The Open and Inclusive Worldwide Online Sherlockian Society (Really, We're about Having Fun)
Please welcome Stanley with our traditional greeting to new members: “You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive.”
Please join in welcoming them with the Society’s greeting: “You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive.”
I attended with great pleasure the June 2010 Bennington conference Sherlock Holmes: The Man and His Worlds. While visiting Montreal in 2011 I was made very welcome by members of The Bimetallic Question. The 2013 Baker Street Irregulars & Friends Weekend in New York City was my first and I plan to appear again in 2014. I have been an appreciative guest at several events of The Speckled Band. Very recently I journeyed to Connecticut and attended a dinner meeting of The Men of the Tor, whom I promptly joined.
I enjoy the writings about the writings, researching aspects of life in the time of Holmes, touring Holmesian sites in London, investigating obscure references in the canon, starting my day with Hounds-L, finding pastiches as well executed as the Solar Pons stories of August Derleth, and all the social aspects of being a Sherlockian.”
Please extend our traditional greeting to Mr Colby: “You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive.”
Marcy writes:
“For many years, I have been a member of the Agra Treasurers, a Dayton Sherlock Holmes group. I have served the group in many different ways. My first introduction to Holmes was as a wee little child. I am now teaching my dear little six pack (very tiny grandchildren) all about Holmes.
All members of my family, on my mother’s side, live in North Wales, Great Britain and yes I have been there many times to visit. On each visit, it is a must that I spend time in London. When not reading, I love to make cloth dolls and their clothing. I have a very large library of books on Holmes and first edition mysteries. I look forward to learning many new things about both Holmes and Watson.”
Please extend a warm welcome to Marcy with our Society greeting: “You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive.”
Please join in welcoming Walter with the Society’s welcome: “You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive.”
Michele writes:
“I am the current president of Uno Studio in Holmes (Italy), Scion Society to the BSI, and also a member of the SHSL. Our society has always devoted great attention to Dr. Watson; actually, our logo depicts both Holmes and Watson, as equally important for every serious devotee of the Canon. So I heartily approve of the idea of a John H. Watson Society.”
We look forward to Michele’s participation and his contributions to the Society and hope additional friends of Dr Watson will be attracted from Italy. After all, it is the home of the good Doctor’s and Mr Holmes’s favourite cuisine.
Please extend a warm welcome to Michele with the Society’s welcome to new members: “You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive.”
“I started reading Holmes while working as a canoe guide in Maine. We had no electrical power, so entertainment was in the form of reading (by firelight and gas lamp I might add). I read Holmes to celebrate my English heritage and got hooked. 1977. Of course I know of Rathbone’s Holmes, but it took the book to really get me going.
I became a charter member of the St Charles Mo based Harpooners of the Sea Unicorn in 1989. Then in, conjunction, started Scrimshanders of the Sea Unicorn to fill even more of my Sherlockian need. Scrimshanders were first started as a way to discuss Holmes outside of what the Harpooners were doing and as a way for the officer to plan Harpooner meetings and events.. It is now a stand alone group starting this month. My Sherlockian blog is Sherlock Holmes Society of St Charles , again to fill a need the Harpooners no longer provide and to have fun with the world created by Doyle.
I edited the Harpooner newsletter, The Whaling News, as well as acting as president (Blue Whale) on and off over the years. and organized most special events for the Harpooners. Created and organized the first two Sherlockian conventions to happen in the St Louis area, The Games Afloat. Both held on an old river boat.
I have done about 33 papers for presentations at the Harpooners meetings and have worked with our local PBS station to host Jeremy Brett in the early 90’s when he was on tour to St Louis. (What a pleasure that was to meet him). Starting spring of 2014, I will be teaching a course on ‘Playing the Game; a Study of Sherlock Holmes’ at our local community college.”
Please welcome “Barney” to membership: “You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive.”
The Society welcomes Carol Cavaluzzi “Brooke” to Charter Membership. Carol lives in Jamestown, New York. We have not received her biography and more information will be posted upon receipt.
Please welcome Carol to the Society with our member greeting:
“You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive.”
Can you identify where this house that Arthur Conan Doyle occupied is located? The brass plaque commemorates his period in residence.And, if you can identify the location, can you shed any light on when and for what purpose Sir Arthur was in residence in this house?
The International Exhibition of Sherlock Holmes brings this world to life as never before as you step into Conan Doyle’s Victorian London and work side-by-side with his legendary detective. You will become Holmes’ eyes and ears as he tackles a baffling new case in a world steeped in innovation and experimentation. Along the way you’ll see a dazzling array of original manuscripts, publications, period artifacts, film and television props and costumes. You’ll learn to use investigative tools and techniques from Holmes himself, and test yourself with exciting, interactive crime-solving opportunities.
