Episode 116: Cant Get Enough Sherlock Holmes

Burt Wolder: [00:00:00] Support for this episode of I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere is made
possible by the Wessex Press - the premier publisher of books about Sherlock Holmes and his
world. Find them online at Wessex Press dot com. And the Baker Street Journal - the leading
publication of Sherlockian scholarship since 1946. Subscriptions available at Baker Street Journal
dot com.

Scott Monty: [00:00:23] I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere Episode 116: Can't Get Enough Sherlock
Holmes.

Charles Gray: [00:00:29] I hear of Sherlock everywhere since you became his chronicler.

Narrator: [00:00:34] In a world where it's always 1895comes I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere, a
podcast for devotees of Mr. Sherlock Holmes, the world's first unofficial consulting detective.

Jeremy Kemp: [00:00:48] I've heard of you before. You're Holmes the meddler, Holmes the
busybody, Holmes the Scottland Yard jack-in-office.

Narrator: [00:00:59] The game's afoot as we discusse goings-on in the world of Sherlock Holmes
enthusiasts, the Baker Street Irregulars, and popular culture will lead to the great detective.

David Burke: [00:01:10] As we go to press, sensational developments have been reported.

Narrator: [00:01:14] So join your hosts, Scott Monty and Burt Wolder, as they talk about what's
new in the world of Sherlock Holmes.

Jeremy Brett: [00:01:33] You couldn't have come at a better time!

Scott Monty: [00:01:34] And welcome once again to hear of Sherlock everywhere the first podcast
for Sherlock Holmes devotees where it's always 1895. I'm Scott Monty.

Scott Monty: [00:01:45] And I'm Burt Wolder.

Scott Monty: [00:01:47] And it's March. We're marching into March. Are your are your are your
Irish eyes smiling, Burt?

Burt Wolder: [00:01:55] Ah, faith and begorrah, me Irish eyes are always smiling. But you know,
Scott, in this age where the origins of things are so important. I think it's it's important to remember
that we realize you have a choice in podcasts and that's why we urge you to listen to podcasts that
are recorded in America. Although our subject is Sherlock Holmes, a noted person of English
abstraction, believe us friends when we say America is the best provider of podcasts in the world.
And so when it comes to your ears be sure that you always listen American!

Scott Monty: [00:02:45] Wow. I'm going to go out on a limb and just say this is a Sherlock Holmes
First podcast.

Burt Wolder: [00:02:55] We have to make. We have to make Sherlock gr-- wait a minute he's
always great.

Scott Monty: [00:02:59] We have an open border policy here. I hear of Sherlock everywhere and
we welcome your tired your restless, your refuge, your refuse? - we'll take it all. We'll take
whatever garb-- Because look, we're going to be forcing whatever garbage we want on you. So why
should we expect anything less?

Burt Wolder: [00:03:18] That's certainly true. Hey now. Has anybody ever written about that?
What was that what was going on in the dust bins and rubbish bins at Baker Street? There's got to
be an article there.

Scott Monty: [00:03:28] Well you know what in the - I think it was the autumn or winter edition. It
was the winter edition of the Baker Street Journal. Peter Calamai wrote about the - just the state of
London and how it was never remarked upon - the muck and the horse excrement and everything
else that would have been going on in 1895 London out on the streets. And how the worst we ever
get, really, is when Holmes remarks about Watson's boots that were scratched when he had to
scrape some mud off of them. Otherwise it was just seven spatters of mud from the dog cart. Or you
know a little thing here or there. Peter Calamai I really got down and dirty - literally - in what was
going on in London in the 1890s. But he said maybe it was something that simply wasn't remarked
upon because it was such a state of everyday life. It's just it wasn't remarkable. It was just that
usually it was.

Burt Wolder: [00:04:37] Unless there was an unusual color of mud on one's boots that Holmes
could aspire.

Scott Monty: [00:04:44] Right. But one wonders how would he have discerned that much from the
rest of the monk that people were walking to to get to his door?

Burt Wolder: [00:04:52] Well, through his monograph on the four hundred and forty different
kinds of clay and mud in north west London.

Scott Monty: [00:05:02] I don't have the issue in front of me. So it's in the other room. But he said
in a contemporary study there was a woman who had a train on her dress and after she was out
walking around the streets of London she did an inventory of what came back with her. Everything
from three toothpicks, to two pieces of straw, to orange peels. I mean you name it. It was picked up
in the streets of London.

Burt Wolder: [00:05:31] Oh that's funny. I like that.

Scott Monty: [00:05:33] I heard she was later hired as an official street sweeper. Well you know if
you have any comments or feedback or what have you to send into the show please get in touch
with us you can reach us of course through our website. I hear of Sherlock dot com. You can reach
us on email and comment at I hear of Sherlock dot com. Comments on the show - the show notes
will be available for this show which is number 116 at ihose.co/ihose116. Of course you can reach
us on the social networks pick your social network of choice we are there at. ihearofsherlock.

Burt Wolder: [00:06:12] Those are still working?

Scott Monty: [00:06:14] Oh sure. Why not?

Burt Wolder: [00:06:17] That gram is still instant?

Scott Monty: [00:06:19] As far as anyone else knows, sure. The er is still twitting. Yes all of that.

Burt Wolder: [00:06:25] And you can comment at ihearofsherlock.com - please comment. We
need comments and call contact call us 774 221 READ. That's 774 221 7323 and record your lovely
voice.

