Sherlock Holmes: Trifles

"Let us escape from this weary workaday world by the side door of music." [RETI]   Sherlock Holmes took a great interest in musicians and concerts, mentioning a few by name in the Canon.  In the last episode, we discussed composers and their works; this time, it's off to violin-land where all is sweetness and light. We look at performers real and fictional, where they plied their trade, and what instruments they played, including musical families. It's just a Trifle.   Have you left us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts yet? You don't need to own an Apple device, and every review helps more people find the show.  We're available everywhere you listen to podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, and RadioPublic. And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal.     Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles140 Other episodes mentioned in this episode: Episode 40: Who Was Sarasate? IHOSE Episodes 68 and 69 with Burt Coules Get your own "Sig

"a composer of no ordinary merit." [REDH]  From the very beginning of the Sherlock Holmes stories, we know that Sherlock Holmes plays the violin. It's one of the personality traits he admits to Watson and that Watson later chronicles. In addition to Holmes's own performances, we come across a number of other composers and their works in the Canon. Who and what were they? It's just a Trifle.   Have you left us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts yet? You don't need to own an Apple device, and every review helps more people find the show.  We're available everywhere you listen to podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, and RadioPublic. Andsupporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal.   Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles139 Les Huguenots by Meyerbeer (Wikipedia) "That little thing of Chopin" (Camden House) Offenbach - "Barcarolle" from The Tales of Hoffmann (YouTube) Other episodes mentioned in this episode: Episode 78: Where Are They Now? Inspector G

"a man might as well live in Russia" [VALL]  The connections between Sherlock Holmes an Russia—in the Sherlock Holmes stories themselves, as least—would seem to be limited. Yet it provides much information for a robust discussion. From exported goods to crimes from two decades previous, we encounter a smattering of mentions of the Land of Rus. What do they tell us about Sherlock Holmes? And what was happening in the world at the time? It's just a Trifle.   Have you left us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts yet? You don't need to own an Apple device, and every review helps more people find the show. We're available everywhere you listen to podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, and RadioPublic. And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon  or PayPal   Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles138 Russia leather Little Russia The eBSJ A Russian Sherlock Holmes cartoon and another animated Russian Sherlock Holmes in translation The Wrong Passage Other epi

"He started in his little yacht" [BLAC]  There are plenty of instances of maritime transportation in the Sherlock Holmes stories. But when it comes to pleasure crafts, we're left with a scant few. The use various boats for leisure and sporting activities is present sporadically throughout the Canon, so you have to pay attention. We investigate these few instances, plus a supposition. It is of course a trifle. Have you left us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts yet? You don't need to own an Apple device, and every review helps more people find the show.  We're available everywhere you listen to podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, and RadioPublic. And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal.     Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles137 The Boat Race Interview with Robert Stephens in Michael Pointer's Playing Sherlock Holmes: Interviews with John Wood, Robert Stephens, and Christopher Lee. (Amazon) Get your own "Signs of Four"

"you were on the battlefield" [BLAN]  In the last episode, Robert Katz, BSI began to take us through his theory of where Dr. Watson spent his early years. He used the facts given to us by Watson himself, combined with the reasoning of Sherlock Holmes to arrive at some conclusions. This week, he brings us the other half of the story: after Watson moved from Australia to America, he tells us about the connection with Henry Ward Beecher and Watson's heroics on U.S. soil. It's just a trifle.   Have you left us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts yet? You don't need to own an Apple device, and every review helps more people find the show.  We're available everywhere you listen to podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, and RadioPublic. And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal.   Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles136 Get your own "Signs of Four" merchandise from our store. Over 20 designs to choose from on mugs and a variety of colo

"I travelled in my youth" [TWIS]  We know little about Dr. Watson's life, aside from what he managed to tell us. Yes, he was in the Army's medical department. Yes, he was wounded. And he needed to find a flatmate to be able to afford London on his pension. But what about beyond that? Sherlock Holmes was able to make some inferences from a watch that Watson's brother bequeathed to him. There are a few other clues here and there to give us a scent to pick up. And Robert Katz, BSI joins us to begin to weave those threads together. It's just a trifle.   Have you left us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts yet? You don't need to own an Apple device, and every review helps more people find the show.  We're available everywhere you listen to podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, and RadioPublic. And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal.     Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles135 Get your own "Signs of Four" merchandise from our stor

