INEFFABLE TWADDLE “It is my business to know what other people don’t know.” —The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle Volume 39 Issue 11 November, 2020 The monthly publication of The Sound of the Baskervilles A Scion Society of the Baker Street Irregulars since March 31, 1980 Serving the Greater Puget Sound Region of Western Washington, USA A Few Reviews...and More! Reading The Daughter of Sherlock Holmes (Leonard Goldberg, Minotaur Books, 2017, 320 pages) was like A Review from SOB Sonia Fetherston, BSI reading a second generaon kind of tale, with a junior “Jeremy Bre: Playing A Part” Watson, a junior Moran, and a singular Woman named Blalock who it turns out is his daughter—the For so many fans, the Grana‐ result of a liaison between Holmes and…wait for da Television episodes starring it...Irene Adler! Jeremy Bre as Sherlock There is a secon where Mr. Holmes were unsurpassed— Holmes and Ms. Adler “repeatedly the penulmate portrayal of injected each other with cocaine.” It our hero. seemed wrien as a slightly light‐ A new book, Jeremy Bre: hearted inclusion. This for me (as a Playing A Part (Maureen former I.V. drug user, having known Whiaker, MX Publishing, 2020, several parents and children, part‐ 466 pages) is, likewise, the con‐ ners/spouses, mainlining drugs with summate volume for those who want to learn more and for each other) was a memory about Bre’s career and life. While a multude of trigger, and I do not believe Mr. Holmes would will‐ Bre’s stage, TV and film appearances are covered, ingly have engaged in such behaviour—even as he the emphasis is on his role as the Great Detecve. We enquired if Watson would care to try “a seven per learn lots of interesng details. For example, every cent soluon”—let alone with someone else who had working day Granada’s make‐up department had to actually made a significant impression upon Holmes. glue Bre’s straight eyebrows into a Holmesian arch. It is not a bad read but, in the end, I found myself In a similar vein, costumers had to take in the shoul‐ rather turned off by the book. ders of every jacket and coat Bre wore (uncomfort‐ ably so!) to achieve Holmes’s much narrower profile. Review: Sherlock Holmes Magazine, Summer 2020 And drawing, on his earlier training with giants like “The Curse of Sherlock Holmes, Gielgud and Olivier, we see how Bre craed Sherlock The Basil Rathbone Story” Holmes, “the most complex, isolated creature.” Generously illustrated with family photos and pro‐ History Press, publishers of The Curse of Sherlock ducon slls, many rarely seen, and with a foreword Holmes, The Basil Rathbone Story (David Clayton, 2020, by Bre’s first Watson, actor David Burke, the book is 192 pages) claims it is “the first definive account of available via www.MXPublishing.com, between $34.95 Basil Rathbone.” and $94.95 (depending on whether you want black and Appearing in fourteen Sherlock Holmes films, white or color, hardback or so‐bound). Pricey, but a Rathbone made the role his own, and every actor treat! who has since played the great detecve has been compared to him. This book spans Rathbone’s journey A Review from SOB Stephen Adkins from the trenches of the First World War, when he “The Daughter of Sherlock Holmes: A Mystery” was awarded a Military Cross for bravery, through to I found this book in a “Lile Library” on a recent a Hollywood career that earned him three Walk of walk in my neighborhood. Fame stars. Continued on Page 7 Page 2 Ineffable Twaddle 1. What adventure had Watson intended to be the Zoom Meeng Zoom Meeng: Sunday, September 20 last of his recorded exploits of Sherlock Holmes? 12:00 (Noon) to 12:30 p.m. PacifiSunday, November 15, 2020 c me—Free‐form chang and visi2. Who was the Secretary of European Affairs who ng!! accompanied the Premier of Britain to 221B? 12:30 p.m. Pacific me—Structured meeng with 12:00 (Noon) to 12:30 p.m. Pacific me— Free‐form chang and vising!! 3. Where was the European Secretary’s house located? 12:30 p.m. Pacific me—Structured 4. What was stolen from his home? meeng with discussion & quizzing 5. Who, in Holmes’ opinion, were the only three on “The Second Stain” men capable of such a the? 6. Which of the three was murdered in his home? SOB Program Chair 7. Who was originally arrested for the murder but Sunny Even on: subsequently released? Secrets and Sensibilies of the Second Stain 8. What was the occupaon of the person in 7. 1. What was Ronald Adair’s father’s tle and what posion di d he hold?(above)? 2. To what three clubs did Ronald Adair belong? Victorian secrets and sensibilies once again are 9. By what name was the murdered man known in 3. What disguise did Holmes use when he “returned from the gshowcased in “The Adventure of the Second Stain.” rave” to meet Watson?Paris? 