1. Holmes used a powerful hand lens to determine that the tiny brown blobs on a tweed coat were glue.
2. Shoscombe Old Place is famous for its purebred racehorses and spaniels.
3. Sir Robert Norberton plans to increase his odds of winning the Derby by giving his horse a heavy stimulant.
4. John Mason believes that Sir Robert has gone mad because he spends all his time in the stable with his horse, even sleeping there.
5. Holmes becomes suspicious when he hears that Sir Robert and Lady Beatrice’s relationship changed drastically.
6. Holmes starts an investigation into Sir Robert’s financial situation and his interest in horse racing.
7. Mason finds the remains of a dog in the heating furnace.
8. Holmes and Watson are disguised as hunters when they arrive to investigate.
9. Holmes tries to prove that the person riding in the carriage is not Lady Beatrice by using her dog to either greet or attack the person in question.
10. Sir Robert attempts to cover up his sister’s death because he is financially dependent upon her and, in the event of her death, the estate reverts to her husband’s brother.
QUIZ 72 “THE ADVENTURE OF THE RETIRED COLOURMAN”
Published in Liberty in December 1926 and in the Strand in January 1927
In Michael Coren’s insightful biography, Conan Doyle, he mentions that “The Adventure of the Retired Colourman” is the only story in the entire Holmes series that contains a reference to the mind-challenging game of chess. It would seem, given Holmes’s calculating mind and Conan Doyle’s knowledge of the game from a very young age, that he would have included chess as one of Holmes’s hobbies. When discovering that Josiah Amberley was a proficient chess player, Holmes tells Watson that the ability to play chess well was “one mark of a scheming mind.” The quiz for this final story contains ten multiple choice questions.
Story Date: 1898
1. Where does Josiah Amberley claim to have been on the night his wife and lover apparently ran off together?
A. Amberley claims to have been at his club playing cards.
B. At the Haymarket Theatre attending a play
C. Visiting his brother in Sussex
D. Attending a political meeting
2. When Watson visits Amberley, what is he doing to try to distract himself from the fact that his wife has left him?
A. Amberley is planting fruit trees in the orchard.
B. He has started to write a novel in which he plans to tell his story.
C. He is painting the passageway in his house.
D. He is burning all of his wife’s belongings.
3. Besides losing his wife, from what other loss does Amberley suffer?
A. Amberley’s wife also took the family dog.
B. She took his valuable collection of Mayan pottery.
C. She took his two most valuable bottles of wine.
D. His wife took seven thousand pounds worth of cash and securities.
4. What is Amberley’s one hobby in life (he often engaged in this activity with Dr. Ray Ernest, the man who apparently stole his wife)?
A. Playing chess
B. Playing rugby
C. Playing croquet
D. Hunting grouse
5. What one-word message is Dr. Watson supposed to use when he telephones Holmes in the event that Mr. Amberley changes his mind and does not visit the vicarage?
A. Bolt
B. Revenge
C. Falsehood
D. Masquerade
6. Who else is investigating this case?
A. A private investigator hired by Mrs. Amberley’s family
B. A private detective from America
C. A private detective hired by the family of Dr. Ray Ernest, the man who disappeared with Amberley’s wife
D. Mrs. Amberley’s banker
7. What question does Holmes ask Mr. Amberley when he returns to London after his wild goose chase?
A. “Was this your first murder?”
B. “What did you do with the bodies?”
C. “Whose murder would you rather be tried for first?”
D. “Do you sleep well?”
8. What information does Holmes discover that refutes Amberley’s alibi that he was at the theatre?
A. Holmes checked the box-office chart at the theatre and discovered that Amberley did not attend the play.
B. The leading lady had lost her voice, and her understudy performed in her place.
C. A fire broke out backstage during the performance, and the rest of the play was canceled.
D. The play was canceled because the leading man became ill.
9. What is the first clue that Holmes notices?
A. The smell of decaying flesh
B. The smell of his wife’s perfume, which he claims would not go away
TRIVIA FACTS : DID YOU KNOW THAT . . .
1. Conan Doyle’s brother-in-law E. E. Hornung, husband of Connie Doyle and the creator of the fictional amateur thief Raffles, took the name from Conan Doyle’s title character in the play The Doings of Raffles Haw.
