A little Watson pub trivia anyone?

Did we ever mention that you don’t have to be a card-carrying member of the John H. Watson Society to attend a meeting of the JHWS? (Hint: We don’t have membership cards.)

Our next meeting is tomorrow (Saturday, November 27th at) at the magical hour of 10 AM PDT, 11 AM MDT, 12 Noon CDT, 1 PM EDT, 6 PM BST, 7 PM CEST, etc. , and in the grand tradition of the best pub trivia we’ll be testing Watson knowledge while we share some as well. Calculate and double-calculate what time that happens in your time zone and join us for some fun.

The registration link is  https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0vduihrj0tHdI1bceHd20aq5eKeP8XxO2n

Our November Zoom with trivia fun!

Here we go again! Yes, it may be a holiday weekend in one of the countries we’re based in, but when is a meeting of the John H. Watson Society anything but a holiday? We’re going to have some fun little Watson pub trivia that you can enjoy even if you don’t have his immortal words memorized, along with the usual chatter, so take a break last Saturday of the month for a visit.

When is it happening? Saturday, November 27th at 10 AM PDT, 11 AM MDT, 12 Noon CDT, 1 PM EDT, 6 PM BST, 7 PM CEST, etc. — and be sure to double check that time against your local time zone. Need a reminder? Get a Watson reminder buddy!

If you haven’t got a Watson reminder buddy, if you’d like to get invited to the Zoom, and or if you haven’t gotten the link already from some back-alley source, just email podcast@johnhwatsonsociety.com to get in on the event.

Happy Birthday Andrew Hilton!

Born October 21, 1947, Hilton was a Shakespearian actor who would go on to found Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory. In 1986 he performed as Doctor Watson in two episodes for BBC Radio 4 – The Mystery of the Reluctant Storyteller and The Valley of Fear.

Director, Actor, & Playwright | Bristol | www.andrewhilton.online

WORDS ON WATSON

An occasional feature of published pages about John Watson

Several people have addressed the question of who wrote “His Last Bow”, “The Mazarine Stone” and the second half of A Study in Scarlet because they are written from an unusual third person perspective. For many, the obvious fact is they were written by someone other than Watson, and, therefore, they are not to be trusted. But there is nothing so deceptive as an obvious fact.

These stores were all written by Watson. However, he makes it clear when he is not reporting from personal experience by turning to the third person. It is his way of letting us know that while the facts are accurate to the best of his knowledge, that knowledge is second hand and may be liable to error.

From Watson Does Not Lie, Paul Thomas Miller, Wildside Press, 2019, p. 12

The Bride of Watson, or Watson the Bride?

Time again to summon the Society of Watson to speak of the things of which no one else speaks. And this being October, as the darkness claims the land, and the spirits of the dead come closer to the veil, even matters Watsonian must turn to shadowed tales of . . . well, you’ll just have to come to the October meeting to find out! 

When is it happening? Saturday, October 23rd at 10 AM PDT, 11 AM MDT, 12 Noon CDT, 1 PM EDT, 6 PM BST, 7 PM CEST, etc. — and be sure to double check that time against your local time zone (especially if your name rhymes with “Doll Lomax Killer”).

If you’d like to get invited to the Zoom, and haven’t gotten the link already from some back-alley source, just email podcast@johnhwatsonsociety.com to get in on the event.

Happy Birthday David Buck!

Buck was born on October 17, 1936. He worked primarily in science fiction and fantasy films, including the 1978 Lord of the Rings and 1982’s The Dark Crystal. In 1978 he portrayed Doctor Watson in 13 episodes for BBC Radio 4.

NPG x135406; David Buck - Portrait - National Portrait Gallery

WORDS ON WATSON

An occasional feature of published pages about John Watson

From A Sherlock Holmes Commentary, D. Martin Dakin, Drake Publishers Inc., 1972, p. 306.

WE STROLLED ABOUT TOGETHER

An occasional feature about the places in the John H Watson Canon

My friend had no breakfast himself, for it was one of his peculiarities that in his more intense moments he would permit himself no food, and I have known him presume upon his iron strength until he has fainted from pure inanition. ‘At present I cannot spare energy and nerve force for digestion,’ he would say, in answer to my medical remonstrances. I was not surprised, therefore, when this morning he left his untouched meal behind him and started with me for Norwood.

“The Adventure of the Norwood Builder”

The formerly wild and desolate area of Norwood, named after the extensive North Wood that once covered the area, is where two counties, Surrey and Kent, and five modern London boroughs meet–Croydon, Bromley, Lambeth, Lewisham, and Southwark. Until the mid nineteenth century, when rapid development transformed the area, it contained not only extensive woods but also acres of open wasteland, and had a reputation of danger and mystery. For centuries it was famous for the Gypsies who lived there, and gave rise to numerous rumours and stories among the settled populations of the surrounding areas.

