“so subtly influenced by it” [STUD]  It is well known that T.S. Eliot lifted lines from "The Musgrave Ritual" and appropriated them for Murder in the Cathedral, as well as found inspiration for Macavity in the Napoleon of crime.   In this "Mr. Sherlock Holmes the Theorist" episode, Don Hardenbrook, BSI ("Huret, the Boulevard Assassin") found a deeper meaning in Four Quartets, a collection of four interlinked poems by Eliot. One that echoes of The Hound of the Baskervilles. And it's just a Trifle. 

If you have a question for us, please email us at [email protected]. If you use your inquiry on the show, we'll send you a thank you gift.

  Don't forget to listen to "Trifling Trifles" — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode. This is a benefit exclusively for our paying subscribers. Check it out (Patreon | Substack).   Leave Trifles a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify; listen to this episode here or wherever you get podcasts   Links

• Four Quartets (Wikipedia)
• The Baker Street Journal
• All of our social links: https://linktr.ee/ihearofsherlock
• Email us at trifles @ ihearofsherlock.com 

  Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band. Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

“a huge expanse” [HOUN]  Credit: Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 4.0  There are four main characters in The Hound of the Baskervilles: Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson, the hound, and the moor. [Record scratch SFX]   Yes, the moor. Inspired by a clip from an old IHOSE episode, we explore why this ever-present setting looms large in the story, both when it's explicitly mentioned and when it's not. It's just a Trifle. 

If you have a question for us, please email us at [email protected]. If you use your inquiry on the show, we'll send you a thank you gift.

  Don't forget to listen to "Trifling Trifles" — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode. This is a benefit exclusively for our paying subscribers. Check it out (Patreon | Substack).   Leave Trifles a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify; listen to this episode here or wherever you get podcasts   Links

• I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere Episode 68: Sherlock Holmes on Radio, Part 1
• Edgon Heath (Holst) (Wikipedia)
• Previous episodes mentioned:
• Episode 393 - The Geography of The Hound of the Baskervilles
• Episode 441 - About the Moor
• Episode 444 - John H. Watson—Word Painter
• All of our social links: https://linktr.ee/ihearofsherlock
• Email us at trifles @ ihearofsherlock.com 

  Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band. Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

“traced in the Cornish branch of the great Celtic speech” [DEVI]  The Morley-Montgomery Award series rolls on, and this time we've jumped from 1979 (the last award granted, covered in Episode 453) to 1995. Dr. Margaret Nydell turns her philological attention to the Canon.

She specifically looks at Sherlock Holmes's intentions in researching the Cornish language, with its roots in Chaldean. Her article is both scholarly and delightfully funny. And it's just a Trifle. 

If you have a question for us, please email us at [email protected]. If you use your inquiry on the show, we'll send you a thank you gift.

  Don't forget to listen to "Trifling Trifles" — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode. This is a benefit exclusively for our paying subscribers. Check it out (Patreon | Substack).   Leave Trifles a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify; listen to this episode here or wherever you get podcasts     Links

• The Morley-Montgomery Award
• The Morley-Montgomery Award series of episodes (Patreon | Substack)
• Previous episodes mentioned:
• Episode 439 - The Archeological Holmes
• Episode 453 - The Location of the Hound of the Baskervilles
• All of our social links: https://linktr.ee/ihearofsherlock
• Email us at trifles @ ihearofsherlock.com 

    Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band. Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

“What good are you going to get out of your diamond?” [MAZA]  We're back in the theater for another Sherlock Holmes story in our series on the Apocrypha of Sherlock Holmes. It seems that Conan Doyle saw great potential in other mediums (not just the seance type, either).

The Crown Diamond: An Evening With Sherlock Holmes is clearly a rehash of the short story "The Mazarin Stone." Or was thought to be, anyway. That is, until James Montgomery, BSI ("The Red Circle") discovered it in an exercise book and determined the publication order. And it's just a Trifle. 

If you have a question for us, please email us at [email protected]. If you use your inquiry on the show, we'll send you a thank you gift.

  Don't forget to listen to "Trifling Trifles" — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode. This is a benefit exclusively for our paying subscribers. Check it out (Patreon | Substack).   Leave Trifles a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify; listen to this episode here or wherever you get podcasts   Links

• The Crown Diamond (Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia)
• Exercise book containing The Crown Diamond (Toronto Public Library)
• Episode 290: James Montgomery (I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere)
• All of our social links: https://linktr.ee/ihearofsherlock
• Email us at trifles @ ihearofsherlock.com 

  Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band. Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

“amused myself by visiting Lhassa...looked in at Mecca” [FINA]  The Great Hiatus, as the interval between "The Final Problem" and "The Empty House" is known, has inspired a great deal of speculation and interpretation, thanks to Sherlock Holmes's brief and tantalizing account of his time away.   Edgar Smith took it on in his famous essay (as referenced in Episode 334), but Don Pollock took aim at the fawning acceptance in his own analysis in a 1975 issue of The Baker Street Journal. It's just a Trifle.   If you have a question for us, please email us at [email protected]. If you use your inquiry on the show, we'll send you a thank you gift.   Don't forget to listen to "Trifling Trifles" — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode. This is a benefit exclusively for our paying subscribers. Check it out (Patreon | Substack).   Leave Trifles a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify; listen to this episode here or wherever you get podcasts   Links

