May 11, 2013
When a figure like Sherlock Holmes has been around
for over a century, there are bound to be misconceptions that creep
into public thinking. We blame this not on carelessness or laziness
but rather on the overwhelming popularity of the great
detective.
The image of Holmes clad in deerstalker and Inverness cape,
clenching a Meerschaum pipe in his teeth is the universal, if
cliched, image of a detective. But was it true?
We were recently reminded of a number of classic myths about
Sherlock Holmes, thanks to a contest being
sponsored by The Baker Street Journal (also a
sponsor of our program): it has long been rumored that men wore
black armbands throughout the city of London after reading "The
Final Problem" in the Strand Magazine. And only anecdotal
evidence has been referenced whenever this supposed fact is brought
up. The BSJ is offering a free year's subscription to anyone who
can definitively prove that such mourning attire was worn in
response to the death of Sherlock Holmes.
That got us to thinking: what other Sherlockian myths are there?
And are we guilty of propagating any of them ourselves? Join us for
a quick game show-style question and answer session on the topic,
as well as a reading of your comments from our last show and some
recent news from the world of Sherlock Holmes.
The Editor's Gas-Lamp: Rather than the traditional
gas-lamp, which began under Edgar Smith's editorship of the Baker
Street Journal, we thought we would mark May 5 as the 123rd
anniversary of Christopher Morley's birth by reading two of his
poems: the very short "The Secret" and the quite remarkable
"Toulemonde."
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Press and The Baker Street Journal.