Scott Monty: [00:06:39] The dulcet tones of our voicemail will be made available to you and as a
matter of fact, we did have a comment that came in from Episode 115 which hopefully you just
listened to that was our interview with Tim Greer on the wonders of Sherlock Holmes and the
theater. We got an e-mail from Lee Shackleford. Now Lee is a name that goes way back in my
Sherlockian origins - I corresponded with him a good deal in the early 1990s. Lee of course had
written the screen - excuse me to play "Holmes and Watson" and performed in it for quite some
time. That play was resurrected in 2000. And Lee says, "Hey guys - I just listened to episode 115
and found it thoroughly delightful as the show always is. But I confess I was holding my breath for
an hour. Imagine waiting to hear someone identify that glorious 221B set pictured on the website.
It's not identified in print so I thought well surely that's because they're going to give it a shout out
on the episode. But alas. Of course I know that the set at a glance I know that set at a glance
because I spent many many an hour on it. For the record the scenic designer was Kel Laeger, a
devoted Sherlockian who was thrilled to have the chance to build the 221B of his dreams for the
2000 production of my play "Holmes and Watson" at the Hoover library theater. Kel had stage
managed the off-Broadway production built many of the props and managed the special effects, so
he had a history with the play going back to 1989. I think his only lingering regret about it is that
the VR had to be relatively small, making it a hard to see and be a bit of strain on the credulity but
note the presence of the Moroccan table. It is now in my office at home, somewhat worse for wear.
Oh the stories I could tell about that set and that production and perhaps more about the new york
city production. Like how we learn what happens when you set off the fire alarm in a theater that's
on the ground floor of the Citicorp building. In any case thanks to all three of you for that wonderful
hour of podcast fun it's a great show. And I always thoroughly enjoy it.

Burt Wolder: [00:09:21] Oh nice to hear from Lee. And that was was a lovely set. And how nice
of him to correct our omission. You know we need to find him an octagonal Moroccan table
manufacturer or perhaps a trap is the ideal manufacturer of octagonal tables.

Scott Monty: [00:09:41] Oh that's too much math for my brain at this hour.

Burt Wolder: [00:09:45] Or a rectangular manufacturer.

Scott Monty: [00:09:46] That's circular logic Burt.

Burt Wolder: [00:09:49] Oh that's right. I know I could feel I felt something coming back in me.
Well maybe Ikea. You know we could interest Ikea. It could come with a tiny Swedish wrench.

Scott Monty: [00:10:00] Then you have to buy a new one every year and figure out how to
assemble it.

Burt Wolder: [00:10:05] That's true. Right.

Scott Monty: [00:10:06] Well, the secret behind us not getting the mention of that set into the
recording is unbeknownst to Lee and maybe to you as a listener, we don't we don't select the
graphics for the show until it's right before publication time. You know we do all of our work on the
audio really massage and making everyone sound their absolute best (which is pathetic when you
think about it). [LAUGHTER] And then when it's time to go live that's when we choose the
graphics because usually it's me who has forgotten about - "Oh my gosh what are we going to do
for this? What are we going to use visually to represent this wonderful hour we've just had
speaking?" And at that point I scramble to find whatever resources I can and I grabbed that I think
from Tim's presentation - that was one of the images he showed at Chautauqua and just slapped it
up there on the Web site. Which is different from the thumbnail that's used on the on the audio. So
that's the story behind how it's done. And I'm glad we didn't identify it because it caused Lee to get
back in touch. And I think Lee makes a great case for being a guest on the show, unbeknownst to
him.

Burt Wolder: [00:11:26] Yes absolutely.

Scott Monty: [00:11:27] So we'll have to check that out. And it would be wonderful to be able to
read through "Holmes and Watson" because I remember hearing about it in the early 90s back when
it was an off-Broadway phenomenon. And I would love to hear some of the background stories
from family and maybe we can get Kel to join him too. Who knows? So we'll see.

Burt Wolder: [00:11:49] Yeah it sounds good.

Scott Monty: [00:11:52] Well you know who should join us right now? Our friends at the Wessex
Press.

Burt Wolder: [00:12:03] [MUSIC] The ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex has begun
restoring our traditional capital in Winchester even if it means disturbing the 16th hole of the
Hockney golf course. Our capital will bring a wealth of treasure back to our people like the
treasures found in Sherlock Holmes and Conan Doyle in the Newspapers Vol. 3. These restored
newly typeset stories from July to December 1893 show Conan Doyle the celebrated author,
lecturing on the English novelists of the day and report the presumed death of Sherlock Holmes at
the Reichenbach Falls. With 248 pages this essential volume for your library is available today at
our Wessex Press dot com. Friends, March is the month of expectation, the things we do not know,
the persons of prognostication, the Phoebe and the Crow. As the seasons shift, reach for the
pleasure only a volume from the Wessex Press can provide. Choose yours today.

Scott Monty: [00:13:13] Well done! Well here we are. This is, as we said, this is an all news show.
This is - a lot of stuff going on in the world of Sherlock Holmes. We don't cover all of it here but
we want to cover some of the highlights some of the stories that stood out to us over the past few
weeks that we thought were worth discussing with you in greater depth. So where should we start?

Burt Wolder: [00:13:38] Let's start with Stephen Fry. We have been over all these things, we have
to start with a bang and what could be better than Stephen Fry? A wonderful actor who is known for
so much in the Sherlockian community. He of course played has played Mycroft in film. He is a
long standing member of the Sherlock Holmes Society of London. Some of us look back fondly on
his portrayal of P.G. Woodhouse's Jeeves and that wonderful series with Hugh Laurie. Yes and I'm
a big fan of his from the standpoint of BBC Radio 4 because he's occasionally the panelist on a
game show that's now been running for 50 years that I think we've talked about occasionally: "Just a
Minute," where one has to speak for 60 seconds without hesitation, deviation, or repetition. He's
just grand at that and he's now done the complete Sherlock Holmes stories on Audible.