2. Conan Doyle would write when the inspiration hit, undisturbed by any activity around him. For example, he could write while involved in conversation with family and friends and even with his young children sitting on his lap or crawling over his desk.
3. In 1922 Conan Doyle traveled to America for a series of speaking engagements about his beliefs in spiritualism. His speeches, complete with slides, were so moving and convincing that his lectures created hysteria. According to Conan Doyle biographer Charles Higham, after Conan Doyle presented seven programs in New York, speaking about how wonderful life is on the other side, several people committed suicide in order to experience this wonderment.
C. The smell of mildew
D. The strong smell of paint
10. What does Amberley do when Holmes confronts him with the crime?
A. He bolts from the house, crashing through the window.
B. He tells Holmes that he is “ready to take his medicine.”
C. He attempts suicide by swallowing a poison pill.
D. He shouts, “I would gladly do it again!”
Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman as Sherlock Holmes and John Watson in BBC’s Sherlock
EIGHT
MORE SHERLOCK HOLMES
“there can be no grave for Sherlock Holmes or Watson . . . Shall they not always live in Baker Street? Are they not there this instant as one writes? . . .Outside, the hansoms rattle through the rain, and Moriarty plans his latest devilry. Within, the sea-coal flames upon the hearth, and Holmes and Watson take their well-won ease . . . So they still live for all that love them well: in a romantic chamber of the heart: in a nostalgic country of the mind: where it is always 1895.”
—VINCENT STARRETT
What do Shakespearian actor Basil Rathbone; co-star of the original “Star Trek” Leonard Nimoy; English comedian John Cleese, co-creator of “Monty Python’s Flying Circus”; Tony Award–winning actor Frank Langella; and James Bond actor Roger Moore have in common? Along with dozens of other actors, they have portrayed the Great Detective in movies based upon either Conan Doyle’s original Sherlock Holmes stories or the many spinoffs created by other writers.
“It has been claimed that Sherlock Holmes is the most popular fictional character ever created . . . it is probably no exaggeration to state that more has been written about Sherlock Holmes than any other imaginary person. The World Bibliography of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson lists 6,221 [published] items and that tally is far from complete.” Marvin Kay, author of The Game Is Afoot: Parodies, Pastiches, and Ponderings of Sherlock Holmes, is one of myriad writers, politicians, and members of the Baker Street Irregulars who have analyzed, philosophized about, and immortalized Sherlock Holmes. William S. Baring-Gould, Dorothy Sayers, Rex Stout, Anthony Boucher, Ellery Queen, Isaac Asimov, and hundreds more have published essays, articles, and reference books about the Great Detective, e
ach adding their own style of wit, humor, and insightful deductions. Writers have postulated over the date of Holmes’s birth, his attitude concerning women, his relationship with Dr. Watson, his experiences during the Great Hiatus, and even which university he attended. Anthologies, scrapbooks, encyclopedias, biographies, and photograph collections have turned the world of Sherlock Holmes inside out, dissecting his every nuance and adding to his popularity.
Although a century has passed since the Victorian era, when Holmes was working his magic, Conan Doyle’s stories have not lost their appeal. The hansoms and dogcarts no longer clatter through the streets of London carrying cloaked passengers on foggy nights, and gaslights no longer illuminate the streets, but readers have only to open the pages of the canon to be transported back in time, joining Holmes and Watson as they pursue justice and unravel the complexities of life.
QUIZ 73 SHERLOCK HOLMES ON THE BIG SCREEN
Basil Rathbone became one of the most recognized Sherlock Holmes actors of all time, starring in over a dozen Holmes films and radio programs. However, after a few years he became impatient with fans asking him for Sherlock Holmes’s autograph rather than his own. In 1946 when his radio and film contracts had expired, he chose not to re-sign, hoping to remove the typecast image of Sherlock Holmes. But the Holmes image was difficult to shake, and later he yielded to requests to appear in character on The Bob Hope Show and The Milton Berle Show. Then, in 1950, he donned the familiar cap and cape and starred in the play Sherlock Holmes written by his wife Ouida. The big screen quiz contains ten short-answer questions about Sherlock Holmes films and the actors who starred in them.
