Category: News

Posted on

Mixing it up for the 4th JHWS Treasure Hunt warm up

Hi Watsonians–

Here we are a mere six weeks until the treasure hunt begins on August 1.  Since the posting of the first warm up question, I’ve heard from The Sherlock Holmes Society of India. The society will have a team in the competition. I’m so glad SHSI is joining in the fun.

As to the first warm up question, we had a few comments about it.  I’m guessing most of you solved it rather quickly; the answer is January 7th (VALL).  If you have your 1930 Doubleday Single Volume with the Christopher Morley introduction (Buttons’ beloved ‘W’), the quote is found on page 773.

As noted before, the theme this year is ”that mixture of imagination and reality which is the basis of my art” (Holmes,THOR).  With the first question, we talked about reality. For the second warm up question, we have a mixture:

Kitty+Porky+Birdy=common 4 letter location–where?

I look forward to your answers,

Margie

JHWS ‘Gwen’

2016 Treasure Hunt Master

Posted on

On June 15th…

June 15, 1889: Holmes and Watson accompanied Hall Pycroft to Birmingham to see Arthur Harry Pinner (STOC)
June 15, 1889: Arthur Pinner attempted suicide (STOC)

Posted on

On June 10th…

June 10, 1889: Hall Pycroft was supposed to start work with Mawson & Williams (STOC)
June 10, 1900: Beppo destroyed two more busts of Napoleon (SIXN)

Posted on

On June 9th…

June 9, 1888: Jeremiah Hayling was killed by Colonel Lysander Stark (ENGI)
June 9, 1889: Hall Pycroft began marking off all of the hardware sellers in Paris (STOC)

Posted on

“No Great Harm Was Done” [FINA]

Stutler's Drawing of 221B Baker Street
221B Baker Street, as imagined by Russell Stutler

 

Brad at Sherlock Peoria posted recently about the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it reference to the fire at 221B Baker Street in “The Final Problem”.

“They set fire to our rooms last night. No great harm was done.”

So says Sherlock Holmes to Doctor Watson. It does indeed seem to have caused very little harm, since three years later, in “The Empty House”, Holmes says that “Mycroft preserved my rooms and my papers exactly as they had always been.” An impressive feat, considering how quickly paper burns.

That fire came up in a quiz a couple of years ago, and there was a discussion in the comments in which Ariana (“Carla”) suggested that Holmes set the fire himself.

What do you think? Did Moriarty (or his agents) set the fire? Did Holmes set it himself? Or perhaps Holmes fibbed, and there was no fire at all?

(Click on Russell Stutler’s illustration of the Baker Street rooms to see an enlarged version.  Be sure to visit his site for his annotations!)

Posted on

On June 7th…

June 7, 1889: Arthur Pinner offered Hall Pycroft a job with Franco-Midland Hardware Company (STOC)
June 7, 1900: Beppo destroyed the first bust of Napoleon (SIXN)

Posted on

On June 6th…

June 6, 1889: Hall Pycroft received a letter offering him a berth with Mawson & Williams (STOC)
June 6, 1890: Napoleon busts were sold to Morse Hudson and the Harding Brothers (SIXN)

Posted on

June 1: Buster has the goods and things are warming up

Hello Watsonians!

It is now June 1, warm weather is upon us, and it is only some sixty days until the 4th Annual John H Watson Society Treasure Hunt begins.  I’ve been hearing inklings of previous competitors returning, and I’m hoping some new teams might be in the works.  Over the next two weeks I will be writing to many Sherlockian groups to invite new competitors.  Thanks to the hard work of Chris Redmond (JHWS ‘Buster’), a treasure trove of contact information is readily available at sherlockian.net. I can’t thank him enough for this amazing resource.

Speaking of warming up and returning competitors, I encourage you to head over to Brad Keefauver’s always entertaining Sherlock Peoria to read the April 30, 2016 blog post titled ‘Team Building’ to see how one of our Down in Illinois team members is warming up for the competition.  You will laugh, and perhaps be inspired to compete.

The 2016 edition of the Treasure Hunt will celebrate  “that mixture of imagination and reality” which is the basis of our shared fun where it is always1895.   To help get you into the spirit of things, you will find below our first warm up question for this year: Give it a go and let us know how you fare.

The recent BBC Sherlock Special The Abominable Bride explored the possibility of Holmes and Watson being men ahead of their time.  In reality, Holmes noted once to his dismay that he and Watson were before their time. On what day of the year were they too up to date?

Margie

2016 Treasure Hunt Master

JHWS ‘Gwen’

Posted on

Doctor Watson’s Afghanistan Campaign Medal

“The campaign brought honours and promotion to many, but for me it had nothing but misfortune and disaster.” – A Study In Scarlet (STUD)

With that comment, within the first two hundred words of STUD, we are given a strong viewpoint of Dr Watson’s regarding his participation in the Second Anglo-Afghanistan War of 1878 – 1880. That said, Dr Watson was honoured, as were all surviving troops that took part in the skirmishes of that conflict, for service to Queen and country.

Greg Ruby, JHWS “Darth” and “Mycroft” of The Fourth Garrideb, shares his article on Doctor Watson’s Afghanistan Campaign Medal on TFG’s blog today. The article first appeared in the Spring 2016 Watsonian.

Posted on

A Quiz from the Archives

This week, we’re dipping into the archives for one of our dear Buttons’s quizzes. It originally ran in October, 2013. It’s a little bit different from the traditional Sherlockian trivia challenge.

Submit your answers by 11:59 PDT Sunday, June 5 to selena@johnhwatsonsociety.com. Include your answers to the all of the questions as well as the final result. (Please do not post answers in the comments to this post.)

This week’s quiz is on Canonical Numbers. Determine the number or numbers that are indicated by the textual clues. Each question is answered with a number. When you have answered all of the questions with their respective numeric answers, total all of the numbers and proceed to the final division and Solution.

Questions:

The enumeration in his mind for Anatomy.
Number of years of the unit.
The final three numerals.
St Luke’s scout’s tenure in rooms.
Beaten.
Number of inclusive years Holmes was a very busy man.
White sea’s distance away.
Number of lads who had supper in the kitchen.
Number of free citizens.
Numeric address of machinery assessors.
English governess’s age thereabouts.
Convert to numbers the time Holmes will be pleased to dine.
The object of the idiot’s love had been at boarding school ‘x’ years.
Amount of the maiden aunt’s capital.
At what hour on Monday was the office closed?
Page number of account in the big ledger.
Number of figures in only child’s marriage inter-vivos.
Shade of the elm.
Whistle ‘x’ minutes before the descent.
Number of the day of the month of the intrusive vicar.

Total of all Numbers: _____

Divide the Total by 28.66: _____

Final Number Answer: _____

Note: The Final Answer Number is your “Check” answer. If it is Canonically logical, you have correctly provided accurate numbers for all 20 questions. If it is not logical, you have one or more answers incorrect.

(Those of you who completed this back in 2013, shhhhh! Don’t spoil the ending! 🙂 )