Heading west.

Gonna be gone for a few days, so blog my not get as much attention as it should.
See ya soon.

The man whose muscles made women faint: How Britain's first bodybuilder was the father of modern fitness And yes! There is a Sherlockian connection.

Here is the story!

This looks like it could have been fun. . .

Sherlock Holmes 4D

I wonder what ever came of it?
















Link to the creator

Kit Kat Bar is number one! And there is a Sherlockian connection if you dig deep.

Story Here!

And all the rest.

While looking for a picture of Sir Arthur skiing, I came across this site, which I had not seen. . . .

 Here

Introduction | His Life | Fiction | Military | Sport | Spiritualism | True Crime | ACD Quiz     “Sir,- As one who has sampled most British sports, may I say a word about baseball?”  There you have it: a man who was interested in - seemingly - everything, sport being no exception. He took part in various sports, wrote about them and - as in the case quoted above - engaged in controversy about them. Sir Arthur was not exaggerating when he wrote to the Editor of The Times that he had “sampled most British sports”; he certainly had. In his Memories and Adventures, first published in the Strand Magazine, he rightly, if harshly, describes himself as an all-rounder and a second-rater. Dismissing horse racing as not really as sport at all, and shooting animals as barbarous (he excludes fishing, acknowledging the inconsistency), he extols the virtues of boxing. Doyle recalls some of his own experiences of boxing, including an end-of-the-night match which involved boxing in his formal evening clothes.  While praising the benefits of boxing with gloves, Sir Arthur expresses his opinion that the old prize-ring (that is, bare-knuckled boxing) was an excellent thing “from a national point of view…. Better that our sports should be a little too rough than that we should run a risk of effeminacy.” If, Doyle suggests, boxing is the finest single-man sport, rugby is the best collective one, needing “strength, courage, speed and resource [which] are great qualities to include in a single sport.” He wasn’t so keen on the variations of rugby which were popular at some public schools - they are, he says, “freak games” and a national misfortune, for which “our youths are wasting their energies.” As usual, Sir Arthur had a ready opinion on the subject. Doyle was a keen skier, helping to map cross-country routes in Switzerland. When skiing was curtailed by the melting of the snow, he laid out a golf course, but had trouble preventing the Swiss cows (obviously an unsporting lot) chewing the hole flags. Doyle popularized skiing in Switzerland * Doyle’s love of cricket dated from his school days, and continued throughout his life. He turned out for the Allah-Akabarries, a celebrity team including JM Barrie and AEW Mason, author of The Four Feathers. The team name, a combination of Barrie’s name and the Arabic phrase meaning “May God help us”, might not be considered very correct today. Of course, Doyle had strong opinions about cricket, and expressed them in print. Few people would have demurred from his high praise for the recently-dead cricketing hero, WG Grace: “The world will be the poorer to many of us for [his] passing… a masterful personality… made an impression which could never be forgotten.” Doyle casually drops into his article (in The Times), the fact that “I have had the privilege of fielding at point more than once while he made his hundred.”  Doyle bowls out WG Wells * Whether he counted motoring as a sport is not clear; what is quite clear that he was one of this country’s first motorists. He liked the idea of motoring so much that he made a journey of more than 170 miles to buy a car, only taking his first drive on the journey home with his new toy. As for other sporting pursuits - you name it, he probably tried it. Was he a dabbler, a dilettante? Yes, he was, self-confessed. But he put his experiences to good use: in much of his fiction his heroes (fairly) and his villains (no doubt unfairly) engage in many of the sports Sir Arthur tested out on their behalf. Their sporting prowess, or lack of it, was a key indicator of their character as gentlemen or cads, and their exploits greatly enrich his stories. -David Oldman Sport related work by Conan Doyle can be found in: Memories & Adventures (1924)  Reference copies of this is available under category 819.3 in the Sherlock Holmes Collection. Or you may search for lending copies in the Westminster Libraries: Search Catalogue You may also search in the Times Digital Archives Database from the Westminster Libraries online services page for some of Doyle's letters to the editor. Many of these articles are about Sport.

Thank you gentlemen for the props. . .

Although I had downloaded the latest episode of IHOSE, "The Private Life of Vincent Starrett", I had not as yet had time to listen to it.
James suggested I do so for I might be surprised. So I did.

The gracious hosts kindly read my review of my first listening to their show (and made it sound far better than it sounded written) and thanked me for the review.

It is indeed my pleasure, and it has become a habit. A thank you for the thank you.

And because my dad was with Bomber Command I am going to read this one.

