I Hear Of Sherlock Everywhere

It's easy to assume that Sherlock Holmes's powers were something of an anomaly - that Holmes was a superhero with something akin to super powers, and we mere mortals cannot attain the same level of expertise and professionalism. But that assumption would be wrong, as author Maria Konnikova has made abundantly clear. In her book Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes, Konnikova, who holds a doctorate in psychology from Columbia University and writes the "Literally Psyched" column for Scientific American, deconstructs the process of observation, deduction and self-knowledge. In doing so, she gives the reader concrete examples of how to approach the fabled scientific method, along with the psychology behind the process. While we have previously reviewed her book, our conversation with Maria in this episode took personal turns and got us much deeper into the creative process, her inspiration, and even a back story to Holmes that gave him these powers. In addition, we covered topics from the ridic

The Baker Street Irregulars are widely known as a literary society dedicated to the study of Sherlock Holmes. Since 1934 the group has been gathering in New York City for its annual dinner and weekend festivities and has embarked on a significant publishing effort centered around its own history, international Sherlockian societies' scholarship, and analysis of extant manuscripts of the Canon. But more than that, the BSI wants to ensure that its own history and that of its members are recorded for posterity and the researchers who may be interested in it sometime in the future. Enter the Baker Street Irregulars Trust. In this episode, Burt and Scott interview Tom Francis, BSI ("The Imperial Opera at Warsaw), who is the Chair of the Trust. Tom helps us understand how and why the Trust was established, what its aims are, and how you can help this august institution. We discuss some of the holdings of the Houghton Library at Harvard University, where the Trust is housed, including the H.W. Bell collectio

When a figure like Sherlock Holmes has been around for over a century, there are bound to be misconceptions that creep into public thinking. We blame this not on carelessness or laziness but rather on the overwhelming popularity of the great detective. The image of Holmes clad in deerstalker and Inverness cape, clenching a Meerschaum pipe in his teeth is the universal, if cliched, image of a detective. But was it true? We were recently reminded of a number of classic myths about Sherlock Holmes, thanks to a contest being sponsored by The Baker Street Journal (also a sponsor of our program): it has long been rumored that men wore black armbands throughout the city of London after reading "The Final Problem" in the Strand Magazine. And only anecdotal evidence has been referenced whenever this supposed fact is brought up. The BSJ is offering a free year's subscription to anyone who can definitively prove that such mourning attire was worn in response to the death of Sherlock Holmes. That got us to thinking:

We thought we'd stir up the discussions a bit and try to get to the bottom of a couple of controversies that have been roiling the world of Sherlock Holmes enthusiasts (we're careful to say neither "fans" nor "devotees" at this juncture).The first item of interest that grabbed our attention in early 2013 was the so-called "Free Sherlock" movement. Summed up, this is basically an issue that is being brought to court via a case titled Klinger vs. Conan Doyle Estate, in which Leslie Klinger, BSI ("The Abbey Grange") is contesting the Conan Doyle Estate's claim that any new content that contains Sherlock Holmes must pay a royalty or license fee to the Estate. Burt and Scott parse through some of the non-technical/legal aspects of the case and discuss what's at stake.Speaking of being at stake, the other item on the docket is the debate as to what in fact constitutes a Sherlockian of good standing? That is, can one have arrived at the doorstep of 221B Baker Street via the BBC series (or Granada, or Universal, etc.

Our 50th episode is a fitting one. As you know, a 50th anniversary is typically celebrated with gold. Because we appreciate our listeners so much, we would settle for nothing less than the same.But our gold comes in the form of a scintillating conversation with the two editors of the Baker Street Irregulars' eighth entry in their Manuscript Series, The Wrong Passage, which is a look at the manuscript of "The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez." Co-editors Andrew Solberg, BSI ("Professor Coram") and Robert Katz, MD, BSI ("Dr. Ainstree") joined us to discuss just what it is that goes into creating a significant piece of scholarship such as we've come to expect from BSI publications of late.From the history of the manuscript itself, to artifacts from Paul Churchill's famed "evidence boxes," to an in-depth look at the historical background alluded to in the tale, the breadth of topics within the book is impressive. Also included are a number of other analyses on topics ranging from the historical and geographical

