“the little man was much more favourable to me” [REDH] In their 86-year history the Baker Street Irregulars have had six leaders. Of them, Julian Wolff, BSI ("The Red-Headed League) seems to have been the least likely. As Malvolio says in Twelfth Night, "Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 'em." Julian was in the third category, as there was a leadership vacuum following the unexpected death of Edgar W. Smith in 1960, after 20 years of leadership, and...
Jul 15, 2020•1 hr 7 min•Season 14Ep. 196
“enterprise and originality” [COPP] When Steve and Sharon Emecz founded MX Publishing, it had a very different purpose than it does today. And while most Sherlockians know the outfit for its many pastiches (particularly through the edited by David Marcum), there's much more going on here than one might realize. Steve Emecz joined us to talk about what drives him and how MX has grown to become a wide-ranging publisher with over 400 books and 150 authors under its imprint. Not to mention how they ...
Jun 30, 2020•1 hr 5 min•Season 14Ep. 195
“Do you feel a creeping, shrinking sensation” [CHAS] Holmes and Watson turn to burglary in "The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton," seeking to thwart the designs of "the worst man in London." The story holds a unique place in the Canon for its distinctive villain and the Great Detective's "strong natural turn" for criminal enterprise, as well as the host of thorny ethical questions raised by his actions. There's so much to pick apart from this, one of the shortest in the Sherlock Holmes ca...
Jun 15, 2020•59 min•Season 14Ep. 194
“Have you heard nothing of doings hereabouts?” [VALL] Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a complex man. We know him mostly for his Sherlock Holmes stories, but he was so much more. His interest in spiritualism began far before his son's death, for example. And his storytelling abilities span historical and legal topics, as well as drama and poetry in addition to fiction. The podcast by Paul Chapman and Mark Jones explores the multifaceted personality and outputs of this giant of an author. Mark Jones jo...
May 30, 2020•1 hr 7 min•Season 14Ep. 193
“the apple of his eye” [SILV] "Art in the blood is liable to take the strangest of shapes," Sherlock Holmes told us in "The Greek Interpreter." And in the case of Regina Stinson, it takes a number of fascinating shapes. Regina Stinson, BSI ("A Little Ribston-Pippin") is a longtime Sherlockian who was so determined to meet with other like-minded people that she established her own society. She takes us on that journey which ultimately led to her selling at events and eventually online. Sherlockia...
May 15, 2020•59 min•Season 14Ep. 192
“he sat musing for a little while” [CREE] We muse about a great many topics, both here and on our companion show, . So it seemed only perfect to bring on Sheldon Goldfarb, author of Sherlockian Musings: Thoughts on the Sherlock Holmes Stories. We certainly had our expectations met, but they were also exceeded, as Sheldon brought in his knowledge of William Makepeace Thackeray, shared some broad themes that reverberate throughout the Canon, and even expounded on the difference between evaluation ...
Apr 30, 2020•1 hr 3 min•Season 14Ep. 191
“a series of lessons with the greatest for the last” [REDC] The BSI Press continues its Professions Series in 2020, this time with Education Never Ends: Education, Educators, and the Sherlockian Canon. And we sat down with Marino C. Alvarez, Ed.D., BSI ("Hilton Soames") and Timothy S. Greer, BSI ("Ragged Shaw"), editors of the volume. They schooled us on all of the ways that education plays a role in the Sherlock Holmes stories, from evil-natured teachers to those who would literally give up the...
Apr 15, 2020•1 hr 11 min•Season 14Ep. 190
“discussion of those questions which lie between us” [FINA] In an effort to cheer the spirits of the home-bound and continue reveling in Sherlock Holmes, we decided a show with just Burt and Scott discussing current affairs was, in addition to brandy, just what the good doctor ordered. Given that all Sherlockian gatherings this spring have been cancelled or postponed, we used this as a jumping-off point for imagining what kind of virtual gatherings we might be able to instigate. We had a few ide...
Mar 30, 2020•1 hr 2 min•Season 14Ep. 189
“the artist had brought out the full effect of the lustrous black hair” [NOBL] Frank Cho, BSI ("The Duke of Balmoral") is an artist known worldwide in the comic industry. From his early strips in college to his work with Marvel and D.C., he is an artist whose services are in high demand. Cho is also a Sherlockian, and has been one for quite some time. It's only recently though that his profession and his hobby have begun to find a common thread. We chatted about the evolution of his talent and h...
Mar 15, 2020•59 min•Season 14Ep. 188
“Holmes gave me a brief review” [THOR] You may recognize the name Steven Doyle, BSI ("The Western Morning News"). He's half of the Wessex Press team, and he was the publisher behind The Sherlock Holmes Review — that Sherlockian quarterly that ran for a decade. Steve joins us to talk about the impetus behind the publication and why Wessex Press is bringing it back to life. He also shares many details behind the legendary interview with Jeremy Brett and how the Granada team really got into the spi...
