One Hell Of A Bird

Let’s play the biggest game of kick the can on the internet.

Black Peter

“I have never known my friend to be in better form, both mental and physical, than in the year ’95,” writes Watson at the beginning of this adventure. Certainly, in “this memorable year”, the freshly resurrected Holmes is at his peak, with his partner back in Baker Street, and a string of “curious and incongruous” cases (at least four of which make it into the pages of The Strand). It seems that all is right again, and that it will always be – as Vincent Starrett pointed out – eighteen ninety-five.

Even for the dedicated scholar, 1895 would never have meant anything more than a busy year without Starrett’s memorialising in his famous “221B” sonnet. Written in 1942, the poem is one of the most revered pieces of Holmesiana, an ode to the relationship between these “two men of note”. But what I love most is its pre-WWII prototype in The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes: “But there can be no grave for Sherlock Holmes or Watson … So they still live for all that love them well: in a romantic chamber of the heart: in a nostalgic country of the mind: where it is always 1895.”

The Stonor Case

The Speckled Band: An Adventure of Sherlock Holmes – originally The Stonor Case – is a 1910 adaptation for the stage of the popular 1892 story of the same name. Watson (and Doyle) were never master dramatists, but the play enjoyed a decent run, favourable reviews, and even a later revival. But with a plot that differs greatly from its source material, it unfortunately continues the dramatic trend of sidelining Watson, this time to Billy's benefit. 

The pageboy would be familiar to audiences, created by William Gillette for his own incredibly successful play, but he wouldn’t make it to the page until later. In this three-act presentation, he is Holmes’ helpmate, assisting him as errand boy but also sidekick. And when one needs to infiltrate a dangerous household, what other option is there than to disguise oneself as a widowed butler and one’s page as his daughter?

The Valley of Fear

It was late that night when Holmes returned from his solitary excursion. We slept in a double-bedded room, which was the best that the little country inn could do for us. I was already asleep when I was partly awakened by his entrance.