Sherlock Holmes: Trifles

"It is fortunate for this community that I am not a criminal."[BRUC] Sherlock Holmes certainly ran with a rough crowd. Burglars, murderers, blackmailers, thieves, spies, kidnappers, and even politicians. Given his store of criminal knowledge, what stopped him from becoming a criminal himself? Wait just a moment; while his cause was justice, his practice wasn't always on the right side of the law. Thanks to a suggestion from Erik Deckers, we're examining the criminality of Sherlock Holmes. It's just a Trifle.   And please consider supporting our efforts through  Patreon or PayPal.   Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles224   Sponsor The Baker Street Journal   Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0      

“a sharp touch of brain-fever” [MUSG]    Inspired by two sources of Sherlockian medical scholarship, we decided to discuss brain fever. What was brain fever, medically speaking? And why does it only rear its head in Victorian literature? Was it an actual affliction, or just a literary device? It's just a Trifle.     Please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal.       Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles223 Did Victorians Really Get Brain Fever? (JSTOR Daily) Reference: "Brain Fever" by Stephen Tolins, The Baker Street Journal, Vol. 41, No. 2 (1991) Nerve and Knowledge: Doctors, Medicine, and the Sherlockian Canon (BSI Press)   Sponsor The BSI Press   Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0   --    

“Apply 221B, Baker Street” [NAVA]    Last week, we left you hanging with Vincent Starrett's chapter in his book The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes.    We couldn't leave it unfinished, so we're back with the second half. And a special treat at the conclusion of the episode—also with a 221B theme.  It's just a Trifle.     Find Trifles wherever you listen to podcasts: Listen to Sherlock Holmes: 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.  And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal.     Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles221b The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes by Vincent Starrett   Sponsor The Baker Street Journal   Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0   --    

“I have my eye on a suite in Baker Street” [STUD]   There is no question that 221B Baker Street is the most famous address in all of fiction. What makes it interesting is its non-existence at the time of the stories' publications, and legions of fans attempting to determine its actual location afterward.   Vincent Starrett was a huge fan of this game. So much so that he dedicated a chapter in his book The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes to it. To celebrate our 221st episode, Scott and Burt read "No. 221B Baker Street" from the book. It's just a Trifle.       Find Trifles wherever you listen to podcasts: Listen to Sherlock Holmes: 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.  And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal.       Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles221 The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes by Vincent Starrett   Sponsor The Baker St

“some creature of the weasel and stoat tribe” [CROO]  There was a fad in mid-century Victorian England that led to pets becoming more common. But the third week of each month, our episodes focus not on everyday household animals but rare and unusual creatures.   In this case, we focus on a member of the family Herpestidae. Namely, the mongoose. Making a few appearances in popular fiction, they're just a Trifle.       Find Trifles wherever you listen to podcasts: Listen to Sherlock Holmes: 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.  And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal.     Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles220 Mongoose (Wikipedia)   Sponsor The BSI Press   Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

“rarefied heights of pure mathematics” [VALL]   As we know, James Moriarty was a professor of mathematics. We know little about his academic appointment, other than having to step down from a chair.   What we do know is he has two publications to his name. What are they, and what do they tell us about Moriarty's approach to a life of crime. They're just a Trifle.         Find Trifles wherever you listen to podcasts:   Listen to Sherlock Holmes: 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.  And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal.       Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles219 The Dynamics of an Asteroid The binomial theorem Previous episodes: Episode 211: The Three Professors   Sponsor The Baker Street Journal   Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United State

“I return with an excellent appetite” [BLAC]    The Sherlock Holmes stories are a cornucopia of content. A smorgasbord of smarts. A full menu of fulfillment. So it shouldn't be terribly surprising that we find buffets mentioned in the Canon.   Perhaps you skipped over the Canonical buffet line. We can't blame you. The references are fleeting, at best. As we say, it's just a Trifle.       Find Trifles wherever you listen to podcasts:  Listen to Sherlock Holmes: 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.  And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal.       Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles218 Buffet (Wikipedia) Richard Doyle's depiction of a station buffet Previous food-related episodes: Episode 163 - Vegetarian Restaurants Episode 158 - British Food Episode 104 - Sherlock Holmes's Dining Habits Episode 42 - A Noble Supper Episode 3 - Simps

