Sherlock Holmes: Trifles

"put £100 down in front of him" [BLUE]    Humans are suckers for round numbers. And 100 seems like a perfectly reasonable one to settle on. It's the first three-digit number (in Arabic numbers, that is; Romans were happy to hit a C note). When it comes to £100 in the Sherlock Holmes stories, it's a figure often associated with some sort of scam — enough to get attention and secure the trust of the...

"I had painted" [TWIS]  The Morley-Montgomery Award-winning article we're discussing this month is by H.C. Potter from Vol. 26, No. 2 of The Baker Street Journal. In it, Potter looks at Watson's prosaic way of setting the scene for us. He selects excerpts from a number of stories to prove his case. Was he successful in backing up his claims? It's just a Trifle.  If you have a question for us, plea...

"why should anyone play me such a trick?" [CARD]    After a brief hiatus, we're back to the third in our series of The Apocrypha of Sherlock Holmes — stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle that are technically not part of the original Canon.  This is the shortest of all of the Apocrypha and it was created for the British Royal Family in a special edition. "How Watson Learned the Trick" is a lovely addi...

"Is Mrs. Watson in?" [FINA]    We all know Watson had more than one wife; the number has been debated over the years. But it's his second wife that seems to be the most intriguing.   In this "Mr. Sherlock Holmes the Theorist" episode, we look at David Hammer's article from Baker Street Miscellanea, No. 43. Who was the second Mrs. Watson? It's just a Trifle.  If you have a question for us, please e...

"traces of the ancient people" [HOUN]    When Watson noted a "difficult and dangerous quest" on "the forbidden moor" in The Hound of the Baskervilles . The moor played an outsized role in that story, providing the perfect setting for this gothic tale of terror, greed, and mystery. What is the moor really like? How does the Canonical version differ from reality? Listener Nelson Pigeon wrote in to a...

"What, in heaven's name, was it?" [HOUN]    One of the most famous Sherlock Holmes stories, The Hound of the Baskervilles , tells a terrifying story of a dog that most certainly did something in the night-time.  But what do we know about the actual canine? In a Morley-Montgomery Award-winning article in 1975, Michael L. Burton dispels myths and narrows down the likely breed. It's just a Trifle.   ...

"I am a bit of an archaeologist myself" [3GAR] We find ourselves digging into a reference in "The Devil's Foot" in this episode, with the help of a pair of Sherlockian scholars.  Poul and Karen Anderson explore the truth behind Sherlock Holmes's claim to be researching the origins of the ancient Cornish language. Where might the language have originated from? It's just a Trifle.  We also continue...

"I went into the back yard" [BLUE]    The third week of the month means we look at a piece of Sherlockian scholarship — particularly one that may not be as widely read or generally available to most Sherlock Holmes fans. This month, we're looking at Bernard Davies' "The Back Yards of Baker Street," which appeared in James Edward Holroyd's Seventeen Steps to 221B . Step with us through the alleyway...

"You have done your best to get an innocent man hanged." [NORW]    Capital punishment in the United Kingdom evolved over a period of time. From the mid-17th century through 1820, the Bloody Code tracked some 200 crimes punishable by death. In which Sherlock Holmes stories do we hear about capital punishment, and under England's laws of the late Victorian period, who would have been eligible for de...

"so ardent a bicyclist must be full of energy" [SOLI]    The latest installment in our review of Morley-Montgomery Award-winning articles is by Andrew Jay Peck, BSI ("Inspector Baynes"): "The Solitary Man-Uscript" from Vol. 22, No. 2 of The Baker Street Journal in 1972. Just who was the Solitary Cyclist? There are two cyclists in the story, and one is a young lady simply trying to get to her train...

"a strange, loud whiz" [EMPT]    We came across a quite unusual observation — a Trifle, if you will — in an old issue of The Baker Street Journal . An article by Antony Boucher called "An Aborted Avatar." Boucher discovered a turn of the century play called The King of Gee-Whiz that involved Sherlock Holmes in a quite unusual setting. The play was co-written by L. Frank Baum, of The Wizard of Oz f...

"general resemblance to an itinerant" [VALL]  A term we don't hear as frequently these days is "gypsy." Unless you're headed to see a Sondheim musical, which is about an entirely different Gypsy (and one with Sherlockian connections too). Anyway, our focus here is on stories in which gypsies are mentioned (there are two; can you name them?) and a bit of historical context of gypsies in the Victori...