• The Baker Street Journal
• Trifles Episode 334 - The Great Hiatus
• All of our social links: https://linktr.ee/ihearofsherlock
• Email us at trifles @ ihearofsherlock.com 

  Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band. Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

“lumbering upon its way” [DEVI]  Across the Sherlock Holmes stories, we find a few mentions of what seems to be a strange and magical place in English residences: the lumber room.   In old country houses and in the city at 221B Baker Street, as well as in descriptions of the mind, the lumber room is a place that deserves a little exploration. And it's just a Trifle.   Thanks to Kaj for the suggestion for this episode. If you have a question for us, please email us at [email protected]. If you use your inquiry on the show, we'll send you a thank you gift.   Don't forget to listen to "Trifling Trifles" — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode. This is a benefit exclusively for our paying subscribers. Check it out (Patreon | Substack).   Leave Trifles a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify; listen to this episode here or wherever you get podcasts   Links

• All of our social links: https://linktr.ee/ihearofsherlock
• Email us at trifles @ ihearofsherlock.com 

  Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band. Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

“I was able to reach Baskerville Hall” [HOUN]  There are a handful of locations in the Sherlock Holmes stories that are regularly sought out by fans. Of course 221B Baker Street is at the top of the list, along with the Reichenbach Falls. For those who venture to the west, Baskerville Hall is always a source of inspiration.   But where exactly was it? Scholars have been debating that subject for decades, and in 1979 Howard Brody, BSI ("Anstruther") won the Morley-Montgomery Award for his paper that attempted to settle the matter. It's just a Trifle.   If you have a question for us, please email us at [email protected]. If you use your inquiry on the show, we'll send you a thank you gift.   Don't forget to listen to "Trifling Trifles" — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode. This is a benefit exclusively for our paying subscribers. Check it out (Patreon | Substack).   Leave Trifles a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify; listen to this episode here or wherever you get podcasts   Links

• The Morley-Montgomery Award
• The Morley-Montgomery Award series of episodes (Patreon | Substack)
• Baskerville Hall Hotel
• All of our social links: https://linktr.ee/ihearofsherlock
• Email us at trifles @ ihearofsherlock.com 

  Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band. Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

“took to the stage” [TWIS]  When faced with four months of an empty theater in a six-month lease in 1910, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle did the only thing he could on a moment's notice: he turned to Sherlock Holmes.

The Stonor Case (later renamed The Speckled Band) went into production and is considered part of the group of stories categorized as apocryphal. While the name was the same as the short story, there were departures from the original. This and many tales about this play are all a Trifle. 

If you have a question for us, please email us at [email protected]. If you use your inquiry on the show, we'll send you a thank you gift.

  Don't forget to listen to "Trifling Trifles" — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode. This is a benefit exclusively for our paying subscribers. Check it out (Patreon | Substack).   Leave Trifles a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify; listen to this episode here or wherever you get podcasts     Links

• The Stonor Case / The Speckled Band (Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia)
• H.A. Saintsbury (Wikipedia)
• Lyn Harding (Wikipedia)
• All of our social links: https://linktr.ee/ihearofsherlock
• Email us at trifles @ ihearofsherlock.com 

  Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band. Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

“Well, but China?” [REDH]    

Our recent episode about real people who inspired characters in the Sherlock Holmes stories spills over into this episode for our monthly Mr. Sherlock Holmes the Theorist-themed episode.

Jay Finley Christ wrote a piece in 1949 that wasn't widely published until 1975 (if one can call the audience of Baker Street Miscellanea wide). Prof. Christ takes on John Dickson Carr's biography and other Sherlockians, debunking a myth about the inspiration for Dr. Watson. And it's just a Trifle. 

If you have a question for us, please email us at [email protected]. If you use your inquiry on the show, we'll send you a thank you gift.

  Don't forget to listen to "Trifling Trifles" — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode. This is a benefit exclusively for our paying subscribers. Check it out (Patreon | Substack).   Leave Trifles a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify; listen to this episode here or wherever you get podcasts     Links

• Jay Finley Christ — An Old Irregular (IHOSE)
• Baker Street Miscellanea
• All of our social links: https://linktr.ee/ihearofsherlock
• Email us at trifles @ ihearofsherlock.com 

  Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band. Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

“There are the originals” [LAST]    

Sherlockians go to great pains to "play the game," meaning that Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson were real. If we can drop the mask for a moment, we all know they were creations of one Arthur Conan Doyle.

We also know that every author is inspired by people, names, and places around them. So too was Conan Doyle when he created certain characters. Who were some of the characters in the Canon who were inspired by real people? It's just a Trifle. 

If you have a question for us, please email us at [email protected]. If you use your inquiry on the show, we'll send you a thank you gift.

  Don't forget to listen to "Trifling Trifles" — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode. This is a benefit exclusively for our paying subscribers. Check it out (Patreon | Substack).   Leave Trifles a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify; listen to this episode here or wherever you get podcasts     Links

• The Fabulous Originals: Lives of Extraordinary People who Inspired Memorable Characters in Fiction by Irving Wallace
• Literary Characters Drawn from Life by Earle Walbridge 
• All of our social links: https://linktr.ee/ihearofsherlock
• Email us at trifles @ ihearofsherlock.com 

  Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band. Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0