M FOR MURDER OUVERTURE pages 36-37 Expression Orale en Continu

Notion de mmoire (programme culturel de 2nde)

Tche
finale

Montrer ses capacits denquteur : couter des tmoins et trouver les

contradictions dans leurs tmoignages. Observer une scne de crime et
fais un rapport oral de ton enqute (CO+ EOC)

Utilisation des structures de PROBABILITE au prsent et au pass et de tous els temps du

pass : prtrit, prtrit en ING, pluperfect)
Illustration: Original collage (2010) by Graham D. Holland, inspired by a passage from Agatha
Christies Hercule Poirots Christmas (1939)
CRIME SCENE : Utiliser le vocabulaire de la page 164 dcrire une image, le lexique page 22 et
les expressions de probabilit.
Insister sur les mots de liaison: first, the, afterwards, finally, too, also, moreover, whats more et sur
les expressions permettant de situer des lments dans un ensemble: in the foreground, in the
background, at the top, at the bottom
Utiliser Toolbox et Keywords:
The scene takes place in a large room, probably a drawing room in a huge house The first thing we
notice in the picture/ The focal point of the picture is the white outline of a dead body on the carpet in
front of the fireplace. Whats more, theres a huge pool of blood there. We know the scene takes place
in winter because we can see the snow-covered mountains outside on the right there is a fire burning in
the fireplace and the date on the wall calendar is December 24 th.
The room is in chaos: The furniture has been knocked over/ overturned and is all over the place. There
are also several plates, vases and lamps on the floor, which have been smashed to pieces. There are
lots of books scattered on the floor, too. There is no weapon near the outline of the body but there must
have been 2 people in the room because there is a decanter and two empty glasses on the writing desk
on the left.
In the background on the right, a clock indicates the time. It is a quarter past six in the evening. There
are several paintings on the wall. One of the windows on the right is half open and blocked by some
sort of screw. There is also a safe in the right-hand corner of the room but it hasnt been opened. On
the left, it looks as if someone must have tried to break the door open because it has come off its
hinges.
Description of a crime scene pages 36-37
The scene takes place in a large room, probably a drawing room in a huge house The first thing we
notice in the picture/ The focal point of the picture is the white outline of a dead body on the carpet in
front of the fireplace. Whats more, theres a huge pool of blood there. We know the scene takes place
in winter because we can see the snow-covered mountains outside on the right there is a fire burning in
the fireplace and the date on the wall calendar is December 24 th.
The room is in chaos: The furniture has been knocked over/ overturned and is all over the place. There
are also several plates, vases and lamps on the floor, which have been smashed to pieces. There are

lots of books scattered on the floor, too. There is no weapon near the outline of the body but there must
have been 2 people in the room because there is a decanter and two empty glasses on the writing desk
on the left.
In the background on the right, a clock indicates the time. It is a quarter past six in the evening. There
are several paintings on the wall. One of the windows on the right is half open and blocked by some
sort of screw. There is also a safe in the right-hand corner of the room but it hasnt been opened. On
the left, it looks as if someone must have tried to break the door open because it has come off its
hinges.

Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur
Conan Doyle. A London-based "consulting detective" whose abilities border on the fantastic,
Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to adopt almost any disguise, and
his use of forensic science skills to solve difficult cases.
Holmes, who first appeared in publication in 1887, was featured in four novels and 56 short
stories. The first novel, A Study in Scarlet, appeared in Beeton's Christmas Annual in 1887
and the second, The Sign of the Four, in Lippincott's Monthly Magazine in 1890. The
character grew tremendously in popularity with the first series of short stories in The Strand
Magazine, beginning with "A Scandal in Bohemia" in 1891; further series of short stories and
two novels published in serial form appeared between then and 1927. The stories cover a
period from around 1880 up to 1914.
All but four stories are narrated by Holmes's friend and biographer, Dr. John H. Watson; two
are narrated by Holmes himself ("The Blanched Soldier" and "The Lion's Mane") and two
others are written in the third person ("The Mazarin Stone" and "His Last Bow"). In two
stories ("The Musgrave Ritual" and "The Gloria Scott"), Holmes tells Watson the main story
from his memories, while Watson becomes the narrator of the frame story. The first and fourth
novels, A Study in Scarlet and The Valley of Fear, each include a long interval of omniscient
narration recounting events unknown to either Holmes or Watson.
Doyle said that the character of Sherlock Holmes was inspired by Dr. Joseph Bell, for whom Doyle
had worked as a clerk at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. Like Holmes, Bell was noted for drawing
large conclusions from the smallest observations. [1] However, some years later Bell wrote in a letter to
Conan Doyle: "You are yourself Sherlock Holmes and well you know it." [2] Sir Henry Littlejohn,
lecturer on Forensic Medicine and Public Health at the Royal College of Surgeons, is also cited as an
inspiration for Holmes. Littlejohn served as Police Surgeon and Medical Officer of Health of
Edinburgh, providing for Doyle a link between medical investigation and the detection of crime.

Life
Explicit details about Sherlock Holmes's life outside of the adventures recorded by Dr. Watson
are few and far between in Conan Doyle's original stories; nevertheless, incidental details
about his early life and extended families portray a loose biographical picture of the detective.

