I Hear Of Sherlock Everywhere

"Billy had appeared in answer to a ring." [MAZA]                It's a rare thing to find a Sherlockian legend these days, but Chris Redmond certainly qualifies as one. From his investiture in the Baker Street Irregulars at the tender age of 16 to his long association with the Bootmakers of Toronto, he is a respected speaker at all kinds of Sherlockian events. And online, he's probably best known for his longstanding and comprehensive reference site .   Chris's writing output is impressive, steady and ranges from the scholarly to the humorous. In Bed with Sherlock Holmes, Welcome to America, Mr. Sherlock Holmes and A Sherlock Holmes Handbook are all well known and in depth volumes about Arthur Conan Doyle's great detective. But in this interview, we move beyond the written page and get into Chris's inspirations and aspirations (still!).   You'll learn what Chris's initial career choice was before moving along to communications and how that initial proclivity stayed with him. You'll hear about some of Chris's

"Oh, he has a European fame, has he?" [REDC]  While Sherlock Holmes is firmly rooted in London, the connections to Europe in the Sherlock Holmes stories are many. But have you ever stopped to ponder, as a whole, how mentions of the Continent and various European countries stack up? You might be surprised.   Travel with us as Burt and Scott take a deeper look into some of the European influences that Conan Doyle infused into the various stories. From Moriarty's European reputation to the "European situation" mentioned in "The Second Stain." What was so delicate at the time and who was Lord Bellinger? We note how refugees were treated in Europe in the time of The Valley of Fear. We even do an accounting of Holmes's fine work for many of the royal houses of Europe.   In addition, we treat you to a rundown of some Sherlock Holmes news, we welcome Steve Mason as our quiz contestant and have a special themed Gas-Lamp from The Sherlock Holmes Journal to fall in line with our European topic. All this and more!    A

"After an excellent voyage the Hotspur landed us at Sydney" [GLOR]       Australian Sherlockians are some of the most amazing people. We had the opportunity to put our theory to the test not once, but twice. And the most recent occasion was in April 2016 on a visit to Sydney.   There we met with some wonderful and fun Sherlockians: Bill Barnes, BSI, Roseane McNamara, BSI, Kerry Murphy, Christopher Sequeira, Doug Elliott, BSI, Robert Veld, Erin O'Neill, and Malcolm Ellis, to be specific. While we were there, we had a chance to learn about their own unique experiences and got them to tell us a few stories of life as a Sherlock Holmes fan Down Under.   In this episode, we'll take you there through music, sound effects and good old imagination. We hope you come along on this voyage with us. We promise it won't end the same way that the Gloria Scott met its fate.   As a bonus, here are some images of the Passengers:       Our special thanks goes out to Mary Miller for her extraordinary Patreon support! Won't

"See how beautifully the spring works" [STUD]   Spring is here! Suh-per-ing is here! Life is skittles and life is beer... You may not have realized this, but more than a quarter of the Sherlock Holmes stories occurred in the spring. We took the opportunity to call out a few of them an delve into why the season worked as both a setting for the stories and as tool to juxtapose Holmes and Watson.   Of course, we don't stop there, as we chat about what our 100th episode may contain (just four episodes away!), a trending book topic on Twitter, the masterful scholarship that William S. Baring-Gould leveraged to determine his chronology, and welcome special guests Tom Lehrer and Orson Welles.   The Sherlockian news is here to get you caught up, our Gas-Lamp is from the current issue of the Baker Street Journal (Vol. 66, No. 1), Rob Nunn joins us as a victim contestant on Mental Exaltation, and we give you a sneak peek into what IHOSE Episode 97 will contain. Our special thanks goes out to Mary Miller for her extrao

"It is a curious collection." [MUSG]  You've probably heard us extolling the virtues of A Curious Collection of Dates: Sherlock Holmes Through the Year on previous shows. We're big fans of this book. But after this episode, you'll understand why we're also fans of the authors.   Leah Guinn and Jaime N. Mahoney join us to give us the backstory on what it was like to develop the concept and bring this reference tome to life, including their decision to go with a premier publisher like Wessex Press, where their book wouldn't languish and become a remainder.    In our interview with Leah and Jaime, we uncovered their major source for dates — none other than William Baring-Gould's chronology from The Annotated Sherlock Holmes, backed by Ernest Zeisler'simpressive chronology, Martin Dakin's and others as needed, not to mention online sources such as the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Wikipedia and Ancestry.com.   We also enticed Leah and Jaime to share their favorite entries with us. And rather than givin

