I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere

“on referring to my notes” [REIG]   Long-time students of Sherlock Holmes might think that Guy Warrack covered all there was to say in his 1947 classic Sherlock Holmes and Music. But longtime listeners of I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere know that there’s always something more to be discovered or said. Alexander Katz, BSI (“Sarasate”) and Karen Wilson, BSI (“Bartholomew Wilson”) have edited the lates...

“your celebrated friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes” [NAVA]   A free event at DePaul University is on our radar, and it should be on yours too. Paul Booth, a professor of digital communication and media art, developed the DePaul Pop Culture Conference over the last decade, and this year's topic is A Celebration of Sherlock Holmes. Professor Booth joined us to discuss how different elements of society con...

“the Order of the Legion” [GOLD]   What's an active Sherlockian to do when the world goes into lockdown mode and all regular Sherlockian society meetings are canceled? Pretty much what most of us did in the first two years of the pandemic: go virtual! When Covid caused us to shelter in place, Sherlockians—a gregarious type of people—weren't about to be kept away from each other. So many societies...

“the feted hero” [VALL]   David MacGregor's Sherlock Holmes: The Hero With a Thousand Faces takes on the task of explaining the continued popularity of Arthur Conan Doyle's famous detective over the course of three centuries.  In plays, films, TV shows, and other media, one generation after another has reimagined Holmes as a romantic hero, action hero, gentleman hero, recovering drug addict, weepi...

“It was a masterpiece of villainy, and he carried it out like a master” [NORW]   January brought another entry in the Manuscript Series from the BSI Press. This time, it's the manuscript of "The Adventure of the Norwood Builder," and it was edited by Ross Davies, BSI ("The Temple"). He and Ira Matetsky, BSI ("The Final Problem") join us for this episode. We learn about where this manuscript is hel...

“an historical curiosity” [MUSG]  Vincent W. Wright has stumbled across what can only be described as a remarkable piece of scholarship. In fact, it may be the very first example of its kind. Sherlockians have long considered "the Game" to have begun under the scholarship of Msgr. Ronald A. Knox in 1911. But as researchers keep digging, much like archaeologists, they're finding information that st...

“a connoisseur and collector” [ILLU]  Chuck Kovacic is an artist of many dimensions. His paintings are but one of these dimensions — universally visible to those who can see his work in art galleries, or places like McSorley's Old Ale House in New York City. But Chuck's flair for Sherlockian scholarship and collecting has taken him in a rare direction: he has a recreation of Sherlock Holmes's 221B...

“put forward with such a quiet air of mastery” [STOC]  As regular readers and listeners know, Michael F. Whelan, BSI ("Wiggins") passed away in October of 2021. His contribution to the Sherlockian game was more than any one person could adequately describe. To honor his memory, we gathered a number of Baker Street Irregulars to remember Mike beyond his Sherlockian self — people who knew him well a...

“it is better to learn wisdom late than never to learn it at all” [TWIS]  The game—of life—is afoot! In our endless pursuit of happiness, is it possible that we have overlooked some crucial clue? Sherlock Holmes says "Yes." As Glenn Dakin kept reading the Sherlock Holmes stories, he discovered more wisdom buried in those pages than many modern-day philosophers. He extracted some examples to serve...

“draw inferences from our observations” [CARD]  Lyndsay Faye, BSI ("Kitty Winter") has a knack for capturing the voice of John H. Watson in the style of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. But in her latest Sherlock Holmes book, she treats us to more than just one voice. Observations by Gaslight: Stories from the World of Sherlock Holmes (Mysterious Press, 2021) takes a vastly different approach. In this seri...

“those sacred writings, drawn in Egyptian letters” [STUD]  If there is one author to whom we owe the rise in popularity of Sherlock Holmes in the mid-1970s, it is Nicholas Meyer, BSI ("A Fine Morocco Case"). It was his novel The Seven Per-Cent Solution (which spent 40 weeks on the New York Times Bestseller List) and his screenplay for the film version of the book that put Sherlock Holmes back in m...

“there were several objects in the room which called for special attention” [BLAC]  Collecting must be in the air: following our last episode with Rebecca Romney talking about Sherlockian collecting, we have with us the legendary Sherlockian collector Glen Miranker, BSI ("The Origin of Tree Worship"), who is staging an exhibit in conjunction with the Grolier Club in January. The exhibition is "She...

“a small but select library” [GLOR]  After covering the Shaw 100 in a previous episode and wondering what the future of Sherlockian libraries and collections might look like, we could think of no better guest to interview than Rebecca Romney, BSI ("That Gap on the Second Shelf"). You may remember her from a previous appearance (on Episode 101) or from her frequent drop-ins on Pawn Stars, or more r...

