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ALL the quotes I could find for character - print off your own copy and highlight the ones you are going to memorise.

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ALL the quotes I could find for character - print off your own copy and highlight the ones you are going to memorise.

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This took even more hours than the setting one, so I hope it's useful

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This took me HOURS... so you better use it

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The BIG book of quotes - memorise these!

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The BIG book of quotes - memorise these!

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Make flash cards or posters with these on

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THE VERY BIG BOOK OF IMPORTANT QUOTATIONS - updated

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How to make effective revision notes

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Browse through this article for information on poverty and families in the Victorian era.

This is helpful for linking to the Baker Street Irregulars.
*4 min read

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Hidden Lives Revealed - Poverty and Families in the Victorian Era

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This article by Barbara Daniels gives an overview of the causes and the effects of poverty on poor families and children in Victorian Britain. At the time of writing Barbara is a Ph.D. student with the Department of Religious Studies, at The Open University.

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Scan through this page to find quotes for your bank to memorise.

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Sherlock Holmes Quotes

Sherlock Holmes Quotes

'My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other people don't know.'

Sherlock Holmes Quote

-The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle

'I am the last and highest court of appeal in detection.'

Sherlock Holmes Quote

Chapter 1: "The Science of Deduction"

'There is nothing like first-hand evidence.'

Sherlock Holmes Quote

-

"The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes."

Sherlock Holmes Quote

-The Hound of the Baskervilles

Chapter 3: "The Problem"

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'You see, but you do not observe. The distinction is clear.'

Sherlock Holmes Quote

'It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts.'

Sherlock Holmes Quote

'I never guess. It is a shocking habit,-destructive to the logical faculty.'

Sherlock Holmes Quote

Chapter 2: "The Science of Deduction"

'You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of trifles.'

Sherlock Holmes Quote

-The Bascombe Valley Mystery

'There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact.'

Sherlock Holmes Quote

-The Bascombe Valley Mystery

"'Is there any point to which you would wish to draw my attention?'

'To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time.'

'The dog did nothing in the night-time.'

'That was the curious incident,' remarked Sherlock Holmes.'"

Exchange between Inspector Gregory & Sherlock Holmes

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'Eliminate all other factors, and the one which remains must be the truth.'

Sherlock Holmes Quote

Chapter 1: "The Science of Deduction"

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'How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?'

Sherlock Holmes Quote

Chapter 6: "Sherlock Holmes Gives a Demonstration

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'...when you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.'

Sherlock Holmes Quote

'It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.'

Sherlock Holmes Quote

'Come, Watson, come!' he cried. 'The game is afoot. Not a word! Into your clothes and come!'

Sherlock Holmes Quote

-The Adventure of the The Abbey Grange

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"Data! Data! Data!" he cried impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay."

Sherlock Holmes Quote

-The Adventure of the Copper Beeches

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'I cannot live without brain-work. What else is there to live for?'

Sherlock Holmes Quote

-

'They say that genius is an infinite capacity for taking pains,' he remarked with a smile. 'It's a very bad definition, but it does apply to detective work.'

Sherlock Holmes Quote

-

'There is nothing new under the sun. It has all been done before.'

Sherlock Holmes Quote

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'I ought to know by this time that when a fact appears to be opposed to a long train of deductions it invariably proves to be capable of bearing some other interpretation.'

Sherlock Holmes Quote

Chapter 3: "Light in the Darkness"

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'Which is it today,' I asked, 'morphine or cocaine?'

He raised his eyes languidly from the old black-leather volume which he had opened.

'It is cocaine,' he said, 'a seven-per-cent solution. Would you like to try it?'

Dr. Watson and Sherlock Holmes Quote

Chapter 1: "The Science of Deduction"

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'I never make exceptions. An exception disproves the rule.'

Sherlock Holmes Quote

Chapter 2: "The Statement of the Case'

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Holmes took his revolver from his drawer and slipped it in his pocket. It was clear that he thought that our night's work might be a serious one.

Observation of Dr. Watson

Chapter 3: "In Quest of a Solution"

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So silent and furtive were his movements, like those of a trained bloodhound picking out a scent, that I could not but think what a terrible criminal he would have made had he turned his energy and sagacity against the law instead of exerting them in its defence.

Observation of Dr. Watson

Chapter 6: "Sherlock Holmes Gives a Demonstration"

'I listen to their story, they listen to my comments, and then I pocket my fee.'

Sherlock Holmes Quote

Chapter 2: "The Science of Deduction"

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'What one man can invent another can discover.'

Sherlock Holmes Quote

-The Adventure of the Dancing Man

'The emotional qualities are atagonistic to clear reasoning.'

'I think that there are certain crimes which the law cannot touch, and which therefore, to some extent, justify private revenge.'

Sherlock Holmes Quote

-The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton

'What object is served by this circle of misery and violence and fear? It must tend to some end, or else our universe is ruled by chance, which is unthinkable.'

Sherlock Holmes Quote

When I glanced again his face had resumed that red-Indian composure which had made so many regard him as a machine rather than a man.

Dr. Watson Observing Sherlock Holmes

'Having gathered these facts, Watson, I smoked several pipes over them, trying to separate those which were crucial from others which were merely incidental.'

Sherlock Holmes Quote

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He [Holmes] loved to lie in the very centre of five millions of people, with his filaments stretching out and running through them, responsive to every little rumor or suspicion of unsolved crime.

Dr. Watson's Observation of Sherlock Holmes

'My mind is like a racing engine, tearing itself to pieces because it is not connected up with the work for which it was built.'

Sherlock Holmes Quote

-The Man with the Twisted Lip

"My mind," he said, "rebels at stagnation. Give me problems, give me work, give me the most abstruse cryptogram or the most intricate analysis, and I am in my own proper atmosphere. I can dispense then with artificial stimulants. But I abhor the dull routine of existence. I crave for mental exaltation. That is why I have chosen my own particular profession,-or rather created it, for I am the only one in the world."

Sherlock Holmes Quote

Chapter 1: "The Science of Deduction"

'When a doctor does go wrong, he is the first of criminals. He has the nerve and he has the knowledge.'

Sherlock Holmes Quote

-The Adventure of the Speckled Band

'Nothing clears up a case so much as stating it to another person.'

Sherlock Holmes Quote

'I think that you know me well enough, Watson, to understand that I am by no means a nervous man. At the same time, it is stupidity rather than courage to refuse to recognize danger when it is close upon you.'

Sherlock Holmes Quote

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'I confess that I have been blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than never to learn it at all.'

Sherlock Holmes Quote

-The Man with the Twisted Lip

'A man should keep his little brain attic stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library where he can get it if he wants.'

Sherlock Holmes Quote

'I consider that a man's brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose. A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge which might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best is jumbled up with a lot of other things, so that he has a difficulty in laying his hands on it. Now the skillful workman is very careful indeed as to what he takes into his brain-attic. He will have nothing but the tools which may help him in doing his work, but of these he has a large assortment, and all in the most perfect order. It is a mistake to think that little room has elastic walls and can distend to any extent. Depend uon it - there comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forget something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones.'

Sherlock Holmes Quote

Chapter 2: "The Science of Deduction"

'It has long been an axiom of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important.'

Sherlock Holmes Quote

'It is my belief, Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin than does the smiling and beautiful countryside.'

Sherlock Holmes Quote

On this page are some of the most famous and perhaps not so famous quotes from the Sherlock Holmes short stories and books as written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. These quotes and sayings are from the great Detective Sherlock Holmes, his friend, Dr. John Watson, and others. For each quote, the name of the person speaking and the short story or novel the quote was copied from have been provided. More of the quote is provided to show context for some of the more famous Sherlock Holmes quotes. There are hundreds of quotes and we seek to be the most complete source of Sherlock Holmes quotes on the Internet. Feel free to share any quotes and sayings that we may have missed. Dont forget to provide the source of any quote you submit. Submit to ksearle1@pdq.net. All quotes on this web site were written or spoken by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle unless otherwise stated.

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Sherlock Holmes Quotes 'My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other people don't know.' Sherlock Holmes Quote -The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle 'I am the last and highest court of appeal in detection.' Sherlock Holmes Quote Chapter 1: "The Science of Deduction" 'There is nothing like first-hand evidence.'

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Background reading on the birth of detective fiction and the formation of the first police force.

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Background reading on the birth of detective fiction and the formation of the first police force.

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Judith Flanders explores how the creation of a unified Metropolitan Police force in 1829 led to the birth of the fictional detective.

It's easy to assume that there have always been police forces, but in reality, the idea is very new. Before the establishment of the police, governments called on the army to control rioting mobs and quell uprisings, but there was no civil force to prevent crime, or to detect it.

By the end of the 18th century in London, crime prevention was the responsibility of around 2,000 men, all employed by different parishes, local divisions or magistrates' courts. It took a series of worrying current events to change this: the end of the French revolutionary wars saw the return of large numbers of suddenly unemployed soldiers hardened to scenes of violence and death. In addition, high food prices and chronic unemployment produced ever more incidents of civic unrest. In 1812 a parliamentary select committee recommended putting a single centralised authority in control of policing throughout London, but it took another 17 years to achieve this.

'Police Work in the East End' from The Graphic

This image of 'police work in the East End' from The Graphic (28 December 1895) depicts the unpopularity of the police who were viewed at times as a civilian army.

Blue coats and detective work

Thus on 29 September 1829, parishes within 12 miles of Charing Cross saw the first 'new police' on the streets. Within eight months there were 3,200 men, all dressed in blue, the colour chosen to reassure the population that, unlike the red-coated army, this was a civil, not a military force. (Not that the new colour made much difference: the police were tauntingly called 'raw lobsters' or 'the unboiled'. An unboiled lobster is blue; when it is put in hot water it turns red. So a policeman was only 'hot water' away from being a soldier.)

Until 1842, the police force was entirely dedicated to crime prevention. It was only when they took an embarrassingly long 10 days to find a murderer that it became clear they needed to focus on detection too, and the government opened an eight-man 'Detective Department'. (Scotland Yard, a turning near Whitehall, was the address of police headquarters; soon it became shorthand for the Detective Department, renamed the Criminal Investigation Department, or CID, in 1878.) Police work was now about both the prevention of future crimes and the detection of past ones.

The first fictional detectives

Charles Dickens was enthralled by this idea, and wrote several articles praising the new department . Shortly afterwards, in his novel Bleak House (1852-3), Dickens created Mr Bucket, who has been called the first fictional detective, and, it is generally accepted, was drawn from the mannerisms and appearance of a real detective-inspector, Charles Field. What then seemed like a trick ending, where readers learn what the detective had been thinking all along, and thereby discover the murderer, appeared here for the first time. With this new twist, readers became fascinated, not by the crime itself, but by its solution.

To satisfy this desire to explore how a crime is solved, dozens of stories with detective heroes began to appear. What is often called the first detective novel, The Moonstone, by Wilkie Collins, was published in 1868. But several years before that, the female professional detective in fiction had already been born, even though in the real world the police force was entirely male until two women were hired to look after female prisoners at police stations in 1883. In Ruth the Betrayer (first published in parts in 1862-3), Ruth Trail is 'a female detective - a sort of spy we use in the hanky-panky way when a man would be too clumsy'. She is not of the regular police, but 'attached to a notorious Secret Intelligence Office, established by an ex-member of the police force'. (Rather wonderfully, it is so secret that the office has a brass plaque on the door: 'Secret Agent', it reads.)

Public response to detective stories

Working-class readers were initially ambivalent about fictional detectives, just as they were about the real police, whom they felt, possibly correctly, were only there to protect the middle-classes. Ruth the Betrayer was the heroine, but as a detective she was 'degraded by the hateful calling of spy and informer'. A more middle-class heroine appeared a couple of years later, in Andrew Forrester's Revelations of a Female Detective, and she fought back: 'we detectives are necessary,' she said. And slowly the working class came to agree - at least some of the time. In The Boy Detective Ernest Keen 'could use dissimulation as a shield or sword when dealing with powerful enemies. In common life such conduct would be detestable, but Ernest Keen was the BOY DETECTIVE...in his own character there was not a franker, more impulsive lad in the world.'

The Boy Detective was also one of the earliest penny-dreadfuls to teach readers how to detect vicariously, explaining how clues were found, how one must not walk over ground where there might be footprints, how to check for bloodstains and more. In fact, in the early days of detection, it's probably safe to say that detectives learned how to behave from Dickens's Inspector Bucket, or Wilkie Collins's Sergeant Cuff, every bit as much as the authors learned how to detect from the police.

Penny dreadful, The Boy Detective

The Boy Detective (1866) was published in a 72-part serial designed for children which shifted the focus onto the people solving the crimes, rather than those who committed them.

Usage terms: Public Domain

Judith Flanders is a historian and author who focussed on the Victorian period. Her most recent book The Victorian City: Everyday Life in Dickens' London was published in 2012.

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The creation of the police and the rise of detective fiction

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Judith Flanders explores how the creation of a unified Metropolitan Police force in 1829 led to the birth of the fictional detective. It's easy to assume that there have always been police forces, but in reality, the idea is very new.

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Read this article for a background to Victorian detective fiction.

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Read this article for a background to Victorian detective fiction.

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*12 minute read

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If you're looking for another revision guide, try this York Notes one.

I don't have it yet, but have many others for different texts. They're always detailed and thorough.

You'll probably find it on amazon too.

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Buy the The Sign of the Four (Grades 9-1) York Notes GCSE revision study guide from the official York Notes site. Free P&P and instant online access to the digital version.

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The Victorian Police Force
*3 minute read

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The Development of a Police Force

The first professional police force in the UK, funded by local taxation, was set up in Glasgow in 1800. At the time, the City of Glasgow police undertook more duties than modern police, including fire fighting. It served Glasgow right through until 1975. In 1822, the Irish Constabulary was set up and became the Royal Irish Constabulary in 1867.

The first professional policemen, in England, known as 'Peelers' or 'Bobbies', were set up in London in 1829 by Robert Peel, the then Home Secretary, after 'The Metropolitan Police Act' of 1829.

It was the start of a campaign to improve public law. Reform, however, was slow as there was distrust of the police at all levels.
The First Policemen in London
By September of 1829, the first Metropolitan Police were patrolling the streets of London. There were 17 divisions, which had 4 inspectors and 144 constables each. The force headquarters was Scotland Yard, and it answered to the Home Secretary.

The 'Peelers' wore a long blue coats and strengthened tall hats, which protected them from blows to the head and they could use to stand on to look over walls. Their only weapon was a truncheon although they also carried a rattle to raise an alarm.

At first, the quality of officers was poor. Of the first 2,800 new policemen, only 600 eventually kept their jobs. The first Metropolitan policeman (who was given the number 1), was sacked after only four hours, for drunkenness. Things eventually settled down.