Scott Monty: [00:14:33] He has and they are available at adbl.co/Holmes. Or you can just go to
Audible dot com and search for Stephen Fry Sherlock Holmes. They are available if you would like
to join, they're free. No, excuse me. $14.95 with an audible membership. Or if you just like to buy
them outright. The collection is priced at $82 77 cents. If you're in the U.S. but this is the entire
canon. And to me what's interesting is that you've got instances of. Fry reading introductions to
each section and you know what? Sorry, it's only 8 collections of Sherlock Holmes - because they
don't have the rights to the Casebook in its entirety. So he has eight introductions to each section -
each book or collection - and he's written them himself and reads them. And in one case he
mentions - I think it was the introduction to the Memoirs where he taps into the current craze of
Hollywood's fixation on superheroes and superheroes in popular culture. He says "Heroes with
remarkable gifts are as in vogue now. As they have been since they first appeared. Perhaps even
more in vogue. But although the very first one was launched in serial published form, just like his
masked and body-suited successors. It was not in DC or Marvel Comics that he made his
appearance. Rather it was in this sedate and respectable pages of Mrs. Beeton's Christmas Annual in
the mid-Victorian year 1887. This caped crusader's cape was made of the finest British tweed. His
magical gifts were not the ability to fly or X-ray vision. His superpower was that he had trained his
mind into a uniquely powerful weapon which could solve mysteries, unmask the guilty and right
wrongs.

Burt Wolder: [00:16:54] That's lovely.

Scott Monty: [00:16:55] Yeah with each with each one he's got this unique introduction. And
Stephen Fry is is a Sherlockian or a Holmesian, if you will. He took out a membership to the
Sherlock Holmes Society of London when he was just 15 or 16. And I think he spoke or presided at
the society's 2005 annual dinner.

Burt Wolder: [00:17:23] Well he's a remarkable actor and writer - he has had some bestselling
novels published. One of his books that I'm particularly fond of which I think I mentioned before is
a book called The Ode Less Traveled which is all about poetry. And so if you have any interest in
poetry and you are of some reason looking for an overview, looking for a guide, looking for
motivation and stimulation to write your own poetry - which is really I think the focus of Stephen's
book - I recommend The Ode Less Traveled. He is a lovely introduction from that book he says "I
have a dark and dreadful secret. I write poetry. This is an embarrassing confession for an adult to
make. In their idle hours, Winston Churchill Noel Coward painted for fun and relaxation. Albert
Einstein played the violin, Hemingway hunted, Agatha Christie gardened, James Joyce sang arias,
Nabokov chased butterflies - but poetry?" And then he goes on. It's really a lovely book.

Scott Monty: [00:18:34] It sounds quite odious. Well, why don't we get a brief flavor of what
Stephen Fry reading the Sherlock Holmes stories sounds like. We'll start with this excerpt from The
Sign of Four.

Stephen Fry: [00:18:54] "My mind," he said, "rebels at stagnation. Give me problems, give me
work, give me the most abstruse cryptograms or the most intricate analysis and I am in my own
proper atmosphere. I can dispense then with artificial stimulants. But I abhor the dull routine of
existence. I crave for mental exploitation. That why I have chosen my own particular profession or
rather created it, for I am the only one in the world." "The only unofficial detective?" I said, raising
my eyebrows. "The only unofficial consulting detective," he answered. "I am the last and highest
court of appeal in detection. When Gregson or Lestrade or Athelney Jones are out of their depth -
which by the way, is their normal state, the matter is laid before me. I examine the data as an expert
and pronounce the specialist's opinion. I claim no credit in such cases. My name figures in no
newspaper. The work itself - the pleasure of finding a field for my peculiar powers is my highest
reward. But you have yourself had some experience of my methods of work in the Jefferson Hope
case." "Yes indeed," said I cordially. "I was never so struck by anything in my life. I even embodied
it in a small brochure with the somewhat fantastic title of A Study in Scarlet." He shook his head
sadly. "I glanced over it," said he. "Honestly, I cannot congratulate you upon it. Detection is or
ought to be an exact science and should be treated in the same cold and unemotional manner. You
have attempted to tinge it with romanticism which produces much the same effect as if you worked
a love story or an elopment into the fifth proposition of Euclid.

Scott Monty: [00:20:59] Well how about that?

Burt Wolder: [00:21:00] Oh, I like that - I like his Watson.

Scott Monty: [00:21:03] Yeah. I mean it's not terribly different from Holmes, but you know when
you think about other narrators particularly Douglas Wilmer, who I think undertook great character
studies in his preparation. Of course did not read the entire canon - read select stories - but very
very clearly inhabited different places for each character. Fry's I think are different, but there's more
subtle differences. And I'm just I'm trying to get Jeeves out of my head and hearing Holmes instead.
It's a little... it's not the sharp and and quick homes of Clive Merrison but it is a pensive and you
know ratiocinative Holmes, I think of Jeeves.

Burt Wolder: [00:21:58] Well you know, the Jeeves voice was so distinctive and he was so much
younger it was a bit of a shame that he didn't do Holmes when he was a bit younger because he his
you know you know his is he has such a rich tonal voice that it's some it's somewhat at odds with
you know a thin, athletic younger Holmes. But Stephen Fry is you know the sort of person that I
would cheerfully buy a ticket to watch him read the phone book. Now here's an interesting question.
Of all of the actors who played Holmes, which have recorded - not on radio now - but which have
recorded actual readings of the stories. Am I right in remembering that Rathbone...

Scott Monty: [00:22:52] He did.

Burt Wolder: [00:22:54] I don't remember what but there must be some.

[00:22:57] He did three stories I think he did the Red Headed League. And I think Silver Blaze and
the Final Problem.

Burt Wolder: [00:23:05] You know I should go back and listen. I don't know that I've ever heard
that I have all of those radio programs but I don't know that I've ever heard Rathbone reading. Now
be interesting to hear how he handled the voices. But of course you know today I think it's it's more
it's more a challenge for an actor to do it in character when you're reading the stories. I mean when I
used to read my kids the Harry Potter books when they were when they were quite small I would try
to do a different voice for each character. But I think in the old days - in the Rathbone days - you
were perhaps not spending so much attention in trying to do that.

Scott Monty: [00:23:40] It could. That could very well be.

Burt Wolder: [00:23:42] Who else other than Rathbone? And you mentioned Wilmer.

Scott Monty: [00:23:46] Yeah I know I have a collection of I know he did he didn't play
HOLMES, but he he was in the Granada production. I have a collection of stories read by Robert
Hardy.

