And the rest was history. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle spun a series of mystery adventure stories from the late 1800's through the early 1900's, establishing the most famous fictional detective of all time. Sherlock Holmes was that quirky crime-solver, with calabash pipe and deerstalker hat firmly clenched between his teeth and perched upon his head, respectively. Holme's profile in silhouette is just as famous as, if not more than, that of Alfred Hitchcock.
I was a huge fan for many years, beginning in my youth. Firstly, as a child with bookish tendencies, I voraciously read and re-read the Freddy the Pig book "Freddy the Detective". Our intellectual swine hero borrowed heavily from Conan Doyle's character. When I was a bit older I latched onto the Encyclopedia Brown, Boy Detective book series, where a 10-year-old lad, obviously inspired by the methods of one Mr. Holmes, rounds up his friends as he sets out to solve neighbourhood mysteries. Oh, and I can't forget to mention the famous Hardy Boys books; I collected a lot of those, including the special edition Hardy Boys Detective's Handbook.
Some of my Holmesian hardbacks that cover
just about everything Doyle wrote
Meanwhile, on television, I saw my first Holmes actor, Basil Rathbone, in his famed series of films as the investigator. These set the visual standard for all movies to follow, effectively drawing us into the world of foggy Victorian England. TV detectives like Mannix, Magnum P.I. and Jim Rockford, plus spy shows The Avengers and Get Smart kept me busy learning the trade. Then more spy-oriented films, such as those about James Bond and Matt Helm, also captured my imagination at this time. More escapist and outrageous than Holmes, these cinematic crime-fighters were part of the stew of influences that finally led me to Doyle's masterpieces of literary crime fiction.
I think it was around the same time, or slightly after, my Encyclopedia Brown days that a Holmes book first landed in my lap. I loved it. I think it was a loaner from the school library. I then bought and read and re-read everything in the Holmes canon. In the early-ish 80's, as an older teenager, I then sought out many Holmes spin-off novels by other authors. Some of these were excellent, some good, a few very average. But it all fed my appetite for Victorian era detection tales.
Then these softcovers completed the Holmes canon
in my collection; but I wanted even more.....
Around this time, I even joined a Holmes fan club, but due to a busy schedule, I didn't make many meetings... though I did design the fledgling organization's logo and membership card. Sigh, it was fun while it lasted.
I also caught the odd standalone Holmes movie on TV, ones like A Study in Terror, Murder By Decree, and The Seven-Per-Cent Solution. All very good by any standard. Some serious in tone, others a bit more light-hearted. Much, much later, in the 90's, I discovered the 1958 production of Hound of the Baskervilles, starring the esteemed Christopher Lee as ol' Sherlock. Very cool.
A few of the better "spin-off" Holmes novels
by modern authors. I grabbed these during the 80's.
British television offered up some superior Holmes viewing, the most notable being the Jeremy Brett series that ran from 1984-94, impressive for any show, let alone one about an English private detective who scoots about by horse-drawn carriage.
More recently, one Benedict Cumberbatch has breathed life into a modern day TV Holmes in "Sherlock", which has been running since 2010. This incarnation of the scratchy violinist-detective employs some modern technology, such as cell phones and computers, but usually opts to frustrate his allies and adversaries by relying on the good old-fashioned procedures that old-school fans love about the original stories.
So here we are, over a hundred years since the first published Sherlock Holmes story, and the character is still going strong.
A neat little collectible, a BBC radio presentation
of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Volume I,
on audio tape, from the early 90's. Maybe
it's about time I actually listened to it.
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