Normally, a video of Bill Cosby - even on such an historic show as The Dean Martin Variety Show - wouldn't be something we'd write about.
But in this case, when he's introduced by dancing girls dressed as Sherlock Holmes (with miniskirts!), we thought we'd have to make an exception. This is from an undated episode, but given that this bit was the basis for Cosby's 1967 album Revenge, that Cosby appeared in I Spy from 1965-68, and that miniskirts were on the rise (literally!), we'd opt for some time in late 1967 or early 1968.
If you have any information about this episode, please let us know.
Tip of the old deerstalker to Howard Ostrom for this offbeat and excellent find.
This just came across our desk. It seems that Benedict Cumberbatch made his way onto Top Gear on the BBC.
In this clip, we're treated to seeing Benedict's mother posing with quite a fanciful car, we learn what the BBC Sherlock star drove as his first vehicle, we see host Jeremy Clarkson learn how to take a punch, and determine how well Cumberbatch fared on his timed track laps versus other Star Trek greats.
We also get the secret behind exactly how Sherlock Holmes was able to survive the Reichenbach Fall.
One of my friends gave me a collection of comic books they found at a used-books store: the “Cases of Sherlock Holmes” series by Dan Day. It was run by Renegade Press from 1986 til ‘88 and then by Northstar Publishing from ‘89 til 1990. I expected these to be a set of original tales featuring the Great Detective, based solely on the cover images. Open up the first issue, and the first page looks like the image seen on the right.
The illustrations were rich in detail and very evocative of a Victorian setting. Particularly pleasing is the amount of detail given to the characters - more than even the best Sidney Paget drawings could hope to give us, as we view them in reprints. The only drawback to the early issues of the Cases of Sherlock Holmes series is that the text was in ALL CAPS. No need to shout at me while I'm reading a graphic novel.
Some of you probably know about these already - for those of you who don’t, they’re worth looking for. They are, simply, the stories from the Canon put to illustration. The illustrations themselves are wonderfully detailed, and the layout is generally easy to follow. Most of the time the illustrations simply decorate the columns of text, but every now and then the reader comes across a dynamic spread -
At first blush, one might be tempted to say, "Oxygen!" or "A defibrillator!"
But in our case, the man is none other than the celebrated Mr. Sherlock Holmes, who was born on January 6, 1854. And while his existence has been known to us for 125 years thanks to his first appearance in A Study in Scarlet in Beeton's Christmas Annual of 1887, we trace his birth to the year 1854 and the date of January 6 and the Baker Street Irregulars celebrate it on or around that date every year in New York City.
As is our tradition this time of the year, we bring to you the Christmas classic that surrounds "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle."
Typically we try to provide the freshest and most unique content here, but there are times when a grand tradition prevents us from keeping such a mandate - including our own self-imposed rule of trying to capture a relevant and original Canonical phrase for the title of each entry, never to be repeated. Just as the Wall Street Journal annually reproduces a 1949 editorial written by Vermont Royster called "In Hoc Anno Domini," we saw no reason to avoid replication here.
In the case of "The Second Morning After Christmas" [BLUE] which has been used in 2006, 2008, 20092010and 2011, we find that we have a post that continues to please, so we'll continue the tradition.
One of the advantages to audio adaptations of the canon (as well as newer creations of stories) is that there can be a greater emphasis on creating atmosphere through sound. Previously, we had highlighted a worthy adaptation of stories from the canon - now, we will highlight two companies who have put out Holmes-related audio that are not only intriguing, but also have appeal for the budget-conscious.
As part of their lower-cost audios, Big Finish has a one hour adaptation of The Adventure of the Speckled Band. Much like their previous audio adaptation of The Final Problem/The Empty House, the strength of this adaptation lies in a nearly straightforward telling of the Conan Doyle story. Much like its canon-based companion, The Speckled Band is a top-notch production that (at least, from my vantage point) will encourage a willingness to sample the rest of Big Finish's Holmesian efforts, including the non-canon original stories (whose titles and premises offer all sorts of delight). Big Finish releases a wide range of audio dramas, and their Sherlock Holmes series continues to provide high quality and entertainment, providing an excellent contemporary example of well-executed audio drama.
