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Category: Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes: The man who never lived and will never die. The poster boy of Victorian fiction, doyen of the great detectives. But who was he? Who is he, besides a Hollywood star and fixture of Christmas Day TV schedules? Why does he command such a loyal following even now, a hundred and thirty years on since he first appeared in A Study in Scarlett?
I present here, a fresh new case: The Adventure of the Imaginary Detective. Together, will be looking for clues and carefully sifting through the facts. By the end I hope we will have reached a satisfactory conclusion. But for now, I would ask that you all remain within this room until the case is resolved.
Film poster for The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Now it is impossible to imagine the outcry that followed the death of Sherlock Holmes in The Final Problem. The Victorians wore black arm bands in the street. The national newspapers ran obituaries. 20,000 people cancelled their subscription to the Strand magazine. Except perhaps for the break up of The Beatles, there is no modern equivalent. To his fans, he was fully alive, leaping off the page, and glowing as brightly as the tobacco in his famous pipe bowl. This insatiable public appetite for Holmes perhaps was ultimately the reason why he eventually returned, never to leave us again.
But there is so much more to Holmes that the two-dimensional sleuth of popular culture. The Holmes of the original canon, the fifty six stories and four novellas, which we will confine ourselves to here, is a surprising, complicated and flawed character, foibles that only serve to make him more attractive.
'I've found it. I've found it!' These were the first words we hear Holmes utter in that memorable first adventure from 1887, and they echo down the years. They also serve as a manifesto. Holmes finds the solution time and again.
I stumbled into writing Sherlock Holmes fiction almost entirely by accident. My brother rang me up one day asking for a suggestion or a name for his online jewellery shop. I asked him what sort of pieces he had and he told me a about a strange ruby elephant he had acquired from an American collector. I thought for a moment and suggested the name 'The House of the Ruby Elephant.' Immediately this sounded to me like the name of Holmes adventure.
A quick internet search however, revealed that Anthony Horowitz had just published his Sherlock Holmes adventure: The House of Silk. I changed mine to The Adventure of the Ruby Elephants, and without so much as a plot, I began my first novel in earnest.
It begins with the escape of an elephant from London Zoo and leads Watson and Holmes on an unlikely search for lost Indian diamonds that leads them to Queen Victoria and the last Maharaja of India via rural Suffolk and Lord's Cricket Ground.
Along the way, they encounter four sinister characters called the archangels – assassins in top hats and sharpened canes hell-bent on the destruction of Holmes and the acquisition of the diamonds. I've since written two more: The Jeweller of Florence, and published just last month The Adventure of the Beer Barons.
The Adventure of the Beer Barons
In this blog, we will learn only about the man. We will find out where he came from. We will meet his friends and his enemies. We will study his methods and try and think like him. But before we begin our investigations, a word of warning, from Holmes himself:
"It is a capital mistake to theorize in advance of the facts. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts."
So let us not speculate, but acquire our data first, and by the only means Holmes would approve: by scrupulous observation.
The precursor to Holmes
Let us first consider his origins. Sherlock Holmes did not of course simply pop out of thin air, fully formed.
Now there are many who believe, or choose to believe, that Holmes was in fact quite real. And who am I to say they're wrong? Was he just a figment of Dr Watson's imagination? However most agree that Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle was his creator.
Born in 1859, Conan Doyle (No hyphen) was 38 when the first Holmes story was published in Beeton's Christmas Annual. As well as a writer of prose fiction, he was a poet, a playwright, a spiritualist and trained doctor, suggestive of course, of Dr Watson's occupation. He was well travelled having been ship's doctor on a whaling ship, but in the early 1880s settled down, like Watson to start a general medical practice, first with his friend, and later on his own.
However, and fortunately for us, Conan Doyle's practice was not a success. With few patients, he filled in time by writing his stories. It is tempting to think that many of the characters that populate the adventures drew their inspiration from his list of patients. We also know he had a rival working around the corner called Dr James Watson.
Now while Conan Doyle proved a writer of great invention, and perhaps genius, he cannot however take credit for inventing the detective fiction genre.
Holmes may be the best remembered, but there were several who came before him and who are now considered the precursors to Sherlock Holmes. There was Inspector Bucket from Dicken' Bleak House, but the most relevant to our enquiries perhaps was a character called Auguste Dupin, conceived by that master of the gothic, Edgar Allen Poe.
Dupin is now almost completely forgotten, eclipsed by the blinding light of Sherlock Holmes' fame. Yet he reflects many of the qualities we later come to associate with Holmes. He is reclusive, eccentric and follows a rigorously scientific method. He has a superior manner, divorces himself from his emotions and regularly reveals the incompetence of the police. Does that sound familiar yet? If that's not all, he also has a side kick who becomes the narrator of his stories.
Dupin's first appearance came in 1841 in the Murders in La Rue Morgue, a full 46 years before A Study in Scarlett in 1887. I'd like to read you a little bit to give you a taste of Dupin and his methods:
Residing in Paris during the spring and part of the summer of 1840, I there became acquainted with a Monsieur C. Auguste Dupin. This young gentleman was of an excellent—indeed of an illustrious family, but, by a variety of untoward events, had been reduced to such poverty that the energy of his character succumbed beneath it.
Our first meeting was at an obscure library in La Rue Montmartre, where the accident of our both being in search of the same very rare and very remarkable volume, brought us into closer communion. We saw each other again and again. I was deeply interested in the little family history which he detailed to me with all that candor which a Frenchman indulges whenever mere self is his theme. I was astonished, too, at the vast extent of his reading; and, above all, I felt my soul enkindled within me by the wild fervor, and the vivid freshness of his imagination.