“I’ll show you a grim little bit of evidence” [RETI]  Paul Churchill, BSI (“Corot”) delighted in recreating evidence boxes for each Sherlock Holmes story. After his death in 2008, Deborah Clark became their steward. Regular attendees of Watson's Tin Box see evidence boxes at every monthly meeting, but we wanted to give you a peek inside as well. Debbie sat down with us to detail what these evidenc...

“a ramble through the Ragged Shaw” [PRIO] John Bennett Shaw addressing the Hudson Valley Sciontists' picnic, Poughkeepsie, New York, 18 September 1976 (courtesy of the Sherlock Holmes Collections) As the curator of the Sherlock Holmes Collections at the University of Minnesota Libraries, Tim Johnson has seen just about everything. Almost as much as John Bennett Shaw saw. When he was putting on his...

“And why not Norwood?” [NORW]  Before there was Jeremy Brett, there was Anthony Edward Brett. Like the modern-day television actor, he played Sherlock Holmes in over 40 films. But you know him as Eille Norwood. Most of his Sherlock Holmes films from the 1920s remain hidden from the public, so when the British Film Institute announced a major restoration project, we called Russell Merritt, BSI ("Th...

“all gossip upon the matter” [BERY]  If there is one name that is synonymous with the Sherlockian hobby, it is Peter Blau, BSI, 2s. ("Black Peter"). And if there is one publication that is eagerly anticipated every month, it is his longstanding newsletter "Scuttlebutt from the Spermaceti Press." As "Cartwright" of the Baker Street Irregulars, Peter goes more places, sees more things, and overhears...

“I have all the facts in my journal” [STUD]  For our 221st episode, we had to make it as deeply Sherlockian as we could. What better topic than The Baker Street Journal, the first (ir)regular publication about Sherlock Holmes scholarship? First published in 1946, the BSJ is a stalwart in the Sherlockian community, and it's much more than scholarship. Steven Rothman, BSI, 2s. ("The Valley of Fear")...

“Interesting, though elementary” [HOUN]  Rob Nunn found the Sherlockian world not long ago, and since then, our impression of him is one not too far from the name of our show: "We hear of Rob Nunn everywhere." From winning the coveted Beacon Award from the Beacon Society in recognition of his work in the classroom involving Sherlock Holmes, to his involvement in a number of Sherlockian Societies i...

“An almanac!” [VALL]  When Ross Davies, BSI ("The Temple"), first published Sherlock Holmes content in his publication, The Green Bag, he had no idea what he was in for.  Let's just say that the response was enough to ensure that Sherlock Holmes got his own starring role in another publication, which became The Baker Street Almanac. Now in its fourth year, the BSA has become a go-to resource for t...

"the prize at Olympia" [LAST]  It's a well-known fact that Arthur Conan Doyle went up against the legendary cricket player W.G. Grace on the field in 1900. But his interest in sport went much further than that. From cricket to golf, motorcycles to auto racing, downhill skiing and more, Conan Doyle equated physical fitness with fitness of the mind and spirit. He even went as far as championing the...

"many excellent qualities" [MISS]  One of the latest books in the BSI Manuscript Series from the BSI Press is The Staunton Tragedy, the manuscript for "The Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter." Edited by Wiggins emeritus Michael F. Whelan, the book brought together Sherlockians of all stripes for a wide variety of essays about and related to the story. The story itself was fairly thin and didn'...

"It is with a heavy heart" [FINA] Jon Lellenberg with Dan Stashower (courtesy of Dan Stashower) The worlds of Sherlock Holmes and Arthur Conan Doyle enthusiasts have lost a giant. Jon Lellenberg, invested in the Baker Street Irregulars as "Rodger Prescott of Evil Memory" in 1974, passed away on April 24, 2021 after a short illness. Jon's contribution to our hobby was almost too immense for words....

"In glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases" [SPEC]  One of the most well-known societies in the Sherlockian / Holmesian world is The Sherlock Holmes Society of London. Originally founded in 1934, the society lost steam for a few years and was permanently re-incorporated in 1951. Nicholas Utechin, BSI ("The Ancient British Barrow") joins I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere to discuss the society...

"magnetism which drew good humour from all around him" [VALL]  It's not often that we talk bout the topic of humor on I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere. Regular listeners may strain to find humor in Burt and Scott's banter, but we're fans of humor here at IHOSE. It's strange, then, that we find ourselves more than 200 episodes into this production without a nod toward Sherlockian parody. Episode 214 c...