Burt Wolder: [00:23:58] Oh right.

Scott Monty: [00:23:59] And he actually he read Charles Augustus Milverton and he actually
played Charles Augustus Milverton in the Granada series. And I actually enjoy his reading of
Milverton better than his portrayal of Milverton.

Burt Wolder: [00:24:15] Well he's a great actor. Do you ever ever see him do Churchill.

Scott Monty: [00:24:18] Oh yes.

Burt Wolder: [00:24:19] He's fabulous.

Scott Monty: [00:24:21] And of course speaking of Harry Potter he was he was in the Harry Potter
series as well as the Minister of Magic you know. So I don't know if if any of the greats did. There
was a collection that came out in the 90s during the Granada popularity early to mid 90s that was
read by Edward Hardwicke. So you've got your Watson narrating. But beyond that I don't know.
And of course this is a great plug for one of our earlier episodes - Episode 40, I believe, One Voice
of Sherlock Holmes where we had David Ian Davies on - and his fine collection as well. And there's
a guy who does all the characters as well. So worth. Worth another listen there.

Burt Wolder: [00:25:19] You know he's done a magnificent job really creating a very distinctive
character voices, yeah.

Scott Monty: [00:25:24] And even the female characters too which was impressive. I remember we
talked with him about that. So make sure you check out episode 40 with David Ian Davies If you
haven't heard that or if you haven't heard it in a while. Be great. And you know I would be remiss if
I didn't mention that we had taken this opportunity, seeing the news of this audible collection, we
took the opportunity to reach out to Stephen Fry and invite him on the show as we have done in the
past. Of course he played Mycroft Holmes in Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows, and we thought
that would be a great time to get him on. He was very busy traveling and writing and all the rest and
we asked him about coming on this time, once again through his assistant. He very politely refused.
So it's too bad really. So here's here's an opportunity. As a fan of I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere -
which we assume you are if you're listening - I wonder what a fan generated petition might do? If
you can create some sort of public petition- band together, do your thing. I don't care - talk with
each other on the IHOSE Facebook page and get Stephen Fry who is on Twitter. Maybe we can get
a hash tag - #frydoesIHOSE or something like that. Maybe we can maybe we can pressure him into
it if there are enough fans that really want to hear him on the show. Let's see if we can make it
happen. What's the worst that could happen?

Burt Wolder: [00:27:11] We could end up talking to a grumpy Stephen Fry.

Scott Monty: [00:27:13] Well that's true. That wouldn't be any fun. Or next time he'll impolitely
refuse. So, se'll see.

[00:27:25] Well you know it's great to have audio but it's also wonderful to experience Sherlock
Holmes in the original writing. And here we have an article from The Daily Utah Chronicle about
the case to make Sherlock Holmes required reading. This was written by Alex Judd and I think it
was a an op ed piece. They talked about giving a talk at a medical school and how the case was
made for medical students if they wanted to be more observant if they wanted to be better
practitioners that the requirement would be just read Sherlock Holmes. You know, if you want to
understand what it takes to observe and make educated guesses, read Sherlock Holmes. And he is as
a med student at the time thought it was a little bit of an odd suggestion but he goes through and
makes the case that actually yes, if if Sherlock Holmes was in fact inspired by a medical doctor,
why wouldn't you take those tales in which Conan Doyle very artfully talks about the practice of
observation and deduction (or as we know induction) and use that as a basis for developing your
own skill set? It's not a handbook per se, but it is something that you know through fiction helps
young practitioners become become better at their craft.

Burt Wolder: [00:29:13] Well one of my one of the people that I follow and I have enormous
amount of respect for in the health care arena is Atul Gawande who is a writer and a practicing
physician. And in the New York Times book review a couple of years ago they had an interview
with Gawande and asked him, "So who is your favorite doctor character in fiction?" And he said,
"Dr. Watson in the Sherlock Holmes stories I've been hooked on Sherlock Holmes for years. Every
story is a kind of diagnosis and Watson is the inviting voice of the entire series. He is intelligent
observant and faithful the way we want all doctors to be. He's also guileless and naive. Where
Holmes is neither and that is his ultimate limitation in each mystery. But his his lack of cunning is
why we trust him and why Holmes does too.

Scott Monty: [00:30:11] Very astute.

Burt Wolder: [00:30:13] Isn't that nice? And that's very similar to you know this particular
observation about insights into diagnosis and treatment that can be garnered by consulting the
canon.

Scott Monty: [00:30:31] Well of course as we've often said here this is a collection of stories that
goes just beyond the scientific. And I think Watson himself echoed that - Holmes was critical of
course, saying that you've worked romance into this and it has as much place there as romance in
the fifth proposition of Euclid. But as we've observed many times that this is a textbook of
friendship - that phrase of course was said first by Christopher Morley in his book Sherlock Holmes
and Dr. Watson: A Textbook of Friendship. And it's very clear that one can learn a great deal about
the human condition, about friendship, about working relationships, about history, about
philosophy. And of course as Alex Judd makes the case here about medicine there is there is a great
deal to be learned in these 60 stories. So a treasure trove indeed.

Burt Wolder: [00:31:37] It's sort of a cheap shot by Holmes, though - when everyone knows that it
was the fourth proposition of Euclid [LAUGHTER] that dealt with Valentines and chocolates and
roses and things like that.

Scott Monty: [00:31:50] Oh Euclid, I hardly knew ye. [LAUGHTER]

Scott Monty: [00:31:58] Well why don't we head on over to our friends at VentureBeat that report
to us that there is a new streaming video service that is coming to the United States.

Burt Wolder: [00:32:12] Oh thank goodness.

