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Sherlock Holmes and his world

Submitted by admin on Sat, 01/28/2012 - 03:53
Sherlok
Sherlock Holmes was the world’s greatest consulting fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take on almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve difficult cases.
    Sherlock Holmes, of course, is a fictional character. But all good fiction has it's basis in fact - the man behind the great detective, so to speak, is a little-known gentleman called Dr. Joseph Bell. He was a friend of Doyle and is widely reported to have employed the same 'deductive reasoning' in his work as Holmes does in his own profession.
 
Knowledge and Skills:
In A Study in Scarlet, Holmes claims he does not know that the Earth revolves around the Sun, as such information is irrelevant to his work. Directly after having heard that fact from Watson, he says he will immediately try to forget it. He says he believes that the mind has a finite capacity for information storage, and so learning useless things would merely reduce his ability to learn useful things. Dr. Watson subsequently assesses Holmes's abilities thus:
  1. Knowledge of Literature – nil.
  2. Knowledge of Philosophy – nil.
  3. Knowledge of Astronomy – nil.
  4. Knowledge of Politics – Feeble.
  5. Knowledge of Botany – Variable. Well up in belladonna, opium and poisons generally. Knows nothing of practical gardening.
  6. Knowledge of Geology – Practical, but limited. Tells at a glance different soils from each other. After walks, has shown me splashes upon his trousers, and told me by their colour and consistence in what part of London he had received them.
  7. Knowledge of Chemistry – Profound.
  8. Knowledge of Anatomy – Accurate, but unsystematic.
  9. Knowledge of Sensational Literature – Immense. He appears to know every detail of every horror perpetrated in the century.
  10. Plays the violin well.
  11. Is an expert singlestick player, boxer and swordsman.
  12. Has a good practical knowledge of British law.
--Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet
Study in Scarlet
 
The original stories:
The original Sherlock Holmes stories consist of fifty-six short stories and four novels written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Novels:
1. A Study in Scarlet (published 1887, in Beeton’s Christmas Annual)
2. The Sign of the Four (published 1890, Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine)
3. The Hound of the Baskervilles (serialised 1901-1902 in The Strand)
4. The Valley of Fear (serialised 1914-1915 in The Strand)
 
The fifty-six short stories are collected in five books:
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes ::
1.    A Scandal in Bohemia
2.    The Adventure of the Red-Headed League
3.    A Case of Identity
4.    The Boscombe Valley Mystery
5.    The Five Orange Pips
6.    The Man with the Twisted Lip
7.    The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle
8.    The Adventure of the Speckled Band
9.    The Adventure of the Engineer’s Thumb
10.  The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor
11.  The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet
12.  The Adventure of the Copper Beeches
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes
1.    Silver Blaze
2.    The Adventure of the Cardboard Box (this story is included as part of His Last Bow in American editions of the canon)
3.    The Adventure of the Yellow Face
4.    The Adventure of the Stockbroker’s Clerk
5.    The Adventure of the Gloria Scott (Holmes’s first case, described to Watson)
6.    The Adventure of the Musgrave Ritual (another early case, told by Holmes to Watson)
7.    The Adventure of the Reigate Squire
8.    The Adventure of the Crooked Man
9.    The Adventure of the Resident Patient
10.  The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter (Mycroft appears for the first time)
11.  The Adventure of the Naval Treaty
12.  The Final Problem (Watson reports the death of Holmes)
The Return of Sherlock Holmes
1.    The Adventure of the Empty House (the return of Holmes)
2.    The Adventure of the Norwood Builder
3.    The Adventure of the Dancing Men
4.    The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist
5.    The Adventure of the Priory School
6.    The Adventure of Black Peter
7.    The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton
8.    The Adventure of the Six Napoleons
9.    The Adventure of the Three Students
10.  The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez
11.  The Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter
12.  The Adventure of the Abbey Grange
13.  The Adventure of the Second Stain
His Last Bow
1.    The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge
2.    The Adventure of the Red Circle
3.    The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans
4.    The Adventure of the Dying Detective
5.    The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax
6.    The Adventure of the Devil’s Foot
7.    His Last Bow
The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes
1.    The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone
2.    The Problem of Thor Bridge
3.    The Adventure of the Creeping Man
4.    The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire
5.    The Adventure of the Three Garridebs
6.    The Adventure of the Illustrious Client
7.    The Adventure of the Three Gables
8.    The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier
9.    The Adventure of the Lion’s Mane
10.  The Adventure of the Retired Colourman
11.  The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger
12.  The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place
 
