Adventure of the Evening Quiz
The Norwood Builder
Here is the quiz taken by Red Circle members on the Adventure of the Evening. Answers below
1. List five animals named in the story.
2. List five more animals named in the story.
3. List three more animals named in the story.
4. The eyes have it: who had suspicious and sidelong eyes? Who was wild-eyed? Who had shifty light gray eyes? Whose eyes were shining like stars?
5. There are only two proper names in the story entitled to the pronoun "she" . . . what are they?
6. Holmes states that he knows nothing whatever about MacFarlane, "beyond the obvious facts." What are the "obvious facts" that Holmes deduced?
7. Were Sherlock Holmes to play this song from Walt Disney's Snow White on his violin during the events of the story, it would be strangely fitting . . . but only if Holmes' version was singular. Name that tune.
Answers
1-3. spider (Moriarty), ferret (Oldacre), ape (Oldacre), cat (turned loose in an aviary), rabbit (Oldacre), two more rabbits (to supply the bones), rat (Oldacre), dog (dead), cock (Lestrade's little cock-a-doodle of victory), seal (with the thumb-mark upon it), bear (Lestrade: "How does this bear on your case?").
4. Mrs. Lexington. John Hector McFarlane. Jonas Oldacre. Sherlock Holmes.
5. Mrs. Lexington, and the Dutch steamship Friesland.
6. MacFarlane was a bachelor, a solicitor, a Freemason and an asthmatic.
7. "Some Day My Print(s) Will Come".
Congratulations to Sarah Rosenbaum, who turned in the highest score, followed closely by Bev Wolov and Mike Quigley.
The Red Circle of Washington, DC gathered at the National Press Club on Friday evening, September 23, 2011. Attendance at our meetings continues to be robust, and Peter Blau noted that in addition to timely information here on the website, meeting notices are now being sent electronically via the Red Circle's new Google Group. Each Red Circle member should "accept" the electronic invitation to join the group. Of course, ink-and-paper notices will continue to be available to those who require them.
Marcus Geisser joined us for the first time. Marcus is a Swiss national who works for the International Committee of the Red Cross, and has recently begun a posting here in Washington. During a previous assignment in far off Burma he had the disctinction of founding a Sherlockian scion society there called "The Solitary Cyclists." We also welcomed Sheridan Irick and Jenn Scott from Oklahoma, whose exploits include naming a mountain (well, maybe just a hill) in that state for Holmes, and having an annual get-together in Watson, Oklahoma. Michael Quigley has rejoined us after a posting in Europe. His time in Libya kept him very busy, but he managed to squeeze in visits to both London and the falls of Reichenbach.
Bill Mosteller reminded us that the latest Laurie R. King novel featuring Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes, Pirate King, is now available.
Evelyn Herzog, John Baesch, and Marcus Geisser reported on the September outing of Sherlock Holmes Society of London at Trinity College, Oxford. A focus of the meeting was Ronald Knox, who wrote--as a parody--a literary appreciation of the Holmes Canon in the style of religious critical writing. In doing so he launched the famous (and occasionally infamous) "Great Game," the common practice among Sherlockians and Holmesians of treating Sherlock Holmes as fact and not fiction. Highlights of the visit included a display of Knox memorabilia, along with "Cambridge vs. Oxford," a debate about where Holmes went to school. Naturally, this perpetual "controversity" was argued with great passion on both sides, and in the end was declared a draw, which will require a do-over next year at Cambridge. An extended report on the goings-on is just a click away at the website of the Sherlock Holmes Society of London.
The featured speaker for the evening was the eminent Conan Doyle biographer and Red Circle member Dan Stashower, who gave us a glimpse of Conan Doyle's first novel, The Narrative of John Smith. Lost until recently and newly-published, Dan served as one of the publication editors for this 1883 work. The novel is noteworthy in that it was Conan Doyle's first attempt at writing anything longer than a short story, and he did it with the intent of becoming better known as a writer. Ironically, the manuscript was lost in the mail on its way to the publisher, but another manuscript--apparently re-written from memory--was found among the papers held by his family. While certainly not his best work, we find within it foreshadows of material that would appear in later works, along with insights into Conan Doyle himself, including his fascination with spirituality. Dan has graciously provided a summary of his remarks, which we are pleased to present as a special, separate page. Click here to read Dan's remarks about The Narrative of John Smith.
Thanks to Bill Mosteller for his notes and to Bev Wolov for her pictures.