"absolute nonsense" [VALL]      This episode is a little different. As you know, we alternate between interview shows and Burt and Scott discussing whatever comes to mind. In this case, we had a number of news-related items to stitch together, but we had help in doing so. This was something of a chowder, a goulash, a salmagundi, a boullabaise, a melange of content.   First, Bob Katz, BSI ("Dr. Anstruther") joined us again, but this time he told us all about  — the latest in the BSI's series of quadrennial conferences. This gathering at the Chatauqua Institution is not exclusive to Baker Street Irregulars; it's open to any Sherlockian who wishes to participate in a conference centered around art of all sorts. In this case, that includes theater, film, music and even podcasting (!). Plenty of food, drink, Sherlockian shopping, sightseeing and more.    is a research assistant at the , where she's conducting a study of Sherlockians and their organizations, called "Celebrities, Fans and Muses." She is interested

"He has nerve and he has knowledge." [SPEC]   If you're a regular listener of our show, you may remember that in , we chatted with Steve Rothman, BSI ("The Valley of Fear"), Bob Katz, BSI ("Dr. Ainstree") and Andy Solberg, BSI ("Professor Coram") about the BSI Manuscript Series entry about "The Empty House." During that conversation, Bob and Andy excitedly told us about their next project — a then-unnamed book about medicine in the Sherlock Holmes stories. Well, this January their book made its debut: the BSI Press unveiled . Naturally, we invited Bob and Andy to join us on IHOSE for a fourth time to talk about their remarkable experiences putting such a book together. [Previous episodes include episodes , and .]   As any good editor would, both Bob and Andy proudly discuss just about every article in their work (try as we might to make them choose a favorite), but Andy made a valid point in mentioning that many of these bear rereading and they hold up well time after time. Every one of the essays in the boo

"dreaming of the bright green fields" [CROO]   Mid March means it's time for the wearing of the green, as St. Patrick's Day approaches. Accordingly, we grab our shillelaghs and affect a brogue as we discuss some of the Irish connections in the Sherlock Holmes stories.   While there are many Irish references, both subtle and overt, we concentrate primarily on two of the stories where the Irish connection is a central plot point. And interestingly enough, both involved some sort of Irish secret society and the need to go undercover.   We also include a bit of history of some musical instruments, discuss a handful of news items that have come to our attention, and welcome Al Gregory, BSI ("The Grimpen Postmaster") to the show as a contestant on Mental Exaltations. We of course wrap things up with another Editor's Gas-Lamp, this time "The Fortunate Ones" from Vol. 2, No. 3 of The Baker Street Journal (OS).   Easter is later this month, and we've got another Easter egg for you.     Our special thanks go out to M

"it is a likely ruse" [ENGR]     February is a shorter month, so the latest episode of I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere comes to you a day earlier.   We're joined by Maria Konnikova, whom you may remember as the author of . She first appeared on I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere  to discuss that very book. Maria is a contributing writer for The New Yorker, where she writes a regular column with a focus on psychology and culture, and her work has appeared in The Atlantic, The New York Times, Scientific American MIND, and Smithsonian, among numerous other publications.   Maria's latest book is . While cheats and swindlers may be a dime a dozen, true con men are elegant, outsized personalities, artists of persuasion and exploiters of trust. How do they do it? Why are they successful? And what keeps us falling for it? The Confidence Game not only asks why we believe con artists; it also examines the very act of believing and how our sense of truth can be manipulated by those around us, leaving us to fall for it - over

"I loved with such a love as comes once in a lifetime" [PRIO]       We're aware of the quotes "to Sherlock Holmes, she was always the woman," and "I have never loved, Watson," but what was Sherlock Holmes's relationship with love? Was he truly "an automaton — a calculating machine," or was he more familiar with the emotion than we've previously considered.   In honor of Valentine's Day (yesterday), we discuss this and the various relationships in the Sherlock Holmes stories that involved couples, whether they were husbands and wives, intended spouses or spurned lovers. There is a good deal of love that runs through the Canon, some of it good and decent, some of it passionate and infatuated, and some of it selfish. But it all adds up to some fascinating situations that we're left with.   We have our monthly news update, listener comments, and an Editor's Gas-Lamp taken from the March 1991 (Vol. 41, No. 1) issue of The Baker Street Journal, titled "Women," in a nod to the holiday and to the . And be sure to st