Scott Monty: [00:32:14] Right? Well hey, because you haven't had enough with Amazon and
Netflix and Hulu and you know - all of the specific networks now that have their own on demand
service: CBS and HBO and Showtime and and on and on and on. Just what you need: another app.
However, we can make a case for this one very clearly. Because this is called BritBox. BritBox.
And what you'll get with Brit box is it well let me read the intro paragraph: "If you have a penchant
for British TV shows but happen to live in the US. You'll be delighted to know of a new
subscription service that's now available from two of the U.K.'s biggest broadcasters: BBC
Worldwide, the commercial arm of the U.K.'s public service broadcasting body, has partnered with
the commercial network ITV to launch a BritBox, a video on demand service consisting of UK
shows from both broadcasters. It's now available for only $7 a month and is exclusive to the United
States.

Scott Monty: [00:33:20] So, what will you get with your Brit box subscription? Shows like the UK
version of The Office - the original Office, thank you very much. If you please. Fawlty Towers.
James Corden's Gavin and Stacey and of course the very reason that we are here. The original
Granada Sherlock Holmes. So you can get that on demand if you don't have a DVD player if you
don't have regular access to the Sherlock Holmes stories and we have said before - Tim Greer
remarked last episode that pound for pound the best production of Sherlock Holmes stories and his
opinion was Grenada.
Burt Wolder: [00:34:04] Yes. Well it's a worthwhile addition. You know the real problem and I'm
sure you've found this too. I occasionally will have my laptop or my phone in the kitchen and I'll be
watching something on a particular streaming service, and I'll be called away to do something else.
And when I get back I find that that video is just streamed all over the floor of the kitchen. And
cleaning it up can be such a problem. You know you've got to go down and get a mop towels so
streaming services are OK as long as you make sure to turn them off. When you're not watching
them.

Scott Monty: [00:34:38] That's why you need the new Sherlock Holmes brand streaming service
mop! [SHERLOCK HOLMES BRAND THEME MUSIC]

Burt Wolder: [00:34:48] Friends, are you tired of wringing all of the facts out of these stories?
Well a few of them over your kitchen floor then pick up your Sherlock Holmes Mop.

Scott Monty: [00:34:59] Oh boy. But you know this is the problem with the number of servers.
Let's take Netflix for example great service has tons and tons of titles available but - a friend of
mine who works in Silicon Valley said the future is streaming services or nobody is going to be
carting around cases and cases of DVDs anymore as they as they move homes or as they're looking
for something to watch and use you're simply going to open up your the app or your phone
wherever it happens to reside and you're going to look for for that title in the cloud so to speak.
Well that's great. Until you realize that Netflix (a) hasn't contracted with the entity that produced the
show that you're looking to to watch or (b), they did contract with them but because they only offer
a certain number of titles at any given time it's on a rolling basis and you may not you may not be
there at the time that they offer it to you to watch on demand. So having an alternative like this-
having an alternative like BritBox that's specifically designed for that kind of programming that you
enjoy - I think it's a wonderful thing.

Burt Wolder: [00:36:19] It's a very good point. Well that's one of the amazing things about digital
technology. You know in the old days I remember my friend Chris Steinbrunner and may he rest in
peace his desire in life was to watch every mystery film that had ever been made. And I think he got
it got pretty close. And in his house in the basement I remember actually in his garage he had just
stacks... he was a professional. He was the film director for for RKO general television stations
which was WOR in New York and others and he just had reels and reels and reels and reels and
reels and reels of movies and. And they were obviously enormously expensive and then you know
today on DVD you can pretty much find an enormous amount of things relatively cheaply. But then
as you point out you can have instant access pretty much over any of these services, provided you
know as you point out, you're sort of there at the right time and they've got the right contracts. So
the amazing thing about modern technology is how much it brings everything - back you know you
can go to YouTube and look at Arthur Wontner and things you'd never thought you'd be able to see
from the 1930s & 1920s.

Burt Wolder: [00:37:33] And yet we learn from Russell Merritt that because of some very arcane
history that the distribution of films in the 1930s for some reason you know there are just a huge
number of silent films that have never been shown and may never be shown in the United States for
one reason or another, because they're owned by this company that was bought by that company
and that they're over here and they're not over there. They haven't been restored and then digitized.

Scott Monty: [00:38:03] It's amazing the complexity that goes into some of that. And then of
course if you want to watch British programming that is currently on, one way to do that - and you
didn't hear it here folks. If you want to watch say the Sherlock series before everyone else here on
PBS, there are extensions you can get for the Chrome browser for example that allow you to use a
VPN basically to mask the country where it is you're dialing in from, and I make it think - make the
browser or the entity think like you're dialing in from Great Britain to be able to watch that
programming. So there are ways to work around the system if you really really want to. But you
know I would imagine it's something like BritBox will you know just allow you to refine the types
of things that you want allow you to pick up where you left off and all the rest. So and I know just
last night I fell asleep after watching way too many episodes of the original House of Cards 1990
with Ian Richardson, another actor who portrayed Sherlock Holmes.

Burt Wolder: [00:39:17] Oh isn't that fabulous that original house.

Burt Wolder: [00:39:20] I love it.

Burt Wolder: [00:39:21] You might very well think so, Mattie, but I couldn't possibly comment.

Scott Monty: [00:39:25] Just like Richard III.

Burt Wolder: [00:39:29] So you know it's interesting to wonder how Brit box because Acord in the
States had been mounting a subscription service and I thought that was also connected to the BBC.

Scott Monty: [00:39:46] I don't know.

Burt Wolder: [00:39:48] I know they had a subscription service because some things that I've been
following you know turn out to be only available on them on that. Well anyway I mean that's
clearly you know the direction of the future.