"her people have been leaders in Pernambuco for generations" [3GAB]   South America and its exotic tropical climate is about as far removed from the dampness of England as one can find. Its collective countries stand in juxtaposition to proper Victorian customs, and anything in the Sherlock Holmes stories that touches South America is suspect. We look at some of the men and women associated with the continent that is mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, and the implications for each story. It's just a trifle.   Have you left us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts yet? You don't need to own an Apple device, and every review helps more people find the show.  We're available everywhere you listen to podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, and RadioPublic. And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal.     Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles134 Get your own "Signs of Four" merchandise from our store. Over 20 designs to choose from on mu

"a boarding house that was recommended" [VALL]   When traveling or settling into a city for a bit, Victorians had options. Hotels were commonplace, but could be expensive. So what's a reasonable alternative? A boarding house!  There were two stories in which mysterious boarders caught the attention of Sherlock Holmes, and his visits with their landladies proved fruitful for Watson's writing. What do we know about these, and other instances of boarding houses in the Sherlock Holmes stories? It's just a trifle.   Have you left us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts yet? You don't need to own an Apple device, and every review helps more people find the show.  We're available everywhere you listen to podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, and RadioPublic. And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal.       Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles133 Boarding house (Wikipedia) Lodging Houses (The Dictionary of Victorian London) Get your own

"Come into the billiard-room and have a quiet cigar." [GLOR]   Rack 'em up! Our monthly discussion of games and sports turns to billiards. While the game itself is mentioned once in a significant way, there are a number of times when a room dedicated to the activity pops up in the Sherlock Holmes stories. What is it about billiards that captured English attention during this time period? It's just a trifle.   Have you left us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts yet? You don't need to own an Apple device, and every review helps more people find the show.  We're available everywhere you listen to podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, and RadioPublic. And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal.       Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles132 Cue sports (Wikipedia) Get your own "Signs of Four" merchandise from our store. Over 20 designs to choose from on mugs and a variety of colored t-shirts. Special Summer sale happening now - 25%

"he sang your praises very loudly" [STOC]   As early as A Study in Scarlet, we discover that Sherlock Holmes "was as sensitive to flattery on the score of his art as any girl could be of her beauty." Then once again toward the end of the Canon, in "The Red Circle," Watson reminds us that "Holmes was accessible upon the side of flattery." We previously covered some of the insults and invective that Holmes had to endure. But what about praise? What about epithets that were acclamatory rather than derogatory. It is just a trifle.   Have you left us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts yet? You don't need to own an Apple device, and every review helps more people find the show.  We're available everywhere you listen to podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, and RadioPublic. And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal.       Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles131 Episode 91 - How Insulting Steve Clarkson's The Canonical Compendium G

"a member of an aristocratic club" [BERY]    From golf clubs to gentlemen's clubs...  Ask any Sherlockian to name a club in the Canon and they'll invariably say the Diogenes Club (that's right after Tonga's club. You don't have to be a Penang lawyer to get that one.). And there were a number of fictional clubs as well.  But one club that gets just a passing mention is Watson's club. Which one was it? Speculation abounds, so we gave it a shot. It's just a trifle.  Have you left us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts yet? You don't need to own an Apple device, and every review helps more people find the show.   We're available everywhere you listen to podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, and RadioPublic. And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal.   Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles130 The Gentlemen's Clubs of London (Amazon) List of gentlemen's clubs in London (Wikipedia) Get your own "Signs of Four" merchandise from our s

"It is always a joy to meet an American." [NOBL]  Americans have been avid fans of Sherlock Holmes since the earliest days. The novels were pirated and the short stories were syndicated to reach millions of American readers.  And Sherlock Holmes himself was a fan of Americans. There's a wide variety of Americans and American locales that popped up in the Canon quite frequently. And those are worth trifling over.    Have you left us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts yet? You don't need to own an Apple device, and every review helps more people find the show.  We're available everywhere you listen to podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, and RadioPublic.   And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or  PayPal.   Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles129 Get your own "Signs of Four" merchandise from our store. Over 20 designs to choose from on mugs and a variety of colored t-shirts.   Sponsor The Baker Street Irregulars Press   Music cr

"'Fore God, Mr. Holmes, it's all right," [SHOS]     Sherlock Holmes and golf don't necessarily go together. That is clearly represented by the few times that the sport is mentioned in the Sherlock Holmes stories.   His creator, Arthur Conan Doyle, had a few connections to golf. Together, we explore these scant details and come up with enough for another episode of Trifles in our monthly look at games and sports.     Have you left us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts yet? You don't need to own an Apple device, and every review helps more people find the show.  We're available everywhere you listen to podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, and RadioPublic. And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal.   Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles127 Victorian Schooling Board Schools Standards of Education from 1872 Get your own "Signs of Four" merchandise, as seen below. Over 20 designs to choose from on mugs and a variety of colored

