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May 30, 2024

“the flooring was also thoroughly examined [SPEC] 

 

Cocoanut matting, bearskin rug, carpets — there are a number of notable floor coverings mentioned in the Sherlock Holmes stories. But flooring itself is less notable.

Case in point: linoleum, which appears as a passing mention in just three stories, was a...


May 23, 2024

“Vast sections of it have been cleared [BLAC] 

 

When you're really down in the details about something — something trifling, perhaps — it's difficult to see the forest for the trees, as the saying goes.

Well, we've discussed trees in two previous episodes, so we thought it was time to look at the forests....


May 15, 2024

“at Maiwand without losing my nerve [STUD] 

Maiwand: Saving the Guns by Richard Caton Woodville, 1883 (Wikimedia Commons)
 

It is generally accepted that A Study in Scarlet, when Dr. Watson first met Sherlock Holmes, took place in 1881. Watson was just back from the war in Afghanistan, where he had been...


May 9, 2024

Stop at a telegraph-office, cabby!” [SIGN] 

 
 

Cabbies are everywhere in London – indeed, so common in some cases that they're simply overlooked (we see you, Jefferson Hope!). Could Sherlock Holmes have passed himself off as a cabby?

There are certainly points in his career when it would have made sense....


May 2, 2024

“very curious phraseology [WIST] 

 
 

Here's an interesting little subject that ought to intrigue many Sherlock Holmes fans: words. We are a literate bunch, and when we get to learn more about words — especially words with which we're unfamiliar —  that makes us happy. 

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