Sherlock Holmes: Trifles

"I went into the back yard" [BLUE]

The third week of the month means we look at a piece of Sherlockian scholarship — particularly one that may not be as widely read or generally available to most Sherlock Holmes fans.

This month, we're looking at Bernard Davies' "The Back Yards of Baker Street," which appeared in James Edward Holroyd's Seventeen Steps to 221B. Step with us through the alleyways of 1895 to see if we can make a proper identification. It's just a Trifle.

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

• Seventeen Steps to 221B by James Edward Holroyd (Abebooks)
• 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

"You have done your best to get an innocent man hanged." [NORW]

Capital punishment in the United Kingdom evolved over a period of time. From the mid-17th century through 1820, the Bloody Code tracked some 200 crimes punishable by death.

In which Sherlock Holmes stories do we hear about capital punishment, and under England's laws of the late Victorian period, who would have been eligible for death by hanging? It's just a Trifle.

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

• Capital punishment in the United Kingdom (Wikipedia)
• 11 Ridiculous Crimes That Carried the Death Penalty Before Queen Victoria (Ranker)
• Other episodes mentioned:
• Episode 301 - Sherlock Holmes and Australians
• 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

"so ardent a bicyclist must be full of energy" [SOLI]

The latest installment in our review of Morley-Montgomery Award-winning articles is by Andrew Jay Peck, BSI ("Inspector Baynes"): "The Solitary Man-Uscript" from Vol. 22, No. 2 of The Baker Street Journal in 1972.

Just who was the Solitary Cyclist? There are two cyclists in the story, and one is a young lady simply trying to get to her train safely; the other is a bearded man with sunglasses hunched over his handlebars. Only one of them can be our cyclist. It's just a Trifle.

Don't forget to check out our "Trifling Trifles" series -- shorter content that didn't warrant a full episode, available 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

• Sherlock Holmes Manuscripts: Census (Best of Sherlock)
• The BSI Press Manuscript Series
• The Morley-Montgomery Award
• The Morley-Montgomery Award series of episodes (Patreon | Substack)
• 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 strange, loud whiz" [EMPT]

We came across a quite unusual observation — a Trifle, if you will — in an old issue of The Baker Street Journal. An article by Antony Boucher called "An Aborted Avatar."

Boucher discovered a turn of the century play called The King of Gee-Whiz that involved Sherlock Holmes in a quite unusual setting. The play was co-written by L. Frank Baum, of The Wizard of Oz fame. It's just a Trifle.

Another "Trifling Trifles" episode — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode — is coming your way in a few days. As a reminder, this is 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

• Anthony Boucher (Wikipedia)
• The King of Gee-Whiz (Project Gutenberg)
• 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

"general resemblance to an itinerant" [VALL]

A term we don't hear as frequently these days is "gypsy." Unless you're headed to see a Sondheim musical, which is about an entirely different Gypsy (and one with Sherlockian connections too).

Anyway, our focus here is on stories in which gypsies are mentioned (there are two; can you name them?) and a bit of historical context of gypsies in the Victorian era, including the documented experience of one exalted person. It's just a Trifle.

Another "Trifling Trifles" episode — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode — is coming your way in a few days. As a reminder, this is 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

• Gypsies, Roma, or Travellers (Victorian Web)
• Queen Victoria's Journals (Romani)
• 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

"before my biographer had come to glorify me" [GREE]

Once again, we find ourselves in a "Mr. Sherlock Holmes the theorist"-themed episode, where we look at a piece of old scholarship. This time, we share a chapter from William S. Baring-Gould's groundbreaking biography of Sherlock Holmes. Chapter V "On Stage and Off in England and America: 1879–1881" finds us in the two years leading up to Holmes and Watson meeting each other, while Holmes was beginning to run low on funds. His decision would mean a remarkable set of experiences ahead. It's just a Trifle.

