Events

 Ship's Logs

All our online meetings  (starting 2021) are available on The Passengers YouTube channel.

Minutes of recent Passengers meetings:

Sherlock Holmes Into the Fire

Nine Passengers gathered virtually for the August meeting, along with ten guests, all authors attending for a special group presentation.

The meeting started with the sad news announced earlier in the week of the death of long time Passenger, Doug Elliott, following a battle with cancer. Doug was a member of the Passengers for twenty three years, and also part of the Crew as Anchor Watch. Some Passengers were able to attend his farewell.

Media News

•   Filming has concluded on the third, as yet unnamed, movie in the Enola Holmes series for Netflix. This time the story is set in Malta. A release date has yet to be announced, but possibly later this year or first half of 2026.
• The Young Sherlock  TV series is now being reported as “Coming to Amazon Prime Video in 2025”.  This is the Guy Ritchie directed series starring Hero Fiennes Tiffin playing a 19 year old Holmes.
• Production is underway on The Final Problem, a Spanish language five episode TV series with a tenuous Sherlockian connection. Set in 1959, thirteen people are stranded by a storm at a hotel on a small island in the Mediterranean. Someone is murdered and it falls to one of the guests, Basil, a retired actor who once played Sherlock Holmes, to investigate.

Anniversaries

• 2^nd August 1914 – The German spy Von Bork was apprehended by Holmes and Watson thanks to the effort of Holmes in the guise of the Irish-American Altamont.
• 4^th August 1860 – John Ferrier killed by the Mormons and Lucy Ferrier carried off to be married, as regaled by Dr Watson in A Study in Scarlet.

• 26^th August 1903 – one of Professor Presbury’s outbreaks after taking monkey serum, which involved Holmes and Watson in ‘The Adventure of the Creeping Man’.
• 30^th August 1889 – Arthur Conan Doyle and Oscar Wilde had dinner at Langham’s Hotel in London with J. M. Stoddart, the editor of the American Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine, which led to Doyle writing The Sign of the Four and Wilde writing The Picture of Dorian Gray, which the magazine published the following year and which provided a boost to both author’s careers.

For the ‘Show and Tell’ portion of the meeting, Leigh Blackmore showed some recent purchases, including two volumes of pastiche by Stephen Herczeg, one of the authors featured in today’s presentation.

Rather than having one main presenter, this meeting gathered together a collection of authors who all contributed to Sherlock Holmes Into the Fire, a two volume anthology released this month. The project was inspired by Arthur Conan Doyle’s book Round the Fire Stories, which contains seventeen short stories, all with themes concerned with the grotesque and the terrible. This new project from Belanger Books takes those gothic horror stories of Doyle’s and pairs them with brand new Sherlock Holmes stories, each by a different author.  The series is edited by Margie Deck. Margie and a number of the contributing authors were welcomed to the meeting.

Margie interviewed each of the other authors in turn to talk about what they wrote and why and what other writing projects they are currently involved in.

The original idea for the anthology came from (Passenger) Mark Jones in the UK and he wanted to do it with both Margie Deck and Nancy Holder (another of the authors joining in for the session), but he wasn’t able to fit it into his schedule, so Margie took it over and rounded up all the fellow authors to contribute.

Each author chose which Doyle story they wanted to pair with and Margie pleasantly found that she didn’t have much trouble in allocating all seventeen of Doyle’s stories. It turned out that around half the authors wrote a sequel and the other half wrote a reimagining of the original. One author chose a supernatural story by Doyle and then had to find a way to fit Holmes and his maxim of “no ghosts need apply” into her story.  Apparently she turned in a great effort and her story has had lots of compliments. Another writer started writing a story that didn’t include Watson, then discovered that the story needed Watson, so had to go back and start again. Many comments from the authors indicated that their story was a lot of fun to write, and one writer serendipitously found that the real-life discovery of a forensic technique fitted neatly into her story’s timeline so was able to use that in her story.

Many thanks to the authors who joined in for this meeting: Margie Deck, Paul Hiscock, Liese Sherwood-Fabre, Rebecca Buchanan, Katie Magnusson, Naching Kassa, Nancy Holder, Stephen Herczeg, Katy Darby and Derrick Belanger (also the publisher). The two volume anthology is available from Belanger Books  and Amazon.

