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Next message Tricky posted on Sunday, 30 April, 2006 - 06:18 pm
I'm not into autographs, but for anyone who is take a look at this ebay item

Is this genuine Steve ?
Next message Tim posted on Sunday, 30 April, 2006 - 06:38 pm
This was offered on the eBay Australia site late last year when it didn't sell.

The postmark is Blair Athol, a Queensland mining town. That Blair Athol is spelt like the single malt distilled in Pitlochry, not like the village of Blair Atholl (note the double L) a few miles further North.
Next message Chris posted on Sunday, 30 April, 2006 - 06:54 pm
Looks good to me and definitely worth the £16 or so that it's up for.

Incidentally, Ballarat will be significant to any Sherlock Holmes fans out there, as it turns out to be an important clue that leads Holmes to the solution of The Boscombe Valley Mystery.
Next message Tim posted on Sunday, 30 April, 2006 - 09:37 pm
Presumably a Holmes fan will be able to deduce the postage cost!
Next message Bill D posted on Monday, 01 May, 2006 - 08:49 pm
Ah, but what was Watson's middle name? In what year was Holmes born? How many wives (of his own) did Watson have? :-)
Next message Tim posted on Monday, 01 May, 2006 - 11:29 pm
Hamish http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Watson

1854 http://www.lange.demon.co.uk/Castle_Falkenstein/Characters/Sherlock_Holmes.html

Six http://www.sherlockpeoria.net/Who_is_Sherlock/WatsonsWives.html

Had to search for all this....
Next message Tim again posted on Monday, 01 May, 2006 - 11:52 pm
Almost forgot! My turn.

Where did Holmes encounter the curious incident of the dog in the night? (Don't say in Waterstone's circa 2003)
Next message Chris posted on Tuesday, 02 May, 2006 - 01:29 am
The obvious answer would be The Hound of the Baskervilles. But as that is just too obvious, then my guess would be Silver Blaze.

Why?

Because the dog - which was in the stables - didn't bark as the horse was being stolen from under its nose. Which, as Holmes deduced, was curious...

Just a guess.
Next message Chris posted on Tuesday, 02 May, 2006 - 01:38 am
P.S. Bill, had to smile at your 'of his own', in the question about Watson's wives. What could you be suggesting!!!?

I always liked the portrayals by David Burke and Edward Hardwicke in the 1980s/90s Granada TV series. Watson was never a buffoon and, for once, these portrayals showed him in a more complimentary and capable light. His marriages were glossed over in the series, however, and the stories were never presented in any kind of chronological order. Incidentally, the order in which the stories were published bears little resemblance to the order in which they actually take place...

Anyway, as I was saying... Silver Blaze...?
Next message Bill D posted on Tuesday, 02 May, 2006 - 11:49 am
I pinched that one from Zsa Zsa Gabor. When asked how many husbands she had had, she replied "Mine or other peoples'?"

Tim cheated. The six wives is more than I had read about. I thought there were three.

And it was 'Silver Blaze'.
Next message Tim posted on Tuesday, 02 May, 2006 - 11:33 pm
Yes, I did 'cheat' (if that's another word for finding information on the Internet). But I applied discretion 'cos when I read Holmes was born in 1887 and his place of birth called Fiction I smelt a rat.

But I knew 'Silver Blaze'. Honest.

Anyway, where was Holmes really born?
Next message Chris posted on Wednesday, 03 May, 2006 - 12:42 am
Tim, I suppose when they say that Holmes was born in 'fiction' in 1887, then this is more or less true, as the first appearance of this fictional detective was in Beeton's Christmas Annual in 1887! I gather that Holmes is supposed to have been born in 1854, but as to where, I have no idea.

The six wives of Doctor Watson (based on the deductions of other Holmesian scholars) are supposedly:

1) Lucy Ferrier
2) Norah Creina
3) Miss Morrison
4) Flora Miller
5) Mary Morstan
and
6) er...Mrs Hudson!

According to some people, Watson didn't visit 221B Baker Street simply to see Sherlock Holmes!!!

Quite how much of this is clearly stated in the various novels and short stories, I couldn't say. But there are your six!

Bill,

I liked the reference in the second episode of the new Doctor Who to 'Dr. Bell'. Clearly this was meant to be Dr. Joseph Bell, whom Arthur Conan Doyle studied under at the medical school of Edinburgh University. According to 'the Doctor', he did too!!

Isn't it funny how, from the subject of sky autographs, this thread has zoomed off on a completely different tangent!!!
Next message Bill D posted on Wednesday, 03 May, 2006 - 12:49 pm
Allegedly, Holmes was born at the family farm of Mycroft ("my croft"!) in Yorkshire to Siger and Violet Holmes. Younger brother to Sherrinford and Mycroft. Full name William Sherlock Scott Holmes.

And if you believe that...

In 'His Last Bow', set in 1914, it is clearly stated that Holmes was 60 years old. The evidence for his birthday being 6th January is more shaky.

Anyway, Holmes wasn't a patch on Dr Thorndyke.
Next message Tim posted on Wednesday, 03 May, 2006 - 11:25 pm
"Allegedly"????? You mean this might be a work of fiction?
Next message Bill D posted on Thursday, 04 May, 2006 - 09:37 am
"Allegedly" means according to the 'deductions' of Sherlockian scholars.

I used to read all that stuff when I was a teenager. Sad!
Next message Myke  posted on Thursday, 04 May, 2006 - 11:44 am
Recently got hold of audi-books of 10 volumnes of Sherlock Homes mysteries, distributed for free on a magazine cover disk. All the mp3's fit onto 2 cd's and provide days worth of listening. Anyone who wants a copy let me know, if you've got a particular favourite or want all 10. Also got mp3 based audio-books of Alice Through the Looking Glass, Frankenstein, and Gullivers Travels from cover disks.
Next message Chris posted on Thursday, 04 May, 2006 - 12:32 pm
Just to bring this back onto a kind of sky-related theme.

A few years ago I was approached by someone (won't name him) to write some scripts for a series of Sherlock Holmes dramatisations. The idea was to get some well known actors to play Holmes and Watson and to release the whole canon on CD - two stories per disc. Some scripts were written and various meetings arranged but, in the end, it all fell through.

I recommended Francis Monkman to this 'person' as a possible composer for the series. He agreed and asked me to approach him. I did so, but FM admitted to me that he was no fan of Holmes or of Conan Doyle and felt that he couldn't possibly work on the project. Which was fair enough.

As I say, the project fell through and I can't see it ever seeing the light of day. Which is a shame. I've got about six unused scripts lying about, if any enterprising producers are reading this...
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