Sherlock Holmes Trivia from A Sherlock Holmes Companion

While researching my book, The Sherlock Holmes Triviography and Quiz Book, I amassed a collection of Holmes reference books that now occupy much of my bookshelf. Occasionally, I pull one down, dust it off, reread it, and am reminded of the enjoyment I experienced while gathering hundreds of Holmes trivia facts. One of my favorites is A Sherlock Holmes Companion, a collection of essays and articles written about Holmes and edited by Peter Haining. P. G. Wodehouse, Franklin Roosevelt, Basil Rathbone, Winifred Paget, John Bennett Shaw, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle contributed to the compendium.

Here are some great Holmes trivia gleaned from Haining’s book. If you haven’t added it to your collection, you don’t know what you’re missing. 

1.  In 1955, Sherlockian Nathan L. Bengis claims to have discovered Sherlock Holmes’ will in which the detective leaves Dr. Watson five thousand pounds and any books he wanted, his dictionary went to Lestrade, a collection of poetry to Tobias Gregson, a copy of each of his monographs to Scotland Yard, and the remainder of his estate to Mycroft.

2.  Conan Doyle published an article in the Strand magazine in March 1927, asking his readers to list their twelve best Holmes stories. Conan Doyle drew up his own list, placed it in a sealed envelope, and gave it to the editor to be revealed and compared later. Feeling that his detective had outlived his time, Conan Doyle, in the article, announced his plan to bid farewell to Holmes and all future stories. 

3.  From 1942 until his death three years later, Franklin D. Roosevelt was a member of the Baker Street Irregulars. When he published his essay, Sherlock Holmes Was An American, in The Baker Street Journal, he was critically attacked for his theory.

The photo of the book cover was taken from amazon's web page.

A Sherlock Holmes Companion was published in 1980 by Barnes & Noble  Books.

Sunday's for the Birds: The First Annual Edison Bird Festival

The small town of Edison, Washington is located in a bird-perfect area: Samish Bay on the northwest and farm fields on the southeast. What bird wouldn't love it! My husband and I spent the day traveling to our favorite birding spots around Edison. But today was different. I began to wonder if the local bird species had also heard about the festival and planned their attendance. The largest number of bald eagles we had ever spotted was six, but today, we stopped counting at forty. Along with the eagles, mallards, Northern pintails, blue herons, and tundra swans showed up in mass. Red-tailed hawks swooped down showing off their fan-like tails in an attempt to steal the show from the eagles. I swear I caught a glimpse of a black oystercatcher. But the star attraction was the ring-necked pheasant strutting just off the roadside by the Edison Liquor Store.
The "Keep Your Chickens in Line" parade kicked off the festival on Saturday morning. We regretted missing the spectacle until we found our own private chicken parade in the neighboring town of Bow.
If you didn't make it this year, put it on your calendar for 2013. http://edisonbirdfestival.com/blog
On the way home, we drove along March's Point to photograph what is believed to be the largest blue-heron rookery in Western North America. Check out their live heron cam: http://www.padillabay.gov/education_heron.html