An estimate of Holmes's age in the story "His Last Bow" places his birth in 1854; the story is
set in August 1914 and he is described as being 60 years of age. Leslie Klinger cites the date
as 6 January.
Holmes states that he first developed his methods of deduction while an undergraduate. His
earliest cases, which he pursued as an amateur, came from fellow university students.
According to Holmes, it was an encounter with the father of one of his classmates that led him
to take up detection as a profession ]and he spent the six years following university working as
a consulting detective before financial difficulties led him to take Watson as a roommate, at
which point the narrative of the stories begins.
From 1881, Holmes was described as having lodgings at 221B, Baker Street, London, from
where he ran his consulting detective service. 221B was an apartment 17 steps up, at the
upper end of the road, as stated in an early manuscript. Until the arrival of Dr. Watson,
Holmes worked alone, only occasionally employing agents from the city's underclass,
including a host of informants and a group of street children he called "the Baker Street
Irregulars". The Irregulars appeared in three stories: A Study in Scarlet, The Sign of the Four,
and "The Adventure of the Crooked Man".
Little is said of Holmes's family. His parents were unmentioned in the stories and he merely
states that his ancestors were "country squires". In "The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter",
Holmes claims that his great-uncle was Vernet, the French artist. His brother, Mycroft, seven
years his senior, is a government official who appears in three stories ]and is mentioned in one
other story.[8] Mycroft has a unique civil service position as a kind of memory man or walking
database for all aspects of government policy. Mycroft is described as even more gifted than
Sherlock in matters of observation and deduction, but he lacks Sherlock's drive and energy,
preferring to spend his time at ease in the Diogenes Club, described as "a club for the most
un-clubbable men in London".
Holmes shares the majority of his professional years with his close friend and chronicler, Dr.
Watson, who lives with Holmes for some time before his marriage in 1887 and again after his
wife's death. Their residence is maintained by the landlady, Mrs. Hudson.
Watson has two roles in Holmes's life. First, he gives practical assistance in the conduct of his
cases; he is the detective's right-hand man, acting variously as look-out, decoy, accomplice
and messenger. Second, he is Holmes's chronicler (his "Boswell" as Holmes refers to him).
Most of the Holmes stories are frame narratives, written from Watson's point of view as
summaries of the detective's most interesting cases. Holmes is often described as criticising
Watson's writings as sensational and populist, suggesting that they neglect to accurately and
objectively report the pure, calculating "science" of his craft.
Detection is, or ought to be, an exact science and should be treated in the same cold and
unemotional manner. You have attempted to tinge it ["A Study in Scarlet"] with romanticism,
which produces much the same effect as if you worked a love-story... Some facts should be
suppressed, or, at least, a just sense of proportion should be observed in treating them. The
only point in the case which deserved mention was the curious analytical reasoning from
effects to causes, by which I succeeded in unravelling it.
Nevertheless, Holmes's friendship with Watson is his most significant relationship. In several
stories, Holmes's fondness for Watsonoften hidden beneath his cold, intellectual exterior

is revealed. For instance, in "The Adventure of the Three Garridebs", Watson is wounded in a
confrontation with a villain; although the bullet wound proves to be "quite superficial",
Watson is moved by Holmes's reaction:
It was worth a wound; it was worth many wounds; to know the depth of loyalty and love
which lay behind that cold mask. The clear, hard eyes were dimmed for a moment, and the
firm lips were shaking. For the one and only time I caught a glimpse of a great heart as well as
of a great brain. All my years of humble but single-minded service culminated in that moment
of revelation.
In "The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger", it is said that Holmes was in active practice for 23
years, with Watson co-operating with him for 17 of them.

"Great Hiatus"
Conan Doyle wrote the first set of stories over the course of a decade. Wanting to devote more
time to his historical novels, he killed off Holmes in "The Final Problem", which appeared in
print in 1893 but is set in 1891. After resisting public pressure for eight years, the author
wrote The Hound of the Baskervilles, which appeared in 1901, implicitly setting it before
Holmes's "death" (some theorise that it actually took place after "The Return" but with
Watson planting clues to an earlier date). In 1903, Conan Doyle wrote "The Adventure of the
Empty House", set in 1894, in which Holmes reappears and explains to a shocked Watson that
he had only faked his death in "The Final Problem" to fool his enemies. "The Adventure of
the Empty House" marks the beginning of the second set of stories, which Conan Doyle
continued to write until 1927.
Holmes aficionados refer to the period from 1891 to 1894the time between Holmes's
disappearance and presumed death in "The Final Problem" and his reappearance in "The
Adventure of the Empty House"as the "Great Hiatus". One later story ("The Adventure of
Wisteria Lodge"), though, is described as taking place in 1892, although this can be explained
as a mistake on Conan Doyle's part.

Retirement
In "His Last Bow", Holmes has retired to a small farm on the Sussex Downs. The move is not
dated precisely but can be presumed to predate 1904, since it is referred to retrospectively in
"The Second Stain", first published that year. Here he has taken up the hobby of beekeeping
as his primary occupation, eventually producing a "Practical Handbook of Bee Culture, with
some Observations upon the Segregation of the Queen". The story features Holmes and
Watson coming out of retirement one last time to aid the war effort. Only one other adventure,
"The Adventure of the Lion's Mane", which is narrated by Holmes, takes place during the
detective's retirement. The details of his death are not known.

Habits and personality

Watson describes Holmes as "bohemian" in habits and lifestyle. Although Holmes is
described in The Hound of the Baskervilles as having a "cat-like" love of personal cleanliness,

Watson also describes Holmes as an eccentric, with no regard for contemporary standards of
tidiness or good order. In The Musgrave Ritual, Watson describes Holmes thus:
Although in his methods of thought he was the neatest and most methodical of mankind... [he]
keeps his cigars in the coal-scuttle, his tobacco in the toe end of a Persian slipper, and his
unanswered correspondence transfixed by a jack-knife into the very centre of his wooden
mantelpiece... He had a horror of destroying documents.... Thus month after month his papers
accumulated, until every corner of the room was stacked with bundles of manuscript which
were on no account to be burned, and which could not be put away save by their owner.
What appears to others as chaos, however, is to Holmes a wealth of useful information.
Throughout the stories, Holmes would dive into his apparent mess of random papers and
artefacts to retrieve precisely the specific document or item he was looking for.
Watson frequently makes note of Holmes's erratic eating habits. The detective is often
described as starving himself at times of intense intellectual activity, such as during "The
Adventure of the Norwood Builder", wherein, according to Watson:
[Holmes] had no breakfast for himself, for it was one of his peculiarities that in his more
intense moments he would permit himself no food, and I have known him to presume upon
his iron strength until he has fainted from pure inanition.
His chronicler does not consider Holmes's habitual use of a pipe, or his less frequent use of
cigarettes and cigars, a vice. Even so, it is obvious that Watson has stricter limits than Holmes,
and occasionally berated Holmes for creating a "poisonous atmosphere" of tobacco smoke.
Holmes himself references Watson's moderation in "The Adventure of the Devil's Foot",
saying, "I think, Watson, that I shall resume that course of tobacco-poisoning which you have
so often and so justly condemned".
Nor does Watson condemn Holmes's willingness to bend the truth or break the law on behalf
of a client (e.g., lying to the police, concealing evidence or breaking into houses) when he
feels it morally justifiable. However, Watson did not condone Holmes's plans when they
manipulated innocent people, such as when he toyed with a young woman's heart in "The
Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton" although it was done with noble intentions to save
many other young women from the clutches of the villainous Milverton.
Holmes is portrayed as a patriot acting on behalf of the government in matters of national
security in a number of stories. He also carries out counter-intelligence work in His Last Bow,
set at the beginning of World War I. As shooting practice, the detective adorned the wall of his
Baker Street lodgings with "VR" (Victoria Regina) in bullet pocks made by his pistol.
Holmes has an ego that at times borders on arrogant, albeit with justification; he draws
pleasure from baffling police inspectors with his superior deductions. He does not seek fame,
however, and is usually content to allow the police to take public credit for his work. It is
often only when Watson publishes his stories that Holmes's role in the case becomes apparent.
Because of newspaper articles and Watson's stories, however, Holmes is well known as a
detective, and many clients ask for his help instead of or alongside the police. These include
government officials and royalty. A Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and a King of
Bohemia personally visit Holmes to request his assistance. The Government of France awards

him the Legion of Honor for another case,the King of Scandinavia is a client, and Holmes
aids the Vatican at least twice
Holmes is pleased when he is recognized for having superior skills and responds to flattery, as
Watson remarks, as a girl does to comments upon her beauty.
Holmes's demeanour is presented as dispassionate and cold. Yet when in the midst of an
adventure, Holmes can sparkle with remarkable passion. He has a flair for showmanship and
will prepare elaborate traps to capture and expose a culprit, often to impress Watson or one of
the Scotland Yard inspectors.
]

Holmes is a loner and does not strive to make friends, although he values those that he has,
and none higher than Watson. He attributes his solitary ways to his particular interests and his
mopey disposition. In "The Adventure of the Gloria Scott", he tells Watson that during two
years at college, he made only one friend, Victor Trevor. Holmes says, "I was never a very
sociable fellow, Watson, always rather fond of moping in my rooms and working out my own
little methods of thought, so that I never mixed much with the men of my year;... my line of
study was quite distinct from that of the other fellows, so that we had no points of contact at
all". He is similarly described in A Study in Scarlet as difficult to draw out by young
Stamford.

Use of drugs
Holmes occasionally uses addictive drugs, especially when lacking stimulating cases. He
believes the use of cocaine stimulates his brain when it is not in use. He is a habitual user of
cocaine, which he injects in a seven-per-cent solution using a personal syringe that he keeps
in a Morocco leather case. Holmes is also an occasional user of morphine but expressed
strong disapproval on visiting an opium den. These drugs were legal in late 19th-century
England. Both Watson and Holmes are continual tobacco users, including cigarettes, cigars,
and pipes, though this was not an uncommon habit during this era. Holmes is an expert at
identifying tobacco-ash residues, having penned a monograph on the subject.
Dr. Watson strongly disapproves of his friend's cocaine habit, describing it as the detective's
"only vice" and expressing concern over its possible effect on Holmes's mental health and
superior intellect.In "The Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter", Watson claims to have
"weaned" Holmes off drugs. Even so, according to his doctor friend, Holmes remains an
addict whose habit is "not dead, but merely sleeping".

