Published in: Journal

The Sherlock Holmes Journal, Winter 2021 issue – and Platinum Jubilee Supplement!

Author Roger Johnson

Published on: December 22, 2021

The Sherlock Holmes Journal is published twice a year, usually in June and December.

It is the official voice of the Society and contains its transactions, news and reviews, letters and editorial notes. It is also home to the most erudite scholarship, publishing learned articles from Holmesians world-wide who have something to say on any aspect of Sherlock Holmes and his world. It has been appearing without a break since the first issue in May 1952.
If you’re missing back issues of the Journal, check what’s available from the Society’s shop at  https://sherlock-holmes.org.uk/shop/archives/journal-archive/. There are issues back as far as 1972, for just £3.00 each!

The Winter 2021 issue is now out – with the special Platinum Jubilee Supplement!

You can download the book reviews here:
I Am an Omnivorous Reader (SHJ, Winter 2021)

Editorial: “We Have Books, We Have Our Studies, and We Have Interesting Neighbours”
*  “… among half a dozen excellent new publications is one that I particularly wish to recommend.” It’s the new edition of Holmes & Watson Country by one of our finest Holmesian scholars, the late Bernard Davies.

Editorial Notes:
*  Scholarship is the basis of our hobby – but almost from the start it has been interspersed with humour. Long may it be so!
*  In 1922 a British movie attracted great publicity in Indianapolis – it was The Devil’s Foot, starring Eille Norwood as Sherlock Holmes.
*  Among the 21 Tyrannosaurus rex sculptures that graced the city of Norwich this year was the splendid Lost Holmes, inspired by the great detective and The Lost World. We’re assured that the dinosaurs will return in 2022!
*  Visitors to the Costa de Sol have a choice of canonically-named bars: La Casa de Sherlock Holmes in Torremolinos and Sherlock Holmes in Malaga.
*  On his recent birthday, Alex Kane received a delightful portrait of Sherlock Holmes, painted by his talented 11-year-old daughter Lilah.
*  If you’re fascinated by the “when” of the canon, you should join the Sherlockian Chronologist Guild: https://bkeefauver5.wixsite.com/sherlockchronoguild.
*  The Stepping Stones School for youngsters with Autistic Spectrum Disorder and associated learning needs has been happily settled at Arthur Conan Doyle’s former Surrey home since 2016. This year the school adopted the name of the house, and is now called Undershaw!
*  By unanimous decision, the winner of the 2021 Tony & Freda Howlett Literary Award is Maureen Whittaker, for her admirable book Jeremy Brett: Playing a Part.

“Solving the Final Problem” by Rafe McGregor
*  The problem is… what really happened? All the evidence is there!

“Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Murderous Dr Cream” by Dean Jobb
*  Dr Thomas Neill Cream had already committed more than one murder when he applied for – and received – his licence to practice in the UK. One of his examiners was Dr Joseph Bell, “the real Sherlock Holmes”. But the links between the killer and the detective did not stop there.

“Sherlock Holmes and the London Cabbies” by Bonnie Stepenoff
*  Life for “the jarveys of the Metropolis” could be exciting, but it was often dangerous, especially in that most romantic vehicle the Hansom cab.

“It Seems to Me” by Auberon Redfearn
* As the Society celebrates its 70th birthday, Dr Redfearn celebrates his 50th column in the Journal!

The Hound of the Baskervilles reviewed by Mike Menhenitt
*  The production at the Northcott Theatre in Exeter proves that Steven Canny & John Nicholson’s comedy continues to delight.

“The Dog It Was That Barked”: The Hound of the Baskervilles reviewed by Stephen Heaton
* The British Touring Shakespeare company’s exciting and intelligent production was more faithful to the Canon. Our reviewer saw it at the open-air theatre in Thorington, Suffolk.

