Latest Arthurconandoyle Podcast Episodes
Hand Washing
Sherlock Holmes: Trifles - December 06, 2023 19:21 - 25 minutes ★★★★★ - 90 ratings“washed their hands of the matter” [GREE] We like to think that the practice of hand washing is a universal occurrence. After a couple of years of a pandemic, it was certainly ingrained into the public's awareness (we hope). But when it comes to life in the Sherlock Holmes stories, w...
Bears
Sherlock Holmes: Trifles - November 30, 2023 03:57 - 29 minutes ★★★★★ - 90 ratings“bear in mind” [MUSG] Image credit: Russell Stutler Can you think of the instances when bears are mentioned in the Sherlock Holmes stories? We'll give you a minute. No? There are four specific mentions, but blink and you'll miss them. We cover them in this episode, along with explor...
By Jove!
Sherlock Holmes: Trifles - November 22, 2023 21:10 - 25 minutes ★★★★★ - 90 ratings“By Jove, Watson; I’ve got it!” [CHAS] Last month, we contemplated the significance of the exclamation "By George!" So this month, we give ourselves over the gods as we explore "By Jove!" What's the significance of a Jovian exclamation, what's the connection to being jovial, and who ...
Dr. Watson's Secret
Sherlock Holmes: Trifles - November 16, 2023 03:53 - 25 minutes ★★★★★ - 90 ratings“This terrible secret” [FIVE] Dr. Watson was a master of inconsistencies. Or perhaps sloppiness. Or, according to Christopher Morley, intentional obfuscation. With a little chronological detective work, he may have figured it out. Just what was Watson's secret, and why was he keeping...
Pencils
Sherlock Holmes: Trifles - November 09, 2023 04:06 - 34 minutes ★★★★★ - 90 ratings“Now, then, give him the pencil.” [GREE] Writing implements are a part of daily life. They are today and they were when Watson was writing the stories. And from the very first story, Watson picks up a pencil to jot some notes. Where else do we find pencils, and how do they play into ...
Thanks!
Sherlock Holmes: Trifles - November 02, 2023 03:13 - 31 minutes ★★★★★ - 90 ratingsYou know the plots, but what about the minutiae? We delve into the Sherlock Holmes stories and answers questions that arise, clarify muddy details, and look into some of the period terminology in this weekly podcast.
Tigers
Sherlock Holmes: Trifles - October 25, 2023 16:30 - 32 minutes ★★★★★ - 90 ratings“bag of tigers” [EMPT] We continue to clean up and cover a few more animals that we missed in previous seasons. The tiger was another foreign curiosity for Victorians, being native to Asia – from the Russian Far East through parts of North Korea, China, India, and Southeast Asia to Sumatra...
Was Sherlock Holmes an American?
Sherlock Holmes: Trifles - October 19, 2023 03:26 - 30 minutes ★★★★★ - 90 ratings“I’m a free-born American” [STUD] It's the final quarter of our Masters Class series, and this is the first of three essays we're going to bring you from the pen of Christopher Morley. Morely is important not only because he founded the Baker Street Irregulars, but because of his statur...
By George!
Sherlock Holmes: Trifles - October 12, 2023 02:33 - 33 minutes ★★★★★ - 90 ratings“By George, it’s marvellous!” [GOLD] "By George!" It's an expression you've heard and read thousands of times, most likely. And it comes up in the Sherlock Holmes stories, naturally. We found "by George" in 10 stories. Which ones were they? Who utters it? And what does it mean? Take th...
The Dental Holmes
Sherlock Holmes: Trifles - October 05, 2023 02:11 - 31 minutes ★★★★★ - 90 ratings“a set of excellent teeth” [RESI] Around these parts, we've surveyed the implications of teeth, teeth marks and other clues for the purpose of investigation and detection (listen to Episode 206), but we never looked comprehensively at teeth. In this episode, our discussion ra...