The latest parody in the world of Sherlock Holmes involves none other than the cute and fuzzy Blue from the popular children's show Blue's Clues.
The Sherlock in this case seems to be a Benedict Cumberbatch impersontor, but we'd argue that he bears more of a striking resemblance to Emo Phillips. Either way, this is a bit of fun that we hope you'll enjoy.
In 1851, the Great Exhibition highlighted then "cutting edge" technology and industry. For its 100th anniversary, the Exhibition used then-current means to create a special highlight for Sherlockians - a replica of Holmes' sitting room, which is now on display in the Sherlock Holmes Pub in London.
Not to be outdone, the current version of the Exhibition is now online...and also contains an excellent opportunity for Sherlockians to participate and demonstrate a slightly wilder exhibitions of their own passions.
Thanks to a strong Internet presence (including the Great Exhibition on Twitter), people can actually vote for those things which are "great" about Great Britain. Of special interest to Sherlockians are the two following categories of interest:
At the 1951 Exhibition, the ability to view the Great Detective's drawing room helped the character make a deeper impact on history; now, Sherlockians can play an active role in making sure that impact is felt for future generations as well.
Editor's note: Gordon regularly covers the intersection of Sherlock Holmes and the entertainment industry. You can also find him at Blog THIS, Pal! and Comic Related.
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We all have a favorite Sherlock Holmes story. Whether it's the first one we read, or one that has characters, scenes or a plot that particularly resonates with us, we develop an emotional attachment to it.
We're reminded of Michael Dirda's description of the scene of himself as a fifth-grader reading The Hound of the Baskervilles for the first time, thunderstorm raging outside while he was curled up underneath the covers with an Orange Crush. [Incidentally, Mr. Dirda just won an Edgar® Award for Best Critical/Biographical Work for On Conan Doyle: Or, the Whole Art of Storytelling.] When that classic phrase is shared, it sends chills up our spine:
“Footprints?”
"Footprints.”
“A man’s or a woman’s?”
Dr. Mortimer looked strangely at us for an instant, and his voice sank almost to a whisper as he answered:
“Mr. Holmes, they were the footprints of a gigantic hound!”
As we're certain that you must have your favorite story or scene, Steve Mason, a listener of I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere, is certain that you must have a favorite thing in the Canon. To wit, he has organized a survey that he would like your assistance with. Please use the form below to participate (and if you can't see this form due to reading this update on email or a feed reader, please click through to see the form).
Would you like a chance to meet Benedict Cumberbatch, the star of the new Sherlock series? Or co-creator Steven Moffat and producer Sue Vertue?
Even better: how would you like a chance to see excerpts from the first episode in Season 2, "A Scandal in Belgravia"? Well, here's your chance.
We have a special offer from the nice folks at PBS Masterpiece (the very same people who gave us a chance to host a Twitter chat when Season One aired in October of 2011) have presented to us and we in turn present to you. We hope that you'll be able to take the time to share this news and participate in this offer for "super fans."
Click image to enlarge
Masterpiece and PBS are hosting an evening event in New York City on Wednesday, May 2, celebrating the premiere of Sherlock, Series 2. There are limited tickets to this public event, but PBS would like you to have the chance to attend! RSVP's will only be taken via e-mail, so get your note in and please feel free to spread the word.
In case you're not convinced, here's a video clip of what you may expect to see:
And for those of you who are really into the show, here's an opportunity to lock in a pre-order of Sherlock: Season Two (price guaranteed) from Amazon.
When you make purchases from the links we share, it provides us with a stream of revenue to help keep this site running. Thank you for your generosity.
