HerlockSholmes

On the question of the ripper being a police officer, it’s certainly possible, but there’s no persuasive evidence that he was. Police Officers had to stick to strict beats with strict times. The consequences for a policeman abandoning his route could be severe and as the victims were all killed on different beats it’s almost impossible for it to have been one officer. Even if the arguement was put forward that an off-duty officer could have gone out in his uniform he would again have been taking a massive risk of being noticed by a fellow officer. All officers had ‘collar numbers’ which signified the area in which they were based. ‘H’ division was Whitechapel, ‘J’ division was Bethnal Green etc. As I said though it’s not impossible that it could have been a police officer in his everyday clothes. He would have had local knowledge and might have been familiar with some of the women (especially if, as you suggest, he was more than willing to turn a blind eye maybe in exchange for the odd ‘favour.’) Two suspects, Cutbush and Lechmere had family connections to the police and a guy in Spain was supposed to be writing a book in which he could ‘prove’ via handwriting that Abberline was the ripper! As to the idea that the rippers mother may have been a prostitute its certainly a possible motive that could explain a hatred of prostitutes. What we don’t know is whether the ripper had a specific hatred of prostitutes or did he just hate women and prostitutes were the easiest targets? The ages might be suggestive. Apart from Kelly they were all mid to late forties and, because of the terrible hardship of their lives, would have looked older.

Hi Carol, I certainly wasn’t complaining when I said that I was under the impression that i was the only Brit on here

Hikari, I’ve always been of the impression that I’m the only Brit here? And as you can see from my self-portrait avatar I look just like Jeremy Brett

Actually I’m nearer 52! Where did the years go? And yes you should read Doyle. About 50 times each story like I have

Watson says at the end of The Copper Beeches that Violet Hunter ended up head of a school in Walsall ( I was in Walsall yesterday) where he believed she was doing very well. So I think that we can discount her. I wonder what Doyle would have though of people pouring over every detail of Holmes life. Mostly picking up on his errors

They should have specified that he kept his tobacco in the toe of his ‘Persian Slipper,’ and not just ‘his slipper.’ I can’t imagine anyone accepting the offer of tobacco if Holmes just took off his slipper and handed it over

That’s a good score Carol

Good points Carol

Jumped here via Carol’s link on another thread. The ‘Webley Bullpup,’ is an interesting and plausible suggestion. Two doubts though: The first is that Watson/Doyle writes it as two words. I’m assuming the gun was one word. Doyle was very interested in all things military so it’s likely that he would have heard of a ‘bullpup.’ (I certainly hadn’t) Surely he would have wanted to distinguish between a dog and a gun? Secondly, Holmes had just elucidated his more unsociable habits, violin noise, not talking for days etc. Habits that might affect someone sharing rooms. Watson then did the same. I don’t see how keeping a gun, say in a box in his room, could be seen as anything that might affect Holmes. Keeping a dog might have though.

I just found this Carol. You might not feel inclined to read it all but here’s someone who agrees that Watson’s bereavement could have been a child. You could spend your whole life investigating this stuff

I just found this one. More in my line

I got 9 in the first one (I must admit one was a bit of a guess as I couldn’t remember the answer). I got 8 in the second one but it didn’t tell me which ones I got wrong. I’d have accepted 17 out of 20 though (without the lucky guess it should have been 16.) I can’t compete with all you proper Sherlock experts though

The belief that Mary died is based on two things, right? The passing comment about Watson's "bereavement" in Empty House, and that he apparently moved back into 221B? Even discounting my earlier comments about the uncertainty of Watson's dates, I can think of several possible alternative explanations (none of which is nearly as tenuous as the American wife that Hikari mentioned). For one thing, Victorians avoided using the term "divorce" -- a divorced woman (such as my own great-grandmother) was politely referred to as a "widow." So it seems possible that the word "bereavement" might possibly have referred to a divorce, conceivably followed at some later time by a reconciliation and remarriage. That one sounds somewhat improbably, even to me, so how about this: It wasn't Mary that died, it was the Watsons' young child, probably a son (who had not been mentioned in prior stories because of irrelevance to the case). As for Watson moving back to Baker Street, is it ever explicitly stated (post-return) that he was actually living there? I'm quite willing to believe that there were times (even in the interval between Sign of the Four and Final Problem) when he spent so much time there that Mary (as in Abominable Bride) hardly ever saw him. He may even have spent some nights in his former bedroom while still maintaining his own residence with Mary. Upon Holmes's return, he could have simply resumed that habit -- perhaps even more so than before. As I mentioned, I haven't even read the entire canon, let alone spending much time studying it, so it's entirely possible that my theories are neatly refuted somewhere, in Watson's own words. Hi Carol, You asked if it’s ever explicitly stated that Watson had moved back to Baker Street (post return) ? Yes it is. In The Adventure Of The Norwood Builder (which comes after The Empty House.) Watson, narrating, says: “At the time of which I speak, Holmes had been back for some months, and I at his own request had sold my practice and returned to share the old quarters in Baker Street.” There’s no doubt that Mary Morstan/Watson had died. I’m sure that Watson refers to it elsewhere too but I can’t recall where I’m afraid.

Holmes famously said “The fair sex is your department..” in The Adventure Of The Second Stain. Watson would certainly have had more ‘experience’ with women than Holmes. Compared to Holmes he would have been almost a casanova but we have to remember the context. As Hikari rightly said ‘Watson was a proper Victorian gentleman’; decent and honourable. There would have been no jumping in to bed at the first opportunity.