Scott Monty: [00:40:05] We've been discussing a number of news related items in this episode all
of which have an underlying theme. We simply can't get enough of Sherlock Holmes. And it's no
different at the Baker Street Journal the leading publication of Sherlockian scholarship where the
phrase we can't get enough of Sherlock Holmes could easily stand in for Christopher Morley's one-
time observation. Never before has so much been written by so many for so few. As Homer
Simpson would say it's funny because it's true. Since 1946 Sherlockians had been contributing to
the literature of the subject in the pages of the BSJ and there's no sign of abatement anytime soon.
For example, in the most recent issue alone we have Peter Calamai's look at the sanitation
conditions in 1890s, London Sarah Obermuller-Bennett's take on Victorian vegetarians, and
Michael Kean's keen analysis of. CONAN Doyle's secret weapon in World War One (we'll bet you
can guess what it was). And that's just a smattering of what's available in a single issue of the Baker
Street Journal. So we think that "we can't get enough of Sherlock Holmes" is a fine slogan for the
Baker Street Journal. And it's certainly easier to pronounce than si quaeris monumentum
circumspice. If you agree with the sentiment of not being able to get enough Sherlock Holmes then
please pick up a subscription of the BSJ by going to Baker Street Journal dot com today.

Burt Wolder: [00:41:56] Yes and when you have put down the latest issue the Baker Street
Journal, altough that's very difficult to do, you could turn your attention over to copy blogger dot
com where Robert Bruce.

Scott Monty: [00:42:14] Robert Bruce?

Burt Wolder: [00:42:15] Robert the Bruce has written a lovely interesting post about Sherlock
Holmes and mastering the craft of writing and his title here or his subtitle - subhead really - is:
Choose. Focus. Become an Idiot. [LAUGHTER]

Burt Wolder: [00:42:33] And you know he picks up on--

Scott Monty: [00:42:35] Wait - is he related to Nigel?

Burt Wolder: [00:42:38] I can only hope he could be so lucky. Although he does start out with
with really a calumny here, he says, "Though merely a fiction written over a century ago by Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle.." But he goes on to say Holmes methods of logical deduction are without
equal and that Holmes the character - the habits of Holmes can teach us about the craft of writing.
And he points out as he says in the subhead here choose, focus, become an idiot. Focus - make a
conscious decision about the few things that you want to decide to master in your craft. And so he
says really just the opposite of people who say, "You know you really do need to become a well-
rounded individual, with a little Latin, a little Greek, a little science, a little biology. He says if you
want to master your craft forget about that. "Distraction," he says, "pulls us in all directions if you
want to master writing you're giving up running the 800 meters in the Olympic Games. So if you
want to master the cello give up the ability to talk about what's good on television these days and to
become obsessive and focus." Which we know which I think certainly has a very good point. But I
was a bit sad that he didn't focus a bit on Conan Doyle as a writer and how the construction of the
cases of Sherlock Holmes are great examples for writers.

Scott Monty: [00:44:18] Well maybe he's not familiar enough with the stories. I think there's kind
of an overview here in the section where he talks about becoming an idiot. So in order to focus your
your working life on mastering a craft you've got to get rid of a lot of the effluvia, a lot of the trivia
that takes up so much time. So for example, Holmes could as we mentioned earlier "could
determine what part of the city you've been in from a quick glance at the type of mud on your boot.
But on the other hand he was a subjectively horrible violin player." Well, looking in the comments
section of this article someone named Robert rescued me someone named Scott Monty wrote in.

Burt Wolder: [00:45:07] Oh my goodness.

Scott Monty: [00:45:08] And said "From Watson's list about Sherlock Holmes as accomplishments
in A Study in Scarlet we've got number 10 plays the violin well well yes.

Burt Wolder: [00:45:18] And then I see he goes on and says well you know "in several stories we
read lines like 'scrape carelessly at the fiddle'" - well, his power is at the violin. Well. But you know
that could also be looked at as something remarkable I mean that he could get sounds out of an
instrument that was just so carelessly placed in his lap. But well anyway. Of all the things to quarrel
about, I wouldn't pick the Holmes violin. But listen when you get off you know telling me that I
should be disregarding effluvia? You're talking about the woman of my dreams.

Scott Monty: [00:45:59] You need better dreams. [LAUGHTER] That's all there is is it.

Scott Monty: [00:46:06] Well there is another story in the news here. I thought this was pretty
interesting. It was from the site Mysterious Universe. And I always loved these you know life
imitating art or vice versa as the case may be or life imitating art imitating life. This is Hounds - yes
plural - of the Baskervilles: Real Life Myths and Mysteries of Dartmoor's famous Hound Tor. And
of course you know that when Conan Doyle visited Dartmoor in the early 1900s that's where he was
inspired to write the resurrection as we know of Sherlock Holmes in The Hound of the Baskervilles
- the West Country legend he mentioned. And there are actual legends in the Dartmoor / Devon
areas of the English countryside. Spectral packs of dogs said to roam the area and that's where
hound Tor actually got its name. So the the the author of this article just mentions a similar legends
of hellhounds roaming the area and that's where Doyle got his inspiration. As a matter of fact
Hound Tor got its name from from one of those legends where - let's see .

Scott Monty: [00:47:46] "The legend goes that back in ancient days a hunter called Bowerman had
lived there on the moor and whilst hunting with his pack of dogs disrupted the ceremonies of a local
coven of witches punishment would ensue. But not until the next time Bowerman and his dogs were
out on the more. At which time one of the disgruntled witches transformed into a rabbit (a rabbit?
LOOK!) leading Bowerman and his dogs off in what they presumed to be a hunt, which resolved in
the hunting party becoming stuck in a mire. The Huntsman and his hounds were transformed into
stone and today a large stony outcrop is recognized as Bowerman's nose for its profile like features.
The stony protrusions on a ridge nearby became the famous Hound Tor.

Scott Monty: [00:48:40] So it is a it is an area that is rife with legends and rife with obviously just
the physical manifestations of the landscape there inspiring folks to see things whether they're
seeing actual things or representations of things we'll see.