Sherlock's Squadron: The Incredible True Stories of the Unsung RAF Heroes of World War Two 

And on your way back, you may as well make another stop. . .

A Murder to Solve, as Holmes Did

This one actually sounds kinda fun.

And if you are looking for a job. . . .

Sherlock Holmes Museum Curator Scorns 'Lazy' Job Applicant For Vacancy Enquiry

You decide.

And while your booking. . .

Sherlock Holmes craze in movies, on TV and in Cape May

Start planning your next vacation now.

Travel plans?

Seven Degrees of Sherlock Holmes - #40 - The Olympic edition - Johnny Weissmuller

Swimming great and jungle king Johnny Weissmuller (1904-1984)

starred in the jungle classic "Tarzan the Ape Man" 1932

Also featured in that film was Forrester Harvey (1884-1945)

who took part in "The Secrets of Scotland Yard" 1944

which also starred Lionel Atwill (1885-1946)

who took part in "Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon" 1943

So, there you have it, there you are.

This should be our motto till "Sherlock" comes back . . .

Seven Degrees of Sherlock Holmes - #39 - honoring Shirley Temple, and the number 39

With the loss of a wonderful child actor and stateswoman, today's Seven Degrees is to Shirley Temple Black.

Shirley Temple (1928 - 2014)

in 1939 starred in one of her biggest hits at the age of 11, "The Little Pricness"

which also featured Richard Greene (1918 - 1985)

who, also in 1939, starred in "The Hound of the Baskervilles"

So, sadly, there you have it, there you are.

A couple of fun pieces of art from deviantart. . . .

 If it hasn't been done yet, this would be a good T-shirt.

One source has it coming back for two more years. . . .

Read it here.

'Elementary' season Two - Episode #15 - 'Corpse de Ballet'

Well, um, not a whole lot of point in reviewing this episode from a Sherlockian perspective because, well, Sherlock Holmes was not present.

Sure we can go back to it's defense with the argument that, 'Well, after all, Sherlock Holmes was basically an early police procedural." And sure we can still find one or two little Sherlockianisms that have been used to many times already.
But that's not why we read, or watch, Sherlock Holmes stories is it?

For whatever faults we may find in 'Elementary's' contemporary, 'Sherlock', it has at least found away to capture some of the traits that has made Sherlock Holmes so popular. And if not familiar traits, at least a quirkiness that makes the character stand out from those characters in the show with him.

Unfortunately, at least for me, Miller's Holmes has dysfunctions that detract and irritate, more than accentuate a great mind of a great detective.
Sure it is fun to watch these two characters change and grow, but they could do that within this show as other than Sherlock and Watson and no one would know the difference.

It is interesting to speculate that when people talk about the show 'House' and an older show called 'QED' that people often say, "That is Sherlock Holmes that House is based on." You have to wonder if Miller and Liu's characters had different names would people be saying that?

The back stories the two characters are developing seem to be developing more just to make a story work, than to make a character deeper.

Most of what Holmes does in this years episodes is what is now done in most crime shows. And sure we can argue that Sherlock Holmes lead the way in that kind of forensic work, but to make 'Elementary' a show about Sherlock Holmes, that stands up to modern times, it needs to come up with an image that sets itself apart other the addictions and fetishes.

I like how Miller's Holmes is, at least in some ways, maturing. But the show is failing to make a connection to Sherlock Holmes except on a most basic level.

Liu's Watson's father's issues may have been a nod to Doyle's father's problems.

It seems like the show is being picked up again for maybe a couple of years, so lets keep our fingers crossed.

I can only, sadly, from a Sherlockian perspective give this episode

I hope others enjoyed it, from a Sherlock Holmes point of view, more than I did.

Seven Degrees of Sherlock Holmes ( a little late ) - number #38 - old movies - Lyndon Brook

Okay, it's cold, it's been a long week of working outside, so I took an easy, yet interesting, connection this time.
Once again, catching up on old movies, I started with a British Favorite from 1956, about a British WW2 hero, and chose an actor from in the movie. However, not the star, because we have already done him once.

Kenneth More (1914 - 1982) starred in a 1956 movie called 'Reach for the Sky'

(A wonderful movie made when there were still some Spitfires and Hurricanes still around)

Also in the movie was Lyndon Brook (1926-2004)

He was the son of Clive Brook (1887 - 1974)

who starred as Sherlock Holmes in 1929's 'The Return of Sherlock Holmes'

So there you have it, there you are.

Worth the read.

Thanks Archaeology Rocks for the lead.

