"The Honourable Record" [NAVA]

Order at Wessex Press

The evening of Friday, January 8 found Irregulars and invited guests gathering at the Yale Club for the annual dinner of the Baker Street Irregulars. As is customary, we began the evening honoring "The Woman" of 2011, who in this case was Gail Postal. Gail is the significant other of Jerry Wachs ("James Saunders"). Gail was toasted by Susan Rice, ("Beeswing"), who remarked on Gail's long-held dream of being an artist, which was interrupted briefly by a full career as a schoolteacher; only now has Gail returned to art - and even has a son who works for a digital animation company ("Art in the blood..."). Gail received the Golden Door - a charm/pendant that each "The Woman" recipient is awarded.

From the cocktail hour, we moved upstairs to the dining room, where Mike Whelan, our "Wiggins," called the dinner to order and recognized four Irregulars in the crowd who each had 50 or more years in the BSI. They were:

1. George McCormack ("Hosmer Angel") - 50 years
2. Russell Merritt ("The Trepoff Murder") - 51 years
3. Peter Blau ("Black Peter") - 52 years
4. Art Levine ("The Cutter 'Alicia'") - 56 years

Then Mike bestowed "Eddies" - the award for editing a BSI publication - on editors past and present. They included Andrew Fusco, General Editor; Otto Penzler, Bohemian Souls, Laurie R. King & Leslie Klinger, The Grand Game; Peggy Purdue, the 2009 Baker Street Journal Christmas Annual; Nicholas Utechin, To Keep the Memory Green; Erico Solito & Gianluca Salvatore, Sherlock Holmes and Italy and Mandate for Murder. 

And then, to thank Mike for his efforts behind the momentum of BSI Publications, Andrew Fusco, Steve Rothman and Leslie Klinger ambushed him at the podium to award him the "Wiggy."

We then partook of all of the customary toasts and rituals, but the theme of the evening was Monsignor Ronald Knox, who is universally regarded as the father of the Sherlockian movement. It was 100 years ago that he began the tongue-in-cheek parody of Biblical scholarship with "Studies in the Literature of Sherlock Holmes," and it still rings true today. We'll be headed over to the Vendors Room in the morning to purchase a copy of Wessex Press' new title Ronald Knox and Sherlock Holmes (pictured above). Henry Boote led the group in the singing of "It's a Ron Knox Life" to the tune of "It's a Hard Knock Life," naturally followed by "Aunt Clara."

We stood on the terrace to quietly remember nine intrepid Irregulars who passed beyond the Reichenbach in 2010. And then came the moment we were all waiting for: the Honours List. The reading of the names of newly investitured Irregulars. The Class of 2011:

• Vinnie Brosnan - "That Gap on the Second Shelf"
• Lyndsay Faye - "Kitty Winter"
• David Houle - "The British Museum"
• Frank Ferry - "Dr. Leon Sterndale"
• Peggy Perdue - "Violet Westbury"
• Terence Faherty - "Sir Charles Baskerville"

With a wonderful reading of Vincent Starret's 221B by Burt Wolder ("The Third Pillar from the Left") concluded the evening.

Some photos for your enjoyment:





Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

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"I Think We Must Begin" [ILLU]

And so it begins...

Today (un)officially kicks off the 2011 Baker Street Irregulars Weekend, with the first monthly gathering of the Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes (ASH), which they amusingly call their ASH Wednesdays. Scores of Sherlock Holmes enthusiasts will descend upon the city and carouse cogitate together on the impact of Sherlock Holmes in our lives today.

If you're attending and you'd like a handy pocket guide, please print out this one-page summary of the major events and their locations. For a more comprehensive guide, see the BSI Weekend site.

The 2011 Baker Street Irregulars Weekend - at a glance

Throughout the weekend, we'll be making updates via the @BakerStreetBlog Twitter handle and we'll be using the hashtag #bsiweekend to make it easier to follow the conversation. The BSI WEEKEND NEWS sidebar over at http://bsiweekend.com and "Every Nerve in a Twitter" [TWIS] in the sidebar on this site will be showing updates.

We'll also try to bring you photos, videos and possibly even some audio as quickly as possible as the weekend unfolds. Stay tuned here and on our Facebook page for more information. And if you're at the event and can provide additional coverage, we'd love to hear from you.

To see previous BSI Weekend coverage on this site, please click here.

Please consider visiting our sponsors (in the right column and footer of the site) from time to time. It helps defray the costs associated with running this site.
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"I Was Invited to a Weekend Gathering" [LAST]

"It is the unofficial force - the Baker
Street Irregulars."

As November creeps up on us, that means our minds begin to turn to the Baker Street Irregulars Weekend, an annual gathering in New York City that is expected to bring over 300 Sherlock Holmes enthusiasts together for fun, eating, drinking and pseudo-scholarship.

The Baker Street Irregulars (or BSI) is a literary society with Sherlock Holmes at its core. We have our origin in the first two novels about Holmes and Watson by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

From A Study in Scarlet:

"What on earth is this?" I cried, for at this moment there came the pattering of many steps in the hall and on the stairs, accompanied by audible expressions of disgust upon the part of our landlady.

"It's the Baker Street division of the detective police force," said my companion gravely; and as he spoke there rushed into the room half a dozen of the dirtiest and most ragged street arabs that ever I clapped eyes on.

From The Sign of the Four:

"No, it's not quite so bad as that. It is the unofficial force - the Baker Street irregulars."

As he spoke, there came a swift pattering of naked feet upon the stairs, a clatter of high voices, and in rushed a dozen dirty and ragged little street arabs. There was some show of discipline among them, despite their tumultuous entry, for they instantly drew up in line and stood facing us with expectant faces. One of their number, taller and older than the others, stood forward with an air of lounging superiority which was very funny in such a disreputable looking little scarecrow.

This annual tradition began in 1934, when Christopher Morley gathered a few like-minded friends at Christ Cella's to celebrate the birthday of Sherlock Holmes, which has always been placed on January 6. Since that time - nearly uninterrupted (save for a few years in the late 1930s), the BSI has always met each January. Over time, the dinner first evolved into a lunch prior to the dinner for out of town guests, and now is comprised of events that span from Wednesday evening to Sunday morning.

Below is a summary of the events of the BSI Weekend. Aside from the BSI Dinner (which is by invitation only), everything you see is open to the public. You may also find a fuller description and many helpful links at the BSI Weekend website at http://www.bsiweekend.com.
The 2011 Baker Street Irregulars Weekend - at a glance

If you have any questions about the festivities, please let us know. Are you planning on attending any of the events? We'd love to hear about that as well. And while we're at it, perhaps some of the members of the Sherlock Holmes Social Network would like to connect on this topic as well. If you're not a member of that vibrant group that is more than 550 strong, you might want to pop over there as well.

Please consider visiting our sponsors (in the right column and footer of the site) from time to time. It helps defray the costs associated with running this site.