Financial affairs
Holmes in his bed from "The Adventure of the Dying Detective"
Although he initially needed Watson to share the rent of his comfortable residence at 221B
Baker Street, Watson reveals in "The Adventure of the Dying Detective", when Holmes was
living alone, that "I have no doubt that the house might have been purchased at the price
which Holmes paid for his rooms," suggesting he had developed a good income from his
practice, although it is seldom revealed exactly how much he charges for his services. In "A
Scandal in Bohemia", he is paid the staggering sum of one thousand pounds (300 in gold and
700 in notes) as advance payment for "present expenses". In "The Problem of Thor Bridge" he

avers: "My professional charges are upon a fixed scale. I do not vary them, save when I remit
them altogether".
This is said in a context where a client is offering to double his fees; however, it is likely that
rich clients provided Holmes a remuneration greatly in excess of his standard fee. For
example, in "The Final Problem", Holmes states that his services to the government of France
and the royal house of Scandinavia had left him with enough money to retire comfortably,
while in "The Adventure of Black Peter", Watson notes that Holmes would refuse to help the
wealthy and powerful if their cases did not interest him, while he could devote weeks at a
time to the cases of the most humble clients. Holmes also tells Watson, in "A Case of
Identity", of a golden snuff box received from the King of Bohemia after "A Scandal in
Bohemia" and a fabulous ring from the Dutch royal family; in "The Adventure of the BrucePartington Plans", Holmes receives an emerald tie-pin from Queen Victoria. Other mementos
of Holmes's cases are a gold sovereign from Irene Adler ("A Scandal in Bohemia") and an
autographed letter of thanks from the French President and a Legion of Honour for tracking
down an assassin named Huret ("The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez"). In "The
Adventure of the Priory School", Holmes rubs his hands with glee when the Duke of
Holdernesse notes the 6,000 pound sterling sum, which surprises even Watson, and then pats
the cheque, saying, "I am a poor man", an incident that could be dismissed as representative
of Holmes's tendency toward sarcastic humour. Certainly, in the course of his career Holmes
had worked for both the most powerful monarchs and governments of Europe (including his
own) and various wealthy aristocrats and industrialists and had also been consulted by
impoverished pawnbrokers and humble governesses on the lower rungs of society.
Holmes has been known to charge clients for his expenses, and to claim any reward that might
be offered for the problem's solution: he says in "The Adventure of the Speckled Band" that
Miss Stoner may pay any expenses he may be put to, and requests that the bank in "The RedHeaded League" remunerate him for the money he spent solving the case. Holmes has his
wealthy banker client in "The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet" pay him for the costs of
recovering the stolen gems and also claims the reward the banker had put for their recovery.
Holmes's primary intellectual detection method is abductive reasoning. "From a drop of
water", he writes, "a logician could infer the possibility of an Atlantic or a Niagara without
having seen or heard of one or the other".Holmes stories often begin with a bravura display of
his talent for "deduction". It is of some interest to logicians and those interested in logic to try
to analyse just what Holmes is doing when he performs his "deductions." "Holmesian
deduction" appears to consist primarily of drawing inferences based on either straightforward
practical principleswhich are the result of careful observation, such as Holmes's study of
different kinds of cigar ashesor inference to the best explanation.[27][30][31] One quote often
heard from Holmes is "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however
improbable, must be the truth".
Sherlock Holmes's straightforward practical principles are generally of the form, "If p, then
q," where "p" stands for some observed evidence and "q" stands for what the evidence
indicates. But there are also, as may be observed in the following example, intermediate
principles. In "A Scandal in Bohemia" Holmes deduces that Watson had got very wet lately
and that he had "a most clumsy and careless servant girl". When Watson, in amazement, asks
how Holmes knows this, Holmes answers:

It is simplicity itself ... My eyes tell me that on the inside of your left shoe, just where the
firelight strikes it, the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they have been
caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round the edges of the sole in order to
remove crusted mud from it. Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in
vile weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting specimen of the London
slavey.
In this case, Holmes employed several connected principles:

If leather on the side of a shoe is scored by several parallel cuts, it was caused by
someone who scraped around the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud.

If a London doctor's shoes are scraped to remove crusted mud, the person who so
scraped them is the doctor's servant girl.

If someone cuts a shoe while scraping it to remove encrusted mud, that person is
clumsy and careless.

If someone's shoes had encrusted mud on them, then they are likely to have been worn
by him in the rain, when it is likely he became very wet.

By applying such principles in an obvious way (using repeated applications of modus

ponens), Holmes is able to infer from his observation that "the sides of Watson's shoes are
scored by several parallel cuts" that:
"Watson's servant girl is clumsy and careless" and "Watson has been very wet lately and has
been out in vile weather".
Deductive reasoning allows Holmes to impressively reveal a stranger's occupation, such as a
Retired Sergeant of Marines in A Study in Scarlet; a former ship's carpenter turned
pawnbroker in "The Red-Headed League"; and a billiard-marker and a retired artillery NCO
in "The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter". Similarly, by studying inanimate objects, Holmes
can make astonishingly detailed deductions about their owners, including Watson's pocketwatch in "The Sign of the Four" and a hat, a pipe, and a walking stick in other stories.
Yet Doyle is careful not to present Holmes as infalliblea central theme in "The Adventure
of the Yellow Face". At the end of the tale a sobered Holmes tells Watson, "If it should ever
strike you that I am getting a little over-confident in my powers, or giving less pains to a case
than it deserves, kindly whisper 'Norbury' in my ear, and I shall be infinitely obliged to you".