Worth the read.

An informal poll. . . .

A couple of days ago Doyleockian posted an inquiry that I was afraid to get involved with.
He bravely asked the question, "Is Sherlock Holmes Sexy?"

So, firmly tongue-in-cheek, I decided to have another poll.
This one along the lines of the old Gilligan's Island theme asking, "Mary Ann or Ginger?"

So here goes.

Mary Ann

Ginger

 Irene One

 Irene Two

 Mary One

 Mary Two

Voilet

"Sherlock"- Season Three, Episode Three - "His Last Vow" - It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

Corrections.
As James pointed out, I missed the point that Sherlock showed positive on the drug test. And although that changes my theory about Molly's behavior, I stand by my pipe scale.
Loved the beginning.
Okay with the middle.
Did not like the ending.

James makes some very good points, but some of them could be argued either way. And that is what it's all about.
Thanks James.



To be honest, I still am not sure how I feel about the latest episode, "His Last Vow".

I loved the beginning.
Liked the middle.
And not sure how I feel about the end.

The first third to one-half of the episode, for me, was the most Canonically convincing yet.
I loved the references to TWIS, and how that story line was handled.
Also the introduction of CHAR or C.A.M.

The addition of Wiggins, or Billy if you prefer, was fun without being to silly or slapstick.
What little humor there was in this episode, for the most part, was handled appropriately. More like the way funny moments would happen in any one's life. The tit-for-tat when, John and Mary were leaving their apartment, and when all were leaving the drug den, and again when John finds out Sherlock is dating was well balanced and not over-played.

The acting all around was once again top notch. Again, for me, this was the best I had seen Benedict Cumberbatch in all the episodes. Martin Freeman could do not wrong. And I still love Amanda Abbington as Mary. (Although I don't like Mary as well.)

The question of whether or not Sherlock is still a virgin was answered, however, still leaving some questions unanswered. "His Last Vow" perhaps suggesting he won't go down that path again.

Magnussen was almost played more like the reptilian Moriarty, and at times his character would almost go over-board, but they had the sense to pull it back before it went to far.

It was fun to see Holmes' parents given a little more weight in character.
However, other than John and Mary's confrontation by the fireplace, the whole cottage Christmas was lost on me, especially once the drugging took place. It definitely turned into a 'BLUE' Christmas.

Molly's reaction to Holmes being found in a drug den, although proven clean, was almost to much until you realized that it was probably played as repressed emotions coming out about unrequited love, while watching Holmes take on another girl friend, and her loss of the boy friend.

I liked the fact that Janine handled the abbreviated engagement the way she did, while still telling Holmes off about his behavior with her emotions.

There were times, when watching the last third of the episode, and James stated the same, that I felt I was watching an episode of 'Elementary'. The resolution became overly complicated and convoluted.
But, darn, for the life of me I don't know how it could have been done differently once Mary was shown to be a female James Bond.

Holmes couldn't let Mary kill C.A.M. because he knew Watson could not live with that, but he also knew Watson needed to know the truth about Mary.

The whole figuring out how Holmes was not going to die after being shoot was a little to Guy Ritchie for me and went on a hair to long.

The ending seemed escapist also. Meaning they got to a place where the ending was, again, very convoluted and they couldn't figure out how to get out of it. So they suggested Moriarty wasn't dead, and the murdering Holmes was needed to save England.

I still don't know where the connection is between the drug den and the case against Magnussen. It either was never stated or I missed it.

The explanation about Janine's connection to both Mary and C.A.M. was to easy, it makes one, or should, wonder if Janine was in on the blackmail all along. Mary's bridesmaid works for Magnussen, and Mary did not know that? Or was Mary using Janine so she could get access to him?
Was everyone using poor Janine?????

I know! It's kind of a rambling review, but that's how I feel about the show.
It was, for me, at times the best episode. While at times having a few shortcomings.

So, to be fair to my confusion, I give the first part of this episode

The middle I give;

and the end .

so over all about 

unless I change my mind and think about it more.

Over all I think I found it a strong episode with some well done connections to the Canon.

My dislikes are very minor. and the parts I liked, I liked a lot.

The ending has me disappointed about the beginnings of the next series, but I am willing to hope I will be surprised.

One of my blog readers passed this recommendation along. . ..

Here

I am going to check it out for the young reader in our house.

Thanks Karen.

He's not done yet.

Biggest starring role yet?

EXTRA, EXTRA! Sherlock Holmes spotted as youth while on vacation!

FULL STORY HERE!