HerlockSholmes

Baring Gould in his chronology (and there are many others) dates A Scandal In Bohemia to May 20th 1888 but the story itself wasn’t published until July 1891 so it could have been the case that Adler had died by the time that the story had come out and as she was quite a well known figure he could have learned this from the newspapers. There’s nowhere in the series though where it mentions how or where she died although she is mentioned in 3 other stories. In A Case Of Identity, Watson spots a gold snuffbox and Holmes tells him that it was a gift from the King of Bohemia for his help in the Irene Adler case. In The Blue Carbuncle, he and Watson are talking about cases that aren’t actually criminal and mentions his effort to retrieve the Irene Adler ‘papers.’ - actually a photograph of course. and in His Last Bow, he says to Von Bork “ It was I who bought about the separation between Irene Adler and the late King of Bohemia…” Then of course she makes numerous appearances in pastiches but that’s another story.🙂

Thanks Arcadia, that sounds interesting. I’ll certainly look into it.👍

https://www.taylorsofharrogate.co.uk/coffee-bags These are the ones that I used Carol. I get the ones in the black box although the other 2 are ok. The black ones seem stronger to me.

Coffee is really popular here Hikari as you know. So much so that I’d be interested to see a nationwide poll on who prefers coffee or tea? I reckon that coffee might win with tea being strongly supported by older people. My mom, who is 78, won’t touch coffee and my aunt, who is 83, will only drink coffee that’s so weak and milky that’s it’s barely recognisable as coffee. My dad was the same. He hated coffee but drank tea by the gallon. Of course instant coffee is still popular here and many don’t experience real coffee unless they go to places like Stabucks (I know that you have shared in Starbucks Hikari😃)or Cafe Nero. Most basic cafes near to where I live still serve instant coffee and some of it is close to undrinkable. I don’t own a coffee machine myself although I love real coffee but for 2 cups a day at most it’s just not worth it so I make do with coffee bags which are much closer to a real coffee taste imo. I also tend to have around 2 or 3 cups of tea a day but I’m almost ashamed to say that I don’t use a tea pot (even though we have 2) I simply make it in the cup which would have real tea aficionados up in arms. I also like Early Grey and other teas like Darjeeling but I hate those fruit teas. I like tea to taste like tea. Ive just read that Instant Coffee was invented by a New Zealander. I’m guessing that if it had been an American he’d have been deported and disowned.😃

I’m a sucker for a ‘link’ as you may recall. I often challenge myself to find a Sherlock Holmes link to some tv show or movie. Even my friends have been known to challenge me on it. It’s very silly but I always try.😀

😀👍

To be honest Carol I’ve only seen an episode or 2 of The Office. The only Till Death Us Do Part that I know was a 60’s or 70’s tv series.

Be fair Carol, we’ve forgiven the USA for throwing all that tea in the river.😀

We were sort of Republicans for 10 years. And only 370 years ago so fairly recently for us.🙂

I used to assume a new series but now I’m not so sure. I could see a one off movie type episode of course. That said, I wonder if they’ve ever considered an actual Sherlock the Movie. I nearly typed Sherlock the Musical and that wouldn’t surprise me (not with BC though I wouldn’t have thought unless he wanted to emulate Brett in My Fair Lady?)

😃 I’m afraid so Carol. I suppose that I paid even less attention than usual because most of the actors are ones that I wouldn’t know. It’s quality stuff though imo.

Over 150 suggested ‘suspects’ so far Carol and some do think that there was more than one killer. The likeliest is that he was someone who’s never been mentioned. Some butchers assistant from Bethnal Green or a Whitechapel Carpenter that no one’s ever heard of and probably never will. Even for the unlikeliest of suspects it’s impossible to categorically exonerate them so those that propose them often tend to stick to their guns. Yes I heard a bit of talk about Sherlock but it was basically those involved saying that it might happen given the right circumstances. Whether those circumstances ever occur are another matter of course. I’m beginning to have my doubts. There was even talk of a one off episode which might be more likely and more convenient for Cumberbatch and Freeman (unless their popularity dips of course then I’d suggest that they might jump at the chance.)

