“One or two plain questions”

What is the “Grand Game”?

The Crew, in common with other Sherlock Holmes societies and groups around the known world, play  “The Grand Game” aka “The Great Game” or just “The Game”, as inspired by Holmes’ call to Watson in The Adventure of the Abbey Grange – “Come, Watson, come! The game is afoot.”

In this “Game” we assume Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson to be real people, the sixty tales in the Sherlock Holmes Canon to be a true narrative of their cases and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to be Watson’s literary agent. This is not intended to show any disrespect to the creator of Sherlock Holmes and the author of his adventures.

Does the Crew have links to other like-minded societies?

The Crew is one of several hundred  Sherlock Holmes societies and groups around the globe (the precise number remains unknown).  Although an independent society, we actively encourage co-operation with the Sherlockian and Doylean fraternity world-wide, whether that be societies, groups or individuals.

Holmesians and Sherlockians – is there a difference?

These are terms which are widely used by Sherlock Holmes enthusiasts (sometimes known as fans or fanatics). American devotees have tended to call themselves Sherlockians while the British enthusiasts (traditionally more reserved, or so we’ve been led to believe), apparently, have preferred to be known as Holmesians. Here on the May Day we’re quite laid back about this sort of thing so Sherlockians, Holmesians or any other label (careful!) you care to pin on us is fine and dandy.

How many times did Watson get married?

That’s a tough one, but sadly we can’t help you here. This Crew & A is for Crew and related matters only, not to tackle questions which involve scholarship issues (that’s for when we play “The Grand Game”).