And we have some bonus content related to a particular footnote of Baring-Gould's in this chapter. It's available exclusively for our supporters. Another "Trifling Trifles" episode — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode — is coming your way in a few days. As a reminder, this is 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

• Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street: A Life of the World's First Consulting Detective by William S. Baring-Gould (Abebooks)
• Other episodes mentioned:
• Episode 124 - Odd Jobs
• Episode 130 - Watson's Club
• Episode 412 - A Touch of the Dramatic
• 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 would read as easily as I do the apocrypha" [VALL]

The second in our series on the Apocrypha of Sherlock Holmes — stories that are not in the original Canonical 60 but that have some relevant interest. In this case, we have a story written by Arthur Conan Doyle in 1898 and set in 1892 involving the mysterious death of a passenger on a train. The murderer is nowhere to be found and the man has an unusual number of watches on his person.

A "well-known criminal investigator" writes a letter to the press with an explanation. We briefly discuss the story and the many theories as to the authorship of those letters over the years by numerous Sherlockians. It's just a Trifle.

This season, we've added "Trifling Trifles" — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode — as an additional channel of content exclusively for our paying subscribers. Check it out (Patreon | Substack). Do you have a topic you'd like to recommend? Email us at [email protected] and if we use your idea on the air, we'll send you a thank-you gift. Leave Trifles a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify; listen to this episode here or wherever you get podcasts Please leave us a rating and review on iTunes or Google Play, and consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or Substack. Links

• The Story of the Man with the Watches (Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia)
• 5. The Man with the Watches & The Lost Special (Doings of Doyle)
• 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

"you are mistaken about my alleged agents" [MAZA] Along with the calabash pipe, deerstalker cap, and Inverness cape, one of Sherlock Holmes's traits is the use of cocaine. But should it be? William H. Miller, M.D. F.A.C.P. won the Morley-Montgomery Award for his article in Vol. 19, No. 3 of The Baker Street Journal in which he asserted that we're mistaken in believing that Sherlock Holmes used cocaine. Don't believe us? Well, it's just a Trifle. All of our supporters are eligible for our monthly drawings for Baker Street Journals and bonus content. Join our community on Patreon or Substack today. This season, we've added "Trifling Trifles" — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode — as an additional channel of content exclusively for our paying subscribers. Check it out (Patreon | Substack). Do you have a topic you'd like to recommend? Email us at [email protected] and if we use your idea on the air, we'll send you a thank-you gift. Leave Trifles a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify; listen to us wherever you listen to podcasts. Links / Notes

• Morley-Montgomery Award Winners
• Previous episodes referenced:
• Episode 84 - The Morocco Case
• Episode 269 - The Seven Per-Cent Solution
• 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

"the great North American Continent" [STUD] Picking up where we left off in Episode 428 ("British Businesses"), we're moving to the other side of the pond and doing a survey of businesses in North America that were mentioned in the Sherlock Holmes stories. Since there are decidedly fewer scenes and stories that took place in North America, we have far fewer to choose from. But not so few as to leave us without something interesting to say! It's just a Trifle. All of our supporters are eligible for our monthly drawings for Baker Street Journals and bonus content. Join our community on Patreon or Substack today. This season, we've added "Trifling Trifles" — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode — as an additional channel of content exclusively for our paying subscribers. Check it out (Patreon | Substack). Do you have a topic you'd like to recommend? Email us at [email protected] and if we use your idea on the air, we'll send you a thank-you gift. Leave Trifles a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify; listen to us wherever you listen to podcasts. Links / Notes

• Previous episodes referenced:
• Episode 21 - Pubs and Taverns, Part 1
• Episode 22 - Pubs and Tavers, Part 2
• 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

"As to your dates, that is the biggest mystification of all." [CREE] It's not often that we get a piece of Sherlockian scholarship that had its origin in a mainstream publication. And in this case, it's from one of the original Sherlockians. In 1932, Ronald Knox set out to review two new Sherlockian books, but he managed to turn it into an essay that was a master class in chronology. It's just a Trifle. And stay tuned, as we have some bonus content on Ronald Knox for our supporters. All of our supporters are eligible for our monthly drawings for Baker Street Journals and bonus content. Join our community on Patreon or Substack today. This season, we've added "Trifling Trifles" — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode — as an additional channel of content exclusively for our paying subscribers. Check it out (Patreon | Substack). Do you have a topic you'd like to recommend? Email us at [email protected] and if we use your idea on the air, we'll send you a thank-you gift. Leave Trifles a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify; listen to us wherever you listen to podcasts. Links / Notes

• Ronald Knox and Sherlock Holmes: The Origin of Sherlockian Studies
• 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