Burt Wolder: [00:49:02] Well you know a couple of interesting things about this posting it
mysterious universe dead or. And by the way you can find links to all of this in the show notes to
these things as well as on our flipbook - Flipboard page of ihose.co/flipsherlock. But one is the
writer makes the point that "the creature might well have most closely resembled a bear though no
bear or other large animals exist in England having been hunted to extinction by by the sixteenth
century." Now I had no idea that bears became extinct through hunting in the 1500s in England and
that there weren't any bears in England. I mean that seems to me to be a strange thing somehow. But
I guess it it says so on the Internet so it must be so. And then he and then he goes on and says, "well
if it wasn't a bear what could it have been?" And then he says, "well maybe it was a feral boar," and
shows this photograph of a feral boar which was almost hunted to extinction in Britain. So. That's
something that I'd never thought of before as associated with these legends and then the other
interesting thing--

Scott Monty: [00:50:22] Well wait a minute though I think that again this is an error of Dr Watson
maybe something we should pick up on Trifles. Was it just a typo? Bear or boar - you tell me.

Burt Wolder: [00:50:38] Oh I like that. That's very good yeah. Bad handwriting. Well in the end
the other interesting thing in this post. They have a photograph - which has got nothing to do with
the posting - of Peter Cushing. One of my favorite actors playing Holmes, but it's a photograph that
shows Cushing in his dressing gown and this is one of the things that I was always surprised that
they got wrong because it was so well known. And speaking of Trifles you know we've we've
obviously discussed this of Holmes's multi-colored dressing gown and there is Cushing in a brown
plaid dressing gown. You know it just seems to me to be so unusual because clearly this thing was
custom made for him and why they decided to create that particular garment is just strange.

Scott Monty: [00:51:31] I don't know. And it clashes with the wallpaper. Horrible. Who knew?
Well and you know in thinking about this this article, I pulled a book off of my shelf that I had
looked that in quite a while and now that I'm flipping through it I realized it's a very rich source.
This is a book from 2001 - let me make sure of the publication of the 2001.

Burt Wolder: [00:52:10] I bought books in 2000.

Scott Monty: [00:52:12] It's amazing how they stand the test of time - by Philip Weller. Called The
Hound of the Baskervilles: Hunting the Dartmoor Legend by Devon Books. When you talk about
appropriate places. He has all sorts of things in here from just an overall view of the Sherlock
Holmes stories, how we got to the Hound of the Baskervilles. And then he looks at historical
sources, literary sources, legendary sources, invented houndian, locations, the authorship
controversy, the hound on the screen, the houdnian phenomenon and more, where he really gets into
some of the West Country legends and some of the dark more legends here both real and invented.
And the locations - I should say real and invented. So I may go back and read this now because it's
been a long time since I had. I don't think I've read it in its entirety - just one of the things where it
came out. I think it was in conjunction with one of the BSI distinguished lectures. I realized they
came around that time.

Burt Wolder: [00:53:39] So Wellar spoke?

Scott Monty: [00:53:46] No. I forget who it was that spoke now.

Burt Wolder: [00:53:49] About the Hound?

Scott Monty: [00:53:51] Yeah. And about Conan Doyle's diary during that time.

Burt Wolder: [00:53:55] Oh I remember that. That was Christopher Frayling.

Scott Monty: [00:53:58] Frailing Yeah.

Burt Wolder: [00:53:59] Yeah but that wasn't in 2001.

Scott Monty: [00:54:02] Well it was shortly thereafter I think.

Burt Wolder: [00:54:05] My goodness you can't be that long ago now. I thought that was a
splendid talk and I really wanted to get copies of his slides and I think I did.

Scott Monty: [00:54:17] In fact I think we did too. Yeah I think it was 2008. It wasn't that long ago
2008.

Burt Wolder: [00:54:23] Yeah. Interesting. Interesting. Well maybe you then found this book. I
think that when it came out. Yeah. Interesting. I never heard of that book.

Scott Monty: [00:54:38] And great review of the book by our friend Charles Prepolec on his site
Baker Street Dozen, so check that out. Good. Very good book and well worth revisiting.

Burt Wolder: [00:54:53] Yeah Frayling gave a great talk. For those folks who weren't there or
haven't heard about it, although we probably said something about it in a show around that time, but
what had happened was he had purchased at auction I believe Conan Doyle's pocket diary.

Scott Monty: [00:55:10] Yes.

Burt Wolder: [00:55:11] In 1906 or whatever the year when it's you know 1902 or something
around there in which you could actually chart Conan Doyle movements in Cornwall. You know I
went to this hotel and I spent some time over here, and then I came and he came back and etc etc.
And Sir Christopher gave a great talk about connecting all of those facts and insights to the creation
of how to the best.

Scott Monty: [00:55:45] I did. I did remember having those slides at one time. Now I don't know
where where they are.

Burt Wolder: [00:55:51] Now they're available on the streaming service. [LAUGHTER.

Scott Monty: [00:55:55] They're locked away in my Britbox. Excellent. [EDITOR'S GAS-LAMP
MUSIC]
[00:56:10] How do you spell relief? G A S L A M P. It's time for the editors Gaslamp folks and
since we've been talking all about Sherlock Holmes, current events, superheroes, we thought we
would turn to a modern-day essay. You know we've turned a few times to Edgar Smith and his
wonderful essay "The Implicit Holmes" which stands the test of time. And there's really no one who
can write like Edgar did. However our friend Lyndsay Faye, BSI, ASH, Baker Street Babe. She has
a new book out called The Whole Art of Detection: the Lost Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes. We're
got a link to that in the show notes. She wrote a guest editorial on Bookish dot com called "Why
The World Can't Get Enough of Sherlock Holmes" and we read it and we thought, "this would be
an interesting and interesting addition to our show." So let's go.

[00:57:24] Sherlock Holmes. He is an elegant gentleman scientist illustrated in subtle grayscale,

strolling through the pages of classic literature wearing a top hat and tails. He is abstract symbols, a
deerstalker and a magnifying glass painted on the side of a security companys van. He is a brawny
blockbuster action hero, shirtless, adorned with stubble and sweat. He is a cartoon mouse. He is a
classic Hollywood film icon. He is a radio personality. He is a runaway hit BBC television series.
Sherlock Holmes is all of these things, and more of them besidesso who is he really? And why do
we keep insisting on more of him?

