PGW and ACD: "Elementary my dear Watson"
> probably comes from Wodehouse.
>
>
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------
> Yahoo! Group

s Links
>
>    To visit your group on the web, go to:
> http://in.groups.yahoo.com/group/SherlockHolmesSocietyofIndia/
>
>    To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> SherlockHolmesSocietyofIndia-unsubscribe@...
>
>    Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------
> Do you Yahoo!?
>  Plan great trips with Yahoo! Travel: Now over 17,000 guides!
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Dear Sherlockians,
   I remember " Podighai(DD) " channel usedto televise the adventures
of  Vasanth and Ganesh in the late 80's - early 90's.Rajesh Kumar is
another guy who writes detective stories in Tamil
sumal

Must be one of those Blandings Castle novels starring Percy Pilbeam (the most
hated detective of all!), I guess.


Sridhar

rishiiyengar <rishiiyengar@...> wrote:


>
> PG Wodehouse and crosswords? Sounds interesting.

There's a nice link between PGW and ACD: "Elementary my dear Watson"
probably comes from Wodehouse.





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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

I'm not sure, but since "Sujatha" writes in both Tamil and English, I guess
these must be available in English too. Sorry, but I can't be more helpful. Hey,
and the names are Ganesh and Vasanth and Ganesh is more like Perry Mason, a
lawyer-investigator, than like an actual detective.


Sridhar

manraviel <watsonjh2002@...> wrote:

--- In SherlockHolmesSocietyofIndia@..., sridhar C
<cs_gollum@y...> wrote:
> Oh yes, I almost forgot. The Tamil writer "Sujatha" (his pen name)
has created a detective (whose name temporarily slips my mind) who
also has a sidekick (who's name too I'm afraid I don't recollect).
The speciality of this detective is that he has the view that the
person who doesn't read PG Wodehouse and doesn't solve the newspaper
crosswords cannot possibly be human!!!

PG Wodehouse and crosswords? Sounds interesting. Any chance these
stories have been translated in Hindi or English?

Manraviel





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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

>
> PG Wodehouse and crosswords? Sounds interesting.

There's a nice link between PGW and ACD: "Elementary my dear Watson"
probably comes from Wodehouse.