Deer Stalker Hats and Monocles: the Annual Sherlock Pilgrimage...

Some people fish, others paint and others watch television. Yet 70 members of the Sherlock Holmes Society spend their spare time making a pilgrimage to the Reichenbach Falls and acting out scenes from their hero's final struggle with Moriarty. Here is a video of them in action.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes continue....

Following another action packed series, the BBC have announced that 'Sherlock' will return for a third installment. Starring Benedict Cumberbatch in the main role, the series has been praised by both critics and audiences alike, with viewing figures of 10.7 million for its first episode.

Its creator, Stephen Moffat, had been coy when asked about a possible return, telling the BBC that there was 'no guarantee we'll be bringing him back'. Yet following the series' conclusion, 'The Reichenbach Falls' last night, Moffat wrote on Twitter, 'Of course there's going to be a third series - it was commissioned at the same time as the second. Gotcha!' The commission echoes Conan Doyle's own ressurection of the character who had supposedly been killed off after toppling off the Reichenbach Falls with Moriarty in 'The Final Problem'. Dates of filming and broadcasting have yet to be announced.

On this day...

Sherlock Holmes' companion Dr. Watson, was said to have been born in 1852. Ironically, the Arthur Conan Doyle creation, recently played by Jude Law in the Hollywood film, was born on the same day that Doyle himself died in 1930. The debut dectective novel 'A Study in Scarlet', reveals John Hamish Watson as having undertaken Army surgeon training, joining British forces in India and Afghanistan, before a wound incurred led to his return to England.

A bit of a womaniser, having had up to three wives, Watson is often required to use his own intellect in solving crimes and therefore earns himself the title of companion, as opposed to any self-styled lackey. Although Watson is probably best known in conjunction with the phrase 'Elementary, my dear Watson', the quotation does not actually appear in its entirely within the works.

Plans to save Doyle's home far from elementary...

The former home of author Arthur Conan Doyle is to be turned into flats. 'Undershaw', built in Surrey by Doyle in 1897, will now be made into eight dwellings, three homes and five town houses, along with a small public pavillion with information about the Sherlock Holmes author. Campaign groups, including 'Save Undershaw', and the 'Victorian Society', have strongly objected to the plans, wishing for it instead to be restored or become a museum.

Six Nations of literature...

With the Six Nations kicking off today, it seemed an apt opportunity to take a look at the literature produced by these countries, which is some of the best in the world.

Italy - Starting with the Latin writings of Ovid and Tacitus, Italian literature spans an enormous period and is considered some of the finest. Continuing with Dante and his 'Inferno' in the Middle Ages and the sonnets of Petrach, modern Italian literature still remains in the form of the the late Italo Calvino and Umberto Eco.

France - Dumas, Flaubert, Zola, Proust; the list is endless. More so than other national literature, the French canon contains numerous philosophical works, the products of Camus, Jean Paul Sartre and Jean-Jacques Rosseau. Drama exists in the shape of Moliere, and France expressed an important voice in Roland Barthes.

Ireland - Irish literature really found its feet in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Bursting forth with the dual force of playwrights Oscar Wilde and George Bernard Shaw, Ireland's literary claim was strengthened through the poetry of Yeats and Goldsmith and its place cemented with the prose works of Joyce.

Wales - Although probably for many, the most famous Welsh writer is poet Dylan Thomas, the literature of Wales is far more diverse. No more so for the strength of works written in its own language, by authors such as William Owen Roberts. Many English writers such as Manley Hopkins have used Welsh subject matter.

Scotland - Scotland's most recent wave of literary tradition came in the Romantic era under the eye of Robert Burns and Walter Scott. Yet it was the Victorian era which propelled it into public eye, Robert Louis Stevenson, Arthur Conan Doyle and J.M. Barrie all becoming household names; Duffy now being the latest.

England - Possibly one of the richest literary histories, all that can be said for England is a list of names. The playwrights; Shakespeare, Marlowe, and Jonson. The poets; Milton, Keats, Shelley, Byron and Tennyson. The novelists: Hardy, Austen, the Brontes, Woolf, Dickens, Forster, Eliot and most recently, Rowling.

So there you have it. Competitors on and off the rugby field. Tradition not only in sport but in literature. Long may it continue...

London calling...

 

London has always played its part in literature, be it a muse or home to the writer. Due to its thriving Elizabethan theatre scene, both William Shakespeare and Ben Jonson called London their home and perhaps used elements of their surroundings to inspire some of their best known works. Yet it is surely for the Victorian Era that London is best remembered; sentimentalised and degraded often in the same breath. From Dickens, truly synonymous with the city, to Conan Doyle's 'Sherlock Holmes' and Wilde's 'The Picture of Dorian Gray', London has endured many and varied representations, which can only add to its unique character. A quiz about London and its literary connotations can be found here

Sherlock Holmes discovers the big screen...

The new Guy Ritchie film 'Sherlock Holmes' was released yesterday. Based on the Arthur Conan Doyle detective novels, the film sees Robert Downey Jr. as the lead role, and Jude Law as sidekick Dr. Watson. Received positively by critics, the movie has already picked up award nominations, including a Golden Globe for Downey Jr's portrayal of Sherlock. The film grossed $65.4 million in its opening weekend.

Elementary, my dear Watson...

This day also sees the first publication, in bound form, of Sherlock Holmes. 'The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes', by Arthur Conan Doyle, consists of twelve stories, each first induvidually published in the Strand Magazine over the span of a year. Formalised into a book in 1892, becoming the first Holmes collection, the stories include 'The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle' and 'A Case of Identity'. The book was banned in 1929 by the Soviet Union who mysteriously cited occultism as its logic. Doyle wrote a further four collections of short stories and four novels revolving around the fictional detective, who is once again to be adapted for the screen; 'Sherlock Holmes' will be released on December 25th 2009.