Special Features, Popping Into Baker Street, Part Three
Let’s keep it short and sweet today. Can you answer these questions about Sherlock Holmes? (Answers below.)
1. What is the name of Holmes’ nemesis?
2. Where does Holmes live?
3. What is the name of Sherlock’s brother?
4. Sherlock Holmes became a smash after the stories appeared in The Strand. Name another author that debuted in the same magazine.
Answers:
1. Professor James Moriarty
2. 221B. Baker Street, London
3. Mycroft Holmes
4. Charles Dickens and Mark Twain
Last week's question:
Trivia Question #2: Who was the hero of The Lost World?
Professor Challenger
Showing posts with label sherlock holmes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sherlock holmes. Show all posts
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Popping Injto Baker Street, part 2
Special Features, Popping Into Baker Street, Part Two
Arthur Conan Doyle wrote plenty, and not all of his work featured the indomitable Sherlock. He wrote the mysterious work called The Mystery of the Cloomber and even a treasure called The Lost World about an expedition to South America to discover a world where dinosaurs still lived. Sound like the basis of a few movies to you? But no character received the adoration of Sherlock Holmes who debuted in A Study In Scarlet.
The stories were published in The Strand magazine. They certainly made money for Doyle, but he considered them ‘commercial.’ He went so far as to publish ‘The Final Problem’ in 1893 where Holmes and Moriarty plunged to their deaths. Sherlock Holmes dead?Readers were so incensed that 20,000 cancelled their subscription to the Stand.
Doyle wrote a play about Sherlock. William Gillette, the actor commissioned to play him asked for permission to revise it. Doyle said, “You may marry him, murder him, or do anything you like to him.” Poor Doyle, chained to the character he created so brilliantly!
Trivia Question #2: Who was the hero of The Lost World?
Answer to Trivia question #1: William Gillette instituted the drop stem pipe for Sherlock because it made it easier for the actor to speak his lines clearly.
Arthur Conan Doyle wrote plenty, and not all of his work featured the indomitable Sherlock. He wrote the mysterious work called The Mystery of the Cloomber and even a treasure called The Lost World about an expedition to South America to discover a world where dinosaurs still lived. Sound like the basis of a few movies to you? But no character received the adoration of Sherlock Holmes who debuted in A Study In Scarlet.
The stories were published in The Strand magazine. They certainly made money for Doyle, but he considered them ‘commercial.’ He went so far as to publish ‘The Final Problem’ in 1893 where Holmes and Moriarty plunged to their deaths. Sherlock Holmes dead?Readers were so incensed that 20,000 cancelled their subscription to the Stand.
Doyle wrote a play about Sherlock. William Gillette, the actor commissioned to play him asked for permission to revise it. Doyle said, “You may marry him, murder him, or do anything you like to him.” Poor Doyle, chained to the character he created so brilliantly!
Trivia Question #2: Who was the hero of The Lost World?
Answer to Trivia question #1: William Gillette instituted the drop stem pipe for Sherlock because it made it easier for the actor to speak his lines clearly.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Special Feature- Popping into Baker Street
Special Features
Popping into Baker Street
So, you think you’re a true mystery fan, do you? Well put on your deerstalker cap and let’s wander on down to 221A Baker Street for a little peek into Arthur Conan Doyle’s life to see if we can separate the man from his iconic mystery solver.
How much of Arthur Conan Doyle can be found in Sherlock Holmes? Well Doyle was a doctor for one, and he was mentored by Dr. Joseph Bell, a man brilliant in observation and logic. No doubt Dr. Watson sprung from here. But where did Sherlock come from? Doyle lived with an alcoholic father and was shipped off to boarding school for seven years. His mother was a brilliant storyteller. He served on a whaling ship and was often short of funds. By all accounts, he had high moral standards and a keen imagination. Sound like Sherlock? Yes, and no.
Sherlock is certainly the intellectual giant, but troubled by drug addiction and a penchant for the melancholy. He excelled at boxing, was a master of disguise and a very poor hand at the violin.
Doyle, on the other hand, was an even tempered man, and by many accounts, admired for his sense of humor. It is reputed that when he obtained his medical degree he drew a funny sketch of himself receiving his diploma and captioned it ‘Licensed to Kill.’
So can we find Sherlock in these bits of his life? I think the answer is yes. And no. Sherlock, like any good character, is cobbled together from experiences and observations. He is a crucible where things come together that the author both loves and despises. Sherlock Holmes was not the sum of what Doyle knew, but what he no doubt wanted to know, a world where order could be restored by intellect, where eccentricities proved to be strengths and justice was restored.
Next week, we’ll take a look at Doyle’s love hate relationship with Sherlock, a character whom he both birthed and tried desperately to kill. Below is a trivia question to sharpen up your detective skills. Send in your answer and we’ll see if you’ve earned that deerstalker cap!
Trivia Question: In all of the Sherlock Holmes stories, Sherlock Holmes never smokes the famous drop step pipe that has become the characters hallmark. Where did the idea for the drop-step pipe come from?
Popping into Baker Street
So, you think you’re a true mystery fan, do you? Well put on your deerstalker cap and let’s wander on down to 221A Baker Street for a little peek into Arthur Conan Doyle’s life to see if we can separate the man from his iconic mystery solver.
How much of Arthur Conan Doyle can be found in Sherlock Holmes? Well Doyle was a doctor for one, and he was mentored by Dr. Joseph Bell, a man brilliant in observation and logic. No doubt Dr. Watson sprung from here. But where did Sherlock come from? Doyle lived with an alcoholic father and was shipped off to boarding school for seven years. His mother was a brilliant storyteller. He served on a whaling ship and was often short of funds. By all accounts, he had high moral standards and a keen imagination. Sound like Sherlock? Yes, and no.
Sherlock is certainly the intellectual giant, but troubled by drug addiction and a penchant for the melancholy. He excelled at boxing, was a master of disguise and a very poor hand at the violin.
Doyle, on the other hand, was an even tempered man, and by many accounts, admired for his sense of humor. It is reputed that when he obtained his medical degree he drew a funny sketch of himself receiving his diploma and captioned it ‘Licensed to Kill.’
So can we find Sherlock in these bits of his life? I think the answer is yes. And no. Sherlock, like any good character, is cobbled together from experiences and observations. He is a crucible where things come together that the author both loves and despises. Sherlock Holmes was not the sum of what Doyle knew, but what he no doubt wanted to know, a world where order could be restored by intellect, where eccentricities proved to be strengths and justice was restored.
Next week, we’ll take a look at Doyle’s love hate relationship with Sherlock, a character whom he both birthed and tried desperately to kill. Below is a trivia question to sharpen up your detective skills. Send in your answer and we’ll see if you’ve earned that deerstalker cap!
Trivia Question: In all of the Sherlock Holmes stories, Sherlock Holmes never smokes the famous drop step pipe that has become the characters hallmark. Where did the idea for the drop-step pipe come from?
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