Author: Buttons

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Weekly Quiz 2014: 13

RESULTS: 4 April 2014

Four members submitted excellent analyses of the question about the ornithological “either/or” riddle.  Usually this is thought to be Dr Watson’s sighting of either a gull or a curlew in HOUN. Our member team of Margie Deck and Sheila Holtgrieve, “Gwen” and “Daisy” from Seattle, were first to submit with brilliant and very thorough textual, scientific and scholarship reviews favouring the gull.

Second in was Denny Dobry “Kirby” who submitted an equally adroit analysis offering evidence for either a city bred or a country bred goose in BLUE. This was a new theory in the extant scholarship and very clever; it hinges on the validity of the actual existence of a “crop” in a goose. Town geese, not having crops, were posited to have undergone an evolutionary change over time, thereby producing a crop due to London’s pollution.

And our third submission was from fellow member, Michele Lopez “Reggie”  president of Italy’s Uno Studio in Holmes, who offered his precise analysis of the gull/curlew hypothesis, also favouring the gull.

All were well-done and well-supported by both Canonical, scientific and scholarly evidence. Each cited the specific BSJ articles of prior years that explored the issues of birds in the Canon.

There will be a modest article in the forthcoming issue of The Watsonian at the end of this month discussing aspects of this question. Those interested are invited to read more on the topic in the journal.

This week’s quiz was a question requiring research, both Canonical and scientific.

Please download the quiz question below.
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Download the Week 13 Question.

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If You Will Be In London . . .

A fun adventure awaits those of you who may be in London on May 23, 2014. This was received from our member Michele Lopez, President of Uno Studio in Holmes of Italy:

Dear Sherlockian Friends

Our society, Uno Studio in Holmes, has organized a Sherlockian trip to England in the weekend from the 23rd to the 25th of May, 2014.

We’ll come from various parts of Italy and we’ll meet in London for three days of Holmes-related fun and good time.

We plan to dine at the Criterion Restaurant in Piccadilly on Friday, May 23rd, around 8:30 pm. We shall be very happy to welcome anyone that happens to be in London in those days, who wants to join us for a dinner in commemoration of the first historical meeting between Watson and young Stamford in that same location.

We’ll have a trip to Portsmouth on Saturday, May 24th (reserved for society members) and a London walk in search of Holmesian locations (from Baker Street to St.Bartholomew’s Hospital and the SH Pub) on the morning of Sunday, May 25th. Around 2.00 pm we’ll have high tea at The Orangery, Kensington.

If you are interested in participating in one of these events, please let me know by e-mail, since we need to make reservations well in advance.

I hope to see you in London,

With my warmest regards,

Michele Lopez
President
Uno Studio in Holmes

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Limericks Beget Limericks . . .

Thanks to Ron Lies, we have our Weekly Limerick. It appears Ron has created renewed interest in this very old literary form,  as several members have commented and offered their own favorites. We will include these from time to time for the enjoyment of all. Our Chair, Prof. Don Yates “Pal” sends along this limerick and comment:

I’ll throw in a Sherlockian limerick of my own, in case you’d be interested in using it. It’s somewhat seasonal and requires familiarity with BLUE’s cast of characters, but most of our members will likely understand the play with words.

Sans hat and sans goose do we meet
This poor fellow roughed up in the street.
In the end such a winner,
He might have us for dinner.
Which could aptly be termed Baker’s treat.

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Limerick of the Week

Here is Ron Lies’s, “Chips” Limerick of the Week:

Here is the second of the limericks for the week of the 23rd.

Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes was the great master sleuth,
For he always discovered the truth.
He assisted the poor
Using logic quite sure,
And he never did one thing uncouth.

Author is William S Dorn, BSI, DWNP, From his book THE LIMERICKS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES and his card set, Pencil Productions 2005, both currently out of print with no plans to reprint.

A note of interest (at least to me).  Dr. Dorn’s is the only set I have found to include limericks about characters from the Canon as well as the two stories that surfaced after Doyle’s death and thought by some to be written by Doyle.

Yours in the willing service of Dr. Watson,

Chips/Ron

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New Feature: Limerick of the Week  by Ron Lies, “Chips”

Our always interesting and interested Charter Member, Ron Lies “Chips,” will be sending us a new limerick each week. These are the limericks of  author William S Dorn, BSI, who published The Limericks of Sherlock Holmes, now out of print and unavailable. Mr Dorn has graciously given Chips permission to reprint the work and we will all be able to enjoy these classics once again.  Thank you Ron, as always, for your ever-welcome support.

John H Watson

Watson wrote all those wonderful tales

Besides which every other tale pales.

What more can we say

But up to this day,

Each attempt to improve on them fails.

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We’re Back!

We have Internet service and the Society is open for business!  We have monograph and pin orders, but have not found those boxes yet, so please bear with us.  We will be totally unpacked and ready to mail things out in a day or two.We bought our home sight unseen and in the week since closing have had the interior totally repainted, all new carpeting, new window treatments, new air conditioning, multiple repairs, new lawn irrigation system, termite prevention treatment, pest control, total landscape trimming and overhaul, bought new appliances, got driver’s licenses, got a new car, met the neighbors, and have tried six new restaurants!  Buttons is ready for a big, comfy chair and The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes!