 “Our own colours, green and white.” [WIST]   Yes, the circle was red, the study was scarlet and the pips were orange. But there are so many other colors (or colours) to explore in the Sherlock Holmes stories.   Conan Doyle did a masterful job of using color to give us a vivid sense of the settings. But more than that, what does his use of various colors tell us? It's just a Trifle.           Find Trifles wherever you listen to podcasts:  Listen to Sherlock Holmes: 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.  And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal.     Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles217 Episode 10: The Dressing Gown of Many Colors   Sponsor The Baker Street Journal   Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band Copyright: Creative Commons Attri

 “It is a nice household,” he murmured. “That is the baboon.” [SPEC]    It seems that Dr. Grimesby Roylott had a bit of a wild side. Killed a man in India. Threw a blacksmith off a small bridge. Had a cheetah and baboon wandering his grounds. You know, as one does.   As we looked at the animals in detail, we came across a startling detail about Roylott's menagerie. You might say it's just a Trifle.     Find Trifles wherever you listen to podcasts: Listen to Sherlock Holmes: 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.  And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal.     Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles216 Pets Peeved (I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere) Cheetah (Wikipedia) Victorian London: The London Zoo (Victorian Voices) Baboon (Wikipedia) How to Survive an Encounter with a Baboon (LiveAbout)   Sponsor The BSI Press   Music credits Performers: Unc

“There are certainly one or two indications upon the stick.” [HOUN]  Walking sticks were once fashionable. They were just as necessary as a pair of gloves and a hat in a gentleman's daily attire in Victorian England.   But they also served a practical purpose from time to time. And Sherlock Holmes was able to use these personal effects as clue givers. What do we know about walking sticks and canes in the Canon? It's just a Trifle.         Find Trifles wherever you listen to podcasts: Listen to Sherlock Holmes: 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.  And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal.     Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles215 The History of Walking Canes James Smith & Sons Penang lawyer (Language Hat)   Sponsor The Baker Street Journal   Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher I

“shoes, but no socks.” [PRIO]   Over the course of our first four seasons, we covered a wide variety of haberdashery: dressing gowns, clothes, disguises, and hats, to name a few. But we haven't covered anything related to footwear (unless you count that fleeting reference to tennis shoes in Episode 119).   Shoes, boots, and slippers are a few of the kinds of footwear we come across in the Sherlock Holmes stories, and they all help Sherlock Holmes in some way. Which way is that, you ask? It's just a Trifle.         Find Trifles wherever you listen to podcasts: Listen to Sherlock Holmes: 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.  And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal.     Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles214 Soundcloud playlist: Appearance and Attire A Quick Succession of Subjects by Chris Redmond   Sponsor The Baker Street Journal

“I can tell a Moriarty when I see one.” [VALL]    Quick: in "The Final Problem," what is the name of Sherlock Holmes's arch-rival? Yes, we know it's Professor Moriarty, but what's his first name? If you said "James," you'd be wrong.   Would you be surprised to learn that he has not only one, but two brothers, at least one of whom is also named James? It's a conundrum worthy of Moriarty himself. And it's just a Trifle.         Find Trifles wherever you listen to podcasts: Listen to Sherlock Holmes: 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.  And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal.     Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles213 Colonel James Moriarty (Baker Street Fandom) "Moriarty Times Three" (Walter Jaffee, The Baker Street Journal Vol. 57, No. 2, 2007)   Sponsor The Baker Street Journal   Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist,

 “the great black-faced monkey of the Himalayan slopes,” [CREE]    It's only mentioned in passing, but the langur played an important role in "The Aventure of the Creeping Man." It showed you could make a monkey out of Professor Presbury.   In this episode, we begin a monthly series on exotic animals. What do we know of langurs? Or of the other choices at hand during that time? It seems like a peculiar choice, but then again, it's just a Trifle.       Find Trifles wherever you listen to podcasts: Listen to Sherlock Holmes: 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.  And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal.     Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles212 Gray langur (Wikipedia) The Medical Casebook of Doctor Arthur Conan Doyle by Alvin Rodin and Jack Key (Amazon) Monkey Gland Cocktail (Spruce Eats)   Sponsor The Baker Street Journal   Musi