"Compliments of the season" is how Watson described his activities regarding a visit he paid to Holmes during the Christmas season.And we know "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle" as the sole Christmas story in the Canon of Sherlock Holmes stories. And rather than focus on the nostalgic and its place in the lineup of winter classics, we discuss how this classic fits in the pantheon of Holmes stories in its own right as a tale of friendship, crime, discovery and what we've come to realize as some of the typical Baker Street scenes.In an effort to pay homage to this Christmas classic, the Baker Street Irregulars in 1948 crafted a special edition of "The Blue Carbuncle" that included a wonderful essay by Christopher Morley titled "A Christmas Story Without Slush." About BLUE, Morley said, "it was superb art. It hasn't a word too many or two few." That essay itself has become something of a classic as well, and we're delighted to share it with our listeners here.After Burt inhabits the person of Morley for our

When Conan Doyle embarked on his whaling adventure at the age of 20, little could he have guessed what awaited him. And little did the world know how profoundly his experiences would influence his later life, including the creation for which we know him most intimately - that of Sherlock Holmes. We're joined in this episode by the editors of Dangerous Work: Diary of an Arctic Adventure, Jon Lellenberg, BSI and Daniel Stashower, BSI. Jon and Dan have been with us on previous episodes of I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere: when we discussed Arthur Conan Doyle: A Life in Letters on Episode 13, and again onEpisode 37 when we covered The Narrative of John Smith, a lost Conan Doyle manuscript. What we learn about Conan Doyle's six and a half month voyage on the Hope is absolutely fascinating - from the provenance of the manuscript itself and how Dame Jean Conan Doyle worked tirelessly to ensure this publication could be seen, to the harrowing adventures that Arthur himself saw as part of this arctic voyage and mo

It's our Halloween show!With Victorian and Gothic influence in a number of the Sherlock Holmes stories, the Canon can be great fodder for the mysterious, occult and spooky elements of Halloween. Certainly The Hound of the Baskervilles, "The Adventure of the Devil's Foot," "The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier," or "The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place" have elements that can make a reader's hair stand on end.But the most direct link with Halloween as we know it today (other than Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "Lot No. 249" - the original mummy story) has to be "The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire." Sherlock Holmes himself was a bit dismissive of the supernatural in this case, saying "Rubbish, Watson, rubbish! What have we to do with walking corpses who can only be held in their grave by stakes driven through their hearts? It's pure lunacy."But our guest on this episode, Les Klinger (a guest on Episodes 31 and 32, when he spoke about the Guy Ritchie / Robert Downey, Jr. movies and his role as Warner Brothers' consu

Joining the BBC's Sherlock on television this fall is another high-powered outing by the network CBS in the United States. If you haven't yet heard, the new show is Elementary and it stars Jonny Lee Miller as a modern-day Sherlock Holmes who is in New York after rehab, and Lucy Liu at Dr. Joan Watson, Holmes's "sober companion," whose responsibility it is to look after him an ensure he readjusts to society and doesn't relapse.   The creators were under pressure almost from the moment the project was announced, what with the success of another modern-day Sherlock Holmes enjoying popular acclaim. Rest assured, Elementary does not encroach on the territory of Sherlock.   But exactly how much of the Canon does it include or reference? And how faithful are the characters to what we know? Or does that even matter? And how closely tread is the fine line that exists between an established character and updating it to a modern setting? Join us as we debate and discuss the relative merits and attributes of the latest a

The political season is upon us. At least in America, that is. In case you've been hiding under a rock for the last 18 months, the presidential election is closing in, with Barack Obama vs. Mitt Romney. This site certainly does not stand for any type of political dogma; indeed, Sherlock Holmes is for every political persuasion. So why would we want to touch the third rail of polite conversation and delve into politics on our podcast about Sherlock Holmes? As it turns out, there are a number of political figures in the Canon and politics, both domestic and international, play a role in the plots of a few of the stories. We take a look at the influence of politics inside the Sherlock Holmes stories as well as what was happening externally at the time. In addition, we even look at one member of the Baker Street Irregulars who had something of a government post and his Sherlockian scholarship - amazingly enough, written at a very crucial juncture of our country's history. Try as we might, we were unable t

