Sherlock Holmes: Trifles

“excellent wild-duck shooting” [GLOR]  When we think of English country estates, it's only natural to think of outdoor activities. In many cases this included the pastimes of hunting and shooting. Where in the Sherlock Holmes stories do we find the landed gentry headed off to bring down some quarry that the gamekeeper has stocked? Our monthly series on games and sports take us on this wild goose chase that'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/trifles144 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 Journal   Musi

“three times repeated” [FIVE]  There's a familiar plot device that runs throughout a number of Sherlock Holmes stories. That number is three, but do you know which stories make use of it? We discuss this recurring theme, where it's the most convincing, and why humans get hoodwinked by such arrangements. 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/trifles144 Shakespeare's sources of inspiration I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere Episode 91: The Confidence Game 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 Journal   Music credi

"he was bearded" [SIGN]   Well this is embarrassing. As we finished our editing and prepared to leave for a business trip, we realized one critical fact about this topic: we've already talked about it (in Episode 105). Nevertheless, we suggest you listen and perhaps compare and contrast the two episodes. Yes, there may be a little overlap, but the discussion goes to show how the Sherlock Holmes stories allow us to riff on one topic again and again. 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/trifles143 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. 

“he still made India too hot to hold him” [EMPT]  India is a wonderful land. And it plays a part in a number of Sherlock Holmes stories. Certainly, it's a center point in The Sign of Four, but where else do we find the influence of India in the Canon?    In our regular feature of international influences in the Sherlock Holmes stories, we learn about battles, cities, districts and other Indian curiosities. 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/trifles142 Pondicherry (Wikipedia) Bhurtee - the Siege of Cawnpore (Wikipedia) Get your own "Signs of Four" merchandise from our store. Over 20 designs to choose from on mugs and a variet

“I'm a bit of a single-stick expert, as you know” [ILLU]  In listing Sherlock Holmes's limits in A Study in Scarlet, Dr. Watson indicates that Holmes is something of an amateur sportsman: "11. Is an expert singlestick player, boxer, and swordsman." In this latest entry in our Games and Sports series, we look at singlestick and its relation to other pastimes and run-ins in the Canon. 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/trifles141 Singlestick (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.    Sponsor The Baker Street Journal  

“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" m

“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: