Consult an expert

Got a question about Sherlock Holmes? Even a really weird question? That's what I'm here for. Feel free to ask about any adaptation, although I am most familiar with the ones listed in the tags page. Please read the rules before sending an ask or submission. All answers, to the best of my knowledge, are facts, and any opinions will be marked as such.

[holmes-specialist]

This is an ask-based blog. Although I may make information posts when I want to talk about something specific, I can’t really do it on a regular basis.

[holmes-specialist]

House M.D. is actually a Sherlock Holmes adaptation, although this is often overlooked. House and Wilson are clearly modeled after Holmes and Watson, and there are little references to the stories throughout the show. House lives at 221B Baker Street, as you can see from his driver’s license, and Irene Adler and Dr. Joseph Bell have both been mentioned on the show.

[holmes-specialist]

When Lord Moran remotely activates the bomb in The Empty Hearse, the password he uses is 051113, or November 5th, 2013, the day of the attempted bombing. This is a reference to His Last Bow, in which the villain has his safe combination set to August 1914, which is when the story takes place.

[holmes-specialist]

Oh, and well, I'm pretty convinced myself that Sherlock is autistic, but I'm curious to know what was Conan Doyle inspiration for his character (as autism wasn't a thing back in his time). Thx again!

Autism wasn’t really a diagnosis until about 1938, and as far as I know wasn’t widely diagnosed until much later (although autistic people definitely existed before the label was invented). So one of the things I find interesting about reading Holmes as autistic is the fact that Doyle couldn’t have intended to write him as autistic or allistic. He just wrote him as a person.

As for what inspired him, besides Dr. Joseph Bell I don’t know. It’s something of a controversy, and apparently people have been trying to find “the real Sherlock Holmes” for years. Personally I think it’s kind of a waste of time, because the character himself will always be more important to me than whoever might have inspired him. 

[holmes-specialist]

Hello! I've read once a thing about Conan Doyle and Edgar Allan Poe shared the same inspiration for both Sherlock Holmes and C. Auguste Dupin, on someone that actually existed (a teacher or smth?), is that true? Thx!

You’re thinking of Dr. Joseph Bell. He was one of Doyle’s professors atthe University of Edinburgh, and Doyle publicly acknowledged that he was theinspiration for Sherlock Holmes. It’s not true that Dupin was based on him aswell, though. Bell was only four years old when The Murders In the Rue Morguewas first published in 1841, and it’s unlikely he and Poe ever met. However, Doyle admiredPoe’s writing, and Holmes was probably partly based on Dupin as well asBell.

I had to do a bit of research on this one, and I found this ebook, which looks interesting. I’m not sure how much of it is relevant to your question, though. The link goes to a page that mentions Edgar Allan Poe.

[deuts]

What happens to your mail if you send it to Sherlock Holmes at 221B Baker Street in London? Watch this video.

(via What Happens to Sherlock Holmes’ Mail - YouTube)

[guardian]

“Data, data, data! I can’t make bricks without clay!” the iconic literary sleuth Sherlock Holmes once declared. Over a hundred years after his debut, Adam Frost and Jim Kynvin went back through Conan-Doyle’s stories to in search of data to explain Sherlock’s enduring appeal. Above are some of the fun tidbits they uncovered.

Discover more fun facts about Holmes at our gallery. 

[miadifferent]

these are beautiful and make my heart beat faster in awe! <3

[holmes-specialist]

Besides the gallery, there’s a spreadsheet available with all the data. I found the address on the third image, but here it is as a link: https://goo.gl/Tb8FCV

[holmes-specialist]

What is the giant rat of Sumatra?

It’s a case that was mentioned very briefly in The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire. Holmes says it’s “a story for which the world is not yet prepared,” and not much else is said about it aside from the fact that it’s connected with a ship called the Matilda Briggs. I don’t think it’s ever mentioned again.

There was some speculation in the Sherlock fandom before series 3 aired as to whether it would be in the show, since the clues for the episodes were “rat, wedding, bow.” It wasn’t, exactly, but in The Empty Hearse Sherlock calls Lord Moran (the corrupt politician) “the big rat*” and the underground station is located in Sumatra Road, so they did reference it.

*The wikipedia article for TEH says Sherlock actually calls him “the giant rat of Sumatra Road” but I’m pretty sure he doesn’t.

[holmes-specialist]

intro post

Hi! This is my new blog for answering questions about Sherlock Holmes. I love talking about the original Holmes stories, as well as adaptations, related historical events, reviews/discussion/literary criticism of the original stories and/or adaptations, and only-somewhat-related trivia. I also know a whole lot about those things, so I thought it would be a good idea to set up an askblog as a resource for other people and a fun project for me. Win-win. Whether you’re looking for little-known or mostly-ignored facts about Sherlock Holmes, or just want to know what the heck those little 4-letter abbreviations like ‘CHAS’ and ‘DEVI’ mean, this is the place to ask.