A new modern urban re-interpretation of Sherlock Holmes. That's how the digital comic Watson and Holmes is being referred to.   The recent revival in Sherlock Holmes material across a variety of media has truly increased the buzz around our favorite topic. From the reimagining on the big screen, courtesy of the Robert Downey, Jr. / Jude Law films, to the small screen updating of the characters in Sherlock, through Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman and soon the Jonny Lee Miller / Lucy Liu version in Elementary, there is plenty of interest in the perennial character.   Now, we're prepared to be treated to yet another version of the iconic detective and his faithful friend and colleague, thanks to New Paradigm Studios. In this episode, we're joined by three of the principals who are behind the updating of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson the a modern urban setting of New York and as African American characters. Brandon Perlow, Publisher and co-creator of Watson and Holmes, Justin Gabrie, Senior Editor, and K

Sometimes, when there's a topic that bears a discussion-based episode between the two of us, we like to do a little research to see what's been written previously, so we can have some reference material upon which to base some of our zany theories.Sunday, June 17 was Father's Day in the United States, which made it a perfect opportunity to tackle the topic of fathers in the Canon. Imagine our chagrin and surprise then, when we discovered that there was no appreciable material (at least to our "small but select" libraries of Sherlockiana) that adequately chronicled fathers and father figures in the Sherlock Holmes stories.Not to be deterred, we decided to thumb through the stories and pick out not only fathers, but step-fathers, would-be fathers, father figures and others who espoused the characteristics that fathers do or should have. More than a laundry list of individuals, this episode turned into a fun reminiscence and analysis that we hope you enjoy listening to almost as much as we enjoyed creating it.Wh

Sherlock mania as at its heights. The second series of the BBC's Sherlock is making its way to the U.S. shores currently, and fandom online and offline is continuing to grow.On behalf of the show, Burt made his way to New York City on May 2, 2012 for the sneak preview of the new season and question and answer time with some of the cast and crew of Sherlock, including Rebecca Eaton, Steven Moffat, Sue Vertue and of course, Benedict Cumberbatch. About 800 people crowded into a theatre after 10,000 applied for seats, and the reaction - including screams - were reminiscent of the Beatles coming to the Ed Sullivan Show in the 1960s. And this is nothing new; Frank Sinatra garnered a similar reaction at the Paramount in New York City back in the 1940s. Thanks to Burt's courageous reporting, we have some clips from the event and the queue, as well as a question and answer session with the cast, in which we're able to hear and feel the excitement of the crowd.We've witnessed the #believeinsherlock movement that arose

"To Sherlock Holmes, she is always the woman" [SCAN]    To Burt and Scott she will always be the guest. While you may have heard her mentioned by the name of Irene Adler, she is actually Lara Pulver and she is our interview subject for this very special episode of I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere.   Sherlock: Season Two originally aired on BBC One in January and now we're poised for it to air on PBS's Masterpiece Mystery in the United States. One of the most intriguing characters of this new series is none other than the adventuress Irene Adler, the antagonist in the first episode "A Scandal in Belgravia."   So in this episode, titled "The Woman," we're joined by the woman who played the woman in "A Scandal in Belgravia," Lara Pulver. An actress, singer and dancer, Lara has the enviable distinction of playing Irene Adler as perceived in the 21st century. She joined us from Chichester after a theatre performance and chatted with us on her experience with Mark Gatiss, Steven Moffat, Benedict Cumberbatch and Marti

While our listeners normally have to deal with the voices of Burt Wolder and Scott Monty, this episode is different. We're pleased to be able to bring you the smooth baritone of one Mr. David Ian Davies. A veteran actor for many decades, having been trained at the London Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, David traces his heritage to England by way of California. But along the way (you may be surprised to hear just how young), he was bitten by the acting bug. Combine that with David's inherent love of Sherlock Holmes and a desire to be the first individual to record the entire Canon, and you'll find a passionate and talented voice of Sherlock Holmes. Through his production company One Voice Recordings, David has managed to create a nine-volume series called The Consummate Holmes Canon (see below for links), as well as a few other non-Canonical stories. We had a delightful chat with Mr. Davies that included hearing a few clips from his interpretation and a live reading. He helps the amateurs understand how he