“His life as been academic” [CREE]    Sherlock Holmes and academic affairs are, well, elementary. [Sorry] But have you considered those who hold the title "professor" when it comes to the stories?   Of course you know Professor Moriarty. But there are only two others, which is a tad surprising, given the stories that involved the academy. It's just a Trifle.       Find Trifles wherever you listen to podcasts: Listen to Sherlock Holmes: 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.  And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal.   Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles211   Sponsor The BSI Press   Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0   --  

 “you could not celebrate him without being known yourself.” [HOUN]   Every year, the Baker Street Irregulars meet in early January to celebrate Sherlock Holmes's birthday. Why January, or more specifically January 6? It's an interesting story.   We discuss what factors may support that supposition and highlight the scholarship that helped us arrive at this date. It's just a Trifle.     Find Trifles wherever you listen to podcasts: Listen to Sherlock Holmes: 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.  And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal.     Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles210 Happy 167th Birthday, Sherlock Holmes (I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere) "What Was the Month?" by Nathan Bengis, BSJ Vol. 7, No. 4 (1957)   Sponsor The BSI Press   Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.

“As I expected, his reply was typewritten” [IDEN]    While handwriting was and is distinctive enough for a detective like Sherlock Holmes to draw some inferences, typography isn't quite so forgiving.    Whether it was through fonts used in newspapers or flourishes of individual typewriters ("the fourteen other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." [IDEN]), Holmes was able to wring more out of typography than the average investigator. It's just a Trifle.   This is our final episode of Season 4. Should we continue into Season 5? Let us know.       Find Trifles wherever you listen to podcasts: Listen to Sherlock Holmes: 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.  And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal.   Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles209 The Gorgeous Typeface that Drove Men Mad and Sparked a 100-Year Mystery (Gizm

“Have you ever had occasion to study character in handwriting?” [SIGN]    More than once, Sherlock Holmes used someone's handwriting to guide him toward a solution. Whether it was a hastily-scribbled legal document or a red herring of a note, he was able to discern certain facts by observing the handwriting.    But was this a mere fiction, a literary license to make his powers seem more impressive? Or was it more practical in nature? It's just a Trifle.       Find Trifles wherever you listen to podcasts: Listen to Sherlock Holmes: 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.  And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal.   Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles208 Graphology (Wikipedia)   Sponsor The BSI Press   Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band

“Holmes smiled and rubbed his hands” [WIST]    Sherlock Holmes enjoyed breakfast. But it was often interrupted. He had a variable knowledge of botany but knew enough to feel chagrined for missing green peas at 7:30. What can we tell about Sherlock Holmes's food habits from Earle Walbridge's essay from 1940 titled "The Care and Feeding of Sherlock Holmes"? It's the monthly installment of our "Mr. Sherlock Holmes the Theorist" theme, and it's just a Trifle.       Find Trifles wherever you listen to podcasts: Listen to Sherlock Holmes: 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.  And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal.     Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles207 "The Care and Feeding of Sherlock Holmes" by Earle F. Walbridge in 221B: Studies in Sherlock Holmes Previous episodes mentioned in this show: Episode 42: A Noble Supper Episod

“Holmes smiled and rubbed his hands” [WIST]   Did Sherlock Holmes care about teeth? There's evidence that he cared about his own teeth, as seen through his recommendation of dental hygiene, and through his remark about losing a tooth.   But what about the potential of dental science as applied to the art of detection? Sherlock Holmes had the potential to be the world's first forensic dentist. Did he make any progress? It's just a Trifle.   Find Trifles wherever you listen to podcasts: Listen to Sherlock Holmes: 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.  And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal.     Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles206 The Big Book of British Smiles (YouTube) "The Dental Holmes" by Charles Goodman, D.D.S. in Profile by Gaslight   Sponsor The BSI Press   Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Cham

 “sinister atmosphere of forgotten nations,” [DEVI]  It's not quite a holiday for Sherlock Holmes in "The Devil's Foot," but rather a time away from London to be able to recuperate. "The villages which dotted this part of Cornwall" gave a quaint, other-worldly feeling to the setting.   But so too did the traces of "some vanished race which had passed utterly away, and left as it sole record strange monuments of stone, irregular mounds which contained the burned ashes of the dead." The Cornish coast was the perfect place for this story. And it's just a Trifle.     Find Trifles wherever you listen to podcasts: Listen to Sherlock Holmes: 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.  And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal.     Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles205 History of Cornwall (Wikipedia) The Game Is Afoot! by David Hamer (Amazon) "The