"Light-houses, my boy! Beacons of the future!" [COPP]     We first hear of boarding-schools in "The Naval Treaty," in which Watson mentions his fellow alumnus Percy Phelps, who needs Sherlock Holmes's help. And of course, the Priory School (from the adventure of the same name) is private boarding school of some note.   When did boarding-schools come to be? What changed in the legislation of England at the time that made education more of a thing? We explore the societal forces that came to bear on schools at the time.     Have you left us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts yet? You don't need to own an Apple device, and every review helps more people find the show.  We're available everywhere you listen to podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, and RadioPublic. And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon  or PayPal.     Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles127 Victorian Schooling Board Schools Standards of Education from 1872 Get your

"the calculation now was a simple one" [MUSG]   The questions in the Musgrave Ritual lead us to answers that are nearly as cryptic as the questions themselves. Among the questions was "Where was the shadow?" The answer, of course, is "Under the elm."   But how was Sherlock Holmes able to calculate the location of the object of the Musgrave Ritual, given the lack of an elm and the passing of over 200 years? It's one of the trifles in the Canon.   Have you left us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts yet? You don't need to own an Apple device, and every review helps more people find the show.  We're available everywhere you listen to podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, and RadioPublic.   Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles126 Get your own "Signs of Four" merchandise   Sponsor The Baker Street Journal   Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band Copyright: 

"an autograph letter of thanks from the French" [GOLD]     France and England have always had a close relationship, if contentious at times. Is it any small wonder that we find plenty of French influences in the Sherlock Holmes stories?   From quoting French philosophers to referencing French detectives and from earning French accolades and casually revealing French relatives, Sherlock Holmes was well versed with all things French. We investigate a few trifling examples.     Have you left us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts yet? You don't need to own an Apple device, and every review helps more people find the show.  We're available everywhere you listen to podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, and RadioPublic. And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal.     Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles125 Ken Ludwig on IHOSE Get your own "Signs of Four" merchandise   Sponsor The BSI Press International series   Music credit

"He could carve a bit and gild and frame, and do odd jobs." [SIXN]     There were scores of jobs mentioned in the Sherlock Holmes stories, but we focus on some of the more trifling titles in this episode.   You've heard of doctors and lawyers and even consulting detectives as professions. But what about gamekeepers? Or yeggmen? Mendicants (amateur or otherwise), tide-waiters and an abbess await your inquiry as well.    Have you left us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts yet? You don't need to own an Apple device, and every review helps more people find the show.  We're available everywhere you listen to podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, and RadioPublic. And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal.     Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles124 Episode 36 - Tradesmen in the Canon Get your own "Signs of Four" merchandise   Sponsor The BSI Press Professions series   Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US

"I would not have missed it for a good deal" [BERY]     Eight episodes ago, we talked very specifically about a card game: whist. But we're aware that there's more to cards than whist, and there are additional references in the Sherlock Holmes Canon.   A brief review of a number of Sherlock Holmes stories will show "card playing" as well as one or two specifically named card games. Oh, and what about a card game specifically related to Sherlock Holmes? It's all here in Trifles.      Have you left us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts yet? You don't need to own an Apple device, and every review helps more people find the show.  We're available everywhere you listen to podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, and RadioPublic.   And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal.   Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles123 Episode 115 - Whist Écarté Get your own "Four Violets" merchandise   Sponsor The Baker Street Journal   Music credit

"less poisonous than one might expect" [BRUC]     From the very first Sherlock Holmes story, we're introduced to poisons and their role in crime and detective fiction. From there, it's a hopscotch of poisonings and poisons in the Canon.   From alkaloids to airborne toxins, we come across a variety of substances that cause harm, both intentionally and accidentally. What are they? Tune in and you may pick up a Trifle or two...     Have you left us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts yet? You don't need to own an Apple device, and every review helps more people find the show.  We're available everywhere you listen to podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, and RadioPublic. And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal.     Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles122   Sponsor The Baker Street Irregulars Press Professions Series   Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washin

"old coins, apparently" [MUSG]     This is National Coin Week, according to the American Numismatic Association. What better week to consider old money in the Sherlock Holmes stories?   The terminology and math can be confusing to us today. Quid? Sovereign? Shilling? How do these relate to each other and how much buying power did they have? Greg Ruby, BSI of The Fourth Garrideb put a bug in our ear and that became a Trifle...     Have you left us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts yet? You don't need to own an Apple device, and every review helps more people find the show.  We're available everywhere you listen to podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, and RadioPublic. And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal.     Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles121 So, How Much is a Quid, a Bob, and a Crown, Really? Old English Money British Currency System, Old British Money, and Slang   Sponsor The Baker Street Journal   Music