Sherlock Holmes: Trifles

Latest Episodes:

Typography Dec 30, 2020

Show notes

"As I expected, his reply was typewritten" [IDEN] While handwriting was and is distinctive enough for a detective like Sherlock Holmes to draw some inferences, typography isn't quite so forgiving. Whether it was through fonts used in newspapers or flourishes of individual typewriters ("the fourteen other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." [IDEN]), Holmes was able to wring more out of typography than the average investigator. It's just a Trifle. This is our final episode of Season 4. Should we continue into Season 5? Let us know. Find Trifles wherever you listen to podcasts: Listen to Sherlock Holmes: Trifles Have you left us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts yet? You don't need to own an Apple device, and every review helps more people find the show. And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal. Links / Notes

This episode: ihose.co/trifles209
The Gorgeous Typeface that Drove Men Mad and Sparked a 100-Year Mystery (Gizmodo)

Sponsor

The Baker Street Journal

Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 --

Handwriting Dec 23, 2020

Show notes

"Have you ever had occasion to study character in handwriting?" [SIGN] More than once, Sherlock Holmes used someone's handwriting to guide him toward a solution. Whether it was a hastily-scribbled legal document or a red herring of a note, he was able to discern certain facts by observing the handwriting. But was this a mere fiction, a literary license to make his powers seem more impressive? Or was it more practical in nature? It's just a Trifle. Find Trifles wherever you listen to podcasts: Listen to Sherlock Holmes: Trifles Have you left us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts yet? You don't need to own an Apple device, and every review helps more people find the show. And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal. Links / Notes

This episode: ihose.co/trifles208
Graphology (Wikipedia)

Sponsor

The BSI Press

Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 --

The Care and Feeding of Sherlock Holmes Dec 16, 2020

Show notes

"Holmes smiled and rubbed his hands" [WIST] Sherlock Holmes enjoyed breakfast. But it was often interrupted. He had a variable knowledge of botany but knew enough to feel chagrined for missing green peas at 7:30. What can we tell about Sherlock Holmes's food habits from Earle Walbridge's essay from 1940 titled "The Care and Feeding of Sherlock Holmes"? It's the monthly installment of our "Mr. Sherlock Holmes the Theorist" theme, and it's just a Trifle. Find Trifles wherever you listen to podcasts: Listen to Sherlock Holmes: Trifles Have you left us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts yet? You don't need to own an Apple device, and every review helps more people find the show. And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal. Links / Notes

This episode: ihose.co/trifles207
"The Care and Feeding of Sherlock Holmes" by Earle F. Walbridge in 221B: Studies in Sherlock Holmes
Previous episodes mentioned in this show:

Sponsor

The BSI Press

Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 --

Smile When You Say That Dec 09, 2020

Show notes

"Holmes smiled and rubbed his hands" [WIST] Did Sherlock Holmes care about teeth? There's evidence that he cared about his own teeth, as seen through his recommendation of dental hygiene, and through his remark about losing a tooth. But what about the potential of dental science as applied to the art of detection? Sherlock Holmes had the potential to be the world's first forensic dentist. Did he make any progress? It's just a Trifle. Find Trifles wherever you listen to podcasts: Listen to Sherlock Holmes: Trifles Have you left us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts yet? You don't need to own an Apple device, and every review helps more people find the show. And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal. Links / Notes

This episode: ihose.co/trifles206
The Big Book of British Smiles (YouTube)
"The Dental Holmes" by Charles Goodman, D.D.S. in Profile by Gaslight

Sponsor

The BSI Press

Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 --

The Setting of Cornwall Dec 02, 2020

Show notes

"sinister atmosphere of forgotten nations," [DEVI] It's not quite a holiday for Sherlock Holmes in "The Devil's Foot," but rather a time away from London to be able to recuperate. "The villages which dotted this part of Cornwall" gave a quaint, other-worldly feeling to the setting. But so too did the traces of "some vanished race which had passed utterly away, and left as it sole record strange monuments of stone, irregular mounds which contained the burned ashes of the dead." The Cornish coast was the perfect place for this story. And it's just a Trifle. Find Trifles wherever you listen to podcasts: Listen to Sherlock Holmes: Trifles Have you left us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts yet? You don't need to own an Apple device, and every review helps more people find the show. And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or Substack. Links / Notes

This episode: ihose.co/trifles205
History of Cornwall (Wikipedia)
The Game Is Afoot! by David Hamer (Amazon)
"The Devil's Foot" episode of The Return of Sherlock Holmes by Granada (BritBox)
Previous episodes mentioned:
- Episode 195: The Setting of Dartmoor
- Episode 200: The Setting of Agra

