Sherlock Holmes is President!!
By Don Hobbs

In case nobody has noticed Sherlock Holmes is the president. No, he was not elected even though some voters did cast their votes for the Master. In 1977 Frank Langella played the lead role in William Gillette’s Sherlock Holmes. He can also be seen in the role of President Richard M. Nixon in Ron Howard’s Nixon/ Frost. This is a film about the three days of interviews between the ex-president and David Frost. Ironically these interviews were also from 1977. So Sherlock Holmes is president!

The Galactic News vol. 2 no. 3
By Don Hobbs

The Galactic Sherlock Holmes 8.11 is now available. The latest version is 696 pages. Fellow Sherlockian collector Bob Hess has offered to sell copies at his table in the Huckster’s Room at the Algonquin during January’s Birthday Celebration Weekend. This year is the 75th anniversary of The Baker Street Irregulars so this year’s celebration will surely bring a wide range of participants. Hopefully, there will plenty of international intrigue and the Cd’s will be a must have item this year.

I have already redesigned the cover for the GSH 2009 releases, so the one’s available at the Algonquin will be the last of the current covers. Who knows these might someday become collector’s items. I have certainly seen crazier things in the world of collecting Sherlockiana. I also have copies available. Inquiries should be sent to: mailroom@sherlockpeoria.net.  If anyone is interested, please contact me.

The World’s Least Sherlockian Places
By Don Hobbs

Peter Blau once told me a story about him and John Bennett Shaw. As I paraphrase, Peter and John thought they could land anyplace in the United States and between them, they would know a Sherlockian within 50 miles. I’ll be willing to wager they never flew into Yankton, South Dakota. Yankton just happens to be where I am working. The predicted high for Monday in 6 degrees. I had a free Saturday so I thought I would drive to North Dakota. It is the last of the forty-eight continental sates that I had not visited.

Yankton is on the Nebraska border, so for me to get to North Dakota, I had to drive the entire width of the states, or roughly 240 miles and that was after driving fifty mile east to get onto I-29. There was not much to see between Yankton and North Dakota, especially on this trip because of the fog. At times it was so bad, the visibility was barely twenty-feet ahead. It was a painful four hour trek and I tried very hard to find anything Sherlockian, regardless of how remotely possible it could have been. Well I made it all the way to exit 2 in North Dakota before I turned around. Everything looked eerie because the mist in the fog was freezing on the tree and bushes but the road remained clear. I think that South and North Dakota are two of the least Sherlockian places in America.

I failed to find anything Sherlockian so I guess Peter and John were better Sherlockians but gave it my best. However all was not lost, I did make it to the last of the lower forty-eight states I needed to visit.

Happy Collecting!!