Feb 29, 2020•1 hr 20 min•Season 14Ep. 187
“your wide experience of turf matters” [SILV] The sport of kings horse racing is part of the Sherlock Holmes lore. It's also part of a tradition in Sherlockian events going back some 70 years. The BSI Press has issued a new book, , that is a comprehensive look at horse racing in the Canon, Victorian England, and the Baker Street Irregulars, as well as associated topics such as gambling, drugs (quite an associated set of vices!), the law, art, and history. Candace J. Lewis, BSI ("A Little Art Jar...
Feb 15, 2020•1 hr 4 min•Season 14Ep. 186
"pursuing some laborious researches" [3STU] The name William S. Baring-Gould is one of a hallowed few in the pantheon of Sherlockian scholars. He is one of the handful of chronologists who has attempted to put the stories in a particular order, using a number of research techniques. He also wrote the first unofficial "biography" of Sherlock Holmes with his Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street: A Life of the World's First Consulting Detective. And his name is synonymous with his magnum opus from 1967,...
Jan 30, 2020•1 hr 27 min•Season 14Ep. 185
“a certain quiet primness of dress” [MUSG] For the last 26 years, Beau Ties Ltd. has been a Vermont-based U.S. manufacturer of bow ties. And sometimes we see glimpses of Sherlock Holmes coming through. Because we're bow tie fanciers and astute observers of things, we decided to chat with an executive from Beau Ties Ltd. to understand their thinking. So we sat down with Cy Tall, President of Beau Ties Ltd. From her choice of college major to her consulting career, Cy's decisions eventually led he...
Jan 15, 2020•1 hr 1 min•Season 14Ep. 184
“Light-houses, my boy! Beacons of the future!” [NAVA] The Beacon Society needs your help. In particular, it needs you to spread the word to teachers, librarians, students and more. Established in 2003, the Beacon Society introduces young people to the Sherlock Holmes stories and recognizes people who are doing their part to do the same. Through grants, awards, essay contests and more, the group has many resources and opportunities for all who wish to get involved. In this episode, we're joined b...
Dec 30, 2019•55 min•Season 183Ep. 13
“he returned refreshed to his monograph upon the Polyphonic Motets of Lassus” [BRUC] Perhaps you recall Watson mentioning in the midst of "The Bruce-Partington Plans" that Sherlock Holmes took his mind off of things while waiting for crucial information by losing himself "in a monograph which he had undertaken upon the Polyphonic Motets of Lassus." Perhaps you've wondered who Lassus was. That would be Orlande de Lassus (or Orlando di Lasso), a Renaissance composer, who along with Palestrina, was...
Dec 15, 2019•1 hr 15 min•Season 13Ep. 182
“well acquainted with his daily routine” [RESI] When we named our show I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere, it was an acknowledgment that we can find Sherlock Holmes-inspired activity virtually any place we look. But our guests on this episode show us that they could see it being named I Hear of Sherlock Every Day. Levi Stahl and Stacey Shintani are the authors of , published by the University of Chicago Press. In actuality, the quotes are from across the entirety of the publicly-available Sherlock Ho...
Nov 30, 2019•1 hr•Season 13Ep. 181
“at this conference” [MAZA] We took the show on the road! Burt and Scott ventured to Bloomington, Indiana for the Baker Street Irregulars' conference "Building an Archive" at the Lilly Library at Indiana University. It was an event filled with conversations and exhibitions that delighted all, collectors or not. The event was the celebration of the BSI Archive officially opening at the Lilly. It featured a walk-through the exhibition "The History of the BSI Through 221 Objects" and a number of pa...
Nov 15, 2019•1 hr 6 min•Season 13Ep. 180
“Your conversation is most entertaining” [SPEC] Usually things run like clockwork around these parts. But with both Burt and Scott on the road for work, and trying to coordinate daytime, evening, and even weekend schedules with various guests, sometimes it doesn't work out. So, we're returning to our roots and just having a chat with each other. It's a wide-ranging conversation that takes us from the 92nd Street Y with Joel Grey and Nicholas Meyer (Joel Grey played a small part in The Seven Per-...
Oct 30, 2019•54 min•Season 13Ep. 179
“this peculiar incident” [SIGN] He was almost single-handedly responsible for the revival of interest of Sherlock Holmes in the 1970s with . Now, 45 years after his first novel about Sherlock Holmes, Nicholas Meyer, BSI ("A Fine Morocco Case") returns with . The case takes us to January of 1905, when Holmes and Watson are summoned by Mycroft to undertake a clandestine investigation. A British Secret Service agent was found floating in the Thames with a manuscript smuggled into England that cost ...
Oct 15, 2019•1 hr 11 min•Season 13Ep. 178
“being out of the ordinary” [LADY] Since Sir Arthur Conan Doyle first began the tradition in 1927, Sherlockians worldwide have debated which are the "best" Sherlock Holmes stories. There have been polls, surveys and lists. Articles, books, and debates. The core list is usually consistent, with a few variables along the way. Ashley Polasek—a familiar name to listeners of I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere—took up the challenges as only she could: considering the stories and their reinterpretation over...