The meeting was recorded and has been uploaded to YouTube.

Sherlock Holmes and the Baron Of Wimbledon

8th June 2025 via Zoom

The meeting began promptly at 2pm with eight attendees Zooming in from Australia, the U.K. and New Zealand. The Captain welcomed guest presenter Orlando Pearson, joining at the unfriendly hour of 5:00am.

In media news:

• ·         The thirteen episodes of Watson remain available on Paramount+. The series has been renewed for a second season, currently scheduled to begin early in 2026.
• ·         Sherlock & Daughter is currently airing weekly on SBS here in Australia, and is also available on SBS On Demand. David Thewlis plays Holmes, with the irritating characteristic of referring to himself as “the great Sherlock Holmes”.
• ·         The third telemovie in the Enola Holmes series on Netflix is currently in production. Set in Malta, returning cast include Millie Bobby Brown in the title role, Henry Cavill as Sherlock, and Helena Bonham Carter as their mother.
• ·         Currently no further information on Young Sherlock, the eight episode Guy Ritchie series with Hero Fiennes Tiffin playing a nineteen year old Holmes. It is expected to release on the Amazon Prime streaming platform.
• ·         True Sherlock is a “A retelling of the Sherlock Holmes stories exploring such mysteries as: Who are Sherlock’s parents?, How did Mrs Hudson find and lose her husband?, How did Moriarty become ‘the Napoleon of Crime?’ And where did Watson come from?”. Based on a book series by Nicholas Sercum, it begins filming in January. 

Canonical Anniversaries for June.

• 3^rd June 1889 – Charles McCarthy walked down to the Boscombe Pool to meet someone and never came back alive. Holmes and Watson get drawn into the case of ‘The Boscombe Valley Mystery’ soon after.
• 13^th June 1892 – Basil Rathbone was born in Johannesburg, South Africa.

• 19^th June 1889 – Dr Watson extracts Isa Whitney from the Bar of Gold opium den and bumps into Holmes there which starts them both off in the case of ‘The Man with the Twisted Lip’.
• 20^th June 1837 – 18 year old Victoria inherits the British throne and the Victorian era commences.  Her Coronation takes place on 28^th June the following year.

• ·         Late June 1902 – ‘The Adventure of the Three Garridebs’ commenced.  In that story, Dr Watson tells us that this was the same month that Holmes refused a knighthood.

Show & Tell

Leigh Blackmore had acquired two books by David Stuart Davies along with the Mammoth Book Of Sherlock Holmes Abroad edited by Simon Clark. He had also been watching the Lucy Worsley series Killing Sherlock.

Next in the meeting, Quartermaster Rosane McNamara spoke about her trip to India with the Sherlock Holmes Society of London, accompanied by a series of photos showing highlights from her ‘hiatus’. The group travelled to Calcutta, Lucknow, Agra (famous to Sherlockians  from The Sign of Four), the Taj Mahal, Delhi, and Shimla. There were plenty of opportunities for both sight seeing and dressing in Victorian costume. The group even performed an original Sherlock Holmes radio play written by Peter Horrocks.

The Captain next announced the winner of the 2024 Montpellier Award for the best article in The Passengers’ Log from that year, as voted by society members. From four excellent nominees, the winning article is Construct of the Stranger - One Further Revelation by Ross Philpott, from the January 2024 Log. Congratulations to Ross. There will be a full report in the next edition of The Log.

The meeting concluded with the main presentation, introduced by Orland Pearson. Orlando is an author and playwright, currently up to volume 9 of his Redacted Sherlock Holmes series. Orland presented his play The Baron Of Wimbledon, which he adapted from a story written in 2020, and first recorded and ‘Zoomcast’ during Covid lockdown. It has now been seen across twelve countries It was based on the story of Gottfied Von Cramm, a real tennis player from the 1930s, who was also the first German sportsman to play outside Germany after World War II. Orlando described how he came to write the story and adapt it for performance. The play (available on You Tube) was well received the Passengers and Orland took questions afterwards, also speaking about the latest volume of The Redacted Sherlock Holmes and also his other Mycroftian series – Adventures In Statecraft.