Disguise
Holmes displays a strong aptitude for acting and disguise. In several stories, he adopts
disguises to gather evidence while 'under cover' so convincing that even Watson fails to
penetrate them, such as in "The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton", "The Man with
the Twisted Lip", "The Adventure of the Empty House" and "A Scandal in Bohemia". In other
adventures, Holmes feigns being wounded or ill to give effect to his case, or to incriminate
those involved, as in "The Adventure of the Dying Detective" and "A Scandal in Bohemia". In
the latter work, Watson remarks that "The stage lost a fine actor..., when [Holmes] became a

specialist in crime" in means of describing how perfect he was in the art of disguises, and how
often Watson himself fell for them.[35]
In the first story, A Study in Scarlet, something of Holmes's background is given. In early
1881, he is presented as an independent student of chemistry with a variety of very curious
side interests, almost all of which turn out to be single-mindedly bent towards making him
superior at solving crimes. (When he appears for the first time, he is crowing with delight at
having invented a new method for detecting bloodstains; in other stories he indulges in
recreational home-chemistry experiments, sometimes filling the rooms with foul-smelling
vapours.) An early story, "The Adventure of the Gloria Scott", presents more background on
what influenced Holmes to become a detective: a college friend's father richly complimented
his deductive skills. Holmes maintains strict adherence to scientific methods and focuses on
logic and the powers of observation and deduction.
In A Study in Scarlet, Holmes claims he does not know that the Earth revolves around the
Sun, as such information is irrelevant to his work. Directly after having heard that fact from
Watson, he says he will immediately try to forget it. He says he believes that the mind has a
finite capacity for information storage, and so learning useless things would merely reduce his
ability to learn useful things. Dr. Watson subsequently assesses Holmes' abilities thus:
1. Knowledge of Literature nil.
2. Knowledge of Philosophy nil.
3. Knowledge of Astronomy nil.
4. Knowledge of Politics Feeble.
5. Knowledge of Botany Variable. Well up in belladonna, opium and poisons
generally. Knows nothing of practical gardening.
6. Knowledge of Geology Practical, but limited. Tells at a glance different soils
from each other. After walks, has shown me splashes upon his trousers, and
told me by their colour and consistence in what part of London he had received
them.
7. Knowledge of Chemistry Profound.
8. Knowledge of Anatomy Accurate, but unsystematic.
9. Knowledge of Sensational Literature Immense. He appears to know every
detail of every horror perpetrated in the century.
10. Plays the violin well.
11. Is an expert singlestick player, boxer and swordsman.
12. Has a good practical knowledge of British law.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet

At the very end of A Study in Scarlet itself, it is shown that Holmes knows Latin and needs no
translation of Roman epigrams in the originalthough knowledge of the language would be
of dubious direct utility for detective work, all university students were required to learn Latin
at that time.
Later stories also contradict the list. Despite Holmes's supposed ignorance of politics, in "A
Scandal in Bohemia" he immediately recognises the true identity of the supposed "Count von
Kramm". Regarding nonsensational literature, his speech is replete with references to the
Bible, Shakespeare, even Goethe. He is able to quote from a letter of Flaubert to George Sand
and in the original French. Indeed, in The Hound of the Baskervilles, Holmes is able to
recognise works by Martin Knoller and Joshua Reynolds as such, saying, "Excuse the
admiration of a connoisseur .... Watson won't allow that I know anything of art, but that is
mere jealousy, since our views upon the subject differ." He goes on to explain, "I know what
is good when I see it."
Moreover, in "The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans" Watson reports that in
November 1895 "Holmes lost himself in a monograph which he had undertaken upon the
Polyphonic Motets of Lassus"a most esoteric field, for which Holmes would have had to
"clutter his memory" with an enormous amount of information which had absolutely nothing
to do with crime-fightingknowledge so extensive that his monograph was regarded as "the
last word" on the subject.[40] The later stories abandon the notion that Holmes did not want to
know anything unless it had immediate relevance for his profession; in the second chapter of
"The Valley of Fear", Holmes instead declares that "all knowledge comes useful to the
detective", and near the end of "The Adventure of the Lion's Mane" he describes himself as
"an omnivorous reader with a strangely retentive memory for trifles".
Holmes is also a competent cryptanalyst. He relates to Watson, "I am fairly familiar with all
forms of secret writing, and am myself the author of a trifling monograph upon the subject, in
which I analyse one hundred and sixty separate ciphers". One such scheme is solved using
frequency analysis in "The Adventure of the Dancing Men".
Holmes's analysis of physical evidence is both scientific and precise. His methods include the
use of latent prints such as footprints, hoof prints and bicycle tracks to identify actions at a
crime scene ("A Study in Scarlet", "The Adventure of Silver Blaze", "The Adventure of the
Priory School", The Hound of the Baskervilles, "The Boscombe Valley Mystery"), the use of
tobacco ashes and cigarette butts to identify criminals ("The Adventure of the Resident
Patient", "The Hound of the Baskervilles"), the comparison of typewritten letters to expose a
fraud ("A Case of Identity"), the use of gunpowder residue to expose two murderers ("The
Adventure of the Reigate Squire"), bullet comparison from two crime scenes ("The Adventure
of the Empty House"), analysis of small pieces of human remains to expose two murders
("The Adventure of the Cardboard Box") and even an early use of fingerprints ("The
Norwood Builder"). Holmes also demonstrates knowledge of psychology in several
occasions, such as in "A Scandal in Bohemia", where he lures Irene Adler into betraying
where she had hidden a photograph based on the "premise" that an unmarried woman will
seek her most valuable possession in case of fire, whereas a married woman will grab her
baby instead. Another example of this may be found in "The Adventure of the Blue
Carbuncle", where Holmes is able to obtain information from a salesman by a wager rather
than by interrogation or bribery, remarking, "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut
and the 'Pink un' protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet ... I daresay