From London Lore: The Legends and Traditions of the World’s Most Vibrant City, Steve Roud, Arrow Books, 2010, p. 405

WORDS ON WATSON

An occasional feature of published pages about John Watson

From The Complete Guide to Sherlock Holmes, Michael Hardwick, St. Martin’s Press, 1986, p.237

WE STROLLED ABOUT TOGETHER

An occasional feature about the places in the John H Watson Canon

It was upon the 3rd of May that we reached the little village of Meiringen, where we put up at the Englischer Hof, then kept by Peter Steiler the elder.  Our landlord was an intelligent man, and spoke excellent English, having served for three years as waiter at the Grosvenor Hotel in London.  At his advice, upon the afternoon of the 4th we set off together with the intention of crossing the hills and spending the night at the hamlet of Rosenlaui.  We had strict injunctions, however, on no account to pass the falls of Reichenbach, which are about half-way up the hill, without making a small detour to see them.
 It is, indeed, a fearful place.

Rosenlaui Bad, a hamlet in the central part of Switzerland, on the right bank of the River Reichenbach. While it is just three miles from Meiringen, it is more than two thousand feet higher in elevation and the walk from Meiringen requires at least three hours via the Reichenbach Falls. Holmes and Watson set off for here from Meiringen.

From The Encyclopaedia Sherlockiana, Jack Tracey, editor, Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1977, p.308.

Rosenlaui itself rates no mention in SWITZERLAND [Karl Baedeker in 1887, in his Switzerland and the Adjacent Portions of Italy, Savoy and the Tyroil hereinafter “SWITZERLAND”]; however, the “Baths of Rosenlaui, located at 4363., is recommended.

From The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Edited, with Annotations by Leslie S. Klinger, “The Final Problem”, note 69, p. 266.

WORDS ON WATSON

An occasional feature of published pages about John Watson

Yet Watson was not a stupid man. If I may mix my metaphors, Holmes, though he may have required a non-luminous conductor of light as a sounding board for his ideas, would never have tolerated an utter dolt as his companion. It is hard to conceive of a man such as Holmes conceiving a friendship (so eloquently expressed in 3GAR) with a man who was so far from being his intellectual equal, let alone maintaining such a close relationship for so long.

From “John H Watson–A Defense With Some Notes Concerning the ‘Blue Carbuncle'”, Hugh Ashton, The Watsonian, Vol 1, No 1, Fall 2013, p. 117

WE STROLLED ABOUT TOGETHER

An occasional feature about the places in the John H Watson Canon

We had during this time been following the guidance of Toby down the half-rural villa-lined roads which lead to the Metropolis. Now, however, we were beginning to come among continuous streets, where labourers and dockmen were already astir, and slatternly women were taking down shutters and brushing door-steps. At the square-topped corner public-houses business was just beginning, and rough-looking men were emerging, rubbing their sleeves across their beards after their morning wet. Strange dogs sauntered up and stared wonderingly at us as we passed, but our inimitable Toby looked neither to the right nor to the left, but trotted onwards with his nose to the ground and an occasional eager whine which spoke of a hot scent. We had traversed Streatham, Brixton, Camberwell, and now found ourselves in Kennington Lane, having borne away through the side streets to the east of the Oval.– From The Sign of the Four

Streatham SW 16. Although there was believed to have been a small Roman settlement here during the construction of the road from London to the Sussex coast, the name Streatham is of Saxon origin, meaning ‘the dwellings by the street’. In the years preceding the Norman conquest, Streatham is mentioned in documents as being under the jurisdiction of the Abbey of Chertsey in Surrey. In Domesday Book the Saxon chapel was assessed at 8s.

After the Conquest, Streatham, together with Tooting, part of which lay within the former’s parish boundaries, was given to William’s cousin, Richard of Tonbridge, who later bestowed both estates on the Benedictine Abbey of Saint Mary of Bec in Normandy. Owners of Streatham land in following years included Eton College, Edward VI, Lord Thurlow, the Russells, Dukes of Bedford, and the Du Cane family.

From The London Ecyclopaedia, Ben Weinreb and Christopher Hibbert, editors, Adler and Adler, 1983, p. 833

WORDS ON WATSON

An occasional feature of published pages about John Watson

From Asimov’s Sherlockian Limericks, by Isaac Asimov, The Mysterious Press, 1978, p. 45.