On the subject of how many wives Watson had. As far as I can recall (and I may be mistaken) the suggestion of a second wife came from the fact that Sherlockian scholars (possibly someone like Baring-Gould) calculated from the text that Watson’s wife Mary died in something like 1894 or perhaps 2 or 3 years earlier. Yet Watson is married in the story ‘The Blanched Soldier,’ which was set in 1903. Hence, two wives. Sherlockian scholars, as I’m sure everyone knows, have studied the canon minutely. They have worked out the order in which the cases occurred (still debated though) and pored over many mysteries. These mysteries often come from errors by Doyle but scholars (who consider the canon to have been written by Watson and not Doyle) seek to find ‘explanations.’ Often these mysteries are quite obscure unlike the well known Doyle errors (the moving Jezail bullet, the use of ‘James,’ and Watson’s dog to name but three.) Watson did admit to spending too much of his army pension on the turf. Let’s face it though, he was alone in London, just back from a war. Boredom would set in. The excitement of the race and the benefit of conversation with like-minded people, days at the races etc. We can possibly say that Watson might have been a bit careless with money. As Hikari has pointed out, it wasn’t a case of Watson being in debt to loan sharks! So I think that we can say for sure that he wasn’t a gambling addict but he retained a love of the turf and he was probably self-aware enough to know that he wasn’t the most judicious person where money was concerned.

Don’t worry about the boxes Hikari, I have made 1000+ posts on the Casebook.org forum and I still can’t use the quote function properly! I’m useless with technology though.

According to an online translator it means ‘Danube Steamship Company Captain.’ Which explains nothing

Good points Carol. If Holmes had a real ‘emotion deficit’ it would have been a serious chink in his Detective armoury especially when trying to deduce a suspects behaviour or thought processes. I have no medical knowledge but I’d compare it to the issues facing an autistic person, or someone with Asperger’s. Although I haven’t watched it for a while I do love The Big Bang Theory. Think of the problems that the brilliant Sheldon meets because he has problems understanding people. Holmes just seeks to keep the ‘harmful’ ones under wraps. Ones that might cause him to stray from the path of reason. Also I think that by creating this emotionless persona Holmes was able to keep people at arms length; especially women. Holmes, knowing that he was ultimately capable of falling in love, would seek to avoid that risk at all costs.

I just read David Marcum’s ‘Descent..’ I thought it was very convincingly written. I really liked it. It may have upset some (although I can’t really see why it should?) but I think that’s on the reader rather than the writer. The only time that I ever got angry at something I read that was related to this subject was when a book was released fairly recently proposing Doyle as Jack The Ripper! (adding him to a list which has involved Lewis Carroll, Vincent Van Gogh, Walter Sickert and Henri Toulouse L’Autrec!)

Having just discovered I'm Basil Rathbone, I took the 'Which BBC Sherlock Character Are You?' quiz and the answer I got is: Dr. John 'Three Continents' Watson, M.D., that stand-up bloke. I was kind of gunning for Irene Adler, but oh, well . . . I aspire to write so this is appropriate, I think. I am percolating several ideas for Holmes pastiche stories to submit to my spirit guide David Marcum eventually . . .I would be honored to be able to do justice to channeling Doctor Watson's voice in my efforts. I am proud to be like Dr. Watson, with a few tweaks: 1. I have never been to India, nor have I much desire to go. "The noise . . the . . .PEOPLE!" And the truly scary virulent diseases. 2. I do not have a gambling problem. 3. If I've ever tasted brandy in my life, I've forgotten it. 4. Needless to say, smoking Shipp's in any sort of a pipe does not appeal. 5. I do have an appreciative eye for the other sex--blokes, in my case. Never been married, however, even once. 6. Watson keeps his quarters far more regulation-ready than I do. I am a slob. More Sherlocky there. 7. I've never fired a pistol either, but I am willing to learn. 8. If one aspect of the fine Dr. Watson irritates me, it's most likely the somewhat cavalier attitude he displays toward the practice of medicine. He expects the sick people just to wander around Paddington or Kensington or wherever until they stumble upon the tiny nameplate outside his house and present themselves as patients. It's called 'marketing', man . . .look into it! For a guy who was so stellar at marketing the exploits of his flatmate, he did next to nothing to market himself as a physician. He needed the stronger (one should rather say 'supremely bossy') personality of Sherlock Holmes to goose him into action. But when that call came, the Doc answered it, no matter the inconvenience or the hour. "And I said 'dangerous' . . and here you are." I’ve never even seen the test. To be honest Hikari I’d just sulk if I wasn’t Holmes

The Rathbone/Bruce ‘Hound’ is still probably the best version ever made. We can blame Universal for moving Holmes out of the 20th century. I still feel that Rathbone was excellent and in most polls that I’ve seen over the years he usually makes #2 in the best Holmes list (I agree.) Nigel Bruce often comes in for criticism though but, in his defence, the movie company wanted a more comic figure to offset the coldly logical Holmes. If you see Bruce in any other movies he pretty much plays the same role. Bumbling, likeable, decent, honourable etc. Sort of everyone’s favourite uncle. From all that I’ve read he was pretty much like that in real life. People are always surprised to learn that he was actually younger than Rathbone.

EXCREBLE !!!! Doyle didn’t write any excreble Holmes stories! I nearly choked on my Vape-pipe! He did, however, write a few that weren’t as good as others.