that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of him, that man would not have given me such
complete information as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a wager."
Despite the excitement of his life (or perhaps seeking to leave it behind), Holmes retired to the
Sussex Downs to take up beekeeping ("The Second Stain") and wrote a book on the subject
entitled "Practical Handbook of Bee Culture, with Some Observations upon the Segregation
of the Queen".[41] His search for relaxation can also be seen in his love for music, notably in
"The Red-Headed League", wherein Holmes takes an evening off from a case to listen to
Pablo de Sarasate play violin.
He also enjoys vocal music, particularly Wagner ("The Adventure of the Red Circle").
Sherlock Holmes remains a great inspiration for forensic science in literature, especially for
the way his acute study of a crime scene yields small clues as to the precise sequence of
events. He makes great use of trace evidence such as shoe and tire impressions, as well as
fingerprints, ballistics and handwriting analysis, now known as questioned document
examination. Such evidence is used to test theories conceived by the police, for example, or
by the investigator himself. All of the techniques advocated by Holmes later became reality,
but were generally in their infancy at the time Conan Doyle was writing. In many of his
reported cases, Holmes frequently complains of the way the crime scene has been
contaminated by others, especially by the police, emphasising the critical importance of
maintaining its integrity, a now well-known feature of crime scene examination.
Owing to the small scale of the trace evidence (such as tobacco ash, hair or fingerprints), he
often uses a magnifying glass at the scene, and an optical microscope back at his lodgings in
Baker Street. He uses analytical chemistry for blood residue analysis as well as toxicology
examination and determination for poisons. Holmes seems to have maintained a small
chemistry laboratory in his lodgings, presumably using simple wet chemical methods for
detection of specific toxins, for example "The Adventure of the Naval Treaty". Ballistics is
used when spent bullets can be recovered, and their calibre measured and matched with a
suspected murder weapon, as in "The Adventure of the Empty House".
Holmes was also very perceptive of the dress and attitude of his clients and suspects, noting
style and state of wear of their clothes, any contamination (such as clay on boots), their state
of mind and physical condition in order to infer their origin and recent history. Skin marks
such as tattoos could reveal much about their history. He applied the same method to personal
items such as walking sticks (famously in "The Hound of the Baskervilles") or hats (in the
case of "The Blue Carbuncle"), with small details such as medallions, wear and contamination
yielding vital indicators of their absent owners.
In 2002, the Royal Society of Chemistry bestowed an honorary fellowship of their
organisation upon Sherlock Holmes,[42] for his use of forensic science and analytical chemistry
in popular literature, making him the only (as of 2010) fictional character to be thus honoured.

Role in the history of the detective story

Auguste Dupin in "The Purloined Letter"

Although Sherlock Holmes is not the original fictional detective (he was influenced by Edgar
Allan Poe's C. Auguste Dupin and mile Gaboriau's Monsieur Lecoq, for both of whom the
character openly expressed disdain or contempt), his name has become a byword for the part.
His stories also include several detective story characters, such as the loyal but less intelligent
assistant, a role for which Dr Watson has become the archetype. The investigating detective
became a popular genre with many authors such as Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers after
the demise of Holmes, with characters such as Hercule Poirot and Lord Peter Wimsey.
Forensic methods became less important than the psychology of the criminal, despite the
strong growth in forensics in use by the police in the early 20th century.

Scientific literature
Sherlock Holmes has occasionally been used in the scientific literature. John Radford (1999)
[43]
speculates on his intelligence. Using Conan Doyle's stories as data, Radford applies three
different methods to estimate Sherlock Holmes's IQ, and concludes that his intelligence was
very high indeed, estimated at approximately 190 points. Snyder (2004)[44] examines Holmes's
methods in the light of the science and the criminology of the mid to late 19th century.
Kempster (2006)[45] compares neurologists' skills with those displayed by Holmes. Finally,
Didierjean and Gobet (2008)[46] reviewed the literature on the psychology of expertise by
taking as model a fictional expert: Sherlock Holmes. They highlighted aspects of Doyle's
books that are in line with what is currently known about expertise, aspects that are
implausible, and aspects that suggest further research.

Legacy
"Elementary, my dear Watson"
This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this
article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged
and removed. (October 2013)
The catchphrase "Elementary, my dear Watson" is never actually uttered by Holmes in any of
the sixty Holmes stories written by Conan Doyle. In the stories, Holmes often remarks that his
logical conclusions are "elementary", in that he considers them to be simple and obvious. He
also, on occasion, refers to Dr. Watson as "my dear Watson". The two fragments, however,
never appear together. One of the closest examples to this phrase appears in "The Adventure

of the Crooked Man", when Holmes explains a deduction: "'Excellent!' I cried. 'Elementary,'
said he."
Holmes says "Elementary, my dear fellow, quite elementary" in Psmith in the City (19091910) by P. G. Wodehouse. The first known use of the exact phrase was in Wodehouse's 1915
novel Psmith, Journalist. It also appears at the very end of the 1929 film, The Return of
Sherlock Holmes, the first Sherlock Holmes sound film. William Gillette, who played Holmes
on stage and radio, had previously used the similar phrase, Oh, this is elementary, my dear
fellow. The phrase might owe its household familiarity to its use in Edith Meiser's scripts for
The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes radio series, broadcast from 1939 to 1947.
Holmes speaks the exact phrase in the 1953 short story "The Adventure of the Red Widow"
by Conan Doyle's son Adrian.[47]

"The Great Game"