Lions
Sherlock Holmes: Trifles - September 27, 2023 14:09 - 28 minutes ★★★★★ - 90 ratings“you used to shoot lions” [MAZA] Back in Season 5, we had a recurring feature: each month, we looked at a particular exotic animal from the Sherlock Holmes stories. Langur, mongoose, baboon, jellyfish, worms — a menagerie, for sure. The full playlist is in our links. But we missed ...
The Ripper and the Crown
Sherlock Holmes: Trifles - September 21, 2023 01:54 - 29 minutes ★★★★★ - 90 ratings“He thought the tutor” [3STU] The final installment in our Masters Class series featuring the work of Michael Harrison takes us into the world of Jack the Ripper via The World of Sherlock Holmes. Ripperologists have racked their brains for a century and a half with respect to the identity...
Terrible Human Tragedies
Sherlock Holmes: Trifles - September 13, 2023 18:21 - 30 minutes ★★★★★ - 90 ratings“the most terrible human tragedies” [VEIL] Having inadvertently left "The Veiled Lodger" out of our discussion about suicide in Episode 349, we put more focus on it in this episode. The introduction identifies it as "one of the most terrible human tragedies." Is it a tragedy in the...
Suicides in the Sherlock Holmes Stories
Sherlock Holmes: Trifles - September 07, 2023 03:43 - 31 minutes ★★★★★ - 90 ratings“I only breathe it among ourselves—a suicide” [GOLD] LISTENER ADVISORY: This episode contains mentions of suicide, which some listeners may find disturbing. September is National Suicide Prevention Month, and as part of our series on monthly observances, we take a look at suicides in ...
Dueling Topics: The Real Birlstone Manor
Sherlock Holmes: Trifles - August 30, 2023 10:00 - 32 minutes ★★★★★ - 90 ratings“at the Manor House in consultation with his two colleagues” [VALL] One of the great bits of fun of scanning the Sherlock Holmes stories is trying to determine the locations for some of the stories. In the case of The Valley of Fear, one of these identifications was made early on by Harold W...
The Poetic Hound
Sherlock Holmes: Trifles - August 24, 2023 02:03 - 27 minutes ★★★★★ - 90 ratings“Cut out the poetry, Watson” [RETI] The Hound of the Baskervilles holds a special place for many people. It is a gothic tale of horror, mystery, and the supernatural. A fine example of Conan Doyle's ability to tell a good story. Trevor Raymond, BSI, M. Bt. thought it even lent itself t...
Why Didn't I Check Montague Street?
Sherlock Holmes: Trifles - August 17, 2023 02:55 - 27 minutes ★★★★★ - 90 ratings“he walked into my room in Montague Street” [MUSG] The Masters Class is now in session! For the second time, we turn to a Michael Harrison essay: this time, we wander the streets of London. Michael's examination of Sherlock Holmes's rooms when he first came down to London is as wo...
Animal Abuse
Sherlock Holmes: Trifles - August 09, 2023 09:00 - 25 minutes ★★★★★ - 90 ratings“a last howl of agony” [HOUN] Modern times give animals nearly as many rights as humans, but such was not the case in Victorian times. Unfortunately, there are numerous occasions when animals are made to suffer at the hands of humans in the Sherlock Holmes stories. Who are the ani...
Conan Doyle and Cars
Sherlock Holmes: Trifles - August 03, 2023 02:52 - 29 minutes ★★★★★ - 90 ratings“as his car swung round the village street” [LAST] As you know, most of the Sherlock Holmes stories were set squarely in the Victorian era. Only a handful extended beyond 1900, and only one mentioned automobiles. However, that's not to say that Conan Doyle wasn't intensely interest...
Canonical Sevens
Sherlock Holmes: Trifles - July 26, 2023 21:58 - 27 minutes ★★★★★ - 90 ratings“called me in seven times” [ABBE] There's something magical about the number seven. Whether or not it appears more than other numbers in the Sherlock Holmes canon is beyond our research capabilities. However, there are some interesting and memorable associations with the number seven...
