rob k wrote:

rob k wrote:

Quote:  Lestrade's first name is never given in the canon. UnQuote.

My reply:

Quite true!  And yet we know that his first name is, in fact "Joseph."

Anybody know how it is that we know this?


rob k

Surprised no one has risen to the bait.   Who is Joseph Lestrade?

I guess no one cares about "Joseph Lestrade,"  which, of course is your privilege, so I will explain why Lestrade's first name is Joseph, after which you may care even less.  ;-)

From Wikipedia,

Inspector G. Lestrade or Mr. Lestrade is a fictional character, a Scotland Yard detective appearing in several of the Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle. Doyle used the name of a friend from his days at the University of Edinburgh, a Saint Lucian medical student by the name of Joseph Alexandre Lestrade.

And whence the G?  Well, obviously, ACD while growing up, was taught to spell phonetically.  Knowing that "George" and "Goseph" both sound the same, he assumed they were spelled the same.  And if you believe that, I have for sale  a bridge that crosses the East River in New York.  ;-)

rob k

Davina wrote:

Wow! That's a lot of work!

As J.M. Barrie (who wrote Peter Pan) said: “It’s only work if you’d rather be doing something else!"

or how about

There are no limits to what you can accomplish when you are supposed to be doing something else.   

rob k

Here is another nod from A Study in Scarlet to The Great Game

From "A Study in Scarlet"

His ignorance was as remarkable as his knowledge. Of contemporary literature, philosophy and politics he appeared to know next to nothing. Upon my quoting Thomas Carlyle, he inquired in the naivest way who he might be and what he had done. My surprise reached a climax, however, when I found incidentally that he was ignorant of the Copernican Theory and of the composition of the Solar System. That any civilized human being in this nineteenth century should not be aware that the earth travelled round the sun appeared to be to me such an extraordinary fact that I could hardly realize it.
"You appear to be astonished," he said, smiling at my expression of surprise. "Now that I do know it I shall do my best to forget it."
"To forget it!"
"You see," he explained, "I consider that a man's brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose. A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge which might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best is jumbled up with a lot of other things so that he has a difficulty in laying his hands upon it. Now the skilful workman is very careful indeed as to what he takes into his brain-attic. He will have nothing but the tools which may help him in doing his work, but of these he has a large assortment, and all in the most perfect order. It is a mistake to think that that little room has elastic walls and can distend to any extent. Depend upon it there comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forget something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones."
"But the Solar System!" I protested.
"What the deuce is it to me?" he interrupted impatiently; "you say that we go round the sun. If we went round the moon it would not make a pennyworth of difference to me or to my w

Thanks for all the nice comments!

The song took about 4 hours to write, another two to arrange. Sometimes I have to drive a lot and do most of my composing with digital recorder while I am on the road.

The video itself took about 12 hours over the course of several months.

Then You Tube challenged my right to the pictures I used and I spent another 3 hours or so "splaining" to them about public domain and merger doctrine and the like, until I got an OK from them.

Fortunately I already knew how to use imovie (except for the stuff I forgot)  doing another similar video based on an old pirate joke.

By the way, in case you didn't notice, the fellow playing the banjo and doing the part of Watson is actually a picture of Sidney Paget, best known for his artwork that accompanied the SH stories, but who has also done other art, including some very nice land and seascapes.

rob k

Fun fact:

A complete set of Strand issues featuring the illustrated Sherlock Holmes tales is one of the rarest and most expensive collector's items in publishing history. Paget's original 10.5 x 6.75 inch drawing of "Holmes and Moriarty in Mortal Combat at the Edge of the Reichenbach Falls" was sold by Sotheby's in New York on 16 November 2004 for $220,800.

PS to sherlockskitty.

The lyrics to the song are included in the video.

rob k

Dear everyone,

I have received permission to post my song/video.  I will be posting it in the General Discussion Area.

I monetized the song on You Tube because, why not?  You will see a brief ad for something or other,
something I have no connection with.  You are stuck watching some of the ad, a few seconds before they let you watch the video, but after a little bit it can be skipped.  The ads so far have been for upcoming movies and one for Home Depot.

I hope you enjoy "Elementary!"
rob k

Tantalus wrote:

"Three patch problem" from ASiP is a play on "three pipe problem" in Red-Headed League.

Also from The Man with the Twisted Lip.

Sherlock reference.

Dr. John Watson: What are you doing?
Sherlock Holmes: Nicotine patch. Helps me think. It's impossible to sustain a smoking habit in London these days.
Dr. John Watson: That's good news for breathing.
Sherlock Holmes: Ah, breathing. Breathing's boring.
Dr. John Watson: Is that three patches?
Sherlock Holmes: It's a three-patch problem.

And from The Man with the Twisted Lip

He took off his coat and waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered about the room collecting pillows from his bed, and cusions from the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an old brier pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set aquiline features.

“I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your results.�
“I reached this one,�  said my friend, “by sitting upon five pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast.�
—
Kudos to kazza474 for bring up this topic!

My name is Rob Kemppainen.  I am 60, married and have three grown sons.  I am a Lutheran Pastor in Central Minnesota.  My wife is a Public Health Nurse and Lactation Specialist.  Oldest son sells Macintosh Computers in Vancouver.  Middle son is a project coordinator for BC Hydro, also in Vancouver.  Youngest son is an aspiring author (ebooks) including The Fall of Haven, Exodus and Uprising and The Legend of Ivan (my favorite).  I like to write music, including rock, country, bluegrass, choral, and barbershop.  I got to this site because 1) I have read all the original Sherlock Holmes stories (I think), 2) I love the BBC treatment of the story lines, and 3) I wrote the Holmes/Watson camping joke into a song.

rob k