Main article: Sherlockian game
The fifty-six short stories and four novels written by Conan Doyle are termed the "canon" by
Sherlock Holmes fans. Early scholars of the canon included Ronald Knox[48] in Britain, who is
credited with inventing "the Game",[49] and Christopher Morley in New York,[50] the latter
having founded the Baker Street Irregulars, the first society devoted exclusively to the canon
of Holmes, in 1934.[51]
The Sherlockian game (also known as the Holmesian game, the Great Game or simply the
Game) is the pastime of attempting to resolve anomalies and clarify implied details about
Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson from the original stories and novels by Arthur Conan Doyle
that make up the Canon. It treats Holmes and Watson as real people, with Conan Doyle
serving as Watson's "literary agent", and uses aspects of the canonical stories combined with
the history of the era of the tales' composition to construct fanciful biographies of the pair and
to publish scholarly analyses from inside the Holmes universe.[49]
One of the areas analyzed within the Game is Holmes' birthdate. Morley's analysis argues that
Holmes's birthday was January 6, 1854.[52][53] Author Laurie R. King has also speculated about
Holmes's birth date, based on two of Conan Doyle's stories: "A Study in Scarlet" and ""The
Gloria Scott" Adventure". Certain details in "'The Gloria Scott' Adventure" indicate Holmes
finished his second and final year at university in either 1880 or 1885. Watson's own account
of his wounding in the Second Afghan War and subsequent return to England in "A Study in
Scarlet" place his moving in with Holmes in either early 1881 or 1882. Together, she contends
that these suggest Holmes left university in 1880; if he began university at the age of 17, his
birth year would likely be 1861.[54]
Another area of analysis is over what university Sherlock Holmes attended. Author Dorothy
L. Sayers suggested that, given details in two of the Adventures, Holmes must have been at
Cambridge rather than Oxford and that "of all the Cambridge colleges, Sidney Sussex
(College) perhaps offered the greatest number of advantages to a man in Holmes's position
and, in default of more exact information, we may tentatively place him there".[55]
Holmes's emotional state and mental health have been a topic of analysis within the Game for
decades. At their first meeting in "A Study in Scarlet", the detective warns Watson that he gets

"in the dumps at times" and doesn't open his "mouth for days on end". Many readers and
literary experts[citation needed] have suggested Holmes showed signs of manic depression, with
moments of intense enthusiasm coupled with instances of indolent self-absorption. Other
modern readers have speculated that Holmes may have Asperger's syndrome based on his
intense attention to details, lack of interest in interpersonal relationships, and tendency to
speak in long monologues.[56] The detective's isolation and near-gynophobic distrust of women
is said to suggest the desire to escape; Holmes "biographer" William Baring-Gould and
others, including Nicholas Meyer, author of the Seven Percent Solution, have implied a severe
family trauma (i.e., the murder of Holmes's mother) may be the root cause.
Writers have produced many pop culture references to Sherlock Holmes, Conan Doyle, or
characters from the stories in homage, to a greater or lesser degree. Some have been overt,
introducing Holmes as a character in a new setting, or a more subtle allusion, such as making
a logical character live in an apartment at number 221B. One well-known example of this is
the character Gregory House on the show House M.D, whose name and apartment number are
both references to Holmes.
Often the simplest reference a writer can make is to portray anybody who does some kind of
detective work in a deerstalker and Inverness cape. However, throughout the entire novel
series, Holmes is never explicitly described as wearing a "deerstalker hat". Holmes dons "his
ear-flapped travelling cap" in "The Adventure of Silver Blaze". Sidney Paget first drew
Holmes wearing the deerstalker cap and Inverness cape in "The Boscombe Valley Mystery"
and subsequently in several other stories.[citation needed]

Societies

Statue of Sherlock Holmes on Picardy Place in Edinburgh, Conan Doyle's birthplace. The
statue shows Holmes wearing an Inverness cape and a deerstalker cap.
In 1934, the Sherlock Holmes Society, in London, and the Baker Street Irregulars, in New
York were founded. Both are still active (though the Sherlock Holmes Society was dissolved

in 1937 to be resuscitated only in 1951). The London-based society is one of many worldwide
who arrange visits to the scenes of the Sherlock Holmes adventures, such as the Reichenbach
Falls in the Swiss Alps.
The two initial societies founded in 1934 were followed by many more Holmesians circles,
first of all in America (where they are called "scion societies"offshootsof the Baker
Street Irregulars), then in England and Denmark. Nowadays, there are Sherlockian societies in
many countries, such as Australia, India and Japan.

Museums
During the 1951 Festival of Britain, Sherlock Holmes's sitting-room was reconstructed as the
masterpiece of a Sherlock Holmes Exhibition, displaying a unique collection of original
material.
After the 1951 exhibition closed, items were transferred to the Sherlock Holmes Pub, in
London, and to the Conan Doyle Collection in Lucens (Switzerland). Both exhibitions, each
including its own Baker Street Sitting-Room reconstruction, are still open to the public. In
1990, the Sherlock Holmes Museum opened in Baker Street London and the following year in
Meiringen, Switzerland another museum opened; naturally, they include less historical
material about Conan Doyle than about Sherlock Holmes himself. The Sherlock Holmes
Museum in Baker Street, London was the first Museum in the world to be dedicated to a
fictional character. A private collection of Conan Doyle is also housed in the Portsmouth City
Museum which has a permanent exhibit, due to his importance in the city where he lived and
worked for many years.

Other honours
The London Metropolitan Railway named one of its 20 electric locomotives deployed in the
1920s after Sherlock Holmes. He was the only fictional character so honored, alongside
fellow eminent Britons such as Lord Byron, Benjamin Disraeli, and Florence Nightingale.[57]
Many streets in London carry the legacy of Sherlock Holmes. York Mews South, situated just
off Crawford Street, was renamed Sherlock Mews. There is also a Watson's Mews that is
situated just off Crawford Place.

