A Memorable Toast

To All:

At my local Sherlock Holmes group dinner this past February, there was a toast which I would like to share with you. The author of the toast was Guy Mordeaux, a founding member of the group, Dr Watson’s Patients, and a good friend.

His toast was titled “On the Significance of Boswells or the Finding of the Right Watson.” I will quote those passages that impressed me and that I wish to share:

“When referring to the Canon a different Character emerges. The actor Jeremy Brett put his finger on who our dear Dr Watson really is during an interview in which he said, “‘Watson and Holmes are two halves of the same person. They are Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. . . You can’t have one without the other; it’s impossible.’”

Holmes and Watson are two character personalities that complement each other. David Accord, writing in “Success Secrets of Sherlock Holmes,” calls Dr Watson, “. . . a solid, intelligent war veteran with steely nerves and a strong sense of honor and loyalty to Holmes.”

Ben McIntyre writes in The London Times: “Holmes is flashy, brilliant and extraordinary, but it is Watson’s blunter, quieter virtues of simple decency that we are called on to admire, and it is his voice that we trust.”

Ron Lies
“Chips”