The assembled Zoom attendees departed at 3:15pm. A recording of the meeting is available on YouTube on the Passengers’ channel.

Sherlock Holmes Close Up Zoom Act

16th March 2025 via Zoom

The meeting began promptly at 2pm with ten attendees Zooming in from various time zones.

In media news:

•   Watson, starring Morris Chestnut, is now halfway through its thirteen episode season, airing to mixed reviews, but it’s rumoured that the series is likely to be renewed.
•   Sherlock & Daughter from the UK is to be released in the US in mid-April. It stars David Thewlis as Holmes and Blu Hunt as the eponymous daughter. SBS will show the eight episode series in Australia (no date as yet available).
•   Enola Holmes 3 from Netflix is expected to begin filming in April, but there is little other information about it as yet.
•   Young Sherlock has now concluded filming under the directorship of Guy Ritchie. In addition to lead actor Hero Fiennes Tiffin, the series also features his uncle Joseph Fiennes, Colin Firth, and Max Iron. It will be shown on Amazon Prime later this year.
•   Production has begun on Baker Street Four, an animated television show aimed at children based on a French comic book series about members of the Baker Street Irregulars and their cat Watson. It is a French/German co-production not due to be released until 2027.

Canonical Anniversaries:

• In March 1869 ‘The Adventure of the Devil’s Foot’ commenced.
• 4^th March - A Study In Scarlet commenced.
• 10^th March 1883 - Colonel Elias Openshaw received an envelope containing five orange pips and seven weeks later he was dead.  Four and a half years on, his nephew, John Openshaw, received a similar letter and came to Holmes for help and so began ‘The Adventure of the Five Orange Pips’.
• 20^th March 1888 - ‘A Scandal In Bohemia’ commenced.
• March 1892 – ‘The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge’ commenced
• 30^th March 1804 – Ronald Adair was killed and the following day Holmes, disguised as an old bookseller, visits and startles Watson, thus commencing ‘The Adventure of the Empty House’.

In the Show & Tell section of the meeting, Leigh Blackmore showed his latest book purchases including The Secret Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, an anthology by Gary Lovisi, with cover art by a friend of Leigh’s. Leigh also had some Solar Pons pastiches.

Rosane McNamara has been on a trip to India with the Sherlock Holmes Society of London – look out for a write up of her adventures in the next Passengers’ Log.

The main part of the meeting commenced with a warm welcome to presenter Micah Cover from California. Micah is a professional magician and performer, playwright, and author who has performed for Hollywood celebrities and on a number of television shows, including Penn and Teller: Fool Us (available on YouTube). Micah believes he’s the only magician in the world to perform a Sherlock Holmes themed magic show. Micah performed a number of tricks for the assembled Passengers over Zoom, involving the attendees in various acts of mentalism and card tricks with a Sherlockian theme, even thwarting concerted efforts to mess with his act. More information on Micah and his tricks can be found on his website.

The assembled Zoom attendees departed at 2:55pm. A recording of the meeting can be found on YouTube. Thanks as always to Doug Elliott for editing the video.

Phosphorus and the Making Of a Hellhound

1st December 2024 via Zoom

Nine Passengers attended the final meeting for 2024, Zooming in from Australia, New Zealand and the USA. A particular welcome was extended to the committed people joining from unfriendly time zones, including presenter Matthew Hall.

Originally from Sydney, Matt has lived and worked in the US for many years, and is very active in Sherlockian circles there. He is an avid collector and contributes regularly to The Passengers’ Log.

The Navigator reminded Passengers that there will not be an end of year issue of the Log this year, due to various extenuating circumstances affecting the editorial team. Instead, there will be a double issue early in 2025. This hopefully gives more time for people to put fingers to keyboard across the holiday period and contribute an article.

The Captain had various items of news for the attendees.