The JHWS September Zoom

John H. Watson: Doctor, writer, detective agency partner, and. . . . documentary film-maker?

At the next meeting of the John H. Watson Society — Saturday, September 25th at 10 AM PDT, 11 AM MDT, 12 Noon CDT, 1 PM EDT, 6 PM BST, 7 PM CEST, etc. — we’re indulging a couple of conspiracy theorists and testing Watson’s documentary footage with a JHWS-meeting sized group of test subjects. You may have heard of this sort of experimentation being done before on janitors and robots in isolated space stations, but rest assured — no robots will be present at this meeting.

If you’d like to get invited to the Zoom, and haven’t gotten the link already from some back-alley source, just email podcast@johnhwatsonsociety.com to get in on the event.

And while you’re feeling in mood for being open to the great panorama of life that includes John H. Watson, M.D. take a listen the the latest episode of our society’s own podcast, the Watsonian Weekly at https://watsonianweekly.libsyn.com/september-20-2021-three-continents-of-watsonians and wherever fine podcasts are streamed. (Want to be on the Watsonian Weekly? Got ideas or just a hankering to do Watsonian audio content? Just write to podcast@johnhwatsonsociety.com and find out how. )

The 2021 Treasure Hunt Results Are In!

“These are the traces of the treasure-seekers.”

Rich Krisciunas, the 2021 JHWS Treasure Hunt master, has finished reviewing the entries for this year’s hunt, and is pleased to announce:

This year’s High Honors goes to Michael Ellis* of Plymouth, Michigan. He surpassed the other entrants with a total of 181 points and was the only hunter to earn the 15 bonus points by deciphering the coded message, “I am lost without my Boswell.”

Ellis, a member of the Amateur Mendicant Society in Detroit, Michigan and the Greek Interpreters of East Lansing, edged past Honors winning Sherlockian and Watsonian author, The Shingle of Southsea blogger, and past Treasure Hunt master, Paul Thomas Miller (159).

O.V.E. (Order of the Valiant Effort) for this year goes to David Merrell (154) and Enrico Solito (152). Honorable Mentions include returning hunters Mark Doyle (143), Brad Keefauver (132) and Carmen Savino (122). Shout Out this year to Mike Foy (40).

There were entries from the United States, England, Italy and Australia. Many thanks to all who participated. We applaud you for carrying on the John H Watson Society Treasure Hunt tradition. The answers, including any alternatives accepted, will be posted soon.

*Note: If I count correctly, this is Michael’s sixth time to earn High Honors. Bravo!- Mopsy

WORDS ON WATSON

An occasional feature of published pages about John Watson

Holmes is encouraging Watson to give his analysis of Mortimer’s stick. Let me slip this thing away from Dr. Watson and pass it around. There you are.

You may recall that this type of walking stick is called a “Penang lawyer.” The island of Penang, from which these beauties come, can be found off the coast of Malaysia, not all that far from Sumatra. As with so many other British colonies, Penang started out as a penal colony, and these bulbous-headed sticks were probably the closest things the prisoners had to a lawyer. You can see how they might settle a disagreement rather swiftly.

This particular specimen also has an engraved silver band near the top, which seems to be attracting most of Watson’s attention…or it will as soon as I give it back to him. There you go, Doctor.

“To James Mortimer, M.R.C.S., from his friends of the C.C.H., 1884” is what the engraving reads. From this and the stick’s condition in general, Watson has deduced that Mortimer is a successful, elderly fellow, a country doctor who does a lot of walking, and is especially well liked by members of the local hunt club. He must assume they have a lot of gun-cleaning accidents and Mortimer is extremely skilled at removing buckshot.

Watson has given it his best shot. After studying Holmes’s methods for years, he thinks that this time he’s really captured it, done the trick himself. At moments like these, you really have to feel sorry for the guy. It’s like watching that basketball team that always plays the Harlem Globetrotters. They do a decent job of it, but you always know they’re about to be used to mop the floor. It’s the same with Watson.

From The Armchair Baskerville Tour by Brad Keefauver, Magico Magazine, 1995, p. 8.

Watson’s saddest case on a cheery podcast!

Yes, it’s Watsonian Weekly time again — it does happen every week, remember? You may have listened once a long time ago, but that means you haven’t heard more recent features like “What’s on Watson,” “Roxie’s Bull Pup Poetry Corner,” “Want Them To Be Watson,” or the latest, “The Watson View of . . .” (Insert story name here.) It’s less than twenty minutes long, so not much commitment there at all.

You can find “The Watsonian Weekly” every week at:
https://watsonianweekly.libsyn.com/
or on Apple podcasts, Spotify, and all those places podcasts tend to show up.