“It Is With a Heavy Heart…”  Obituaries by Nicholas Utechin, Jean Upton and Roger Johnson
*  Those who have passed beyond the Reichenbach include the actors Una Stubbs and Viktor Yevgrafov; playwright and song-writer Leslie Bricusse; authors Marvin Kaye and Carole Nelson Douglas; our former member Peter Crupe; and Michael Whelan, Wiggins Emeritus of the Baker Street Irregulars.

“I Am an Omnivorous Reader”
*  Book reviews by Alistair Duncan, Matthew J Elliott, Paul Thomas Miller, Mark Mower, Sarah Obermuller-Bennett, Valerie Schreiner, John Sheppard, Jean Upton, Nicholas Utechin and Roger Johnson.

Wigmore Street Postbag
*  Letters to The Sherlock Holmes Journal.

And in the Platinum Jubilee Supplement…

Editorial: “Some Small Jollification”
*  Including a delightful pictorial greeting from our distinguished Australian member, cartoonist and illustrator Philip Cornell.

“Extant Exhibits: The Remains of 1951” by Nicholas Utechin
*  The Society was founded by five enthusiasts who helped create the Sherlock Holmes Exhibition of 1951, held at Abbey House in Baker Street. Some of the featured items are now in the Sherlock Holmes Museum at Lucens, Switzerland; others are in Westminster Libraries’ Sherlock Holmes Collection, and yet others in the Sherlock Holmes pub. Some are in other public or private collections. Seventy years on, it’s good to know that they survive!

“Data! Data! Data!” The Ardlamont Mystery and the Science of Deduction by Daniel Smith
*  Dr Joseph Bell is rightly celebrated as a major inspiration for Sherlock Holmes, but it was his colleague Sir Henry Littlejohn who served as Edinburgh’s Police Surgeon and helped to investigate many major crimes in the later 19th century. Their work together as expert witnesses in the Ardlamont murder case helped turn the art of detection into the science of detection.

“The Reasoning of Sherlock Holmes and The Adventure of the Abduction Abduction” by Jeffrey A Lockwood, with Franz-Peter Griesmaier (consulting logician)
*  Was Holmes’s detective method based on deduction? Or, as some would have it, on induction? Professor Lockwood says that Holmes’s system of logic was actually abduction (yes, honestly) and he proves it!

“A Study in Collectibles” by Dana Martin Batory
*  One of the rarer and more desirable targets for the Holmesian collector is the Dickens Village Sherlock Holmes: 221B Baker Street, a handsome model house, with the figures of Holmes and Watson, an attractive edition of A Study in Scarlet and The Sign of Four, and the optional extra of a hansom cab.  

“A Fiendish Forum” by Rob Nunn
* A certain canonical villain reports from Hell!

“Capital, Virtually!” The London Mini-Festival – Online
* The AGM on the 13th May, at which Catherine Cooke was elected to succeed David Jones as Chairman, was followed by a rare performance of David Stuart Davies‘s play Fixed Point, in which David himself played Sherlock Holmes, with Matthew Booth as Dr Watson, Mark Jones as the Reporter and Kathryn White as the Nurse. The play remains fresh, and the restricted circumstances under which it was performed and produced did nothing to lessen its impact.
*  On the 15th, the weekend’s major event was the Platinum Anniversary Party, at the heart of which was was the video, encapsulating our 70-year story. It was created by our own members, led by the Platinum Group, and featured guest appearances from Stephen Fry, Professor (Michael) Moriarty, Michael Dirda, Martin Freeman, Mark Gatiss, John Doubleday and Peter Blau.
*  The final event, on the 16th, was Sherlock Holmes Saves the Nation! – a virtual version of a fascinating walk, led by Richard Burnip, through “Mycroft Country”, from the clubland of Pall Mall to the powerhouse of government in Whitehall.

“Dr Richard Asher and a Sixties Society Survey” by Nicholas Utechin
*  Richard Asher, who identified and named Munchausen Syndrome, was the father of Jane Asher and her pop singer brother Peter. He was also a member of the Society in its first ten years, contributing two excellent papers to the Journal.