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Pre-order Sherlock: Season Two:
We're used to seeing Sherlock Holmes in advertising. Indeed, the 2009 Baker Street Journal Christmas Annual was dedicated to that subject. From cigarettes and other tobacco products (naturally) to home security systems, vegetables, baby powder, appliances, cereal and more, Sherlock Holmes has been part of the imagery in advertising for over a century.
"Did you notice nothing curious about that advertisement?" [3GAR]
In this case however, the target of the ad in question is the character himself. Or more specifically, the stories in which he appears.
Ad agency Lowe created minimalist ads that feature storybook characters hidden within storybook characters, to promote the book exchange service at Colsubsidio’s Libraries that allows patrons come in with one book and leave with another.
Titled "Come with a story and leave with another," the three illustrations of iconic characters (Snow White, Harry Potter and Little Red Riding Hood) each feature another famous figure embedded within their familiar faces (Sherlock Holmes, the Trojan Horse and Moby Dick, respectively).
We hope that the campaign will spark some imagination and curiosity among young readers and lead them to Sherlock Holmes.
It's that time of the year when we reach into the archives and pull out one of the old favorites that seems to survive the test of time.
Not only do we recycle the content, but we ignore our editorial mandate to avoid reusing a quote for the post title. However, in the case of "The Second Morning After Christmas" [BLUE] which has been used in 2006, 2008, 2009 and 2010, we find that we have a post that continues to please, so we'll continue the tradition. Just as the Wall Street Journal annually reproduces a 1949 editorial written by Vermont Royster called "In Hoc Anno Domini," we saw no reason to avoid replication here.
If this is new to you, please feel free to share and use this at your own Sherlockian society holiday meetings. The only thing we ask is that you attribute the poem to its rightful author.
So, we bring you "Two Days After Christmas," a tribute to "The Blue Carbuncle" in the style of Clement Moore's A Visit from St. Nick.
A note about the lead image for this post:
This is the dust jacket from the first book to be published by the Baker Street Irregulars. The deluxe edition included "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle" with blue-tinged plates of two of the Sidney Paget illustrations from the original Strand Magazine. It also included an essay by Edgar W. Smith, BSI titled "The Story of the Blue Carbuncle," as well as "A Note on the Baker Street Irregulars." We have included a link below to purchase this through Amazon.
We have the pleasure and honor of wishing you "the compliments of the season."
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. Thank you for your generosity.
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Usually we save our Christmas greetings on this site for "the second morning after Christmas." But in this case, we found a relic from our digital version of Holmes's own "large tin box" [MUSG] containing notes of his early cases.
In our own instance, the artifact is an animated gif that we found and sought permission (some four years ago) from a member of Holmesian.net named "whorl". We had misplaced the image, and then did not have an appropriate hosting service to be able to share it with you.
Now, on Christmas morning, that has all been solved. We're proud and honored to bring you The Bloo Sparkly (click for the fullsize image), a retelling of "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle" with stick figures, which you can see below. If you're reading this on a feed reader or via email, please click on "The Baker Street Blog" in the header of the email to advance to the website to see the animation. The slides advance automatically, so if you need to start over, just hit F5 or refresh your browser to start over.
We hope that your holiday is an enjoyable one. Expect to see us back here again in two days (i.e. "the second morning after Christmas" [BLUE]).
When you make purchases from the links we share, it provides us with a stream of revenue to help keep this site running. Thank you for your generosity.
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It's not often that the 18th & 19th centuries and Twitter intersect. Yet that's exactly what happened when Mashable shared a story called Twitter Parodies: 9 Top Literary Fakes.
The reason we're sharing it here is there are some natural connections with Sherlock Holmes. The first two that grabbed our attention were the accounts of Dr. Samuel Johnson (@DrSamuelJohnson) and his faithful friend and biographer James Boswell (@RealBoswell).
Here's a sampling of their tweets, which you can see have a bent toward current events.