1. Who played Sherlock Holmes in more films than any other actor?
2. Which two actors, considered the most famous Holmes and Watson team, appeared in fourteen feature films made in America?
3. Who played Sherlock Holmes in the 1922 film Sherlock Holmes, produced by Goldwyn Pictures (U.S.)?
4. What was the name of the 1976 Sherlock Holmes film starring the following actors: Nicol Williamson as Holmes, Robert Duvall as Dr. Watson, Alan Arkin as Sigmund Freud, Laurence Olivier as Moriarty, and Vanessa Redgrave as Lola Devereaux?
5. What is the name of the first Sherlock Holmes film produced in 1903 and displayed on Mutascope machines? Thomas Edison owned the production company called American Mutascope and Biograph Co. The production lasted only thirty seconds.
6. Which actor played the following characters in these three different Sherlock Holmes films: Sir Henry Baskerville in The Hound of the Baskervilles, produced by Hammer Films (U.K.) in 1959; Sherlock Holmes in the German/Italian production of Sherlock Holmes und das Halsband des Todes (Sherlock Holmes and the Necklace of Death) in 1962; and Mycroft Holmes in The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, produced in the United States in 1970 by Mirisch/United Artists?
7. What was the name of the Sherlock Holmes spoof filmed by 20th Century-Fox in 1975, starring Gene Wilder as Sigerson Holmes and Madeline Kahn as Bessie Bellwood?
8. Who played Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson in the 1990 Orion film production of Without a Clue?
9. What was the name of the 1977 Canadian film produced by Avco/Embassy, starring Peter Cook as Holmes and Dudley Moore as Dr. Watson?
10. What well-known British actor, considered one of the most popular Sherlock Holmes, starred in the 1959 Hammer Films (U.K.) production of The Hound of the Baskervilles? He also appeared as Holmes in several TV productions.
QUIZ 74 SHERLOCK HOLMES OVER THE WIRE
In immortalizing Sherlock Holmes, creator Conan Doyle also paved the way to fame for several actors who portrayed Dr. John Watson. English actor Nigel Bruce is best known for his role as Sherlock Holmes’s sidekick, having starred in fifteen Holmes movies and over 200 radio episodes between 1939 and 1947. He first appeared as Dr. Watson in 20th Century-Fox’s production of The Hound of the Baskervilles, a performance considered by critics as one of his best. However, in subsequent films, Bruce’s Dr. Watson evolved into a clumsy, inept individual who, more times than not, tried the patience of his friend Sherlock Holmes. Nevertheless, the public enjoyed his performances as he became the quintessential Dr. Watson. In his autobiography, Basil Rathbone said this about Bruce: “There is no question in my mind that Nigel Bruce was the ideal Watson, not only of his time, but possibly of and for all time.” The following quiz contains ten short-answer questions about Sherlock Holmes on radio.
1. Which distinguished American stage actor ended his long acting career on the radio as the first person to play Sherlock Holmes over the wire in 1930?
2. Who starred as Sherlock Holmes in the 1938 Mercury Theatre radio program?
3. Which actors starred as Holmes and Watson in the long-running Sherlock Holmes radio series which aired in the United States between 1939 and 1946?
4. Concerning question number three, which Holmes story was their first episode?
5. Also concerning question number three, what was the title of their last episode, which aired on May 27, 1946?
6. Which two knighted actors played Holmes in the following British radio broadcasts: “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” (1945) and “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes” (1954)?
7. Which American actress/writer was responsible for NBC adapting Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories for radio? She also wrote all of the Holmes episodes between 1930 and 1943.
8. After over 200 episodes, Basil Rathbone retired from his role as Holmes on American radio in 1946. Who replaced him?
9. Which English actor played Holmes between 1958 and 1962 in the British broadcast of the following three Conan Doyle novels: The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Valley of Fear, and A Study in Scarlet?
10. Who hosted the anthology series The CBS Radio Mystery Theatre, an hour-long program which adapted A Study in Scarlet, The Sign of Four, The Hound of the Baskervilles, and other Holmes stories?