To be honest I hadn’t heard of him Carol. It’s the kind of thing that real Sherlock experts would know.🙂

Thanks Caya, Yes I seemed to recall the series being mentioned on here before it was released but I couldn’t recall where. I think it’s a really well made series with great locations, costume, acting and atmosphere. If someone did a Holmes series with this level of value for money I’d be a happy man. I’m still a happy man though to hear you say that a 3rd series is in the pipeline. I’d meant to check but hadn’t got around to it. Quality stuff. I thought that Matthew Beard was a familiar face but I couldn’t place him but I’ve just found that he’s been in a few uk tv series. And of course he was in Dracula by Moftiss.

It’s been a while Carol for no other reason that any time I’ve spent online has been debating endlessly on the subject of JTR. Basically going around in circles.😀 Still no hints about a new series of Sherlock though? I think that the only things that we can call ‘in the pipeline’ are a new RDJ movie and (perhaps only of interest to me) the eventual release of the remastered Eille Norwood silent movies. All is quie on the Holmes/Sherlock front sadly.

Hello Carol, I hope that you’re well? (Along with everyone else on here of course) I certainly wouldn’t consider myself anything close to an expert but as far as I know Doyle never wrote anything about his Dancing Men figures. In the series Brett solved the message (of course) but I seem to recall a letter or two being left out but the message was obvious. From memory I think that the final message was something like “Elsie prepare to meet thy God?” With letters missing. Doyle wasn’t one for worrying too much about the details as long as the story was a good one.🙂👍

This is one programme that I’ve never gotten around to watching. I haven’t deliberately avoided it for any reason. It sounds good and I’ve often found myself saying “I must have a look.”

Hello all, Ive recently watched a series that I can recommend. I even think that it might have been mentioned on here before? It’s called Vienna Blood. Set in the late 19th century in Vienna (who’d have guessed that?😃) The two main characters are a Police detective who gets assistance from a young guy who is a disciple of Freud. There have been 2 series so far with 3 episodes in each series. Brilliant stuff imo. Definite shades of Holmes and Watson but no direct links. I don’t watch many movies so to be honest there was only one actor/actress that I knew and it was an English tv actress called Amelia Bullmore who plays the mother of one of the leads. I’m certainly hoping for a 3rd series.👍

Hello all, I hope that everyone is well. For all lovers of the Brett series I thought I’d post these recent photographs of a 91 year old Colin Jeavons (Inspector Lestrade) I was going to post it yesterday but I forgot and was reminded today as i passed the street in West Bromwich where he grew up. https://www.google.com/search?q=colin+jeavons+&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwj898fAzNbzAhVGYxoKHZ3jBWoQ2-cCegQIABAC&oq=colin+jeavons+&gs_lcp=ChJtb2JpbGUtZ3dzLXdpei1pbWcQAzIHCCMQ7wMQJzIFCAAQgAQyBAgAEB4yBAgAEBgyBAgAEBhQ1ccBWNbcAWDEvwJoAHAAeACAAU6IAe8GkgECMTSYAQCgAQHAAQE&sclient=mobile-gws-wiz-img&ei=acpuYbyfJcbGaZ3Hl9AG&bih=1247&biw=1024&prmd=nisxv&rlz=1C9BKJA_enGB704GB704&hl=en-GB#imgrc=5ZdbMYGis7eNsM&imgdii=aNgayMhfQuv5pM https://www.google.com/search?q=colin+jeavons+&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwj898fAzNbzAhVGYxoKHZ3jBWoQ2-cCegQIABAC&oq=colin+jeavons+&gs_lcp=ChJtb2JpbGUtZ3dzLXdpei1pbWcQAzIHCCMQ7wMQJzIFCAAQgAQyBAgAEB4yBAgAEBgyBAgAEBhQ1ccBWNbcAWDEvwJoAHAAeACAAU6IAe8GkgECMTSYAQCgAQHAAQE&sclient=mobile-gws-wiz-img&ei=acpuYbyfJcbGaZ3Hl9AG&bih=1247&biw=1024&prmd=nisxv&rlz=1C9BKJA_enGB704GB704&hl=en-GB#imgrc=5ZdbMYGis7eNsM&imgdii=RTohtLqA-IEnjM https://www.google.com/search?q=colin+jeavons+&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwj898fAzNbzAhVGYxoKHZ3jBWoQ2-cCegQIABAC&oq=colin+jeavons+&gs_lcp=ChJtb2JpbGUtZ3dzLXdpei1pbWcQAzIHCCMQ7wMQJzIFCAAQgAQyBAgAEB4yBAgAEBgyBAgAEBhQ1ccBWNbcAWDEvwJoAHAAeACAAU6IAe8GkgECMTSYAQCgAQHAAQE&sclient=mobile-gws-wiz-img&ei=acpuYbyfJcbGaZ3Hl9AG&bih=1247&biw=1024&prmd=nisxv&rlz=1C9BKJA_enGB704GB704&hl=en-GB#imgrc=5ZdbMYGis7eNsM&imgdii=N9KqiKE5TxdydM