Policing the Counties and Boroughs

Despite rising crime levels, most counties retained their Parish Constable. Many people were concerned about the idea of a uniformed force and feared that the police would be used to arrest opponents of the government, stop protests and destroy free speech.

The Municipal Corporations Act of 1835, allowed Borough Councils to organise a police force but few of them seemed eager to implement the law. By 1837, only 93 out of 171 boroughs had organised a police force.

The Rural Constabulary Act of 1839, allowed any of the 54 English Counties to raise and equip a paid police force. The Act permitted JPs to appoint Chief Constables, for the direction of the police in their areas and allowed for one policeman per 1,000 population. This was still optional but saw the development of the first constabularies. It also encouraged some boroughs to hastily form their own police forces, to avoid the high expense of being involved with county forces. The Act still did not meet the Report's demands for a national police force, with the Metropolitan Police as the controlling power.

In the 1840s, there was still a great disparity between different areas of the country with no single style of policing. By 1840, only 108 out of 171 boroughs had police forces. Then, in 1842, a new Parish Constables Act was passed in response to the political unrest associated with the chartist movement. The appointed parish constables were part time and poorly paid - sometimes unpaid, so posts attracted a low calibre of persons, who were not prepared to risk life and limb to arrest anyone.

By 1848 there were still 22 boroughs that did not have a police force and, in 1850, only 36 counties that did. In 1855, there were still only 12,000 policemen in England and Wales. This was despite the fact that the police force in London was proving effective in reducing crime and increasing detection.

Why Was Implementation So Slow?

Besides being seen as a challenge to liberties, the legislation was slow to be implemented for several reasons:

The new police were seen by some as a means of enforcing the new Poor Law, which was unpopular

It was thought to be too expensive

Lack of interest at local level and poor co-operation between the boroughs and the counties

No provision for government inspection, audit or regulation, meant many just did not bother.

The Development of Police Forces nationwide
The 1856 Police Act saw a system for government inspection, audit and regulation for the first time. This County Borough Police Act now forced the whole of the country to set up police forces. The legislation:

Obliged the counties to organise police forces, subject to government control

Devised a system of inspection already in use in factories, workhouses and education

Made grants dependent on efficiency

Shifted the emphasis from the prevention of crime to its detection.

This act saw the start of the Modern Police Service in England and Wales. 239 forces were set up, still with great variations in pay and conditions; only half of them were found to be efficient. Similarly, the General Police Act (Scotland) 1857 required each Scottish county and burgh to set up a police force. In 1869, the National Criminal Record was set up, which made use of the new, rapid telegraph communications between forces and in 1877 Criminal Investigations Department (CID) was formed with 200 detectives; 600 more were added in 1883. Picture Gallery

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The Development of a Police Force - Victorian Crime and Punishment from E2BN

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The Development of a Police Force The first professional police force in the UK, funded by local taxation, was set up in Glasgow in 1800. At the time, the City of Glasgow police undertook more duties than modern police, including fire fighting. It served Glasgow right through until 1975.

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Imperialism in The Sign of the Four
*8 minute read

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Imperial contradictions in Arthur Conan Doyle's The Sign of Four | Fraser | SURG Journal

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Imperial contradictions in Arthur Conan Doyle's The Sign of Four

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Chapter summaries

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The Sign of the Four - GCSE English Literature - BBC Bitesize

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GCSE English Literature The Sign of the Four learning resources for adults, children, parents and teachers.

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Film - this is the version we've seen in class

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Sherlock Holmes : The Sign of Four part1 [HQ]

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CAST] Sherlock Holmes : Jeremy Brett Dr. Watson : Edward Hardwicke Mary Morstan : Jenny Seagrove Jonathan Small : John Thaw Thaddeus & Bartholomew Sholto : Ronald Lacey Inspector Athelney Jones : Emrys James Tonga : Kiran Shah Major Sholto : Robin Hunter Mrs. Hudson : Rosalie Williams

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Animated film of the novel

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Sherlock Holmes and the Sign of Four (1 of 4)

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An animated adaptation of the ACD novel, "The Sign of the Four."

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Tonga - summary
*1 minute read

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Tonga is the diminutive and loyal companion of Jonathan Small and serves as a minor antagonist in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's novel The Sign of the Four‎‎.

Not much is known about Tonga's life prior to being saved by Jonathan Smalls, other than the fact that he's indigenous to the Andaman Islands.

Jonathan's act of saving the native's life forever cemented the loyalty of Tonga and he helped Jonathan escape the island by boat as a result. Over the years, Jonathan states that he and Tonga embarked on many adventures across the globe, searching for the stolen treasure as well as trying to get by. Jonathan shamefully admits to using Tonga as a sideshow attraction, due to his small size and exotic appearance.

Eventually, Jonathan was able to track down his lost treasure in the home of Bartholomew Sholto and had Tonga climb up to the roof and drop down a rope for Jonathan to use. However, Tonga had unexpectedly assassinated Bartholomew through the use of a poison dart, which angered Jonathan, much to Tonga's surprise. With the treasure in hand, they escaped the estate and he rented a steam launch with the intent of connecting to a larger ship bound to South America.