Other Canonically-connected literary types from that list include Edgar Allan Poe (@Edgar_Allan_Poe), whose Dupin Watson was reminded of in A Study in Scarlet. As you can see, he's a barrel of laughs.
And just for good measure (For Measure), there's William Shakespeare (@ShakespeareSays).
The full list can be found via our Twitter account here. If you have additional suggestions for this list, please let us know.
When you make purchases from the links we share, it provides us with a stream of revenue to help keep this site running. Thank you for your generosity.
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We've got a few Sherlock Holmes pens in our possession and we'd like to make a couple available to our readers. For those who haven't seen this particular design previously, it was designed after a sketch by Tom Richmond and made for sale by David Ian Davies. It's a unique and handsome pen, made of resin and fashioned with a replaceable ball-point cartridge. You'll definitely be the envy of fellow Sherlockians with this one!
We thought an interesting way to share the wealth would be to run a contest that involves you, dear readers.
Here's how you can be eligible to win one of the two pens we have available:
Leave a comment on this article describing what likeness of Holmes you picture when you read the stories.
Share this post from bakerstreetblog.com with at least one other person - using email, Facebook, Twitter, Google+ or whatever social network you prefer - and tell them about the contest.
Share another post from this site with at least one other person - using email, Facebook, Twitter, Google+ or whatever social network you prefer - and leave a link to that mention in the comments section of this post.
The Sherlock Holmes Drinking Game is back, fresh with a brand-new installment. This time, we drink along to “The Adventure of the Copper Beeches,” a truly terrifying tale for all the characters involved, but especially tough for the women who reside in the building of the title.
Lucky for us, dear reader, we have the inestimable Violet Hunter to lead us through the story, and to prove that smart women really are something to be reckoned with, even in Victorian times. In fact, in honor of Miss Hunter and how plucky she is, we will be raising a glass not only for the original rules of The Sherlock Holmes Drinking Game (which can be found here: The Sherlock Holmes Drinking Game), but also every time Violet Hunter does something awesome.
For the drink itself, I wanted to stir up something special, because it’s not everyday we meet a female character in the Canon who can hold her own like Violet Hunter can. And also, it needed to be coppered-colored (of course). Here’s what I’ve come up with:
3 parts scotch whiskey
1 part violet liqueur
Now, yes, violet liqueur can be hard to come by (although with the amount of flavored spirits nowadays, it shouldn’t give you too much trouble). If you are feeling slightly adventurous like our friend Miss Hunter, and you have access to actual real violets, I say try making your own! There are a lot of great tutorials out there for making flavored liqueurs, but my old stand-by is to put my ingredient (in this case, violets) in a jar with vodka and let it sit for a few weeks in the dark. Strain it and enjoy your very own, personally-made flavored liqueur!
Now, on to the tale!
Number of Drinks Taken: 13
Take one drink for Violet entering 221b Baker Street.
Take one drink for Holmes and Watson dashing off in a cab (this time a trap, going out to meet Miss Hunter).
Take one drink for Holmes letting the villain go free (but not without tussling with the giant dog, first, of course).
Take ten drinks for Violet Hunter being incredibly smart, willing and able throughout the entire piece, and also for Holmes to take notice of her abilities, which is really something. Gems include concealing a piece of glass in her handkerchief so she could see through the window behind her; her investigation of the extra wing in the house, and, something that makes me smile, Holmes telling her “I should not ask it of you if I did not think you a quite exceptional woman.”
Cheers to that!
Bonus: if you enjoy the women of the Canon - particularly the flowery Violets, you might like to pick up a copy of Violets & Vitriol.
Editor's note: Jill Brumer is a small business owner, college drama professor, and all around creative type who has lived all over the States. She has her father to thank for purchasing her first Sherlock Holmes story when she was twelve years old- the fascination has never stopped!
NB: the Baker Street Blog does not advocate the consumption of alcohol. Please behave responsibly and take heed of all local laws and ordinances. Know your limits and don't overimbibe.