When a fictional character's impact overflows to reality to affect what people are talking about, where they go and how they act, it's quite an accomplishment. When it happens in a nearly identical, if time-appropriate manner nearly 120 years apart, it must have something to to with Sherlock Holmes.As this podcast is all about Sherlock Holmes, you can rest assured that is indeed the case. But what of it? This updated and renewed interest in our beloved master is curious, but in the end, quite elementary. Much of the chatter and buzz seen on the Internet in particular, has been generated by the Robert Downey, Jr. outings in two films, and more recently by Benedict Cumberbatch's portrayal in two seasons of the BBC television show "Sherlock."In this episode, we welcome the ladies from another Sherlock Holmes-related podcast, the Baker Street Babes, namely Kristina, Ardy and Marie, to discuss the machinations behind the movement that has taken hold across the world called "Believe in Sherlock." With the conclusio

One of the great benefits of being a member of the Baker Street Irregulars is that we get to meet a lot of interesting and famous people. Chief among them are the literati, such as Michael Dirda, the Pulitzer Prize-winning book critic for the Washington Post, who makes his living by writing about the literati.   In this case, Michael himself is the author, having been tapped by the Princeton University Press to contribute to their "Writers on Writers" series with the volume On Conan Doyle: Or, the Whole Art of Storytelling. In it, he takes us through Conan Doyle's life and writings - many of which may not be familiar to the Sherlock Holmes fan - and gives us a perspective on many of them through the Canon.   Burt and Scott had a chance to sit down with Michael at the Players in New York City during the 2012 Baker Street Irregulars Weekend - marking the first time our podcast has been recorded with the two hosts together in the same room.   Rather than give you an Editor's Gas-Lamp in this episode, we asked Mi

You may recall that we had Jon Lellenberg and Daniel Stashower on the show [Episode 13] when they published Arthur Conan Doyle: A Life in Letters in 2007. The pair has returned with another publication, but this time it's one that is even more intriguing. In 1883, when he was just twenty-three, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote The Narrative of John Smith while he was living in Portsmouth and struggling to establish himself as both a doctor and a writer. He had already succeeded in having a number of short stories published in leading magazines of the day, such as Blackwood's, All the Year Round, London Society, and the Boy's Own Paper — but as was the accepted practice of literary journals of the time, his stories had been published anonymously. Thus, Conan Doyle knew that in order to truly establish his name as a writer, he would have to write a novel. The only wrinkle is that once Conan Doyle finished this novel, it went missing in the post, never to be seen again. Join Burt and Scott as we discover how thi

It's not very often that one has an opportunity to speak with someone who has a direct connection to a legend. In this case, Burt and Scott spoke with Michael Hoey, the son of Dennis Hoey -Inspector Lestrade to Basil Rathone's Sherlock Holmes.Michael Hoey is the author of Sherlock Holmes & the Fabulous Faces - The Universal Pictures Repertory Company (affiliate link). In this fascinating book, Mr. Hoey focuses not on Rathbone and Bruce, but rather on the 68 men and women in supporting roles in the 12 Sherlock Holmes films that Universal Pictures produced in the early 1940s.Join us as a very special guest introduces Mr. Hoey, as Hoey reminisces about his visits to the sets of Universal, recounts many bits of trivia about the Universal series that we all know and love, and reveals some little-known gems.Mr. Hoey will be appearing at From Gillette to Brett III in Indianapolis in November. There's still time to register - and if you click through to the link above to buy his book, you might be able to get it

In this episode, we catch up on some of the interesting tidbits of news that have touched the world of Sherlock Holmes lately. From a new television adaptation to Sherlockians passing, fake literary Twitter handles to banned books and more, we cover some of the more remarkable stories that have been in the public's eye over the last few weeks. In addition, we also take a look at events in the weeks ahead. While there are many events at Sherlockian societies in the North America, the United Kingdom and beyond, we focused on those in London, Toronto, Indianapolis and Providence in this case. We wrap up the show with a reading of the Editor’s Gas-Lamp from the Summer 2011 issue of The Baker Street Journal, Vol. 61, No.2. Links: The news of CBS's pending modern "Sherlock Holmes" adaptation The avclub.com reaction William Lipscomb, from the Annals of Improbable Research Some canonically-connected fake literary profiles on Twitter That entire list for you to follow Burt's @A_Conan_Doyle account The state