Sherlock Holmes was able to track them down before they could escape and after a brief chase along the River Thames, Tonga was fatally shot by Dr Watson, although his body fell into the river and was not recovered.

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Tonga is the diminutive and loyal companion of Jonathan Small and serves as a minor antagonist in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's novel The Sign of the Four‎‎. Not much is known about Tonga's life prior to being saved by Jonathan Smalls, other than the fact that he's indigenous to the Andaman Islands.

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What makes Sherlock such an effective character?

Covers: The characters,  the relationship of Holmes and Watson, duality and other ideas.

*2 minute read*

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George Bernard Shaw wrote that "Sherlock Holmes was a drug addict without a single amiable trait," and he was absolutely right; but such vehement condemnation betrays the irresistability of Sherlock Holmes.

In 1886, a struggling physician named Arthur Conan Doyle made a fateful decision which was intended simply to pay the bills, but which would end up enriching the world. He published a novella featuring an eccentric consulting detective by the name of Sherlock Holmes.

With A Study in Scarlet, the stage was set for what would prove one of the greatest archetypical creations in the history of literature. By 1893, Sherlock Holmes was an unprecedented sensation, and Doyle, in his weariness over the financial expedient which was now taking over his life, began to plot against the life of Sherlock Holmes. He hatched a plot to plunge Holmes into Switzerland's Reichenbach Falls, and so end the life and career of the sleuth he himself had made renowned.

But Mr. Holmes was too great a force-even for his maker. His never-fading fame and the outrage of his devotees eventually forced Doyle to conceive of an escape from the attempt he had perpetrated on Holmes' life. After the Great Hiatus, Doyle returned Sherlock Holmes to London in glory. The world's greatest detective thus dodged the doom allotted him, and like the mythical figure that he is, rose from the dead, establishing himself among the ranks of immortals.

It is undeniable that Doyle's celebrated series has shaped the course of an entire genre-and all the remarkable result of a few hundred reluctantly penned pages. This is just one dimension of the mystery that flows from these mysteries, giving them a character that is unique and placing them in a literary class of their own-a quality more to be expected from Shakespeare. (Though it is arguable that there is a greater abundance of literature about Holmes than there is about Hamlet.)

Part of the reason for the mysteriously enduring effects of these adventures is that the writing is not self-conscious, and so resonates with something like first-hand experience. They possess an atmospheric mystique that imparts a strong illusion of reality, rendering characters more tangible, crimes more terrible, and conclusions more triumphant. The overall result is that the stories of Sherlock Holmes conjure up a viable world for themselves with a scintillating iconography: the fireplace, the armchairs, the pipe, the revolver, the violin, the Persian slipper, creeping fog, rushing hansom cabs, the outré, the exposé, stiff corpses, subtle criminals ... and so the tableau runs, framing this snug universe of danger and delight. The stories are unquestionably timeless-timeless insofar as time stands still in 1895, allowing readers to enjoy the intrigues of a bygone Victorian era when chivalry was not yet dead and fellowship conquered all.

The familiarity that these tales afford is like the familiarity of an old friend, enlivened inexpressibly by two of the greatest friends in the whole canon of famous alliances. Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson's companionship is as quintessential as that of Achilles and Patroclus, Robin Hood and Little John, or Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. But the sanctuary Holmes and Watson inhabit is less epic than Troy, Sherwood Forest, or the straggling roads of Spain. It is more intimate and convivial-like a gas-lit club-which enhances our reverential admiration for Holmes and our warm affection for Watson according to the reverential and warm mysteries of friendship. This pair serves as an epitome of what friendship is because they complement and complete each other with that mutual dedication for which death is not too great a price to pay.

Holmes and Watson's relationship reinforces our hopes that a sterling masculine friendship is indeed possible. In this age where androgyny is the aim, masculinity (femininity no less) is under incessant attack to make it less masculine. The bonds that can only exist between men are fading fast in the miasma of political correctness. But the friendship of Holmes and Watson, as strong and warm as hearthside irons, are a refreshing retreat into a reality that can still be realized-where men can be men with one another, committed to being comrades in arms, loyal to their sex and to each other, and locked arm in arm against the forces that threaten to unravel civilized society. The relevance of Holmes and Watson as friends is that their friendship is eternal: they demonstrate the universal principle of friendship with unabashed dignity and grace. Such friendship is a mystery indeed, but too deep of a mystery nowadays. Only a master detective can disperse such shadows, and it is the footsteps of our times that should echo on those seventeen steps and knock at the door, seeking illumination.

But the greatest mystery of the Sherlock Holmes stories is, without doubt, Sherlock Holmes himself. He is an inscrutable puzzle of a man, full of contradictions and inconsistencies, a problem in and of himself that cries out for solution. Holmes is a dispassionate machine commanding a melodramatic kingdom, scientifically replacing drama with science in the most dramatic of fashions. He is at once a magician and a logician; both a sluggard and a swordsman; a civilized Bohemian; a cold-blooded musician... in short, a romantic rationalist. The endless paradoxes and complexities of Holmes have given rise to a fascination to crack the case of this extraordinary man, to comb the Sacred Writings for clues uncovering his past and his inmost character, to systematically eliminate the impossible until the truth, however improbable, remains. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle gave the world sixty Sherlock Holmes mysteries; but more importantly, he gave the world the mystery of Sherlock Holmes.