4. What name did Holmes use when living as a Norwegian explo Premier Lord Bellinger and the Right Honorable rer?10. Was the Scotland Yard detecve in charge of the 5. On what topic did Holmes do research while in France?Trelawney Hope, Secretary for European Affairs, want case Hopkins or Gregson? 6. Name the empty housHolmes to recover a missing leer—a leer containing e of this story’s tle? 11. Who was the actual murderer? 7. Who moulded the bust of Holmes and where was he from?“a State secret of the utmost importance.” Evidently 12. What did Holmes tell the Premier that he and the 8. Holmes named and then described the man who spoed him inits provocave contents would sr such dangerous London. Your turn!government had in common? 9. Holmes credited Lestrade fofeeling in the country, that “peace or war may hang r his fairly well handling of what case? Answers may be found on Page 5 10. Who shot the bust of Holmes and with what weapon, and how did Holmes describe him? 11. Who designed the weapon and how was he described?“My friend has so often astonished SOB Kris Hambrick’s 12. In Holmes’s biographies under “me in the course of our adventuresM ”, three names other than his two main enemies were given. Name and describe them!that it was with a sense of exulta- Sherlock on Screen: tion that I realized how completely Answers may be found on Page 5 I had astonished him. He stared in “The Second Stain” amazement, and then snatched the Despite one of the most dramac paper from my hands. This was reveals in any Sherlock Holmes case, once again our the paragraph which I had been engaged in reading when he rose primary source here is Gran‐ada Studios. Actors Eille from his chair.” Norwood, Alan Wheatley and Peter Cushing have made “The Second Stain” as part of their respecve upon the issue.” Shortly aer their visit, Holmes re‐ series, but none are available to view. Elements were ceives Lady Hilda Trelawney Hope who implores included in the Lenfilm movie The Twentieth Century Holmes to reveal her husband’s worries. Between she Approaches, but combined with ENGR, BRUC and and her husband there is “perfect confidence on all LAST, it creates a pleasing tangle of references to maers save one,” since evidently polics is too work something new out of famil‐ coarse a subject for their refined marriage. She is in iar material. the dark on everything to do with his career, so one “Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd wonders how perfect confidence on other maers in Century” uses plot and character their life together can exist in that vacuum. Not very elements, working them into the effecvely, since she has her own secrets. I won’t say more acon‐heavy format of the more, so as not to ruin a lovely ending to this dilem‐ show and, amusingly, casng Wat‐ ma—save to tell you Holmes finds the perfect way to son as the befuddled man who lets resolve the maer, and protect the Trelawney Hope’s “Trenton’s” wife into Lucas’ apart‐ (and England’s) Victorian secrets and sensibilies. ment. It’s well‐done and a nice melding of the original and classic story styles. But for Who’s Who Really in SECO?? Clear it up authencity, we have Granada Studios, and Bre’s with SOB Charlie Cook’s Quiz! energec as always performance… Continued on Page 5 Volume 39, November 2020, Issue 11 Page 3 Things to See, Buy, Do & Know Mysterious Press (1975), Mysterious Press.com (2011) and New York City’s Mysterious Bookshop (Opened in From PFL David: Robert 1979 by Otto Penzler, The MysteriousBookshop is the oldest Downey Jr. announced recently mystery specialist book store in America. Previously located in the possibility of a SHERLOCK midtown, the bookshop now calls Tribeca its home.). HOLMES CINEMATIC UNIVERSE!! Jean Upton of the London Socie- Go to https://www.youtube.com/ ty’s District Messenger reports: watch?v=GZk89x Mf4cM to view THE SHERLOCK HOLMES SOCIETY OF “What the Sherlock Holmes Cinematic Universe Will Look LONDON’S ANNUAL CHRISTMAS CARD IS Like.” NOW AVAILABLE TO ORDER. “One Win- From SOB Lauren Messenger, Associate Editor, as ter’s Night,” designed by Swiss artist mentioned in our September 20 Zoom Meeting: Here’s Laurence Pernet, was chosen from the link for BOOK-IT’S PRODUCTION OF THE “MANDALA OF a competition held earlier this year. THE SHERLOCK HOLMES” by Jamming Norbu: https:// Title is taken from a quotation in book-it.org/events/the-mandala-of-sherlock-holmes @ The “The Musgrave Ritual.” Go to: https whole series of plays this year is going to be audio ://www.sherlock-holmes.org.uk/prod productions you can enjoy from home.