221B, Baker Street
Sherlock Holmes: Trifles - July 20, 2023 03:29 - 30 minutes ★★★★★ - 90 ratings“this evening at 221B, Baker Street” [BLUE] Image credit: Russell Stutler It's time once again for the Masters Class, the episode each month in which we look at an exemplary piece of Sherlockian scholarship and discuss its merits. This is our first of three forays into the work of Mi...
A Few Quick Ones
Sherlock Holmes: Trifles - July 13, 2023 03:47 - 24 minutes ★★★★★ - 90 ratings“this quick succession of strange surprises” [SIGN] There are some trifles that are too trifling to stand on their own. Then again, Burt and Scott tend to have the ability to stretch out any bit of minutiae into an exposition. Three topics came to our attention lately, and we felt th...
Dining with Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes: Trifles - July 05, 2023 19:52 - 28 minutes ★★★★★ - 90 ratingsYou know the plots, but what about the minutiae? We delve into the Sherlock Holmes stories and answers questions that arise, clarify muddy details, and look into some of the period terminology in this weekly podcast.
Boscombe Valley Oddities
Sherlock Holmes: Trifles - June 28, 2023 16:47 - 33 minutes ★★★★★ - 90 ratings“What do you say, dear?” [BOSC] One of the earlier cases in The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes, "The Boscombe Valley Mystery" is filled with wonderful scenes and phrases that carry us through the entire Sherlock Holmes canon. It doesn't get the same level of attention as some of the oth...
Up From the Needle
Sherlock Holmes: Trifles - June 21, 2023 22:10 - 20 minutes ★★★★★ - 90 ratings“a nice taste in wines” [LAST] In this month's Masters Class, we turn for the final time to a work of Edgar W. Smith's, "Up From the Needle," as featured in Vol. 2, No. 1 (1947) of The Baker Street Journal. Edgar takes us away from the canard of Sherlock Holmes as a drug addict and g...
Business at the Cedars
Sherlock Holmes: Trifles - June 15, 2023 03:21 - 25 minutes ★★★★★ - 90 ratings“It is, of course, a trifle” [TWIS] Sometimes there are moments in the Sherlock Holmes stories when we just take Holmes at his word, giving little thought to the logic behind it. We simply trust him. But when it comes to "The Man with the Twisted Lip," it seemed a little odd that he h...
Dairy Go Round
Sherlock Holmes: Trifles - June 07, 2023 19:27 - 29 minutes ★★★★★ - 90 ratings“I've learned not to cry over spilled milk” [SIGN] Between recent episodes on Eggs and Breakfast, it seems like we've had our fill of comestibles. Well, this isn't a podcast to be trifled with, so we're headed to the dairy. We look at instances of milk and butter in the Sherlock Holme...
Alcoholism
Sherlock Holmes: Trifles - May 31, 2023 18:15 - 35 minutes ★★★★★ - 90 ratings“Is alcohol permitted?” [MAZA] We've explored a number of angles around alcohol in the Sherlock Holmes stories, but it recently struck us that there are glimpses of alcoholism in the Canon. Victorians were no different in their struggles with alcohol, although the disease wasn't recogni...
The Great Hiatus
Sherlock Holmes: Trifles - May 25, 2023 03:05 - 30 minutes ★★★★★ - 90 ratings“I travelled for two years” [EMPT] This month's Masters Class features the second in our three essays by Edgar W. Smith. In Vol. 1 No. 3 of The Baker Street Journal from 1946, Smith wonders about Sherlock Holmes's travels between 1891 and 1894. More specifically, he compares globa...
The Magic Number
Sherlock Holmes: Trifles - May 18, 2023 02:25 - 26 minutes ★★★★★ - 90 ratings“We have touched on three” [TWIS] Since this is Episode 333 and since there are three stories in the Canon that incorporate the number three in their titles, we thought it was time to turn our attention to the "magic number," as three is known. Why that number of students, gables, and...
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