This duality of Sherlock Holmes is precisely why he is an important acquaintance to both young and old readers of today. Holmes is a symbol of everything we are and everything we wish to be. He is lofty enough to be an aspiration, and low enough to be credible. He is an emblem of every man's desire to wage war with evil and be a noble righter of wrongs-to be a hero. Sherlock Holmes is a hero for our times especially because he is a tangible titan; someone we can identify with and idolize at the same time; one that lives in a very comprehensible flat, but labors in the foray of incomprehensible adventures, bringing excitement to commonplace existence and exercise for stagnant intellects. Sherlock Holmes takes us along on his exploits and breaks us free of a mundane life while reminding us that life is laced with mystery-at once providing an otherworldly escape that opens our eyes to our own world. Sherlock Holmes personifies all we long for and all we have at our fingertips. We share his adventures and are left with hearts bent on seeking our own.

What more can one ask for from literature? Indeed, what more can literature provide? Where else can we have the unadulterated experience of literature with more pleasure and more purity than at 221B Baker Street?

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Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Complete Stories of Sherlock Holmes - Crisis Magazine

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George Bernard Shaw wrote that "Sherlock Holmes was a drug addict without a single amiable trait," and he was absolutely right; but such vehement condemnation betrays the irresistability of Sherlock Holmes. In 1886, a struggling physician named Arthur Conan Doyle made a fateful decision which was intended simply to pay the bills, but which would end ...

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Mr Bruff - Analysing Mary Morstan
*5 minute watch

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Mary Morstan Character Analysis: 'The Sign of Four'

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Buy my bargain revision guides: GCSE English Language guide for 2017/18 exams: http://www.mrbruff.com/mr-bruffs-guide-to-gcse-language or on Kindle http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B012DS1R1M GCSE English Literature guide for 2017/18 exams: http://www.mrbruff.com/mr-bruffs-guide-to-gcse-literature or on Kindle http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B012TQP2L4 'Mr Bruff's Guide to A' Level English Literature': http://www.mrbruff.com/mr-bruffs-guide-to-a-level-literature/ or get the Kindle edition at http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B011YZ8HUY 'Mr Bruff's Guide to Grammar': http://www.mrbruff.com/grammar/ or get the Kindle edition here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00QFTI6PG 'Mr Bruff's Guide to 'An Inspector Calls'': http://mrbruff.com/product/mr-bruffs-guide-to-an-inspector-calls-ebook/ or on Kindle: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B015ALK7QA 12 other guides at mrbruff.com too!

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The Andaman Islands
*3 minute read

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The name of the Andaman Islands is ancient.[citation needed ]. A theory that became prevalent in the late 19th century is that it derives from Andoman, a form of Hanuman, the Sanskrit name of the Indian monkey god. Another Italian traveller, Niccolò de' Conti ( c.

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Mr Bruff - Analysing Sherlock
*7 minute watch

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Sherlock Holmes Character Analysis: 'The Sign of Four'

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Buy my bargain revision guides: GCSE English Language guide for 2017/18 exams: http://www.mrbruff.com/mr-bruffs-guide-to-gcse-language or on Kindle http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B012DS1R1M GCSE English Literature guide for 2017/18 exams: http://www.mrbruff.com/mr-bruffs-guide-to-gcse-literature or on Kindle http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B012TQP2L4 'Mr Bruff's Guide to A' Level English Literature': http://www.mrbruff.com/mr-bruffs-guide-to-a-level-literature/ or get the Kindle edition at http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B011YZ8HUY 'Mr Bruff's Guide to Grammar': http://www.mrbruff.com/grammar/ or get the Kindle edition here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00QFTI6PG 'Mr Bruff's Guide to 'An Inspector Calls'': http://mrbruff.com/product/mr-bruffs-guide-to-an-inspector-calls-ebook/ or on Kindle: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B015ALK7QA 12 other guides at mrbruff.com too!

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The Sign of the Four - full text

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The Sign of the Four by Arthur Conan Doyle

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Free kindle book and epub digitized and proofread by Project Gutenberg.

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Methods of Detection in Sherlock Holmes
* 3 minute read

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Between Edgar Allan Poe's invention of the detective story with The Murders in the Rue Morgue in 1841 and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's first Sherlock Holmes story A Study in Scarlet in 1887, chance and coincidence played a large part in crime fiction. Nevertheless, Conan Doyle resolved that his detective would solve his cases using reason. He modeled Holmes on Poe's Dupin and made Sherlock Holmes a man of science and an innovator of forensic methods. Holmes is so much at the forefront of detection that he has authored several monographs on crime-solving techniques. In most cases the well-read Conan Doyle has Holmes use methods years before the official police forces in both Britain and America get around to them. The result was 60 stories in which logic, deduction, and science dominate the scene.
Finger Prints
Sherlock Holmes was quick to realize the value of fingerprint evidence. The first case in which fingerprints are mentioned is The Sign of Four, published in 1890, and he's still using them 36 years later in the 55th story, The Three Gables (1926). Scotland Yard did not begin to use fingerprints until 1901.