Back to Society business . . .!  The journal is being edited and finalized. It will print in early April and we should have it mailed to members by the end of April.  It’s Big!

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Business Hiatus Taking a Bit Longer Than Expected

“Buttons” and “Asta” aree in Florida and moved in to their new home, but won’t have Internet access for another few days. Therefore, our normal Society business will be offline for about another week. Thanks for understanding!  Please use the “downtime” to read through the Canon once again!  Thank you for your patience!

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Quiz Masters “Gwen” and “Daisy” Volunteer a Quiz

Our members from Seattle’s Sound of the Baskervilles, and intrepid Quiz Team, Margie Deck “Gwen” and Sheila Holtgrieve “Daisy” have devised a fascinating quiz for our members. It is all about unpublished Canonical stories and events.

Please send your answers to “Daisy” and “Gwen” at: thepawkypuzzler@yahoo.com

Margie and Sheila will answer you and will post the correct answers next week as a comment to this post.  Thanks very much to each of you for filling the Quiz hiatus with a wonderful test of knowledge!

The Quiz

SOB TEAM/Sheila “Daisy” and Margie “Gwen”

The Untold Tales

All questions relate to the untold tales mentioned in the canon.

All answers must include the story where the mention is found.

Scoring is five points for each correct answer; bonus question #20 is worth ten points due to the dual nature of the question.

One extra point per question will be awarded for including the correct page number from Buttons’ venerable 1930 Doubleday Edition.

  1. What vessel went missing in the mist?
  2. What does Watson deprecate and what will he do if it happens again?
  3. Holmes reminds Watson about a mild man who sought Holmes’ help; who was he and why did he want help?
  4. Only a very important issue could call Holmes from London as he was busy; what are the two things which had him busy?
  5. What fashionable person came to see Holmes and stayed part of an hour?
  6. In 1894 Watson had at least six cases which would furnish a narrative but apparently did not; name the cases.
  7. Lestrade mentions, in a letter to Holmes, a case involving a large, swarthy person; who is this person and what was his affair?<
  8. Holmes saved someone’s mother’s elder brother from murder; name the someone, the intended victim, and the villain who was to commit the crime.
  9. For whom did Holmes arrange an affair, and who reminded him of it the next year?
  10. Watson states that one July was striking due to several cases, one of which concerned a captain; describe the captain.
  11. Whose terror prevented Holmes from leaving, and what kind of terror was it?
  12. Name the deceased husband of a client who was also a client of Holmes in one of the early cases.
  13. While Holmes dug in vain in his commonplace book for a name his client wished him to know, he found the familiar names of two others with the same surname; give the three names and describe the three people.
  14. A client says to Holmes that he heard of Holmes in regard to a club scandal; name the client and the club.
  15. How did Holmes run down the coiner?
  16. Sherlock did not consult Mycroft about what case involving whom?
  17. What was coming to a head resulting in Holmes’ inability to go to Lewisham?
  18. In what abstruse problem was Holmes immersed in 1895?
  19. Name a king Holmes worked for and one he worked against.
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Pursuing Sherlock Holmes by Bill E. Mason, JHWS “Billy”

Pursuing Sherlock Holmes

Written by Bill E. Mason, JHWS “Billy,” The Nashville Scholars of the Three Pipe Problem. Published by Xlibris 2010. Available from Amazon.

From the back dust jacket:

In Pursuing Sherlock Holmes, Bill Mason uncovers seething sex in The Hound of the Baskervilles, observes Professor Moriarty through the eyes of Generation X, reveals a hidden “formula of death”, explains the mystic effects of colors on the mind of Sherlock Holmes, exposes Conan Doyle’s “theft” of the plot of Dracula, resurrects ten compelling characters from their graves, and visits the mind of Sherlock Holmes to find his true thoughts about romantic love. This collection of innovative essay, stories and even poetry approaches Sherlock Holmes from a thoroughly unique perspective that combines humor with literature and classic tales with familiar aspects of modern culture.

Reviews:

“In these essays, some appearing in print for the first time, others from The Holmes & Watson Report or delivered at symposia or scion meetings, Bill Mason explores the Canon Doylean (“A Tale from the Crypt: Unearthing Dracula in Sherlock Holmes”) and Sherlockian (“Deeper Shades: The Dressing-Gowns of Sherlock Holmes and the Psychology of Color”), in pastiche (“My Arrangement with Mr. Holmes by Mrs. Neville St. Clair”) and poetry (“Horror of the Hound”, “A Musical Toast to Nathan Garrideb”) and with tongue implanted firmly in cheek (“Doctor Sterndale, the African Explorer”). While I’m unable to judge the poetry, the essays are uniformly excellent. “A Chill on the Moor”, “The Rule of Three”, and “A Tale from the Crypt” are important contributions to the study of the Canon, while “Deeper Shades” is bound to be the “last word” on Holmes’ dressing-gowns for years to come. A line like’ “The possibility that Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock Holmes, Mr. Roundhay and Dr. Sterndale—even Dr. Moore Agar—were part of an undercover operation of international intrigue involving the race for empire in Africa is not at all farfetched” (“Doctor Sterndale, the African Explorer”) is the very definition of “farfetched” that it claims not to be; a laugh-out-loud line in an essay that claims Sterndale as one of England’s first “license to kill” secret agents under M (Mycroft, that is). This is a worthy addition to any Watsonian’s library.”