"the cleverness of women" [SCAN]    When the Baker Street Irregulars finally made the watershed decision to admit women to its membership in 1991, Evelyn Herzog, BSI ("The Daintiest Thing Under a Bonnet"), ASH ("Violet Hunter") and Susan Rice, 2s., BSI ("Beeswing"), ASH ("A Practical Handbook of Bee Culture, with Some Observations Upon the Segregation of the Queen") were there. And yet the history of what led up to that moment is not widely known.    From Evy's and Susan's perspectives, it began some three decades or more earlier, gaining momentum as they entered their college years in the Northeast and Midwest, respectively. And from the BSI's perspective, it was rooted in the traditionalism of a longtime leader. How the two vastly different outlooks clashed and eventually collaborated is what we discuss.   We've had the pleasure of knowing Evy and Susan for—well, let's just say for longer than any of us can remember. Together we explore the history of their journeys and uncover exactly what it was like to b

"a malicious and abominable smile" [DYIN]    You've likely seen the online chatter and either managed to see the episode or miss the spoilers for to date. Before listening to this episode, we recommend watching (or even re-watching) it, for you'll have better context around some of our references.   We're pleased to bring you some of our observations and even some conjecture about the intent and direction of the show based on our viewings. We even throw in nods to Alfred Hitchcock and Orson Welles And don't be surprised if a few musical references manage to weave themselves into the narrative [don't miss Scott's favorite clip at 38:45].   We're currently at the BSI Weekend as we post this, and we talk about some of the people we'll see and have on the show soon. We also mention bringing IHOSE on the road this autumn, we read listener comments, welcome a new sponsor, and include an audio trailer to a new Dr. Who crossover.   We of course manage to squeeze in a Gas-Lamp, this time from Vol. 33, No. 1 of The

"with the big book under my arm" [STOC]       If you've been with us for a while, you'll have heard about Otto Penzler, BSI ("The King of Bohemia") before. He was our guest on when we talked about book collecting.   Otto is back with us to talk about the genesis of , the largest anthology of stories about Sherlock Holmes to date, as well as the rest of his enterprises. We learn about what goes into selecting (and discarding) stories that make up the nine Big Book anthologies under the Vintage Crime/Black Lizard label from Random House.   As if Otto's considerable and copious editing doesn't keep him busy enough, the additional Otto Penzler Enterprises include the Mysterious Press and the Mysterious Bookshop. From a dozen books a year via the Press, an epublishing platform, and proprietary publishing just for the bookstore. What impressed is that that Otto's business acumen, timing and good fortune tend to converge across his enterprises, making him quite successful at what he does — despite any misgiving

"an extraordinarily astute couple" [VALL]    Anyone who has been following Sherlock Holmes on television and in popular culture over the last five years or so should be familiar with the names and . Steven is showrunner, writer and producer for Sherlock and Doctor Who, and Sue is a producer of a number of programs, including Doctor Who and Sherlock, as well as of numerous British television comedies.   Steven and Sue met at the Edinburgh Television Festival in 1996 and joined Hartswood Films, where Steven wrote a comedy based on their budding relationship, which became Coupling. And it is their coupling on Sherlock that we speak with them.   On January 1, 2016, the world premiere of Sherlock: The Abominable Bride happens on BBC One and PBS. This is the first time the show has aired on the same day in both countries, and the excitement is palpable. The setting is London in 1895 and the trailers have shown a dark and mysterious atmosphere.   We take the time to discuss the making of show with Steven and Sue, a

  "its neat morroco case" [SIGN] Those Sherlockians who came to the hobby from the 1970s onward will be familiar with the name Nicholas Meyer, BSI ("A Fine Moroccan Case"). His book  became a runaway hit in 1974 and 1975, eventually becoming a movie for which Meyer himself wrote the screenplay. The 2015 Christmas Annual Together Again for the First Time, which celebrates the four decades since the book and film appeared.   A master storytelling, Nick Meyer brings us behind the scenes of becoming a Sherlockian at the tender age of 11, followed closely with his first film, the influence of music, musicals and film in his budding career and how he lost Sherlock Holmes and found him again. We hear all about what it was like to take a manuscript from concept to publication and the challenges of agents, publishers, the Conan Doyle Estate and others along the way. And then the thrill of casting selections and adapting the book for the screen, even though writing for the screen is vastly different than for the print