It is interesting to note that Conan Doyle chose to have Holmes use fingerprints but not bertillonage (also called anthropometry), the system of identification by measuring twelve characteristics of the body. That system was originated by Alphonse Bertillon in Paris. The two methods competed for forensic ascendancy for many years. The astute Conan Doyle picked the eventual winner.
Typewritten Documents
As the author of a monograph entitled "The Typewriter and its Relation to Crime," Holmes was of course an innovator in the analysis of typewritten documents. In the one case involving a typewriter, A Case of Identity (1891), only Holmes realized the importance of the fact that all the letters received by Mary Sutherland from Hosmer Angel were typewritten - even his name is typed and no signature is applied. This observation leads Holmes to the culprit. By obtaining a typewritten note from his suspect, Holmes brilliantly analyses the idiosyncrasies of the man's typewriter. In the United States, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) started a Document Section soon after its crime lab opened in 1932. Holmes's work preceded this by forty years.
Handwriting
Conan Doyle, a true believer in handwriting analysis, exaggerates Holmes's abilities to interpret documents. Holmes is able to tell gender, make deductions about the character of the writer, and even compare two samples of writing and deduce whether the persons are related. This is another area where Holmes has written a monograph (on the dating of documents). Handwritten documents figure in nine stories. In The Reigate Squires, Holmes observes that two related people wrote the incriminating note jointly. This allows him to quickly deduce that the Cunninghams, father and son, are the guilty parties. In The Norwood Builder, Holmes can tell that Jonas Oldacre has written his will while riding on a train. Reasoning that no one would write such an important document on a train, Holmes is persuaded that the will is fraudulent. So immediately at the beginning of the case he is hot on the trail of the culprit.
Footprints
Holmes also uses footprint analysis to identify culprits throughout his fictional career, from the very first story to the 57 th story ( The Lion's Mane published in 1926). Fully 29 of the 60 stories include footprint evidence. The Boscombe Valley Mystery is solved almost entirely by footprint analysis. Holmes analyses footprints on quite a variety of surfaces: clay soil, snow, carpet, dust, mud, blood, ashes, and even a curtain. Yet another one of Sherlock Holmes's monographs is on the topic ("The tracing of footsteps, with some remarks upon the uses of Plaster of Paris as a preserver of impresses").
Ciphers
Sherlock Holmes solves a variety of ciphers. In The "Gloria Scott" he deduces that in the message that frightens Old Trevor every third word is to be read. A similar system was used in the American Civil War. It was also how young listeners of the Captain Midnight radio show in the 1940s used their decoder rings to get information about upcoming programs. In The Valley of Fear Holmes has a man planted inside Professor Moriarty's organization. When he receives an encoded message Holmes must first realize that the cipher uses a book. After deducing which book, he is able to retrieve the message.

This is exactly how Benedict Arnold sent information to the British about General George Washington's troop movements. Holmes's most successful use of cryptology occurs in The Dancing Men. His analysis of the stick figure men left as messages is done by frequency analysis, starting with "e" as the most common letter. Conan Doyle is again following Poe who earlier used the same idea in The Gold Bug (1843). Holmes's monograph on cryptology analyses 160 separate ciphers.
Dogs
Conan Doyle provides us with an interesting array of dog stories and analyses. The most famous line in all the sixty stories, spoken by Inspector Gregory in Silver Blaze, is "The dog did nothing in the night-time." When Holmes directs Gregory's attention to "the curious incident of the dog in the night-time," Gregory is puzzled by this enigmatic clue. Only Holmes seems to realize that the dog should have done something. Why did the dog make no noise when the horse, Silver Blaze, was led out of the stable in the dead of night? Inspector Gregory may be slow to catch on, but Sherlock Holmes is immediately suspicious of the horse's trainer, John Straker.

In Shoscombe Old Place we find exactly the opposite behavior by a dog. Lady Beatrice Falder's dog snarled when he should not have. This time the dog doing something was the key to the solution. When Holmes took the dog near his mistress's carriage, the dog knew that someone was impersonating his mistress. In two other cases Holmes employs dogs to follow the movements of people. In The Sign of Four, Toby initially fails to follow the odor of creosote to find Tonga, the pygmy from the Andaman Islands. In The Missing Three Quarter the dog Pompey successfully tracks Godfrey Staunton by the smell of aniseed. And of course, Holmes mentions yet another monograph on the use of dogs in detective work.
Featured Image Credit: 'Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce; Sherlock Holmes', Image by skeeze, CC0 Public Domain, via pixabay.

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Six methods of detection in Sherlock Holmes | OUPblog

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Between Edgar Allan Poe's invention of the detective story with 'The Murders in the Rue Morgue' in 1841 and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's first Sherlock Holmes story 'A Study in Scarlet' in 1887, chance and coincidence played a large part in crime fiction. Conan Doyle resolved to be different in future.

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Mr Bruff - Analysing Watson
*6 minute watch

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Character Analysis: Watson in 'The Sign of Four'

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Buy my bargain revision guides: GCSE English Language guide for 2017/18 exams: http://www.mrbruff.com/mr-bruffs-guide-to-gcse-language or on Kindle http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B012DS1R1M GCSE English Literature guide for 2017/18 exams: http://www.mrbruff.com/mr-bruffs-guide-to-gcse-literature or on Kindle http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B012TQP2L4 'Mr Bruff's Guide to A' Level English Literature': http://www.mrbruff.com/mr-bruffs-guide-to-a-level-literature/ or get the Kindle edition at http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B011YZ8HUY 'Mr Bruff's Guide to Grammar': http://www.mrbruff.com/grammar/ or get the Kindle edition here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00QFTI6PG 'Mr Bruff's Guide to 'An Inspector Calls'': http://mrbruff.com/product/mr-bruffs-guide-to-an-inspector-calls-ebook/ or on Kindle: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B015ALK7QA 12 other guides at mrbruff.com too!

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Arthur Conan Doyle

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WELCOME TO THE OFFICIAL SITE OF SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE, CREATOR OF THE MOST FAMOUS DETECTIVE OF ALL TIME

Over 125 years after his creation, Sherlock Holmes remains the most popular fictional detective in history. Arthur Conan Doyle is best known for the 60 stories he wrote about Sherlock Holmes. His body of work includes nearly 200 novels, short stories, poems, historical books and pamphlets.

About Conan Doyle About us

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Over 125 years after his creation, Sherlock Holmes remains the most popular fictional detective in history. Arthur Conan Doyle is best known for the 60 stories he wrote about Sherlock Holmes. His body of work includes nearly 200 novels, short stories, poems, historical books and pamphlets.

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Mr Bruff - Analysing Setting
* 8 minute watch

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Buy my bargain revision guides: GCSE English Language guide for 2017/18 exams: http://www.mrbruff.com/mr-bruffs-guide-to-gcse-language or on Kindle http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B012DS1R1M GCSE English Literature guide for 2017/18 exams: http://www.mrbruff.com/mr-bruffs-guide-to-gcse-literature or on Kindle http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B012TQP2L4 'Mr Bruff's Guide to A' Level English Literature': http://www.mrbruff.com/mr-bruffs-guide-to-a-level-literature/ or get the Kindle edition at http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B011YZ8HUY 'Mr Bruff's Guide to Grammar': http://www.mrbruff.com/grammar/ or get the Kindle edition here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00QFTI6PG 'Mr Bruff's Guide to 'An Inspector Calls'': http://mrbruff.com/product/mr-bruffs-guide-to-an-inspector-calls-ebook/ or on Kindle: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B015ALK7QA 12 other guides at mrbruff.com too!

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Mr Bruff - Analysing the genre
*13 minute watch

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Buy my bargain revision guides: GCSE English Language guide for 2017/18 exams: http://www.mrbruff.com/mr-bruffs-guide-to-gcse-language or on Kindle http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B012DS1R1M GCSE English Literature guide for 2017/18 exams: http://www.mrbruff.com/mr-bruffs-guide-to-gcse-literature or on Kindle http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B012TQP2L4 'Mr Bruff's Guide to A' Level English Literature': http://www.mrbruff.com/mr-bruffs-guide-to-a-level-literature/ or get the Kindle edition at http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B011YZ8HUY 'Mr Bruff's Guide to Grammar': http://www.mrbruff.com/grammar/ or get the Kindle edition here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00QFTI6PG 'Mr Bruff's Guide to 'An Inspector Calls'': http://mrbruff.com/product/mr-bruffs-guide-to-an-inspector-calls-ebook/ or on Kindle: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B015ALK7QA 12 other guides at mrbruff.com too!

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Mr Bruff - Analysing context
*10  minute watch

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Buy my bargain revision guides: GCSE English Language guide for 2017/18 exams: http://www.mrbruff.com/mr-bruffs-guide-to-gcse-language or on Kindle http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B012DS1R1M GCSE English Literature guide for 2017/18 exams: http://www.mrbruff.com/mr-bruffs-guide-to-gcse-literature or on Kindle http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B012TQP2L4 'Mr Bruff's Guide to A' Level English Literature': http://www.mrbruff.com/mr-bruffs-guide-to-a-level-literature/ or get the Kindle edition at http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B011YZ8HUY 'Mr Bruff's Guide to Grammar': http://www.mrbruff.com/grammar/ or get the Kindle edition here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00QFTI6PG 'Mr Bruff's Guide to 'An Inspector Calls'': http://mrbruff.com/product/mr-bruffs-guide-to-an-inspector-calls-ebook/ or on Kindle: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B015ALK7QA 12 other guides at mrbruff.com too!

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A pdf revision book with comprehension questions

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A pdf revision book with comprehension questions