QUIZ 75 SHERLOCK HOLMES ON STAGE
Early in his writing career, Broadway producer Charles Frogman approached Conan Doyle with the idea of writing a Sherlock Holmes play. But, it was not until 1898 that Conan Doyle brought the idea to fruition by writing a five-act play which he sent to Frogman. Not wanting to upset Conan Doyle, but realizing that the play needed work, Frogman tactfully suggested that American actor and playwright William Gillette make a few revisions. Gillette revamped the entire play using story facts and plot lines from “A Scandal in Bohemia” and “The Final Problem.” Wishing to add an element of romance to the play, Gillette telegraphed Conan Doyle, asking, “MAY I MARRY HOLMES?” Conan Doyle’s response: “YOU MAY MARRY HIM, OR MURDER HIM, OR DO WHAT YOU LIKE WITH HIM.” William Gillette played Holmes in the production, which was a smashing success, forever linking the actor with the character Sherlock Holmes. He would eventually play Holmes more than 1,300 times during his career. This quiz on Holmes’s stage presence contains ten short-answer questions.
1. What is the title of the earliest known Sherlock Holmes play? It was staged in 1893 and starred Charles Brookfield and Seymour Hicks.
2. Which actor played the part of Justin Playfair/Sherlock Holmes in the London staging of the play They Might Be Giants, a story about a judge who believed that he was Sherlock Holmes?
3. Who is the stage actor who, in portraying Holmes, created the phrase that was never actually written by Conan Doyle, “This is elementary, my dear Watson”? And which actor later shortened it to “Elementary, my dear Watson”?
4. Which Conan Doyle biographer wrote the Holmes plays The Adventure of the Conk-Singleton Papers, staged in 1948, and The Adventure of the Paradol Chamber, staged in 1949?
5. What is the name of the 1985 Holmes play written by Hugh Leonard in which Jack the Ripper makes an appearance?
6. What is the name of the Sherlock Holmes children’s musical first performed at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago in 1971? It starred Michael Kerns as Holmes and Donald Livesay as Watson.
7. Who is the Tony Award–winning actor who also played Holmes in Gillette’s pl
ay Sherlock Holmes in 1977? The play was aired on the cable TV network Home Box Office in 1981. This actor, best known for his role of Dracula in the 1979 film of the same name, had performed in several other Sherlock Holmes stage productions before 1977.
8. Which English actor starred on stage in The Return of Sherlock Holmes in 1923? This actor also played Holmes forty-seven times in a British film series between 1921 and 1923.
9. Which American actor played Holmes in a 1975–1976 version of Gillette’s play Sherlock Holmes? This logical actor also referred to Holmes as his ancestor in the science fiction movie Star Trek VI.
TRIVIA FACTS : DID YOU KNOW THAT . . .
1. In 1893 Conan Doyle and Peter Pan author James M. Barrie were commissioned to write an operetta for the producers of the Savoy Theatre, the theatre where all Gilbert and Sullivan productions were staged. The result was the unsuccessful musical comedy Jane Annie. Evidently, the operetta could not stand up to audiences used to the quality of work produced by Gilbert and Sullivan but, because there were no other productions with which to replace it, the show ran for seven weeks.
2. In 1899 Conan Doyle and American actor William Gillette wrote a four-act play entitled Sherlock Holmes, which premiered in Buffalo, New York, on October 23, 1899, starring Gillette as Holmes. While touring, Gillette lost his copy of the play in a fire at a San Francisco hotel. Conan Doyle had also lost his original script, so Gillette wrote a new ending for the play that was performed in France. Conan Doyle was pleased with the new climax and later adopted it as the ending for “The Adventure of the Empty House.”
3. A young Charlie Chaplin played the part of Billy, a Baker Street irregular, in the play version of The Hound of the Baskervilles.
4. Conan Doyle, possibly hoping to add an element of fear to the production, insisted that the starring role for his stage play The Speckled Band be performed by a real snake. This tactic alarmed many of the actors, causing them to appear nervous on stage. The snake’s performance, however, was less than thrilling, for it just hung motionless unless prodded by a pinch on the tail. A critic described its performance as “palpably artificial.”
The Sherlock Holmes Quiz Book Page 15