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Brief Hiatus on Society Business

“Buttons” and “Asta” will be moving from California to Florida beginning March 3, 2014. We would ask your patience on Society business until we arrive and get moved into our new home in Ocala, Florida. We anticipate being able to fulfill Society business about March 15th, 2014. Until then, memberships, monograph orders, pin orders and other requests will be forwarded to us via email and we will respond as soon as possible after March 15th. Thank you for your understanding.

Of course, anyone having a burning question, idea, or comment can always leave a comment on this page and others can reply as if we weren’t here (which we won’t be)!

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Brief Hiatus on Quizzes

Buttons and Asta are moving next week from California to Florida. We would ask your patience until we get there and get moved into our new home. The quizzes will resume in late March. Please watch for the return.  Thank you.

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Photography in the Canon

The Sherlock Holmes Society of London is sponsoring a seminar looking at Photography in the Canon. This worthy topic, of course, raises the question: What are the photographic references in the Canon; which stories, and what are the specific instances? Frankly, Buttons cannot think of a single one off the top of his head. He’s confident many of our members will do much better. He will, however, contemplate the question during today’s ‘pie and pint’ break.

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Dr Watson and Differing Nationalities

The Canon is filled with differing nationalities, nations, and international references; perhaps more so than any other collection in the detective fiction genre.

Many of the stories and books contain elements of international travel, foreign settings, citizens of many countries, and other story elements that hinge on a “global vision” as set down by the writer.

A catalogue of this fulsome “internationality” would be of interest. Anyone care to expand on this aspect of the scholarship? Anyone care to comment on Dr Watson’s reasons for introducing so much of the non-British world into the Canon?

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Weekly Quiz 2014: 8

Flowers, anyone?

RESULTS: Denny Dobry has done excellent research and has sent a veritable catalogue of flowers and flowering plants in the Canon.  He is 21/21 for this week’s quiz honours. Margie Deck and Sheila Holtgrieve also submitted more than was asked and had a perfect 21/21 in the Team Category.  Elinor Hickey came close and added to the solutions. Well Done, all!  Answers are below:
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Download Week 8 Questions and Answers.

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Canonical Valentine?

It is doubtful that Valentine’s Day is referenced in the Canon, but might there be other holiday references, explicit or implicit, that are mentioned or alluded to in the stories and books? Anyone care to develop a catalogue of Canonical Holidays?

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Weekly Quiz 2014-7

This week’s quiz has to do with Canonical character inferences. Enjoy!

RESULTS:  A high participation quiz!  Five members with 7/7 and all receive the week’s honours:

Michele Lopez “Reggie;” Michael Ellis “Lobo;” Melissa Anderson “Faith;” Denny Dobry “Kirby;” and our Team: Sheila Holtgrieve “Daisy” and Margie Deck “Gwen.”

Congratulations!  Well Done!

Answers below:

file_download.pngDownload Week 7 Questions and Answers

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Dr Watson in Contemporary Times: A Question 

Our members, Ariana Maher and Ron Lies and our observer, Barbara Piper, in recent posts bring to the discussion thoughts on the contemporaneity of John Watson and Sherlock Holmes as a result of several immensely popular cable TV portrayals. Indeed, interest in Sherlock Holmes and John Watson has never been so great in the long history of the Sherlockian milieu.

Without focusing on “elitism” of the “Traditionalists” or “expansionism” of the “Fandom” devotees, what are your thoughts on this massive revival of the Canon in contemporary time and settings?

As background, many of us can recall how the Jeremy Brett series on TV created both excitement and reservations, yet the series was relatively true to the text and the times and now seems almost “traditional.”

Of recent interest in the international news are reports of the huge interest in Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson that is sweeping China. Imagine a new cadre of Sherlockians and Watsonians numbering in the potentially millions and all under the age of twenty-five!

The question becomes: How does the Canon gain or lose by its progression in time and contemporaneity?

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Email Disaster!

So many of our members inadvertently unsubscribed from the email sent today that the email service–MailChimp–has shut us down!  We cannot reinstate you if you unsubscribed. Now, we will have to switch to a new email service, re-enter all members, and that will take some time.  This only pertains to the member-wide emails we RARELY sent via Mail Chimp; normal individual emails from and to you via Buttons are not involved. So, in lieu of Society-wide emails for important topics, please visit this page REGULARLY!  Thanks!

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