Who’s Who in Sherlock Holmes’ novels and stories:
 
Irene Adler – While Sherlock Holmes didn’t have any real romances, Irene Adler was able to earn his lasting respect. "To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses and predominates the whole of her sex." – Dr. Watson in A Scandal in Bohemia
 
Street children – Holmes hired them to help him with his cases
“The mere sight of an official-looking person seals men’s lips. These youngsters, however, go everywhere and hear everything. They are as sharp as needles, too; all they want is organization.” – A Study in Scarlet
 
Mycroft Holmes – The elder brother of Sherlock Holmes
"Mycroft Holmes was a much larger and stouter man than Sherlock. His body was absolutely corpulent, but is face, though massive, had preserved something of the sharpness of expression which was so remarkable in that of his brother. His eyes, which were of a peculiarly light, watery gray, seemed to always retain that far-away, introspective look which I had only observed in Sherlock’s when he was exerting his full powers." – Dr. Watson in The Greek Interpreter

Mrs. Hudson – The landlady of Sherlock Holmes
"Mrs. Hudson, the landlady of Sherlock Holmes, was a long-suffering woman. Not only was her first-floor flat invaded at all hours by throngs of singular and often undesirable characters but her remarkable lodger showed an eccentricity and irregularity in his life which must have sorely tried her patience. His incredible untidiness, his addiction to music at strange hours, his occasional revolver practice within doors, his weird and often malodorous scientific experiments, and the atmosphere of violence and danger which hung around him made him the very worst tenant in London." – Dr. Watson in The Adventure of the Dying Detective
 
Inspector G. Lestrade – An Scotland Yard’s inspector featured in many Sherlock Holmes adventures
A lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognizing Lestrade, of Scotland Yard. – The Boscombe Valley Mystery
 
Professor Moriarty – The arch-enemy of Sherlock Holmes
“He is the Napoleon of crime, Watson. He is the organizer of half that is evil and of nearly all that is undetected in this great city. He is a genius, a philosopher, an abstract thinker. He has a brain of the first order. He sits motionless, like a spider in the center of its web, but that web has a thousand radiations, and he knows well every quiver of each of them.” – Sherlock Holmes in The Final Problem
 
Dr. John H. Watson – The friend and companion of Sherlock Holmes
I had neither kith nor kin in England, and was therefore as free as air — or as free as an income of eleven shillings and sixpence a day will permit a man to be. Under such circumstances, I naturally gravitated to London, that great cesspool into which all the loungers and idlers of the Empire are irresistibly drained.- Dr. Watson in A Study in Scarlet
 
Sherlock Holmes in Movies:
The Guinness World Records has consistently listed Sherlock Holmes as the "most portrayed movie character" with 75 actors playing the part in over 211 films.  
 
 
Some interesting facts about Sherlock Holmes :
·         Sherlock Holmes, according to The NY Times, is the 3rd most read publication on the planet behind the Bible and the Dictionary.
·         Currently 5 million Sherlock Holmes books are printed in Europe and the U.S. every year.
·         Sherlock Holmes is required reading in schools across the globe including the UK, US, Japan and Russia.
·         There are 357 Holmes Societies around the world and thousands of dedicated Websites.
·         Holmes has been translated into 84 languages.
·         There are over 10,000 independent reference books, studies and investigative publications dedicated to Sherlock Holmes. 
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