Sherlock Holmes

[Wickerman]

Some interesting posts here, thankyou all for your stories. Has anyone gone through every one of Dolyle's stories here to list any potential inspiration from the Whitechapel Murders?
I recall one character who is presented like Hutchinson, the Groom. And another wearing an Astrachan coat. Then there's the severed ear (not kidney) in a box, I can't recall from which stories these came, but are there any more?
Anybody know?

[Herlock Sholmes]

Hm, yes. Off the top of my balding bonce, I think that's 'The Man With The Twisted Lip'. Watson's name, as far as any of we mere mortals is concerned, is 'John H Watson'. As is written in white paint on the lid of the tin box in Cox's Vaults - the box which contains his records. I think, if I remember correctly, that it was Dorothy L Sayers who proposed an answer to this oddity, in that the 'H' in John H Watson was in actuality 'Hamish', Scottish for James, and as such was a pet name of his dear wife for Watson. Bless. Or it could just have been a mistake. Will we ever know?

Graham

You’re certainly right about Sayer’s solution Graham. You got the right story too.

[Graham]

Some interesting posts here, thankyou all for your stories. Has anyone gone through every one of Dolyle's stories here to list any potential inspiration from the Whitechapel Murders?
I recall one character who is presented like Hutchinson, the Groom. And another wearing an Astrachan coat. Then there's the severed ear (not kidney) in a box, I can't recall from which stories these came, but are there any more?
Anybody know?

Off the top of my head:

1] The Six Napoleons; 2] Charles Augustus Milverton; 3] The Cardboard Box.

I don't think any of the above stories, or in fact any of the Holmes stories, were much influenced, if at all, by the Ripper. With the possible exception of Selden, the escaped murderer who was roaming around Dartmoor in The Hound. He was a bad 'un, and no mistake.

Graham

[Herlock Sholmes]

A slight tangent, but if you are interested in Doyle as well as Holmes - the Julian Barnes novel, Arthur and George is a good read.

I'm still trying to reconcile the creator of Holmes with his belief in fairies.

I enjoyed that one too Eten. There’s also a factual version of the case Conan Doyle And The Parson’s Son by Gordon Weaver.

We also have Conan Doyle For The Defence about his efforts to free Oscar Slater.


Dont mention the fairies Eten

[Herlock Sholmes]

Off the top of my head:

1] The Six Napoleons; 2] Charles Augustus Milverton; 3] The Cardboard Box.

I don't think any of the above stories, or in fact any of the Holmes stories, were much influenced, if at all, by the Ripper. With the possible exception of Selden, the escaped murderer who was roaming around Dartmoor in The Hound. He was a bad 'un, and no mistake.

Graham

It’s only been in pastiches where Holmes has come up against the ripper. He was even the ripper himself in one blasphemous book.

[NickMaz]

I love all things Holmes/Doyle. In a small way I’m a bit of a collector too. Books, movies, tv and radio shows, autographs, postcards etc. Yup full blown saddo-ness. As we’re all armchair detectives I just wondered if there were any Holmes fans on here? If there are I’d be interested to know who is your favourite interpreter of Holmes? Maybe your worst too? A top ten if you have one. Maybe your favourite Holmes movies too? Just testing the water here. I won’t burst into tears if I get no replies.

Big Holmes fan here.

for me it’s Brett/Burke (Or Hardwicke) every time closely followed by Rathbone/Bruce.

i do however enjoy the Cumberbatch reboot (apart from Series 4 - please don’t remind me) and even the robert Downey junior mysteries

I recently rewatch the Christopher Plummer ‘Murder by Decree’ ripper mystery - which is fine but I see more of a deconstruction of a Holmes story than a genuine mystery.

also - has anyone here read ‘The Giant Rat of Sumatra’ by Richard L Bowyer which is the best non-Doyle Holmes out there?

[Graham]

Mentioning the 1908 Glasgow murder-case involving Oscar Slater, this was a complex and confusing case of mis-identification. Sir Arthur took up Slater's case, at considerable time- and financial-expense, and effectively got the conviction quashed. Slater had spent nearly 20 years behind bars, and received a substantial sum of money in compensation. Slater, once free and with money in his pocket, absolutely refused to reward or even reimburse those, including Sir Arthur, who had helped his cause. Sir Arthur apparently wrote a lengthy pamphlet about his interest in the case, but I've never seen a copy.

Another then-celebrated case in which Sir Arthur got involved was that of George Ejaldi of Great Wyrley, Staffordshire (a few miles from where I live) in 1903. Ejaldi was accused of maiming livestock and horses, and was imprisoned. It too is a complex case, involving other people and a series of correspondence concerning those involved, but Sir Arthur succeeded in getting Ejaldi freed. There have been TV documentaries and dramas about this case, as well as (rather oddly, to me) a German film made in the 1960's I believe.

Both these cases are worth reading up in detail.

Graham

[JeffHamm]

I quite enjoy the Sherlock Holmes stories. Have read them through a few times, and will, in all likelihood, go through them again.

- Jeff

[Robert]

Graham

http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks12/1202651h.html

[Graham]

Thanks for that, Robert - I shall read it at my leisure! In the meantime, IIRC, the dead woman's live-in companion, Helen Lambie, knew a darn sight more about who murdered her mistress than ever came out in court.

Graham

[Herlock Sholmes]

Big Holmes fan here.

for me it’s Brett/Burke (Or Hardwicke) every time closely followed by Rathbone/Bruce.

i do however enjoy the Cumberbatch reboot (apart from Series 4 - please don’t remind me) and even the robert Downey junior mysteries

I recently rewatch the Christopher Plummer ‘Murder by Decree’ ripper mystery - which is fine but I see more of a deconstruction of a Holmes story than a genuine mystery.

also - has anyone here read ‘The Giant Rat of Sumatra’ by Richard L Bowyer which is the best non-Doyle Holmes out there?

Plummer also played Holmes in Silver Blaze his only other appearance as the detective.

There are so many Holmes pastiches but if you want a great collection I really recommend these

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Book-Sherlock-Holmes-Stories-Part/dp/1780928254

Ive got up to volume 7 so far.

Also check out the fictional detective Solar Pons. Brilliant stories but very few people of heard of him. First written by August Derleth. He wrote to Doyle asking if he intended to write more Holmes stories and when Doyle said no Derleth asked if he could write some. Doyle very politely said no so Derleth created Solar Pons. Set in the 20’s and 30’s Pons is a detective who models himself on Holmes. They are basically Holmes stories with the names changed. There’s a Solar Pons Society too.

Holmes lives at 221b Baker Street - Pons lives at 7b Praed Street.
Holmes has Dr Watson - Pons has Dr Lyndon Parker.
Holmes has Mrs Hudson - Pons has Mr Johnson.
Holmes has The Baker Street Irregulars - Pons has The Praed Street Irregulars.
Holmes has a brilliant bother called Mycroft - Pons has a brilliant brother called Bancroft.
Holmes has Professor Moriarty - Pons has Baron Ennisfred Kroll.

Highly recommended.

[Graham]

Interesting read, Robert. Thank you.

Slater was eventually released in 1927, on the orders of the Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald, and an inquiry was set up. Prior to this, a Glasgow policeman who was involved in the case, John Trench, claimed that Helen Lambie told the police investigation that she in fact recognised the intruder she and a neighbour witnessed fleeing from Miss Gilchrist's flat. Trench said that the senior investigating officers refused to accept her staement, and pressured her into identifying Slater, who was 'their' suspect. Trench also added that the same pressure was applied to Mary Barrowman, the girl who saw a man running out of the house. Naturally, the police denied all this. Then in 1927 around the time of later's release, a London paper published an interview with Helen Lambie who was by then living in the USA, and she admitted that she had recognised the man she saw running out of the flat, and also admitted that the police did indeed force her to identify Slater as the murderer. Helen Slater refused to return to Scotland to be a witness in the inquiry, and was never heard from again. It does seem that the Glasgow police had a real downer on Slater, and wanted to see him hanged.

Had Holmes been in on the case, I rather feel it might have been a one-and-a-half pipe problem.....

Graham

[c.d.]

For me, it would have to be Jeremy Brett. I also really liked Edward Hardwicke as Watson. I never understood why Watson would be portrayed as bumbling (like Nigel Bruce portrayed him) when he was a doctor for crying out loud.

c.d.

[Herlock Sholmes]

For me, it would have to be Jeremy Brett. I also really liked Edward Hardwicke as Watson. I never understood why Watson would be portrayed as bumbling (like Nigel Bruce portrayed him) when he was a doctor for crying out loud.

c.d.

Brett’s always the finest portrayal for me too c.d. I often can’t decide between Burke and Hardwick but usually go for the latter too.

Another great Watson imo was Andre Morell who played alongside Peter Cushing in the Hammer version of The Hound Of The Baskervilles.

[Joshua Rogan]

Would it be sacrilegious to say that my favourite Holmes film is probably "Without a Clue"?