[00:58:13] Sir Arthur Conan Doyles iconic character got off to a rocky start in life. A Study in
Scarlet sold, to put it kindly, not at all well; The Sign of Four did little to rescue our hero from the
doldrums. It was only after Doyle serialized Holmes into meticulously crafted episodic mysteries
published in the Strand Magazine that Holmes took off like a spacecraft on steroids. The family
magazine was already popular, but once the eccentric Bohemian crime solver began to appear, its
circulation immediately ballooned. Edgar Allan Poes revolutionary armchair logician, C. Auguste
Dupin, admittedly predated the Great Detective. But Dupin sat comfortably in his Paris flat, a
veritable brain in a jar, working out his chains of reasoning.

[00:59:05] Sherlock Holmes and his partner Dr John Watson, had adventures.

[00:59:15] Most of the 56 original short stories begin with that perfect phrase, that fairy tale
combination of words crafted to tickle our brains and speed our pulse rates: The Adventure of
The Adventure of the Speckled Band, in which Holmes and Watson keep vigil in a house haunted
by grief and greed, lying in wait for a deadly serpent to slither down a bell pull. The Adventure of
the Copper Beeches, in which a spirited governess is made to cut off her hair and wear an electric
blue gown, all the while forbidden to enter the estates grim and lonesome tower. The Adventure
of the Six Napoleons, in which a seemingly random series of attacks on Napoleons bust leads to
murder, mayhem, and the long-lost Black Pearl of the Borgias. Sherlock Holmes sits cogitating in
armchairs, to be certainbut he also wields guns, sprints to the aid of the helpless, and faces
slavering hellhounds. Theres no shortage of adrenaline, and its for the young and the young at
heart alike, and its marvelous.

[01:00:27] Not to reduce Holmes to a vigilante in a cape-backed greatcoat, battling villains like
some Victorian Bruce Wayne, although the comparison does hold some water. Holmes is 17 steps
ahead of us at every turn and, as seen through the eyes of his loyal doctor friend, he positively
glows. In this era of false facts and dismissal of science, theres something electric about
believing in a protagonist who relies solely on observation and deduction, a man who views the
world both as it is and as it should be. Lie and distort and prevaricate how you like, and Sherlock
Holmes can see through you, right to the marrow, and he carves away with wit and insight until the
truth is laid bare for all to witness. If justice depends on truth, then such a hero is truly timeless; he
reflects all that is steady and rational about our confused human state.

[01:01:32] Above all, Sherlock Holmes is, at the end of the day, a good man. Perhaps hes less
patient than his stalwart companion, granted, and he admittedly finds himself in the dumps from
time to time. Drugs make an appearance. He gets ahead of himself, and he makes mistakes, and on
occasion, Holmes like the rest of us needs to be forgiven. But he remains our champion, and until
humankind tires of flawed knights who risk their lives in the service of others, Sherlock Holmes
will stay with us. Age doth not wither, nor custom stale his infinite varietynor his capacity to help
us believe that a single person can make our world a better place. [CONCLUDING GAS-LAMP
MUSIC]

Burt Wolder: [01:02:38] Well said.

Scott Monty: [01:02:39] Oh well written. I'll leave that to Lyndsay. That just just goes to show how
we we will continue to have fodder for this show into the foreseeable future. Sherlock Holmes is
timeless after all.

Burt Wolder: [01:02:57] Well and it's a lovely observation you know about the power of one
individual to make the world a better place which we should not forget.

Scott Monty: [01:03:07] Indeed. Do not forget - and please do not forget, if the show has moved
you in some way, do not forget to show your appreciation. A comment would be fine but we'd also
appreciate financial support. If you go to patreon.com/ihearofsherlock or the ihearofsherlock.com
Web site you can find ways to donate to us Patreon is great. If you want to send us a donation
through PayPal, that would help too. And your contributions go towards us hosting these audio files
- as people download them we need to pay for the bandwidth - they pay for the hosting of the Web
site, for our email service. And now we're beginning to turn to transcription services. We are putting
transcriptions together for each of our shows and we're working through the backlog of all other
115 episodes of I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere. It pays for those transcriptions as well. And that
helps people find us, and it helps the those with audio difficulties - hard of hearing and deafness -
helps them enjoy the show as well. So hopefully you will be able to be part of that equation.

Burt Wolder: [01:04:24] And this is a great opportunity for us to make the shows better so that you
know once we can get these transcriptions we can really improve the content. [LAUGHTER]

Scott Monty: [01:04:39] You know I just I wish the scripts that we write out beforehand would
would translate into into something written for everyone else.

Burt Wolder: [01:04:48] Well the problem is you know we use this encrypted secure
communication medium called Blather. The app Blather. And as soon as you read the script once
it's gone. And I told you that was a strategic mistake.

Scott Monty: [01:05:01] Well, that would explain it. That would explain why I shouldn't be
wreathing Blather ahead of time. That's right less the scripts disappear on us.

Burt Wolder: [01:05:11] But you know the transcriptions are great because then you can just select
you know the entire text for you know an hour an hour and 15 minutes and then just delete it and
then just put in five or six sentences that are really well-written. And I think it's a great
improvement.

Scott Monty: [01:05:26] Anything's got to be better than this. [LAUGHTER]

Scott Monty: [01:05:30] Well when we join you here again next time we will have a very special
guest who we will be interviewing. Who will it be? You'll have to tune in to find out. And until then
I will try to remain Scott Monty.
Burt Wolder: [01:05:49] Correct! Yes and I am secure in my commitment to be Burt Wolder at
least for another few weeks.

Clive Merrison & Andrew Sachs: [01:05:58] The game's afoot!

Jeremy Brett: [01:06:00] You know, I'm afraid that in the pleasure of this conversation, I am
neglecting business of importance which awaits me elsewhere.

Narrator: [01:06:14] Thank you for listening. Please be sure to join us again for the next episode of
I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere, the first podcast dedicated to Sherlock Holmes.

Jeremy Brett: [01:06:27] Goodbye and good luck. And believe me to be, my dear fellow, very
sincerely yours, Sherlock Holmes.