Episodes

  • The Sherlock Holmes We Never Knew

    The Sherlock Holmes We Never Knew
    Nov 5 2025

    "and actor and a rare one" [SIGN]

    The monthly feature of Morley-Montgomery Award-winning articles continues apace, when we share these top-notch pieces of Sherlockian scholarship from the pages of The Baker Street Journal. This episode is from S.E. Dahlinger's truly remarkable 1999 article "The Sherlock Holmes We Never Knew," which gives us a better understanding of William Gillette and the play that made him a household name (and a fortune). It's a large article and a very significant Trifle.

    If you have a question for us, please email us at trifles@ihearofsherlock.com. If you use your inquiry on the show, we'll send you a thank you gift.

    Don't forget to listen to "Trifling Trifles" — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode, released at the beginning of every month. This is a benefit exclusively for our paying subscribers. Check it out (Patreon | Substack).
    Links
    • The Morley-Montgomery Award
    • The Morley-Montgomery Award series of episodes (Patreon | Substack)
    • Long Lost William Gillette Sherlock Holmes Film from 2016 Found
    • Remembering William Gillette
    • Other episodes mentioned:
      • Episode 126: Becoming the Gillettes (I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere)
      • Episode 147: Sherlock Holmes and Silent Films (I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere)
      • Episode 34: William Gillette, America's Sherlock Holmes (I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere)
    • All of our social links: https://linktr.ee/ihearofsherlock
    • Email us at trifles @ ihearofsherlock.com
    Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra
    Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band.
    Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
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    41 mins
  • The Tall Man

    The Tall Man
    Oct 29 2025

    "I have never seen so tall a man" [SIGN]



    Our series on the Apocrypha of Sherlock Holmes continues on, with a slightly different entry this time. Previous examples have been fully developed stories; this is simply a story outline. How it surfaced is just as interesting as the outline itself, perhaps more. The reader/listener will be left to decide if this could have made a full-blown story. Ultimately, it's just a Trifle.

    If you have a question for us, please email us at trifles@ihearofsherlock.com. If you use your inquiry on the show, we'll send you a thank you gift.

    Don't forget to listen to "Trifling Trifles" — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode. This is a benefit exclusively for our paying subscribers. Check it out (Patreon | Substack). Leave Trifles a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify; listen to this episode here or wherever you get podcasts
    Links
    • The Apocrypha of Sherlock Holmes (The Sherlock Holmes Reference Library)
    • All of our social links: https://linktr.ee/ihearofsherlock
    • Email us at trifles @ ihearofsherlock.com
    Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra
    Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band.
    Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
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    22 mins
  • Paddington vs. Waterloo

    Paddington vs. Waterloo
    Oct 22 2025

    "proceed to Waterloo" [HOUN]

    For those looking to travel from London west to Dartmoor (particularly those interested in stopping at Coombe Tracey), you might do well to do as Dr. Watson did and meet Sir Henry Baskerville at Paddington Station. One small thing, though: there's another station that will get you our west. And if you're another character, you might fancy that. Why? It's just a Trifle.

    If you have a question for us, please email us at trifles@ihearofsherlock.com. If you use your inquiry on the show, we'll send you a thank you gift.

    Don't forget to listen to "Trifling Trifles" — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode. This is a benefit exclusively for our paying subscribers. Check it out (Patreon | Substack). Leave Trifles a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify; listen to this episode here or wherever you get podcasts Links
    • The original question (Facebook)
    • The Strangers Room Facebook Group
    • The Hound of the Baskervilles: Hunting the Dartmoor Legend by Philip Weller (Amazon)
    • Previous episodes mentioned:
      • Episode 441 - About the Moor
    • All of our social links: https://linktr.ee/ihearofsherlock
    • Email us at trifles @ ihearofsherlock.com
    Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra
    Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band.
    Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
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    19 mins
  • T.S. Eliot and the Great Grimpen Mire

    T.S. Eliot and the Great Grimpen Mire
    Oct 15 2025

    "so subtly influenced by it" [STUD]



    It is well known that T.S. Eliot lifted lines from "The Musgrave Ritual" and appropriated them for Murder in the Cathedral, as well as found inspiration for Macavity in the Napoleon of crime. In this "Mr. Sherlock Holmes the Theorist" episode, Don Hardenbrook, BSI ("Huret, the Boulevard Assassin") found a deeper meaning in Four Quartets, a collection of four interlinked poems by Eliot. One that echoes of The Hound of the Baskervilles. And it's just a Trifle.

    If you have a question for us, please email us at trifles@ihearofsherlock.com. If you use your inquiry on the show, we'll send you a thank you gift.

    Don't forget to listen to "Trifling Trifles" — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode. This is a benefit exclusively for our paying subscribers. Check it out (Patreon | Substack). Leave Trifles a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify; listen to this episode here or wherever you get podcasts
    Links
    • Four Quartets (Wikipedia)
    • The Baker Street Journal
    • All of our social links: https://linktr.ee/ihearofsherlock
    • Email us at trifles @ ihearofsherlock.com
    Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra
    Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band.
    Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
    Show More Show Less
    24 mins
  • The Moor as a Character

    The Moor as a Character
    Oct 9 2025

    "a huge expanse" [HOUN]

    Credit: Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 4.0

    There are four main characters in The Hound of the Baskervilles: Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson, the hound, and the moor. [Record scratch SFX] Yes, the moor. Inspired by a clip from an old IHOSE episode, we explore why this ever-present setting looms large in the story, both when it's explicitly mentioned and when it's not. It's just a Trifle.

