Some day the true story may be told

I made it!

The Sussex Vampire

When publishing in the mid-1920s, Watson would have had a good idea of the growing appeal of the vampire figure to the popular imagination, but no amount of fiddling around with chronology could enable us to place the events of this adventure before the writing of Bram Stoker's Dracula. At the time of Holmes' and Watson's visit to Sussex, the famous vampire story was Sheridan Le Fanu's Carmilla.

Serialised in the early 1870s, the novella tells the professedly real story of the young Laura, and her sexually-charged relationship with the mysterious Carmilla. Holmes' own vampire case, though eventually not supernatural, also relies on preconceived notions and fears of ‘unpredictable’ foreign women. Carmilla was partly illustrated by D. H. Friston, who would be responsible for the very first portraits of Holmes and Watson a few years later.

One of the finest and most beloved Watsons ever to grace the screen has passed away. David Burke was 91 years old, just shy of his 92nd birthday, and he is survived by his wife Anna Calder-Marshall and his son Tom Burke.

By all accounts, he was a gentleman and a wonderful human being. He could have stayed on to play Watson much longer, which would have made many of us very happy, but he chose to leave the show to be nearer to his family, especially since Tom was very young at the time.

His was not the first intelligent and competent Watson, but this version marked a turning point in mainstream depictions, from comedic sidekick to a hero in his own right.

RIP, dear sir. You will be missed. Thank you for everything.

~*~

I have regrettably finished all of Granada and so as an excuse to rewatch it immediately, I decided to make a painted collage of different scenes from A Scandal in Bohemia.

I visited Reichenbach falls recently and was taken by how accurate this illustration by Sidney Paget is (the waterfall itself is significantly diminished in strength because of a hydroelectric dam upstream).

Also, if anyone is curious what Holmes and Moriarty might have seen while they were falling, here is the view backwards from the same spot, overlooking the town of Meiringen:

Also, Watson was not kidding when he wrote this in the Final Problem:

"In a tingle of fear I was already running down the village street, and making for the path which I had so lately descended. It had taken me an hour to come down. For all my efforts two more had passed before I found myself at the fall of Reichenbach once more."

from Meiringen to the falls,

and fairly steep too.

The Problem of Thor Bridge

“Somewhere in the vaults of the bank of Cox & Co., at Charing Cross, there is a travel-worn and battered tin dispatch-box with my name, John H. Watson, M.D., Late Indian Army, painted upon the lid. It is crammed with papers, nearly all of which are records of cases to illustrate the curious problems which Mr. Sherlock Holmes had at various times to examine.”

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.