Description of the pictures page 38

The scene in picture one obviously takes place in London as we can see Big Ben in the background on
the left. There is also a sort of castle in the fog behind the two characters. Dr. John Watson and
Sherlock Holmes are easy to recognize because of their characteristic clothes. Watson is on the left,
wearing a bowler hat and Holmes has a hat with earflaps. Holmes is also wearing his typical
chequered coat. He is holding his thumb and forefinger together, probably because he is explaining
something to Watson. He might have sold a mystery and is telling Watson about some deductions or
he may also be giving him the solution. We can also notice that the two characters are middle-aged in
pictures one and two and look definitely older then in picture three.

Picture two takes place in a train compartment. Watson, who is fatter than in picture one, is sitting near
the window and reading the paper. He is wearing the same bowler hat as in picture one. Holmes, who
is sitting near his friend, is wearing the same type of hat and chequered coat as in picture one. He has
been reading a letter or some documents that are on his knees. He is smoking his pipe and looks
thoughtful. He is probably making deductions or thinking about the affair he and his friends are going
to investigate. He might even have already guessed who the culprit is. Holmes and Watson may have
been called by the police or an inspector who can't solve a murder somewhere outside London, which
is why they are travelling by train.
Picture three is the poster of Sherlock Holmes, a recent film. Holmes is on the left and Watson is on the
right. The two characters are quite different from those in pictures one and two. They are far younger
and more dashing/elegant than those in the pictures above. Holmes is wearing a chequered waistcoat,
but no hat. He is not smoking the pipe either. Even though Watson is still wearing his characteristic
bowler hat and has a moustache, he is even thinner and more attractive/ handsome than in pictures one
and two. He is also wearing gloves and has a cane/ stick, which he has put on his shoulder, as if he
were ready to take up any challenge.

STARTING BLOCKS page 36 SHERLOCK FOR EVER

Illustrations:
1) Holmes and Watson by Steven Noble, a contemporary American illustrator
2) Film still from The Boscombe Valley mystery, in the 1968 BBC TV series Sherlock Holmes, starring
Peter Cushing and Nigel Stock.
3) Film poster of Sherlock Holmes (2009) directed by Guy Ritchie starring Robert Downing Jr. and
Jude Law.
1+ 2) EOC: (Utiliser la mthodologie page 163 164, utiliser Toolbox et la supposition)
Exercises 1 and 2: Describe Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson in pictures 1 and 2 and then
compare them with todays Holmes and Watson in picture 3
The scene in picture one obviously takes place in London as we can see Big Ben in the background on
the left. There is also a sort of castle in the fog behind the two characters. Dr. John Watson and
Sherlock Holmes are easy to recognize because of their characteristic clothes. Watson is on the left,
wearing a bowler hat and Holmes has a hat with earflaps. Holmes is also wearing his typical
chequered coat. He is holding his thumb and forefinger together, probably because he is explaining
something to Watson. He might have sold a mystery and is telling Watson about some deductions or
he may also be giving him the solution. We can also notice that the two characters are middle-aged in
pictures one and two and look definitely older then in picture three.
Picture two takes place in a train compartment. Watson, who is fatter than in picture one, is sitting near
the window and reading the paper. He is wearing the same bowler hat as in picture one. Holmes, who
is sitting near his friend, is wearing the same type of hat and chequered coat as in picture one. He has
been reading a letter or some documents that are on his knees. He is smoking his pipe and looks
thoughtful. He is probably making deductions or thinking about the affair he and his friends are going
to investigate. He might even have already guessed who the culprit is. Holmes and Watson may have
been called by the police or an inspector who can't solve a murder somewhere outside London, which
is why they are travelling by train.
Picture three is the poster of Sherlock Holmes, a recent film. Holmes is on the left and Watson is on the

right. The two characters are quite different from those in pictures one and two. They are far younger
and more dashing/elegant than those in the pictures above. Holmes is wearing a chequered waistcoat,
but no hat. He is not smoking the pipe either. Even though Watson is still wearing his characteristic
bowler hat and has a moustache, he is even thinner and more attractive/ handsome than in pictures one
and two. He is also wearing gloves and has a cane/ stick, which he has put on his shoulder, as if he
were ready to take up any challenge.

3) Which representation of Sherlock Holmes and Watson do you prefer? Why? (Utiliser
lexpression de son opinion personnelle et exprimer son sentiment, expliquer son choix)
Exercise 3: personal opinion
-

4)
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)

To my mind / In my opinion
It seems to me that
I Feel/ I believe that
I cant help thinking that.
My feeling is that
As a matter of fact, I am convinced that ..
For my part, I consider that ..

Are you a Sherlockologist ?

Sherlock Holmes made his first appearance in 1887. True A Study in Scarlet (une tude en rouge)
His place of residence was 221b Regent Street, London. False: 221b Baker Street, London
Sherlock Holmes creator is Sir Albert Conan Dull. False: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Holmess adventures appeared in 4 short stories and 56 novels. True
At least 260 films, based on Sherlock Holmes, have been released. True
False: He doesnt say Exactly, my dear Watson. Sherlock Holmes often concludes his investigation
with the sentence Elementary, my dear Watson
g) THE NEW YORKERS FRONT PAGES

h) New Yorker Cover Tackles Obama care Site Glitches

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by the terrifying specter of Ted Cruz and John Boehner.
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cb) The elegant twinning of Election Day and a region digging out from tragic disaster
feels not forced but rather silently forceful.

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Mothers day

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THANKSGIVING

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