"before my biographer had come to glorify me" [GREE] Once again, we find ourselves in a "Mr. Sherlock Holmes the theorist"-themed episode, where we look at a piece of old scholarship. This time, we share a chapter from William S. Baring-Gould's groundbreaking biography of Sherlock Holmes. Chapter V "On Stage and Off in England and America: 1879–1881" finds us in the two years leading up to Holmes...

"I would read as easily as I do the apocrypha" [VALL] The second in our series on the Apocrypha of Sherlock Holmes — stories that are not in the original Canonical 60 but that have some relevant interest. In this case, we have a story written by Arthur Conan Doyle in 1898 and set in 1892 involving the mysterious death of a passenger on a train. The murderer is nowhere to be found and the man has a...

"you are mistaken about my alleged agents" [MAZA]      Along with the calabash pipe, deerstalker cap, and Inverness cape, one of Sherlock Holmes's traits is the use of cocaine. But should it be?   William H. Miller, M.D. F.A.C.P. won the Morley-Montgomery Award for his article in Vol. 19, No. 3 of The Baker Street Journal in which he asserted that we're mistaken in believing that Sherlock Holmes u...

"the great North American Continent" [STUD]    Picking up where we left off in Episode 428 ("British Businesses"), we're moving to the other side of the pond and doing a survey of businesses in North America that were mentioned in the Sherlock Holmes stories.   Since there are decidedly fewer scenes and stories that took place in North America, we have far fewer to choose from. But not so few as t...

"As to your dates, that is the biggest mystification of all." [CREE]    It's not often that we get a piece of Sherlockian scholarship that had its origin in a mainstream publication. And in this case, it's from one of the original Sherlockians.   In 1932, Ronald Knox set out to review two new Sherlockian books, but he managed to turn it into an essay that was a master class in chronology. It's jus...

"preoccupied with business matters" [COPP]  If you came across the name of a business in the Sherlock Holmes stories, do you think you could identify which story it came from? What about the type of business it was?   We put your Canonical skills to the test in this episode as we quiz you (and each other!) on some familiar and not-so-familiar business names from the Great Britain of Sherlock Holme...

"There is nothing in which deduction is so necessary as in religion" [NAVA]    The Morley-Montgomery Award-winning article this month is "My Biblical Knowledge is a Trifle Rusty" by Henry T. Folsom, BSI ("The Golden Pince-Nez"), from The Baker Street Journal , Volume 15, No. 3.  Rev. Folsom took the opportunity as a practitioner of the faith to examine the religious beliefs (or lack thereof) of Sh...

"I would read as easily as I do the apocrypha" [VALL]    We're starting a short series on the Apocrypha of Sherlock Holmes: stories that are not in the Canonical 60 but that have some relevant interest. The first installment is "The Field Bazaar," written by Arthur Conan Doyle in 1896 for his alma mater. It's a short item and it provides some insights into the habits of Holmes and Watson. And it's...

"see through a disguise" [HOUN]  The third episode of every month is a look into a piece of Sherlockian scholarship, and this time it brings us to Vol. 64 No. 3 of The Baker Street Journal from 2014 with a piece by Maria Fleischhack, BSI ("Rache"). In this article, Maria looks at various Germans in the Sherlock Holmes stories and tracks the disguises or aliases they used, in conjunction with Conan...

"drawn on six different banks" [VALL]    Banks and bankers are important to Sherlock Holmes. From clients to necessary fiduciaries, they represent an essential part of the real and Canonical worlds. Which banks are mentioned? What bankers do we meet? And what about one very specific bank to which we owe a debt of gratitude? It's just a Trifle. All of our supporters are eligible for our monthly dra...

"You know my methods. Apply them!" [HOUN]    In 1893, a curious entry appeared in the Tit-Bits magazine: an examination paper on the methods of Sherlock Holmes. A cash prize was offered to the winner (whom we know). The author of the quiz, though? That's been unknown for nearly a century and a half. Until Michael Meer came along and made an identification that earned him the Morley-Montgomery Awar...

"the Japanese system of wrestling" [EMPT]  When Sherlock Holmes defeated Professor Moriarty at the Reichenbach Falls, he had a secret weapon: his knowledge of a certain style of Japanese wrestling. Of course, we don't find this out until his return, and even then, Watson (or is it Holmes?) conveys the wrong name. It's just a Trifle. All of our supporters are eligible for our monthly drawings for  ...

"the sweat was pouring down my face" [BLUE]  Turkish baths come up in just two of the Sherlock Holmes stories. Quick—without looking it up, can you name which? We know Watson enjoys both of them; Holmes joins him for one. In this episode, we discuss the origins and history of the Turkish bath, and specifically focus on the Victorian Turkish bath. Sit back and relax. This is just a Trifle. All of o...