News Bulletin 35

“I shall be happy to give you any other details which might interest you.”

“I Glanced At The Card To See The Entries.”

Last year’s inaugural race was a sell out success, so much so that this year the Sherlock Holmes Society of London – http://www.sherlock-holmes.org.uk/event_info.php?id=253 – is sponsoring the Silver Blaze Wessex Cup at Kempton Park on Wednesday 6 July 2011. It will be the penultimate race of the evening and is scheduled for 8.50pm. You can
find the race card at – http://www.racingpost.com/horses2/cards/card.sd?race_id=534469&r_date=2011-07-06 and also at –http://horses.sportinglife.com/Racecards/0,12495,443913,00.html.

 

From Gillette To Brett III.

On the weekend of 11–13 November 2011, Wessex Press – http://www.wessexpress.com – is sponsoring another “blockbuster” Sherlockian conference in Bloomington, U.S.A. Devoted to Sherlock Holmes on stage, screen, television and radio, From Gillette to Brett III will feature rare Sherlockian films, vendors, and an all-star roster of distinguished speakers, presenters, and events, including the 35th anniversary screening of The Seven-Per-Cent Solution, hosted by Nicholas Meyer. Registration is now open.

 

Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows – The Moriarty Factor!

Warner Bros sequel to its 2009 mega hit Sherlock Holmes is due in cinemas on 16 December 2011. Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law will be reprising their roles as Holmes and Watson but possibly of more immediate interest, at least to people like us, is the Moriarty factor. Jared Harris is playing the part of Holmes’ arch-nemesis and you can read about it, albeit it briefly, in a recent interview with Digital Spy here – http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/movies/at-the-movies/a317752/jared-harris-talks-sherlock-holmes-2.html.

 

“Just One More Thing…..”

One of television’s most enduring detectives Peter Falk, famous for his role in the Columbo series, died on 23 June 2011. The Guardian (25 June 2011) says that on one occasion the actor described Columbo as “an ass-backwards Sherlock Holmes” – http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2011/jun/24/peter-falk-columbo-actor-dies. An obituary in The Independent (27 June 2011) says Falk saw Columbo as a mirror image of Conan Doyle’s famous detective, of whom he was a fan – http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/peter-falk-actor-famous-for-playing-scruffy-tv-detective-columbo-a-role-for-which-he-won-four-emmys-2303164.html.

Peter Blau, however gives us a slightly closer connection. In Columbo: Fade In To Murder (season 6, episode 1, 1976), broadcast by NBC-TV, William Shatner played Ward Fowler (star of the television series Detective Lucerne), who murdered a woman who was blackmailing him. Columbo knew Fowler was the murderer, and asked him for help with the case, trying to make it seem more like team-work. Fowler: “I’d say we make a rather good team, don’t you?” Columbo: “Yeah, sort of like Sherlock Holmes and Watson, sir.” Fowler: “No no no no, more like Sherlock Holmes and Sherlock Holmes.”

Crewmates who took part in our annual outing for 2010, will fondly recall the trip to the Grand Opera House, Belfast to see the Columbo play: Prescription Murder.