Sad news indeed. She was a talented lady and a brilliant Mrs Hudson. I’m not a religious man but I’d like to think of her meeting up with Rosalie Williams, Mary Gordon, Irene Handl, Minnie Rayner and all those other Mrs Hudson’s for tea and cakes to exchange stories about their troublesome tenant and his friend.🙂

Hi Distrofol, Carol and Hikari, After reading Hikari’s post I’m afraid that my considered and in depth response is “ditto.” It can possibly be seen as an error by Holmes but as Hikari said he knew that Openshaw was young, fit and armed and felt that he should be reasonably safe on the crowded streets. Holmes and Watson could have escorted him of course but Holmes would already have been thinking about the steps that he needed to take and Baker Street was the place to be.

Doyle was a horse rider himself. This is a photograph of him riding his horse Brigadier (named after his creation Brigadier Gerard) As well as the mention of racing in The Dancing Men (posted by Carol) and the obvious connection in Silver Blaze, horse racing also played a large part in the very last Holmes story that Doyle wrote Shoscombe Old Place.

A few years ago I read The Alienist and then Angel Of Darkness by Caleb Carr and loved them both. I know that The Alienist was made into a tv series but I haven’t managed to see it yet. I recently bought The Italian Secretary by Carr which is a Holmes story set in Scotland. The Italian Secretary being David Rizzio, the favourite of Mary Queen Of Scots who was murdered by her husband Lord Darnley and his cronies. Rizzio doesn’t appear in the story of course except in suggested ghostly form. I really enjoyed this one. Any Holmes story has to get the basics right of course….the ‘voices’ of Holmes and Watson (and Mycroft who plays a significant part in the story) and the period atmosphere, and Carr does this well in my opinion. I’d certainly be interesting in reading more should Carr decided to dip his toes into the world of Holmes and Watson again. Cheap copies of this book are easily available.👍

If anyone has an interest in true crime I’d recommend HH Holmes: The True History Of The White City Devil by Adam Selzer. There have been numerous books on HH Holmes but there won’t be a better researched one than this. He strips away all the myths and presents the story of a man that killed many people but nowhere near the numbers that are often attributed to him. He also debunks all of the stories of torture chambers and the like. HH Holmes was a horrible man but he was a conman constant juggling scams and usually with more than one court case pending. You almost have to take your hat off to him for avoiding prison for so long. Holmes didn’t kill for pleasure though but for gain or convenience. I guess you’d have to call him a sociopath. Someone with no real feeling for others. If someone became an obstacle to his plans they simply ‘disappeared.’ Tragically this even involved children. This is a brilliantly researched and well told story and I’m guessing that it might now e considered the last word on the terrible Mr Holmes.

By the way, I’ve just taken delivery of Ratking by Michael Dibdin, my first Aurelio Zen novel. I don’t know when I’ll get around to reading it though as the book that I’ve just started is 960 pages long.