Media News

• ·         The Watson TV series, starring American actor Morris Chestnut, now has a release date of 26^th January 2025 on the CBS network in the US.  Thereafter, the network will show one episode per week starting on 16^th February, with a total run of thirteen episodes.
  The series is said to be set six months (or one year, depending upon which source you read) after the apparent death of Sherlock Holmes at the hands of Moriarty, with title character Watson as the head of the Holmes Clinic in modern day Pittsburgh. There are rumours that Moriarty will make an appearance, and other canonical names of characters appearing in the show are Mary Morstan and Shinwell Johnson.
• ·         UK television series Sherlock & Daughter has yet to be given a release date, but the premise of the show is that a young American woman, Amelia, whose mother was recently murdered, comes to London to seek help from Holmes.  As they work together to solve the mystery, Amelia begins to suspect that Holmes is her father.  UK actor David Thewlis plays Holmes, Blu Hunt is Amelia, and Professor Moriarty is played by Dougray Scott.  Dr Watson, played by Sean Duggan, is only listed as a ‘supporting character’.  The series will consist of eight hour long episodes.  It is due to be shown in Australia on SBS.
• ·         It looks increasingly likely that production of the third, as yet unnamed, Enola Holmes telemovie will get underway in early 2025.  There are rumours that Holmes and Watson end up sharing rooms together; and that Moriarty escapes from prison to continue her nefarious activities.
• ·         Young Sherlock is an upcoming eight episode TV series which commenced filming in the UK in July.  Starring 26 year old Hero Fiennes Tiffin as Holmes, the cast also includes his uncle Joseph Fiennes, who plays his father, and Colin Firth who plays an aristocrat.  It is set to be shown on Amazon Prime Video, with no release date yet.  Donal Finn plays Moriarty, and Max Irons plays Mycroft Holmes.  The series is directed by Guy Ritchie, who directed the two Robert Downey Jr/Jude Law films.

Anniversaries From Around the Date of  the Meeting

• 13^th November 1920 – Arthur Conan Doyle arrived in Sydney on his Spiritualism tour.
• 21^st November 1887 – Beeton’s Christmas Annual for that year was published, introducing Sherlock Holmes to the world in A Study in Scarlet.
• 3^rd week November 1895 – ‘The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans’ commenced.

• Late November 1894 – ‘The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez’ commenced.
• End of November (unspecified year) – Holmes and Watson sat in front of a blazing fire in their sitting room at Baker Street and reflected upon the end of the Baskerville case.
• 3^rd December 1878 – Mary Morstan’s father returned to London from the Andaman Islands on twelve months’ leave, went out that evening and was never seen again.

In the ‘Show and Tell’ section of the meeting, Paul Jenkins described the five weeks he spent in London, including a visit to the Baker Street museum where he purchased a Sherlockian themed bowtie which he was sporting at the meeting. He also met with Steve Emecz from MX Publishing about a potential book involving a true crime in Sydney in the 1890s, which Paul will be continuing to work on. Matt Hall showed the book Holmes Away From Home which was from a State Library of Victoria exhibition in 1987-8. Matt is on a mission to collect Australian Sherlockian ephemera, and also has a rarer version of the same book (from a limited run of fifty) including an etching. Leigh Blackmore had picked up some Conan Doyle biographies The Man Who Was Sherlock Holmes written by John Dicksoon Carr in the 1940s, and Conan Doyle by Pierre Nordon (1966). He also had the anthology The Mammoth Book of Sherlock Holmes Abroad (2005).

Matt Hall then began his presentation: ‘Phosphorus in The Hound of the Baskervilles’. In his professional life Matt is a scientist, with Sherlock Holmes and genealogy as side interests. He originally presented this talk at the ‘Sherlock Holmes at Fifty’ conference and as a published article in The Baker Street Journal.

In his examination of whether phosphorus could have been used to make the Hound glow, Matt began by discussing how existing literature on the topic focussed on how phosphorus was problematic due to its toxicity. Matt then explained the various types and properties of phosphorus and how its glow was discovered. He went on to describe why rubbing phosphorus on a living being to create a glow was not actually poisonous and gave the historic background of ‘ghost hoaxing’ in the Victorian era where people did exactly that – including documented cases in Australia, and made the case that Conan Doyle would very likely have been aware of this. Matt finished be reiterating that phosphorus was only toxic if ingested, not if spread thinly on skin or, in the case of the Hound, fur. The attending Passengers followed up with various questions and comment including adding use of phosphorus by magicians and various related chemical interactions.

The meeting ended with a big thank you to Matt for his very interesting and informative presentation.