    If you have a question for us, please email us at trifles@ihearofsherlock.com. If you use your inquiry on the show, we'll send you a thank you gift.

    Don't forget to listen to "Trifling Trifles" — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode. This is a benefit exclusively for our paying subscribers. Check it out (Patreon | Substack). Leave Trifles a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify; listen to this episode here or wherever you get podcasts
    Links
    • I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere Episode 68: Sherlock Holmes on Radio, Part 1
    • Edgon Heath (Holst) (Wikipedia)
    • Previous episodes mentioned:
      • Episode 393 - The Geography of The Hound of the Baskervilles
      • Episode 441 - About the Moor
      • Episode 444 - John H. Watson—Word Painter
    • All of our social links: https://linktr.ee/ihearofsherlock
    • Email us at trifles @ ihearofsherlock.com
    Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra
    Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band.
    Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
    Show More Show Less
    25 mins
  • On the Chaldean Influences in Cornish

    On the Chaldean Influences in Cornish
    Oct 1 2025

    "traced in the Cornish branch of the great Celtic speech" [DEVI]


    The Morley-Montgomery Award series rolls on, and this time we've jumped from 1979 (the last award granted, covered in Episode 453) to 1995. Dr. Margaret Nydell turns her philological attention to the Canon.

    She specifically looks at Sherlock Holmes's intentions in researching the Cornish language, with its roots in Chaldean. Her article is both scholarly and delightfully funny. And it's just a Trifle.

    If you have a question for us, please email us at trifles@ihearofsherlock.com. If you use your inquiry on the show, we'll send you a thank you gift.

    Don't forget to listen to "Trifling Trifles" — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode. This is a benefit exclusively for our paying subscribers. Check it out (Patreon | Substack). Leave Trifles a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify; listen to this episode here or wherever you get podcasts Links
    • The Morley-Montgomery Award
    • The Morley-Montgomery Award series of episodes (Patreon | Substack)
    • Previous episodes mentioned:
      • Episode 439 - The Archeological Holmes
      • Episode 453 - The Location of the Hound of the Baskervilles
    • All of our social links: https://linktr.ee/ihearofsherlock
    • Email us at trifles @ ihearofsherlock.com
    Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra
    Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band.
    Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
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    29 mins
  • The Crown Diamond

    The Crown Diamond
    Sep 25 2025

    "What good are you going to get out of your diamond?" [MAZA]


    We're back in the theater for another Sherlock Holmes story in our series on the Apocrypha of Sherlock Holmes. It seems that Conan Doyle saw great potential in other mediums (not just the seance type, either).

    The Crown Diamond: An Evening With Sherlock Holmes is clearly a rehash of the short story "The Mazarin Stone." Or was thought to be, anyway. That is, until James Montgomery, BSI ("The Red Circle") discovered it in an exercise book and determined the publication order. And it's just a Trifle.

    If you have a question for us, please email us at trifles@ihearofsherlock.com. If you use your inquiry on the show, we'll send you a thank you gift.

    Don't forget to listen to "Trifling Trifles" — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode. This is a benefit exclusively for our paying subscribers. Check it out (Patreon | Substack). Leave Trifles a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify; listen to this episode here or wherever you get podcasts
    Links
    • The Crown Diamond (Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia)
    • Exercise book containing The Crown Diamond (Toronto Public Library)
    • Episode 290: James Montgomery (I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere)
    • All of our social links: https://linktr.ee/ihearofsherlock
    • Email us at trifles @ ihearofsherlock.com
    Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra
    Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band.
    Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
    Show More Show Less
    23 mins
  • Lhassa & Mecca

    Lhassa & Mecca
    Sep 17 2025

    "amused myself by visiting Lhassa...looked in at Mecca" [FINA]

    The Great Hiatus, as the interval between "The Final Problem" and "The Empty House" is known, has inspired a great deal of speculation and interpretation, thanks to Sherlock Holmes's brief and tantalizing account of his time away. Edgar Smith took it on in his famous essay (as referenced in Episode 334), but Don Pollock took aim at the fawning acceptance in his own analysis in a 1975 issue of The Baker Street Journal. It's just a Trifle. If you have a question for us, please email us at trifles@ihearofsherlock.com. If you use your inquiry on the show, we'll send you a thank you gift. Don't forget to listen to "Trifling Trifles" — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode. This is a benefit exclusively for our paying subscribers. Check it out (Patreon | Substack). Leave Trifles a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify; listen to this episode here or wherever you get podcasts
    Links
    • The Baker Street Journal
    • Trifles Episode 334 - The Great Hiatus
    • All of our social links: https://linktr.ee/ihearofsherlock
    • Email us at trifles @ ihearofsherlock.com
    Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra
    Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band.
    Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
    Show More Show Less
    22 mins