THE DISTRICT MESSENGER The Newsletter of the Sherlock Holmes Society of London Roger Johnson, 41 Sandford Road, Chelmsford CM2 6DE no. 121 30th June 1992 NEW ADDRESS! Yes, we moved just over a week ago. Mail will "be redirected from Rainsford Road for some while yet, but it'll get to us faster if you use the address at the head of this issue. The Arthur Conan Doyle Society has moved as well: the ACDS and Christopher Roden can now be found at Ashcroft, 2 Abbottsford Drive, Penyffordd, Chester CH4 0JG. Our Braveworld Video competition attracted a gratifying number of ent- ries. Even more gratifying, there wasn't a howler among them. You all knew that l) Christopher Lee had previously played Sherlock Holmes in Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace (Sherlock Holmes und das Hals- band des Todes ), with Thorley Walters as Watson; 2) Patrick Macnee had previously played Dr Watson in Sherlock Holmes in New York , with Roger Moore as Holmes; 3) the other canonical characters played by Christopher Lee were Sir Henry Baskerville in The Hound of the Baskervilles and My- croft Holmes in The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes; 4) in the Granada TV series Jenny Seagrove had played Mary Morstan in The Sign of Four, and Joss Ackland had played Jephro Ruoastle in The Copper Beeches. The five names drawn from the panama hat today are:- Carol Bell * Paula Brown * Bert Coules * Stephen Farrell * Mark Hunter- Purvis Congratulations to the winners. Your prizes will be sent on to you as soon as they reach me (that's a set each of the two Braveworld videos featuring Christopher Lee and Patrick Macnee, SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE LEADING LADY and SHERLOCK HOLMES : THE INCIDENT AT VICTORIA FALLS, kindly presented by Braveworld; the rest of you will be able to rent copies from your local video library, where they should be on the shelf now). I seem to have got into a right old muddle about THE LIFE AND TIMES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (Studio Editions, £££12.95). The fact is that the book was written by Philip Weller with Christopher Roden, which is to say that Christopher wrote the informative chapter about Arthur Conan Doyle and Philip wrote the rest (except, apparently, for the section entitled "A Scholarly Case Study: The Problem of Sherlock Holmes and Jack the Rip- per”, which reads like Philip Weller but seems to be the work of one P.L. Anness; the book was "designed and edited by Anness Publishing" - are they perhaps related?). It's a very attractive volume indeed, covering with a light, sure touch most aspects of Holmesiana, from the literary origins to the pervading collection-mania (there are items described and illustrated that cause me to break at least one commandment). The new book can't compare in depth with Charles Hall's THE SHERLOCK HOLMES COLLECTION, say, but it makes up for that with the splendid colour illustrations. I would question the desirability of taking up 60 pages with summaries of all the stories in the canon. Since books go out of print so quickly these days, though, it's good that there should be a well-produced introduction to the subject available, and THE LIFE AND TIMES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES is certainly that. Speaking of Charles Hall, he's produced a charming set of caricature figurines in low-relief white metal, standing about 3" high. You have Holmes with pipe and magnifying-glass, Holmes with violin, and a mal- ignant Moriarty. The three together cost £££7.80, including postage within the U.K. (Charles Hall, 12 Paisley Terrace, Edinburgh EH8 7JW) - please ask about overseas rates, and do enclose postage for the reply. Bill Blake has been keeping his eyes open. He tells me that the 16th cassette in the New Adventures series with Rathbone & Bruce is now out, featuring THE TERRIFYING CATS and THE SUBMARINE CAVES. Now available in paperback are Carol Nelson Douglas' GOOD MORNING, IRENE ( £££4.50), Ronald C. Herman's SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE ULTIMATE DISGUISE ( £££8.99) and SHER- LOCK HOLMES IN AUSTRALIA ( £££4.50 - no author mentioned). Forthcoming hard- backs are Ian Walker's SHERLOCK HOMES & THE DUPLICATE HOLMES ( £££11.95), Fruttero & Lucenti's THE DROOD CASE ( £££17.50) and Ms Douglas' third Irene Adler adventure IRENE AT LARGE ( £££14.99). More details on these soon, I hope. Georgina Ledger (Rose Cottage. Coton, Milwich, Stafford ST18 OET) is looking for the following books produced to accompany the Society's summer outings: Margaret Bird's IN THE COUNTRY OF THE BROADS, Bernard Davies' A RAMBLE THROUGH THE RAGGED SHAW and Margaret Bird's A STUDY IN DARK BLUE. Please write directly to Georgina if you can help her. Bert Coules sent the news that the four episodes of the Radio 4 ADVEN- TURES that have yet to be repeated will be on Sundays at 10.15 pm: 12 July FIVE, 19 July TWIS, 26 July BLUE and 2 August BERY. Transmission dates for the remaining episodes of THE MEMOIRS will be: 7 October THE CROOKED MAN, 14 October THE RESIDENT PATIENT, 21 October THE GREEK INTERPRETER, 28 October THE NAVAL TREATY, 4 November THE FINAL PROBLEM (all Wednesday afternoons at 2 pm on Radio 4). THE RETURN is scheduled for recording in October, and Michael Pennington will make a brief reappearance as Moriarty in TEE EMPTY HOUSE (this will be a momentous episode, as it also sees the death of Mary Watson). THE MEMOIRS are expected to be issued on cassette by BBC Enterprises around September in the BBC Radio Collection series; there's a rumour that an agreement's been made with a retailer in the USA - more on this when it reaches me. A delightful periodical, issued irregularly by Dr Benton Mood, chaplain to the Baker Street Irregulars, is his BOHEMIAN SCANDAL SHEET (PO Box 740, Ellenton, Florida 34222, USA); I think you'll find that Ben doesn't ask for a subscription, only for an active interest. Drop him a line for details. Societies and individuals in the USA can take advantage of Jennie C. Paton's lending library of Holmesian video and audio tapes (206 Loblolly Lane, Statesboro, GA 30458) - alas, costs of shipping abroad, even to Canada, are prohibitive. Robert W. Hahn sends full details of the First Annual Watsonian Weekend, to be held in the Arlington Heights area from 24 to 26 July, which will include a treasure hunt, scholarly addresses, food and drink, entertainment - and the 33rd annual Silver Blaze Handi- cap. Contact Bob Hahn for details at 2707 South 7th Street, Sheboygan, WI 53081, USA. Fascinating booklists, full of mouthwatering (and expensive, mostly) items, are recently out from Gravesend Books (Box 235, Pocono Pines, PA l8350, USA) and Priscilla Juvelis (150 Huntington Avenue, Suite SDL, Boston, MA 02115, USA). From Peter E. Blau. THE GREAT MOUSE DETECTIVE (known here as BASIL THE GREAT MOUSE DETECTIVE) will be released on video on the 17 July - but only in North America. Eugene (Bud) Willis died in January; he and his wife Ruth were the true begetters of the anthem of the Baker Street Irregulars, "We Never Mention Aunt Clara", as is made clear in the late Bill Rabe's lovely book WE ALWAYS MENTION AUNT CLARA. Ralph Vaughan pits Sherlock Holmes against Nikola Tesla and Nyarlathotep in SHERLOCK HOLMES IN THE DREAMING DETECTIVE (Gryphon Publications, Box 209, Brooklyn, NY 11228, USA - $6.95 including postage within the USA). Cats, Cats, & More Cats offer a deerstalker cap for the cat in your life, made in a wool- blend plaid, one size fits all; the Sherlock style costs $14.95 plus postage (2 Greycourt Avenue, Chester, NY 10918, USA). Robert Morley died recently. Actor, author, gourmet and wit, his sole contribution to the world of Sherlock Holmes was a mighty one: he was the perfect Mycroft in A STUDY IN TERROR (1965). Joseph J. Eckrich (7793 Keswick Place, St Louis, MO 63119, USA) is after photocopies of instalments 13, 14 and 15 of Lord Donegall's "Baker Street and Beyond". 1 - 12 were in the NEW STRAND and 16 - 19 in the SHJ. Does anyone have/the missing numbers? .