Sponsor

The Baker Street Journal

Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

The Location of 221B, Part 2 Nov 26, 2020

Show notes

"I have my eye on a suite in Baker Street" [STUD] In the first part of this two-episode series, we looked at the Baker Street area of Victorian London and the changes that it has seen in the century and a half since that time. This time, we sharpen our powers of observation and search for the specific address that must have stood in for 221B Baker Street in Holmes's time. Many Sherlockian scholars have attempted to identify it. Who was right? It's just a Trifle. Find Trifles wherever you listen to podcasts: Listen to Sherlock Holmes: Trifles Have you left us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts yet? You don't need to own an Apple device, and every review helps more people find the show. And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal. Links / Notes

This episode: ihose.co/trifles204
"Dear Starrett" / "Dear Briggs" (The BSI Archival Series)
The eBSJ
I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere Episode 204: Frederic Dorr Steele

Sponsor

The Baker Street Journal

Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 --

The Location of 221B, Part 1 Nov 18, 2020

Show notes

"we made our way back to Baker Street" [3GAR] The address is legendary. Synonymous with its famous inhabitant, just as the deerstalker and meerschaum pipe. But it may be just as fanciful as those two accoutrements. This is the first in a two-part discussion of Baker Street of the Victorian era, and where Sherlock Holmes was supposed to have lived. What was different then? It's just a Trifle. Find Trifles wherever you listen to podcasts: Listen to Sherlock Holmes: Trifles Have you left us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts yet? You don't need to own an Apple device, and every review helps more people find the show. And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal. Links / Notes

This episode: ihose.co/trifles203
The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes by Vincent Starrett
"The Street and the Detective" by A.J. Hearn from the 1957 Baker Street Journal Christmas Annual (available via the eBSJ)
I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere Episode 204: Frederic Dorr Steele

Sponsor

The Baker Street Journal

Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 --

Child Pscyhology Nov 11, 2020

Show notes

"Holmes, a child has done this horrid thing" [SIGN] Many of us find our way to the Sherlock Holmes stories as children, yet there is a decided absence of children in the Canon. When we do find them, they tend to be in service of furthering a plot point rather than as fully developed characters. There are perhaps one or two exceptions, but children in the Sherlock Holmes stories are there in service to Sherlock Holmes. It's just a Trifle. Download | 11.6 MB, 25:57 Find Trifles wherever you listen to podcasts: Listen to Sherlock Holmes: Trifles Have you left us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts yet? You don't need to own an Apple device, and every review helps more people find the show. And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal. Links / Notes

This episode: ihose.co/trifles202

Sponsor

The BSI Press

Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 --

Spare No Expense Nov 04, 2020

Show notes

"I desire you to spare no expense and no pains" [WIST] Sherlock Holmes had to go places, see people, investigate things. And doing so meant that he incurred expenses. If we itemized what some of these were—absent the specific amount—what would that tell us about Sherlock Holmes? Where did he go? How did he travel? Where did get get the funding when there wasn't a well-off client behind his cases? It's just a Trifle. Find Trifles wherever you listen to podcasts: Listen to Sherlock Holmes: Trifles Have you left us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts yet? You don't need to own an Apple device, and every review helps more people find the show. And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal. Links / Notes

This episode: ihose.co/trifles201
Related episodes:
- Episode 74 - The Administrative Side of Baker Street
- Episode 75 - Nummi in Arca, or The Fiscal Holmes

Sponsor

The Baker Street Journal

Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 --

The Setting of Agra Oct 28, 2020

Show notes

"Yes, this is the great Agra" [SIGN] It's where Jonathan Small met Mahomet Singh, Dost Akbar and Abdullah Khan and together they made a pact known as the Sign of the Four. The Fort of Agra, in the city of the same name. Small described it as a queer and enormous place, with deserted halls and winding passages. In other words, the perfect setting for a treasure hunt and murder. We explore the ins and outs of the great fort. It's just a Trifle. Find Trifles wherever you listen to podcasts: Listen to Sherlock Holmes: Trifles Have you left us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts yet? You don't need to own an Apple device, and every review helps more people find the show. And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal. Links / Notes

This episode: ihose.co/trifles200
Agra Fort (Cultural India)
Agra Fort (Wikipedia)
Agra Fort (Lonely Planet)
Battle of Agra (Wikipedia)
Agra Fort Directory according to the Census taken on the 27th July 1857 by Asst Surgeon JP Walker, MD (Families in British India Society)
Previous episodes in this series:
- Episode 195 - The Setting of Dartmoor

Sponsor

The Baker Street Journal

Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 --

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected