99-398: " The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle " is one of 56 short Sherlock Holmes stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle , the seventh story of twelve in the collection The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes . It was first published in The Strand Magazine in January 1892. As London prepares for Christmas , newspapers report the theft of a near-priceless gemstone, the "Blue Carbuncle ", from
198-484: A Covent Garden dealer. However, the latter refuses to help, complaining that he been repeatedly pestered by another man about geese purchased by the Alpha Inn. Realising that he is not the only one aware of the goose's importance, Holmes tricks the dealer into revealing that the bird was supplied to him by its breeder, Mrs Oakshott of Brixton . The dealer's other "pesterer" arrives – it is James Ryder, head attendant of
297-612: A District line carriage, as they were unable to acquire a real train. The never completed tube station called Sumatra Road is based on North End tube station . Filming was carried out at Westminster and Charing Cross stations. "The Empty Hearse" was first publicly exhibited at a special screening at the BFI Southbank in London on 15 December 2013. The screening was followed by a Q&A, hosted by Caitlin Moran , attended by
396-530: A knighthood "for services which may perhaps some day be described". However, he does not actively seek fame and is usually content to let the police take public credit for his work. The first set of Holmes stories was published between 1887 and 1893. Conan Doyle killed off Holmes in a final battle with the criminal mastermind Professor James Moriarty in " The Final Problem " (published 1893, but set in 1891), as Conan Doyle felt that "my literary energies should not be directed too much into one channel". However,
495-464: A " consulting detective " in his stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, deduction, forensic science and logical reasoning that borders on the fantastic, which he employs when investigating cases for a wide variety of clients, including Scotland Yard . The character Sherlock Holmes first appeared in print in 1887's A Study in Scarlet . His popularity became widespread with
594-579: A Mark III Adams revolver , issued to British troops during the 1870s). Holmes and Watson shoot the eponymous hound in The Hound of the Baskervilles , and in "The Adventure of the Empty House", Watson pistol-whips Colonel Sebastian Moran . In " The Problem of Thor Bridge ", Holmes uses Watson's revolver to solve the case through an experiment. The Empty Hearse " The Empty Hearse "
693-481: A central theme of " The Yellow Face "). Though Holmes is famed for his reasoning capabilities, his investigative technique relies heavily on the acquisition of hard evidence. Many of the techniques he employs in the stories were at the time in their infancy. The detective is particularly skilled in the analysis of trace evidence and other physical evidence, including latent prints (such as footprints, hoof prints, and shoe and tire impressions) to identify actions at
792-402: A crime scene, using tobacco ashes and cigarette butts to identify criminals, utilizing handwriting analysis and graphology , comparing typewritten letters to expose a fraud, using gunpowder residue to expose two murderers, and analyzing small pieces of human remains to expose two murders. Because of the small scale of much of his evidence, the detective often uses a magnifying glass at
891-482: A desk containing a manuscript: How I Did It by Jack the Ripper , revealed toward the end of the episode to be a fake planted by Anderson to lure Sherlock out of hiding. Later that day, Mary receives a text in a skip code (first and every three words) telling her that John has been kidnapped by unknown assailants and will die if he is not rescued in time, along with a coded location. Sherlock and Mary come to his rescue on
990-631: A fictional character but an actual individual; numerous literary and fan societies have been founded on this pretence . Avid readers of the Holmes stories helped create the modern practice of fandom . The character and stories have had a profound and lasting effect on mystery writing and popular culture as a whole, with the original tales, as well as thousands written by authors other than Conan Doyle , being adapted into stage and radio plays, television, films, video games, and other media for over one hundred years. Edgar Allan Poe 's C. Auguste Dupin
1089-503: A glimpse of a great heart as well as of a great brain. All my years of humble but single-minded service culminated in that moment of revelation. After confirming Watson's assessment of the wound, Holmes makes it clear to their opponent that the man would not have left the room alive if he genuinely had killed Watson. Holmes' clients vary from the most powerful monarchs and governments of Europe, to wealthy aristocrats and industrialists , to impoverished pawnbrokers and governesses . He
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#17327757029841188-404: A knowledge of Latin . The detective cites Hafez , Goethe , as well as a letter from Gustave Flaubert to George Sand in the original French. In The Hound of the Baskervilles , the detective recognises works by Godfrey Kneller and Joshua Reynolds : "Watson won't allow that I know anything of art, but that is mere jealousy since our views upon the subject differ." In " The Adventure of
1287-452: A motorcycle and manage to drag him out of a lit bonfire on which a " guy " (Guy Fawkes effigy) was about to be burned. Sherlock is shown a video by a London Underground employee of a mysterious vanishing of a passenger from a train between two stations near Parliament and later identifies the passenger as a member of the House of Lords , Lord Moran, whom he knows to be a foreign agent and who
1386-483: A person's clothes and personal items are also commonly relied on; in the stories, Holmes is seen applying his method to items such as walking sticks, pipes, and hats. For example, in "A Scandal in Bohemia", Holmes infers that Watson had got wet lately and had "a most clumsy and careless servant girl". When Watson asks how Holmes knows this, the detective answers: It is simplicity itself ... my eyes tell me that on
1485-446: A salesman with a wager: "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet ... I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of him, that man would not have given me such complete information as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a wager." Maria Konnikova points out in an interview with D. J. Grothe that Holmes practises what
1584-589: A strong aptitude for acting and disguise. In several stories (" The Sign of Four ", " The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton ", " The Man with the Twisted Lip ", " The Adventure of the Empty House " and " A Scandal in Bohemia "), to gather evidence undercover, he uses disguises so convincing that Watson fails to recognise him. In others (" The Adventure of the Dying Detective " and " A Scandal in Bohemia "), Holmes feigns injury or illness to incriminate
1683-469: A television film adaptation by Belarusfilm (1979). In 1984 the story was the subject of an episode of the Granada TV version directed by David Carson and starring Jeremy Brett . The animated television series Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century featured an adaptation of the story, replacing the goose with a blue stuffed toy called "Carbuncle" and the stone with a microprocessor. In 2014, it
1782-500: A thumbprint to solve a crime in " The Adventure of the Norwood Builder " (generally held to be set in 1895), the story was published in 1903, two years after Scotland Yard's fingerprint bureau opened. Though the effect of the Holmes stories on the development of forensic science has thus often been overstated, Holmes inspired future generations of forensic scientists to think scientifically and analytically. Holmes displays
1881-412: Is " The Adventure of the Empty House ", in which Sherlock Holmes returns from his "Great Hiatus", having allowed everyone to believe him dead to root out the rest of Moriarty's criminal organisation. In both the story and the episode, Mycroft helps Sherlock fake his demise. The villainous Moran in this episode is named after Colonel Sebastian Moran , the villain of the original story. In "The Adventure of
1980-643: Is Christmas, Holmes takes pity on Ryder and allows him to leave England, concluding that the latter is too frightened by what happened to offend again. Holmes is confident that Horner will be freed once the case against him collapses. "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle" was first published with eight illustrations by Sidney Paget in The Strand Magazine in January 1892, and in the US edition of
2079-522: Is also acting unusually. He notices that it is not only Moran who vanished but an entire carriage of the train and deduces that the attack will be on the Houses of Parliament , which will be holding a late-night hearing on a new anti-terrorism bill on Guy Fawkes Night , 5 November. Sherlock and John enter the abandoned station near Parliament, finding the secretly diverted carriage. It is rigged with explosives to make an enormous bomb. Sherlock manages to defuse
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#17327757029842178-405: Is as inhuman as a Babbage 's Calculating Machine and just about as likely to fall in love." Holmes says of himself that he is "not a whole-souled admirer of womankind", and that he finds "the motives of women ... inscrutable. ... How can you build on such quicksand? Their most trivial actions may mean volumes". In The Sign of Four , he says, "Women are never to be entirely trusted—not
2277-422: Is generally acknowledged as the first detective in fiction and served as the prototype for many later characters, including Holmes. Conan Doyle once wrote, "Each [of Poe's detective stories] is a root from which a whole literature has developed ... Where was the detective story until Poe breathed the breath of life into it?" Similarly, the stories of Émile Gaboriau 's Monsieur Lecoq were extremely popular at
2376-402: Is his most significant relationship. When Watson is injured by a bullet, although the wound turns out to be "quite superficial", Watson is moved by Holmes's reaction: It was worth a wound; it was worth many wounds; to know the depth of loyalty and love which lay behind that cold mask. The clear, hard eyes were dimmed for a moment, and the firm lips were shaking. For the one and only time I caught
2475-479: Is implied that wealthy clients habitually pay Holmes more than his standard rate. In " The Adventure of the Priory School ", Holmes earns a £6,000 fee (at a time where annual expenses for a rising young professional were in the area of £500). However, Watson notes that Holmes would refuse to help even the wealthy and powerful if their cases did not interest him. As Conan Doyle wrote to Joseph Bell, "Holmes
2574-627: Is kept alive by the photograph of Adler that Holmes received for his part in the case. Shortly after meeting Holmes in the first story, A Study in Scarlet (generally assumed to be 1881, though the exact date is not given), Watson assesses the detective's abilities: In A Study in Scarlet , Holmes claims to be unaware that the Earth revolves around the Sun since such information is irrelevant to his work; after hearing that fact from Watson, he says he will immediately try to forget it. The detective believes that
2673-524: Is known only in select professional circles at the beginning of the first story, but is already collaborating with Scotland Yard . However, his continued work and the publication of Watson's stories raise Holmes's profile, and he rapidly becomes well known as a detective; so many clients ask for his help instead of (or in addition to) that of the police that, Watson writes, by 1887 "Europe was ringing with his name" and by 1895 Holmes has "an immense practice". Police outside London ask Holmes for assistance if he
2772-554: Is known to charge clients for his expenses and claim any reward offered for a problem's solution, such as in " The Adventure of the Speckled Band ", " The Red-Headed League ", and " The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet ". The detective states at one point that "My professional charges are upon a fixed scale. I do not vary them, save when I remit them altogether." In this context, a client is offering to double his fee, and it
2871-458: Is largely original. Sherlock Holmes alludes to a "system of Japanese wrestling" as the second of thirteen scenarios that might have allowed him to survive his rooftop encounter with Moriarty. This is a reference to the fictional martial art of " baritsu " which was used by Holmes to defeat Moriarty in the original story. Apart from "The Adventure of the Empty House", the episode contains allusions to many other Conan Doyle short stories: Many of
2970-441: Is maintained by their landlady, Mrs. Hudson . Holmes works as a detective for twenty-three years, with Watson assisting him for seventeen of those years. Most of the stories are frame narratives written from Watson's point of view, as summaries of the detective's most interesting cases. Holmes frequently calls Watson's records of Holmes's cases sensational and populist, suggesting that they fail to accurately and objectively report
3069-734: Is nearby. A British prime minister and the King of Bohemia visit 221B Baker Street in person to request Holmes's assistance; the President of France awards him the Legion of Honour for capturing an assassin; the King of Scandinavia is a client; and he aids the Vatican at least twice. The detective acts on behalf of the British government in matters of national security several times and declines
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3168-443: Is no known contemporaneous source for this; the earliest known reference to such events comes from 1949. However, the recorded public reaction to Holmes's death was unlike anything previously seen for fictional events. After resisting public pressure for eight years, Conan Doyle wrote The Hound of the Baskervilles (serialised in 1901–02, with an implicit setting before Holmes's death). In 1903, Conan Doyle wrote " The Adventure of
3267-468: Is now called mindfulness, concentrating on one thing at a time, and almost never "multitasks". She adds that in this he predates the science showing how helpful this is to the brain. Holmes observes the dress and attitude of his clients and suspects, noting skin marks (such as tattoos), contamination (such as ink stains or clay on boots), emotional state, and physical condition in order to deduce their origins and recent history. The style and state of wear of
3366-476: Is really very showy and superficial." Nevertheless, Holmes later performs the same 'trick' on Watson in " The Cardboard Box " and " The Adventure of the Dancing Men ". Though the stories always refer to Holmes's intellectual detection method as " deduction ", Holmes primarily relies on abduction : inferring an explanation for observed details. "From a drop of water," he writes, "a logician could infer
3465-527: Is referenced in " The Empty Hearse " from the BBC television series Sherlock , in which Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes make deductions about a man from his hat. Mycroft Holmes was portrayed by Mark Gatiss . Edith Meiser adapted "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle" as an episode of the radio series The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes . The episode aired on 28 December 1932 (with Richard Gordon as Sherlock Holmes and Leigh Lovell as Dr. Watson). Meiser also adapted
3564-466: Is the first episode of the third series of the BBC television series Sherlock . It was written by Mark Gatiss and stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes , Martin Freeman as Dr John Watson , and Mark Gatiss as Mycroft Holmes . It also marks the first appearance of Amanda Abbington as Mary Morstan and Lars Mikkelsen as Charles Augustus Magnussen . Inspired by " The Adventure of
3663-427: Is the frequent subject of pastiche writing. The beginning of the story describes the high regard in which Holmes holds her: 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. It was not that he felt any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. ... And yet there was but one woman to him, and that woman
3762-429: The 1989–1998 radio series starring Clive Merrison as Holmes and Michael Williams as Watson. The episode was adapted by Bert Coules , and featured Peter Blythe as James Ryder, Ben Onwukwe as John Horner, and Christopher Good as Peterson. An episode of the radio series The Classic Adventures of Sherlock Holmes was adapted from the story. Starring John Patrick Lowrie as Holmes and Lawrence Albert as Watson,
3861-519: The Diogenes Club . Holmes says that he first developed his methods of deduction as an undergraduate; his earliest cases, which he pursued as an amateur, came from his fellow university students. A meeting with a classmate's father led him to adopt detection as a profession. In the first Holmes tale, A Study in Scarlet , financial difficulties lead Holmes and Dr. Watson to share rooms together at 221B Baker Street , London. Their residence
3960-695: The Strand in February 1892. It was also included in the short story collection The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes published in October 1892. A silent short film based on the story was released in 1923 as part of the Stoll film series starring Eille Norwood as Sherlock Holmes. Peter Cushing portrayed Sherlock Holmes in the 1968 BBC series . "The Adventure of Blue Carbuncle" is one of only six surviving episodes. Algimantas Masiulis played Sherlock Holmes in
4059-568: The University of Edinburgh Medical School , is also cited as an inspiration for Holmes. Littlejohn, who was also Police Surgeon and Medical Officer of Health in Edinburgh, provided Conan Doyle with a link between medical investigation and the detection of crime. Other possible inspirations have been proposed, though never acknowledged by Doyle, such as Maximilien Heller , by French author Henry Cauvain. In this 1871 novel (sixteen years before
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4158-502: The slanderous accusations against him originated by Jim Moriarty and secretly returns to London to help his brother Mycroft uncover an apparent imminent terrorist attack. An interleaved scene shows a version of how Sherlock might have faked his death: by jumping from the roof with a bungee cable, bouncing back and entering the building through a window, leaving Moriarty's body with a Sherlock mask to mislead John and other onlookers, John himself being hypnotised by Derren Brown to give
4257-471: The "science" of his craft: Detection is, or ought to be, an exact science and should be treated in the same cold and unemotional manner. You have attempted to tinge it [ A Study in Scarlet ] with romanticism, which produces much the same effect as if you worked a love-story or an elopement into the fifth proposition of Euclid . ... Some facts should be suppressed, or, at least, a just sense of proportion should be observed in treating them. The only point in
4356-478: The BBC Light Programme on 14 December 1954, and also aired on NBC radio on 13 March 1955. An audio drama based on the story was released in 1970 on LP record , as one of several dramas starring Robert Hardy as Holmes and Nigel Stock as Watson. It was dramatised and produced by Michael Hardwick (who adapted the 1961 radio adaptation) and Mollie Hardwick . "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle"
4455-484: The British war effort. Only one other adventure, " The Adventure of the Lion's Mane ", takes place during the detective's retirement. Watson describes Holmes as " bohemian " in his habits and lifestyle. Said to have a "cat-like" love of personal cleanliness, at the same time Holmes is an eccentric with no regard for contemporary standards of tidiness or good order. Watson describes him as in his personal habits one of
4554-629: The Bruce-Partington Plans ", Watson says that "Holmes lost himself in a monograph which he had undertaken upon the Polyphonic Motets of Lassus ", considered "the last word" on the subject—which must have been the result of an intensive and very specialized musicological study which could have had no possible application to the solution of criminal mysteries. Holmes is a cryptanalyst , telling Watson that "I am fairly familiar with all forms of secret writing, and am myself
4653-490: The Countess of Morcar's hotel suite. The police arrest John Horner, a plumber with a criminal record who was in the Countess's room repairing a fireplace grate. Meanwhile, at 221B Baker Street , Dr Watson finds Sherlock Holmes contemplating a battered old hat brought to him by Peterson, a commissionaire who seeks Holmes's help in returning it and a Christmas goose to their rightful owners after he found them dropped in
4752-489: The Empty House " and " The Lost Special " by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle , the episode follows Sherlock Holmes' return to London and reunion with John Watson, along with an underground terrorist network. The episode was first broadcast on BBC One and Channel One on 1 January 2014. It garnered a viewership of 12.7 million people and received positive reviews. Two years after his supposed death (depicted in " The Reichenbach Fall "), Sherlock Holmes has been completely absolved of
4851-411: The Empty House "; set in 1894, Holmes reappears, explaining to a stunned Watson that he had faked his death to fool his enemies. Following "The Adventure of the Empty House", Conan Doyle would sporadically write new Holmes stories until 1927. Holmes aficionados refer to the period from 1891 to 1894—between his disappearance and presumed death in "The Final Problem" and his reappearance in "The Adventure of
4950-410: The Empty House", Watson first encounters Holmes disguised as a heavily accented and bearded book salesman with a shop on the corner of Church Street, who offers Watson some books. In the episode, John encounters a man as his patient who owns a DVD shop at the same location; the man offers to sell him pornographic DVDs with titles almost identical to the books Watson was offered by the disguised Holmes in
5049-693: The Empty House"—as the Great Hiatus. The earliest known use of this expression dates to 1946. In His Last Bow , the reader is told that Holmes has retired to a small farm on the Sussex Downs and taken up beekeeping as his primary occupation. The move is not dated precisely, but can be presumed to be no later than 1904 (since it is referred to retrospectively in " The Adventure of the Second Stain ", first published that year). The story features Holmes and Watson coming out of retirement to aid
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#17327757029845148-471: The London newspapers, Holmes offers him a new goose. Happily accepting the replacement bird, Baker refuses the original bird's entrails, convincing Holmes that he knew nothing about the gem and that he had innocently purchased the goose, as he says, at the Alpha Inn, a pub near the British Museum . Holmes and Watson visit the pub, where the proprietor informs them that the bird had been purchased from
5247-543: The London slavey. In the first Holmes story, A Study in Scarlet , Dr. Watson compares Holmes to C. Auguste Dupin , Edgar Allan Poe's fictional detective, who employed a similar methodology. Alluding to an episode in " The Murders in the Rue Morgue ", where Dupin determines what his friend is thinking despite their having walked together in silence for a quarter of an hour, Holmes remarks: "That trick of his breaking in on his friend's thoughts with an apropos remark ...
5346-523: The Missing Three-Quarter ", Watson says that although he has "weaned" Holmes from drugs, the detective remains an addict whose habit is "not dead, but merely sleeping". Watson and Holmes both use tobacco, smoking cigarettes, cigars, and pipes . Although his chronicler does not consider Holmes's smoking a vice per se , Watson—a physician—does criticise the detective for creating a "poisonous atmosphere" in their confined quarters. Holmes
5445-528: The above shows Sherlock visiting Anderson. He reveals how he faked his death as part of a scheme to convince Moriarty of his lost credibility and demise. The plan allowed the Holmes brothers to dissolve Moriarty's network successfully. Sherlock tells Anderson that he and Mycroft had anticipated thirteen possible scenarios that could happen on the roof, and that while John's view was obstructed, members of his Homeless Network rolled out an inflatable mattress and took their roles as shocked bystanders and paramedics. With
5544-418: The absence of stimulating cases. He sometimes used morphine and sometimes cocaine , the latter of which he injects in a seven-per cent solution; both drugs were legal in 19th-century England. As a physician, Watson strongly disapproves of his friend's cocaine habit, describing it as the detective's only vice, and concerned about its effect on Holmes's mental health and intellect. In " The Adventure of
5643-484: The address of 221B Baker Street , London, where many of the stories begin. Though not the first fictional detective, Sherlock Holmes is arguably the best-known. By the 1990s, over 25,000 stage adaptations, films, television productions, and publications had featured the detective, and Guinness World Records lists him as the most portrayed human literary character in film and television history. Holmes's popularity and fame are such that many have believed him to be not
5742-426: The aid of a squash ball under his arm to temporarily stop his pulse, Sherlock convincingly faked his death. Anderson casts doubt on the integrity of this version of events, arguing it would be nearly impossible to ensure John remained exactly where Sherlock wanted. Anderson points out that he is "the last person" Sherlock would tell, but as he turns around, the room is empty. Anderson then begins tearing his theories from
5841-446: The author of a trifling monograph upon the subject, in which I analyse one hundred and sixty separate ciphers." Holmes also demonstrates a knowledge of psychology in "A Scandal in Bohemia", luring Irene Adler into betraying where she hid a photograph based on the premise that a woman will rush to save her most valued possession from a fire. Another example is in " The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle ", where Holmes obtains information from
5940-541: The best of them", a feeling Watson notes as an "atrocious sentiment". In "The Adventure of the Lion's Mane", Holmes writes, "Women have seldom been an attraction to me, for my brain has always governed my heart." At the end of The Sign of Four , Holmes states that "love is an emotional thing, and whatever is emotional is opposed to that true, cold reason which I place above all things. I should never marry myself, lest I bias my judgement." Ultimately, Holmes claims outright that "I have never loved." But while Watson says that
6039-403: The bomb by turning the off-switch, but not before making John believe the bomb can't be defused, leading Sherlock to apologize to John for getting him involved and saying that John would have had a future if he hadn't come back. This all had the intended effect of causing John to panic and reveal to Sherlock how much he has missed him, to John's later embarrassment. Another cut-scene intercut with
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#17327757029846138-410: The case which deserved mention was the curious analytical reasoning from effects to causes, by which I succeeded in unravelling it. Nevertheless, when Holmes recorded a case himself, he was forced to concede that he could more easily understand the need to write it in a manner that would appeal to the public rather than his intention to focus on his own technical skill. Holmes's friendship with Watson
6237-426: The cast of the previous two series returned, with Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman playing Sherlock Holmes and Doctor John Watson. Freeman's then real-life partner Amanda Abbington joined the cast as Mary Morstan , Watson's girlfriend. Cumberbatch's parents, Wanda Ventham and Timothy Carlton , had cameos as Sherlock's parents. "The Empty Hearse" was written by the series' co-creator, Mark Gatiss . He
6336-616: The city's underclass. These agents included a variety of informants , such as Langdale Pike, a "human book of reference upon all matters of social scandal", and Shinwell Johnson, who acted as Holmes's "agent in the huge criminal underworld of London". The best known of Holmes's agents are a group of street children he called "the Baker Street Irregulars ". Holmes and Watson often carry pistols with them to confront criminals—in Watson's case, his old service weapon (probably
6435-423: The detective becomes engaged under false pretenses in order to obtain information about a case, abandoning the woman once he has the information he requires. Irene Adler is a retired American opera singer and actress who appears in " A Scandal in Bohemia ". Although this is her only appearance, she is one of only a handful of people who bests Holmes in a battle of wits, and the only woman. For this reason, Adler
6534-404: The detective has an "aversion to women", he also notes Holmes as having "a peculiarly ingratiating way with [them]". Watson notes that their housekeeper Mrs. Hudson is fond of Holmes because of his "remarkable gentleness and courtesy in his dealings with women. He disliked and distrusted the sex, but he was always a chivalrous opponent." However, in " The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton ",
6633-593: The detective. A statement of Holmes' age in " His Last Bow " places his year of birth at 1854; the story, set in August 1914, describes him as sixty years of age. His parents are not mentioned, although Holmes mentions that his "ancestors" were " country squires ". In " The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter ", he claims that his grandmother was sister to the French artist Vernet, without clarifying whether this
6732-492: The development of the character in 1912, Conan Doyle wrote that "In the first one, the Study in Scarlet , [Holmes] was a mere calculating machine, but I had to make him more of an educated human being as I went on with him." Despite Holmes's supposed ignorance of politics, in "A Scandal in Bohemia" he immediately recognises the true identity of the disguised "Count von Kramm". At the end of A Study in Scarlet , Holmes demonstrates
6831-513: The doctor that during two years at college he made only one friend: "I was never a very sociable fellow, Watson ... I never mixed much with the men of my year." The detective goes without food at times of intense intellectual activity, believing that "the faculties become refined when you starve them". At times, Holmes relaxes with music, either playing the violin or enjoying the works of composers such as Wagner and Pablo de Sarasate . Holmes occasionally uses addictive drugs, especially in
6930-592: The episode aired on 28 December 2008. It was adapted into one of the books of the Hong Kong children's book series The Great Detective Sherlock Holmes , as "The Fat Goose and Blue Carbuncle" (肥鵝與藍寶石). It is Book #3 of the original Chinese version, and book #6 of the English version. Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes ( / ˈ ʃ ɜːr l ɒ k ˈ h oʊ m z / ) is a fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle . Referring to himself as
7029-526: The first appearance of Sherlock Holmes), Henry Cauvain imagined a depressed, anti-social, opium-smoking polymath detective, operating in Paris. It is not known if Conan Doyle read the novel, but he was fluent in French. Details of Sherlock Holmes' life in Conan Doyle's stories are scarce and often vague. Nevertheless, mentions of his early life and extended family paint a loose biographical picture of
7128-541: The first series of short stories in The Strand Magazine , beginning with " A Scandal in Bohemia " in 1891; additional tales appeared from then until 1927, eventually totalling four novels and 56 short stories . All but one are set in the Victorian or Edwardian eras between 1880 and 1914. Most are narrated by the character of Holmes's friend and biographer, Dr. John H. Watson , who usually accompanies Holmes during his investigations and often shares quarters with him at
7227-469: The guilty. In the latter story, Watson says, "The stage lost a fine actor ... when [Holmes] became a specialist in crime." Guy Mankowski has said of Holmes that his ability to change his appearance to blend into any situation "helped him personify the idea of the English eccentric chameleon, in a way that prefigured the likes of David Bowie ". Until Watson's arrival at Baker Street, Holmes largely worked alone, only occasionally employing agents from
7326-465: The hotel where the gem was stolen. Back at Baker Street, a remorseful Ryder admits that he and his accomplice, the Countess's maid, had contrived to frame Horner, believing that his criminal past would make him an easy scapegoat. During a visit to his sister, Mrs Oakshott, Ryder decided to feed the gem to a goose she had promised him as a gift, but had confused the bird with another. By the time he realised his mistake, his goose had already been sold. As it
7425-403: The inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting specimen of
7524-462: The law as a means for righting a wrong, contending that "there are certain crimes which the law cannot touch, and which therefore, to some extent, justify private revenge." His companion condones the detective's willingness to do this on behalf of a client—lying to the police, concealing evidence or breaking into houses—when he also feels it morally justifiable. Except for that of Watson, Holmes avoids casual company. In "The Gloria Scott " , he tells
7623-475: The mind has a finite capacity for information storage, and learning useless things reduces one's ability to learn useful things. The later stories move away from this notion: in The Valley of Fear , he says, "All knowledge comes useful to the detective", and in "The Adventure of the Lion's Mane", the detective calls himself "an omnivorous reader with a strangely retentive memory for trifles". Looking back on
7722-407: The most untidy men that ever drove a fellow-lodger to distraction. [He] keeps his cigars in the coal-scuttle , his tobacco in the toe end of a Persian slipper, and his unanswered correspondence transfixed by a jack-knife into the very centre of his wooden mantelpiece. ... He had a horror of destroying documents. ... Thus month after month his papers accumulated, until every corner of the room
7821-504: The possibility of an Atlantic or a Niagara without having seen or heard of one or the other." However, Holmes does employ deductive reasoning as well. The detective's guiding principle, as he says in The Sign of Four , is: "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." Despite Holmes's remarkable reasoning abilities, Conan Doyle still paints him as fallible in this regard (this being
7920-480: The reaction of the public surprised him very much. Distressed readers wrote anguished letters to The Strand Magazine , which suffered a terrible blow when 20,000 people cancelled their subscriptions to the magazine in protest. Conan Doyle himself received many protest letters, and one lady even began her letter with "You brute". Legend has it that Londoners were so distraught upon hearing the news of Holmes's death that they wore black armbands in mourning, though there
8019-454: The scene and an optical microscope at his Baker Street lodgings. He uses analytical chemistry for blood residue analysis and toxicology to detect poisons; Holmes's home chemistry laboratory is mentioned in " The Naval Treaty ". Ballistics feature in "The Adventure of the Empty House" when spent bullets are recovered to be matched with a suspected murder weapon, a practice which became regular police procedure only some fifteen years after
8118-412: The short story ("Tree Worshippers", "British Birds", "Catalysts", and "Holy War"). John falsely assumes it is Sherlock in disguise, with embarrassing results. It is also a reference to a scene from The Spider Woman starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce . Moffat and Gatiss have cited the film series as another source of inspiration when writing Sherlock . The remainder of the episode's storyline
8217-671: The show's creators and key cast members. The episode was first broadcast on BBC One on 1 January 2014. According to overnight figures, the episode was viewed by 9.2 million people in the UK on BBC One, with the viewership peaking at 9.7 million in the first 5 minutes. It premiered in the US on PBS as part of Masterpiece Mystery! on 19 January 2014. "The Empty Hearse" received critical acclaim upon broadcast, with The Guardian ' s Sam Wollaston proclaiming "...an explosive return for Cumberbatch and Freeman, full of fizz, whizz and wit." Similarly, The Telegraph ' s Chris Harvey said, "This
8316-494: The story for the radio series The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes as an episode that aired on 4 January 1940 (with Basil Rathbone as Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Watson). Another episode adapted from the story aired on 25 December 1944 (again starring Rathbone and Bruce, and with Eric Snowden as Peterson). An adaptation written by Howard Merrill aired on 26 December 1948 (with John Stanley as Holmes and Wendell Holmes as Watson). A radio dramatisation adapted by Felix Felton
8415-406: The story was published. Laura J. Snyder has examined Holmes's methods in the context of mid- to late-19th-century criminology, demonstrating that, while sometimes in advance of what official investigative departments were formally using at the time, they were based upon existing methods and techniques. For example, fingerprints were proposed to be distinct in Conan Doyle's day, and while Holmes used
8514-481: The street during a scuffle. A nametag on the goose reading "Henry Baker" is of little assistance as the name is a very common one. Ultimately, Peterson takes the goose home for dinner while Holmes keeps the hat to study as an intellectual exercise. An excited Peterson finds the stolen gem in the goose's crop . Holmes studies the hat, deducing Baker's age, social standing, intellect, and domestic status. When Baker appears in response to advertisements that Holmes placed in
8613-503: The time Conan Doyle began writing Holmes, and Holmes's speech and behaviour sometimes follow those of Lecoq. Doyle has his main characters discuss these literary antecedents near the beginning of A Study in Scarlet , which is set soon after Watson is first introduced to Holmes. Watson attempts to compliment Holmes by comparing him to Dupin, to which Holmes replies that he found Dupin to be "a very inferior fellow" and Lecoq to be "a miserable bungler". Conan Doyle repeatedly said that Holmes
8712-621: The time for this to be set up. This version of events is quickly shown to be a conspiracy theory invented by Philip Anderson , who feels responsible for Sherlock's death. John now has a girlfriend, Mary Morstan , to whom he intends to propose in a restaurant. At this point, Sherlock, disguised as a French waiter, approaches the couple but is not immediately recognised by John. When Sherlock reveals his identity, John attacks him three times in three different restaurants. When John refuses to accept his explanations, Sherlock enlists Molly to assist him in his next case, that of an underground skeleton behind
8811-437: The wall, laughing hysterically, and the intercut scene ends. Moran is ambushed by the police and arrested after leaving his hotel suite. John asks Sherlock who abducted him and why, questions for which Sherlock has no answers yet. In the final scene, a bespectacled man with blue eyes is seen observing footage of Sherlock and Mary rescuing John from the fire. The most obvious source of this episode, to which its title alludes,
8910-617: The wrong tube lines, "Sherlock sparks Twitter fury as eagle-eyed viewers notice the lines on London Underground are WRONG." Metro also awarded the episode four out of five stars, with reviewer Tim Liew stating, "The Empty Hearse is a fast-paced yarn filled with breathtaking audacity and laugh-out-loud moments." The episode also received very positive reviews from American critics, with The Hollywood Reporter ' s Tim Goodman saying "The acclaimed detective, played by Benedict Cumberbatch, returns for season three as superb (and unscathed) as when he left." Oliver Jia of The Punk Effect stated that
9009-406: Was Claude Joseph , Carle , or Horace Vernet . Holmes' brother Mycroft , seven years his senior, is a government official. Mycroft has a unique civil service position as a kind of human database for all aspects of government policy. Sherlock describes his brother as the more intelligent of the two, but notes that Mycroft lacks any interest in physical investigation, preferring to spend his time at
9108-494: Was adapted by Murray Burnett as an episode of CBS Radio Mystery Theater featuring Kevin McCarthy as Sherlock Holmes and Court Benson as Dr. Watson. The episode first aired on 25 July 1977. A radio production adapted by Bill Morrison aired on 23 July 1978, with Barry Foster as Holmes and David Buck as Watson, as one of 13 Holmes stories adapted for BBC Radio 4 . A BBC radio adaptation aired on 2 January 1991, as part of
9207-406: Was attended by several hundred fans, whom producer Sue Vertue begged not to leak too much information. Telegraph journalist Sheryl Garratt reported that the filming was deliberately confusing to the watching fans, and the explanation of how Sherlock faked his death was blanked in the script. The London Underground train used in the episode was built from scratch by the production to look like
9306-698: Was broadcast on the BBC Home Service on 10 December 1952, as part of the 1952–1969 radio series starring Carleton Hobbs as Holmes and Norman Shelley as Watson. Other adaptations of the story in the same series aired on the BBC Home Service on 25 October 1957 and on the BBC Light Programme on 29 December 1961 (adapted by Michael Hardwick ). A 1954 BBC adaptation by John Keir Cross starred John Gielgud as Holmes and Ralph Richardson as Watson. The production first aired on
9405-470: Was inspired by the real-life figure of Joseph Bell , a surgeon at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh , whom Conan Doyle met in 1877 and had worked for as a clerk. Like Holmes, Bell was noted for drawing broad conclusions from minute observations. However, he later wrote to Conan Doyle: "You are yourself Sherlock Holmes and well you know it". Sir Henry Littlejohn , Chair of Medical Jurisprudence at
9504-650: Was inspired to use the London Underground as a setting by the 1968 Doctor Who serial The Web of Fear , a story which is primarily set in the Underground after London is evacuated due to the spread of a deadly web-like fungus via the Tube network. The resolution to how Holmes had faked his death at the end of " The Reichenbach Fall " was filmed in April 2013 at St Bart's Hospital in London. The filming
9603-412: Was stacked with bundles of manuscript which were on no account to be burned, and which could not be put away save by their owner. While Holmes is characterised as dispassionate and cold, he can be animated and excitable during an investigation. He has a flair for showmanship, often keeping his methods and evidence hidden until the last possible moment so as to impress observers. Holmes is willing to break
9702-512: Was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable memory. Five years before the story's events, Adler had a brief liaison with Crown Prince of Bohemia Wilhelm von Ormstein. As the story opens, the Prince is engaged to another. Fearful that the marriage would be called off if his fiancée's family learns of this past impropriety, Ormstein hires Holmes to regain a photograph of Adler and himself. Adler slips away before Holmes can succeed. Her memory
9801-506: Was the triumphant return of the most charismatic, most fun character on British television." The Mirror gave the episode a perfect five star review, with the author Josh Wilding's headline being, "Stunning explanation in The Empty Hearse for how Sherlock faked his death won't satisfy everybody, but it works." whilst the author Anne-Marie Senior noted how viewers were left confused by the discontinuity showing different trains on
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