As the holiday shopping season nears, we thought it was a great time to create in your life.   If you're into Sherlock Holmes in any way, it's likely that you have a wish list. Whether it's an early edition of the stories, a complete collection of , a , or something else.   We recently asked , and you responded in force. We took those suggestions and ran with them, and created a show to highlight some of the many things for the Sherlock Holmes fanatic in your life, whether it's you or a loved one.   Of course, we cover the latest Sherlock Holmes news and enjoy a little banter to boot. We also mention a contest — leave us a review  and show us the proof (screenshot or similar) — and we'll enter you for a chance to win a 1950s-era Baker Street Journal Christmas Annual.   Listen closely and you may hear who our next interview guest is. And remain on the lookout for our regular Easter Egg feature.   As a reminder, consider supporting our show through , for as little as $1 per episode. And thank you to Mary Mil

"the sister of Vernet, the French artist" [GREE]     Did you ever have a chance to talk with someone with whom you immediately felt a connection? That's exactly how Bonnie MacBird impressed us when we chatted with her about her new book  in this latest interview episode of I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere.   From her most amazing experience on her recent book tour to her first meeting with Sherlock Holmes (at a remarkable age!), to how she found her inspiration for the novel, Bonnie shares her very considered and unique perspective on the immortal detective. Listen in to hear about an artist's temperament and how it affects the craft, including her other mediums, and how she intended to bring Sherlock Holmes to her readers through her own personal Sherlockian inspirations.   Our Gas Lamp is inspired by a comment from Nick Martorelli and is taken from The Baker Street Journal Vol. 6, No. 3 (1956), in which Edgar Smith wrote "On Canonicity."   Listen closely and you may hear who our next interview guest is. A

"Holmes was accessible upon the side of flattery" [REDC]   We all know that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Sherlock Holmes is no stranger to either, and with a growing database that includes some tens of thousands of work, it's easy to think that Sherlock Holmes is probably the most imitated literary character in history.   We take the time in this show to explore some of the motivations behind pastiches — as well as the cliched ingredients in so many pastiches (Mrs. Hudson, Mycroft Holmes, Professor Moriarty, cocaine, the Baker Street Irregulars, Jack the Ripper, real historical figures, etc.) and what makes them work — or in many cases, not.   But more than that, we announce a new format to I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere episodes. Beginning with Episode 82, we're going to be splitting the show into two episodes per month. One show will be a featured interview and Gas-Lamp, while the other will be a show with the news, the quiz, and commentary related to the interview show that it precedes.

"Some of my most interesting cases have come to me in this way through Mycroft." [GREE] If asked, who would you say is the biggest Sherlock Holmes fan? Prior to January 2015, we would not have said Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. But when he made a surprise appearance at the 2015 BSI Dinner and we had a chance to speak with him we discovered it was in fact he.   Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Anna Waterhouse have written a new book called , due out next week. We won't give too much away, but it chronicles the early career of Sherlock Holmes's older brother, at the age of 23. You'll find the classic Oxford-Cambridge boat race, the grimy streets of London, cigars, a sea voyage and much more. It's a very interesting, insightful and surprising look into what went into the beginnings of this mystical figure from the original Sherlock Holmes stories.   We've got a couple of listener comments to share before getting to "Mental Exaltation," in which we welcome a listener to the show to play.   And please be sure to check out our , whi

"this exhibition of the great detective" [VALL]   If you were tasked with writing about the significance of Sherlock Holmes in popular culture, how would you go about it? After all, it's been a topic of numerous books throughout the years and we're currently awash in Sherlock Holmes books, shows, websites and the rest.   Journalist Zach Dundas took a very unconventional approach with his book . It's a combination travelogue, memoir and cultural biography that brings us through the Sherlock Holmes chronologically. Zach joins us to talk about the writing process and the Sherlock Holmes bug that bit him so many years ago. Along the way, you might even encounter a familiar name or two.   We examine the dual nature of Arthur Conan Doyle and the striking differences - and similarities - between him and his unfortunate father, Charles Altamont Doyle. But more than that, we discuss the enigmatic nature of the legendary author and examine his increasing fervor over Spiritualism. All of this and the growing fascination