You know the plots, but what about the minutiae? We delve into the Sherlock Holmes stories and provide answers to questions that arise, clarify muddy details, and look into some of the period terminology in this weekly podcast.
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Burt Wolder Podcasts
It's like Fresh Air meets Car Talk for Sherlock Holmes fans. Find out what's going on in the world of Sherlock Holmes, including books, pop culture, Sherlock Holmes societies around the world, and a reflection on how this great character has inspired generations of dedicated literary and non-literary types alike. Entirely interview-based, IHOSE airs twice a month: on the 15th and 30th. Subscribe today - it’s elementary!
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The Digital Archives at the Toronto Public Library
1:11:21
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1:11:21“You can file it in our archives, Watson” [RETI] North America is home to a number of public collections, libraries, museums, and archives that hold treasures related to Sherlock Holmes and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Not least among them is the Toronto Public Library. Home to the famed Arthur Conan Doyle Collection, the TPL is a great friend to Sherlo…
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“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 origin…
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“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 St…
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“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 Victor…
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“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…
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“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-w…
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“we can bring it to a successful conclusion” [EMPT] When we discussed the Midwest Canonical Conclave in Episode 308, we weren't exactly sure what to expect. Organizer Steve Doyle, BSI ("The Western Morning News") gave us a general idea of what the aim was and what we might see there, but our expectations were blown away. Unlike any other Sherlockia…
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“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 bi…
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“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: 1879–188…
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“good enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences” [SCAN] Don't care for Sherlockian chronologies? Well, you're not alone! Neither did our guest today, and he's written a number of books on the subject. Brad Keefauver, BSI ("Winwood Reade") is a member of the Sherlockian Chronologist Guild and author of Holmes In an Hour or Two: A She…
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The Man with the Watches (The Apocrypha Part 2)
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23:59“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…
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The Alleged Use of Cocaine by Mr. Sherlock Holmes
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25:23“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 m…
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“grazed the subclavian artery” [STUD] While the Baker Street Irregulars is the most well-known of Sherlockian societies, it is by no means the only one — nor even the most important. There are gatherings happening every week, in person and virtually, of Sherlockian societies. And just like the Sherlockian societies that sprouted up in those early y…
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“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 …
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“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 th…
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“able to evolve from their own inner consciousness” [STUD] Now in its 12th year, 221B Con has become a mainstay of annual Sherlockian events, drawing people from all over the world to Atlanta every April. It was founded as a response to Sherlock on BBC, but has expanded beyond that to include the original stories as well as all forms of media. Last…
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“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…
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“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 …
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The Golden Era of Sherlock Holmes an His Contemporaries
1:03:39
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1:03:39“the high opinion formed of him by his contemporaries.” [VALL] When the first Sherlock Holmes short stories came on the scene, they were something of a novelty: non-serialized, self-contained tales that put the Strand Magazine on the map. As with any success story, this one inspired imitators. These contemporaries of Sherlock Holmes inhabited the p…
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“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…
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“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 disguise…
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“a wistful look on his wrinkled face” [BLAN] The first Sherlock Holmes adventure authored by Sherlock Holmes was “The Blanched Soldier.” It tells the tale of a family’s attempt to protect their son, a friend’s dedication to determining the truth, and Holmes’s actions to explain everything. Ira Matetsky, BSI ("The Final Problem") edited this volume …
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“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 …
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“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 identifica…
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“One of the most precious public possessions of the empire” [BERY] Joel Meadows began what eventually became Sherlock Holmes and the Empire Builders: The Gene Genie in 2002 while working on Tripwire as a quarterly print magazine. He tells us the story of how it took two decades to bring this vision to life with illustrator Andy Bennett, and what th…
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