Sep 30, 2019•56 min•Season 13Ep. 177
“it would be a great pleasure” [SIGN] Acclaimed biographer Christopher Sandford joins us to discuss his book . But this isn't a biography. As Sandford explained, there was a perpetual itch that Conan Doyle had to scratch, and his writing wasn't enough to satisfy it. How did his lifelong crusade pan out? Why did he embrace spiritualism so fervently when he also valued the scientific method? How did he feel about the dissolution of his friendship with Harry Houdini? We discover the answers to thes...
Sep 15, 2019•1 hr•Season 12Ep. 176
“furnished lodgings close to a library” [3STU] When you have a world-class collection, it makes sense for a world-class institution to house it. And not just any such institution (as there are many), but one that can meet the needs of the depositor. In this case, we're talking about the BSI Archives and the Lilly Library—two venerable institutions. From November 8-10, 2019, the BSI is hosting at conference at the University of Indiana, where the Lilly Library resides. Titled "Building an Archive...
Aug 30, 2019•55 min•Season 13Ep. 175
“he was not the man that they had known” [CREE] Christopher Sequeira is a familiar name among those who enjoy speculative fiction. That's the intersection of horror, fantasy, science fiction, and super hero. And that's where his connection with Sherlock Holmes resides as well. Where did Chris first get inspired in this direction? In the latest book he has edited, Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Was Not, Chris assembled authors to write short stories that share this premise: what if Sherlock Holmes te...
Aug 15, 2019•51 min•Season 12Ep. 174
“Male costume is nothing new to me” [SCAN] It isn't every day you run into someone who crashed an invitation-only event 45 years ago. When you add to the mix that the event was all-male and the interloper was a female—well, now we have the beginning of a good story. For years it remained a mystery, which is just fine with Rosemary Herbert, our guest for this episode and the very same person who pulled off the caper. It's the perfect genre, as Rosemary has been involved in the world of mystery fi...
Jul 30, 2019•1 hr 12 min•Season 12Ep. 173
“What do you want with the coffin?” [LADY] As a rule, Sherlockians and Holmesians are a welcoming bunch. But occasionally you'll see arguments spring up about why a certain book, film, television show, play, or other related project is rubbish. Well, that's completely subjective, isn't it? The guiding light of the Sherlockian movement since its earliest days is rooted in having fun. And who is one person to tell another person how they can have fun? Such is the motivating factor behind Doyle's R...
Jul 15, 2019•59 min•Season 12Ep. 172
“all the enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street.” [COPP] There are a handful of names in the pantheon of Sherlockians that are legendary: Morley. Bell. Smith. Starrett. Baring-Gould. And Shaw. For as much as John Bennett Shaw influenced modern-day Sherlockians, we haven't spent much time discussing him or his impact. Fortunately, Jim Hawkins does just that. And he does it in a most wonderful way, both in this interview and more comprehensively on the website that he created. Exp...
Jul 01, 2019•1 hr 4 min•Season 12Ep. 171
“these characters convey a message” [DANC] It isn't every day that one has an opportunity to chat with someone who owns an intimate piece of clothing that belonged to "a certain gracious lady." Barbara Rusch, BSI ("The Mazarin Stone") is a collector of Victoriana and ephemera, and more importantly is the author of the play "The Crossing: or Three Authors in Search of a Character." In a barren antechamber three titans meet unexpectedly. Oscar Wilde, Edgar Allan Poe, and Harry Houdini are not plea...
Jun 15, 2019•1 hr•Season 12Ep. 170
"His name is Vincent" [REDH] We last spoke with Ray Betzner, BSI ("The Agony Column") five years ago (on Episode 61), where he was joined by Susan Rice, BSI ("Beeswing"). Ray had just launched his blog, Studies in Starrett, which takes a look at the works, connections, and life of Vincent Starrett, BSI ("A Study in Scarlet"). Now that the site has reached its five-year mark, we interviewed Ray about what he's seen and written over that half-decade and surprises along the way. It's an insightful ...
May 30, 2019•1 hr 6 min•Season 12Ep. 169
“the name is familiar to me” [SPEC] The parodies of Sherlock Holmes began almost as soon as the short stories began appearing in The Strand Magazine. And parody plots required parody names. Bill Mason, BSI ("White Mason") began keeping a log of the silly iterations and manifestations of Sherlock Holmes's name over the years and has turned it into a book, A Holmes By Any Other Name. But more than a cataloging of names, it's a story about how Sherlock Holmes was been inextricably woven into the fa...
May 15, 2019•1 hr 1 min•Season 12Ep. 168
"He has an extraordinary faculty for figures" [GREE] Chris Schweizer is a Sherlockian of multi-media origins. So it stands to reason that his depictions of the characters take on a multitude of aspects. In our conversation with this Sherlockian artist, we discover that he'd like to illustrate as many characters in the Sherlock Holmes stories as possible. And his work shows his close reading of the texts and his eye for detail, combined with his artistic creativity. Chris explains his process wit...
Apr 30, 2019•1 hr 2 min•Season 12Ep. 167