Mr. Turnbloom has been participating in the Non-Member Individual Category of the Treasure Hunt and the Weekly Quiz, and has been doing very well. We are honored by his decision to join the Society and would offer our members that you have a formidable quizzer amongst the membership.
Dean’s biography reads:
Dean Turnbloom lives and writes in southern California after growing up in southern Indiana. His political side can be seen in his former avocation as an editorial cartoonist and in his series of books that display the national prize winning cartoons of your favorite editorial cartoonist, Prizewinning Political Cartoons. This series informs the readers about the national contests for editorial cartoonists as well as displaying the work and bios of the cartoonists themselves.
In fiction, Dean’s tastes run to the macabre. His first short story was published in L&L Dreamspell’s Horror edition. He has a self-published short story available for those who would like to sample his work, The Banshee of the Rannoch Moor. His first novel, published by MX Publishing in the UK and available everywhere in both paperback and digital editions is SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE WHITECHAPEL VAMPIRE (a review is found on the Dr Watson’s Library page).
Please welcome Dean with the Society’s traditional greeting to new members:
“You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive.”
Francine is a member of the Baker Street Irregulars, “Lady Francis Trelawney Hope” and the Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes, as well as numerous other clubs.
Richard is a Baker Street Irregular, “The Battered Tin Dispatch-Box” and is the Co-Founder of the Turf Builders of Baker Street, as well as a number of additional clubs.
Their memberships include:
Francine Kitts:
» The Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes (The Third Pillar from the Left)
» The Mini-Tonga Scion Society
» The Montague Street Lodgers of Brooklyn
» Watson’s Tin Dispatchers
» The Baskerville Bash Committee
» The Baker Street Irregulars (Lady Hilda Trelawney Hope)
» Mrs. Hudson’s Cliffdwellers of New Jersey (A Study in Scarlet)
» The Admirable Beach Society
Richard Kitts:
» The Baker Street Irregulars (The Battered Tin Dispatch-Box)
» The Montague Street Lodgers of Brooklyn
» Watson’s Tin Dispatchers
» The Turf Builders of Baker Street (co-Founder)
» Mrs. Hudson’s Cliffdwellers of New Jersey (Cox and Company)
» The Admirable Beach Society
Francine and Richard live on Staten Island, New York. Please join in a warm welcome to our new members.
“You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive.”
Buttons began reading the Sacred Canon at age 8 and has re-read it completely once every year, either in the winter or the summer, ever since. This year is the 62nd re-reading of the Canon. But, he also re-reads all of the Thomas Hardy novels every fall; all of Dickens every winter; all of Christie’s Poirot every spring; and all of Kenneth Grahame’s novels every summer; plus other things around the edges, such as Solar Pons and Luis Borges in recent years. He has maintained this routine for over 38 years. As such, he seldom ever emerges from the 19th century and almost never is outside British literature, the only exception being his constant reading and re-reading of the ancient Japanese and Chinese poetry he studied at university and the collected poetry of Wallace Stevens each year.
The process of reading, for Buttons anyway, requires a large, comfortable, over-stuffed chair, a footstool, and a proper floor lamp over the left shoulder. A chair-side table is a requisite, in order to manage the coffee, and apple or two, the bowl of nuts, or the odd adult beverage. A black, round #2 pencil and a half-sheet of foolscap is there also in the event a note needs to be made, or a quiz question comes to mind. In fall and winter, a throw is added for the warmth that often precedes the inevitable nap.
Now, what about you? What are your reading interests and habits? Who would care to recommend an author or two who provided you with great pleasure and enjoyment over the years? What is your number one favorite book? Buttons can never read The Hound of the Baskervilles enough, but admits his favorite book remains The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame.
In April 2007, a monument to Sherlock Holmes was unveiled outside the British Embassy in Moscow. It is the only one of its kind in the world, in that it has Holmes and Watson together. It features a pensive Holmes, clad in his signature cloak and deerstalker, standing and looking slightly upwards with one hand behind his back and holding a pipe in the other, as if contemplating a case. Beside Holmes is Dr Watson, seated on a bench and looking up towards Holmes in admiration, as it were. The statues are life-size and consumed 800 kilos of bronze in casting.
The artist, Andrei Orlov, although inspired by Sidney Paget’s sketches, sculpted Holmes in the likeness of the great Russian actor Vasily Livanov, who played the role of the Master to perfection in many Russian Movies. Orlov modelled Dr Watson after Vitaly Solomin who played Watson to Livanov’s Holmes. Vasily Livanov was the only Russian actor to be awarded the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II which was bestowed upon him in recognition of his great portrayal of Sherlock Holmes.
We are thankful to the Sherlock Holmes Society of India who first posted this article by Kumar Bhatia on its Society’s website.