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The refrain "I hear of Sherlock everywhere" was first muttered by Sherlock Holmes's elder brother Mycroft, who possessed the deductive faculty to an even greater degree than his younger sibling.
And while it may be that we do in fact hear of Sherlock everywhere these days, thanks to a resurgence of interest in the character and with new works on television, screen and on the printed page, there are other areas we can point to as well.
In this case it would be in fan-generated art. And when you have a fan who combines two interests, the result can be fascinating, macabre or even fun. In this case, it's definitely the case of fun, as LaLunatique from DeviantArt.com has created a Family Guy version of Sherlock Holmes characters. If you're not familiar with the show, pop over to Hulu and check it out, or click on the Amazon links to purchase a copy for yourself (disclosure: I earn money when you buy through my links).
Click to enlarge
This is not the first association between "Family Guy" and Sherlock Holmes. In November 2009, Warner Bros stepped up as the main sponsor for Family Guy Presents: Seth and Alex's Almost Live Comedy Show, which featured the latest trailer for Sherlock Holmes.
We're delighted to see the inspired casting for the Griffin family. We'd be even more thrilled to see it brought to the small screen, as the Simpsons did in the Treehouse of Horror XV episode "Four Beheadings and a Funeral," featuring Lisa as Eliza Simpson and Bart as Dr. Bartley. The plot concerned the Mutton-Chop Murderer, who was killing prostitutes; it also included such gems as eel pie, steampunk and an opium den. Not yet available for purchase on DVD, it was part of Season 16.
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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Every once in a while, there comes along an image that needs no commentary. In this case, we'll step aside and let you admire the work of 9GAG.
Why Batman hates Sherlock Holmes.
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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It is our intent to be deliberate about everything we publish here. That includes the titles of each post, of course. You will have already noted that each entry on this site contains an appropriate Canonical phrase that somehow connects to the subject matter.
We also try to take equal care with the numbers we choose, which you may have noticed. Every post is timed at 2:21 a.m. - obviously a nod to 221B Baker Street. We recently published the monthly "Scuttlebutt from the Spermaceti Press" at 11:22 p.m. - that being the number of pages in Doubleday edition of The Complete Sherlock Holmes.
In doing our research though, we came across another number: the number of reviews of that book on Amazon. Take a look at this screenshot.
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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Sorting through the various Holmesian pastiches, parodies, and mashups can be often be a challenge - trying to find that almost perfect application of Conan Doyle's style to a mixture of different characters can be daunting.
Several years ago, Neil Gaiman - whose cross-genre work includes Sandman, American Gods, and Neverwhere, and who is receiving major attention for his script for Doctor Who - wrote a Hugo-winning short story that is a fine mixture of strangeness with mystery, and which is (believe it or not) available for your enjoyment via the Internet.
Unlike many other pastiches, Gaiman is able to mimic Conan Doyle's tone almost perfectly, and there are plenty of Sherlockian references within the story to make this appealing to both lifelong and casual fans. "Emerald" deftly integrates the otherworldly dread of Lovecraft with the canon's Victorian atmosphere, creating a tale that is quite an enjoyable read. The PDF download also contains some clever "advertisements" that contain references to other Victorian-era fantastic literature.
(There is also a clever twist within the tale that....well, much like the advertisements, is best enjoyed by reading the tale and not spoiled within a review).
"A Study in Emerald" may not seem like a major work, but it does what the greatest of canon does - for a few moments, it takes us back to a time where it is still 1895 and which - despite Holmes' advice to the contrary - deftly mixes strangeness and mystery.
With the result being an enjoyable read for Sherlockians and fantasy fans alike.
Editor's note: Gordon regularly covers the intersection of Sherlock Holmes and the entertainment industry. You can also find him at Blog THIS, Pal! and Comic Related.
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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. As you can see, he's a barrel of laughs.
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version of Sherlock Holmes characters. If you're not familiar with the show, pop over to 
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