Seeking in Paris the objects I then sought, I felt that the society of such a man would be to me a treasure beyond price; and this feeling I frankly confided to him. It was at length arranged that we should live together during my stay in the city; and as my worldly circumstances were somewhat less embarrassed than his own, I was permitted to be at the expense of renting, and furnishing in a style which suited the rather fantastic gloom of our common temper, a time-eaten and grotesque mansion, long deserted through superstitions into which we did not inquire, and tottering to its fall in a retired and desolate portion of the Faubourg St. Germain.
Had the routine of our life at this place been known to the world, we should have been regarded as madmen—although, perhaps, as madmen of a harmless nature. Our seclusion was perfect. We admitted no visitors. Indeed the locality of our retirement had been carefully kept a secret from my own former associates; and it had been many years since Dupin had ceased to know or be known in Paris. We existed within ourselves alone.
We were strolling one night down a long dirty street in the vicinity of the Palais Royal. Being both, apparently, occupied with thought, neither of us had spoken a syllable for fifteen minutes at least. All at once Dupin broke forth with these words:
"He is a very little fellow, that's true, and would do better for the Théâtre des Variétés."
"There can be no doubt of that," I replied unwittingly, and not at first observing the extraordinary manner in which the speaker had chimed in with my meditations. In an instant afterward I recollected myself, and my astonishment was profound.
"Dupin," said I, gravely, "this is beyond my comprehension. I do not hesitate to say that I am amazed, and can scarcely credit my senses. How was it possible you should know what I was thinking of?'
"Tell me, for Heaven's sake," I exclaimed, "the method—if method there is—by which you have been enabled to fathom my soul in this matter.'
"I will explain," he said, "and that you may comprehend all clearly, we will first retrace the course of your meditations, from the moment in which I spoke to you until that of the rencontre with the fruiterer in question. The larger links of the chain run thus—Chantilly, Orion, Dr. Nichols, Epicurus, Stereotomy, the street stones, the fruiterer."
You will note that Dupin has a very similar manner to Holmes, the same apparent gift for reading minds and divining the seemingly impossible. He has the same supercilious way in which he explains his method, based on the twin sciences of observation and deduction.
There is the also same dynamic between the two men as Watson and Holmes; the same balance of power – Dupin superior in intellect, the other dumbfounded by his conclusions.
The story also has a Holmesian ring of strangeness to it. The bodies of two woman are found in a locked upper room – a mother and daughter, one of whom is found in the chimney. There are deep scratches and bruises on their bodies. Shall I tell you how it ends? If not, please skip on. An orang otang belonging to a sailor living close by escapes, climbs up the lightening rod, enters the women's room and commits the murders.
The story was later made into a film starring Bela Legosi – although as you can see from the poster, they clearly didn't mind giving the ending away.
Film poster for Murders in The Rue Morgue
The key difference of course between Holmes and Dupin, is that he is a Frenchman and his stomping ground is Paris rather than Baker Street. Transplanting this character to London was a canny move on Conan Doyle's part, but I think you will agree that he owes something of a debt of gratitude to Edgar Allen Poe.
Joseph Bell
There was a real-life inspiration too. Joseph Bell was a Scottish surgeon whom Conan Doyle worked for while at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.
He was a pioneer in several ways, both in his habits and interests. He was one of the first experts in forensic medicine, helping the police in a number of matters including the notorious Ripper murders. But it was the fact that he based his medical work on close observation, often diagnosing patients based on tiny, almost invisible symptoms that suggests he was a model for Holmes. He would also use his powers of observation and deduction to play games where he would deduce a man's occupation and character merely by his appearance. You can well imagine Conan Doyle as an impressionable young clerk in thrall to Bell, totally impressed and mystified by the older man's exceptional skills and masterful manner.
Robert Louis Stevenson, who also worked for Bell wrote to Conan Doyle write to the authors after reading the first Holmes adventure. 'Why,' he said, 'Holmes is based on old Joe Bell!'
So let's get to know Holmes a little better. I have spent the last five years in the company of Sherlock Holmes. Not in the form of a box-set or with the benefit of the iPlayer but sitting inside 221b Baker Street in my guise of Dr Watson. I have had the opportunity to observe him a close-quarters in his lesser known stories: The Adventure of the Ruby Elephants, The Jeweller of Florence and the Adventure of the Beer Barons. He is infuriating, unpredictable and ferociously intelligent. Indeed the biggest problem writing a Sherlock Holmes adventure is writing about a character who is more intelligent than you are. There have been many instances where I have ceased typing and stopped in astonishment at some utterance or revelation. It is as if I am discovering the solution at the same time as my fictional alter ego.
There are a few unspoken rules when writing Sherlock Holmes' fiction. First and foremost, you must never kill off Watson, and certainly not Holmes, for the simple reason that it would spoil the fun for everyone else. It's worth noting that this is not a rule Conan Doyle chose to follow himself.
There are other rules too. You mustn't tinker with the chronology. You can't send him off to India in 1890 when we know he was in Devon. If you do set a novel further afield, you need to set it during the great Hiatus, between his supposed death and his return in the adventure of the empty house.
There's another important rule. In the novels, he is never Sherlock. Always Holmes, except in the company of his brother, where only Mycroft is permitted to address him by his first name. This presents problems for writers who must keep finding new ways to refer to him, without writing the word Holmes on every line. You end up writing many lines such as these: 'I regarded my friend with a weary affection.'
Now let's us consider the man and his habits
Holmes the hedonist
Holmes was inordinately fond of his pleasures. For a man famous for his brain work, by the same measure, he did not deny himself the pleasures of the flesh. Let's look the beginning of The Adventure of the Illustrious Client:
Both Holmes and I had a weakness for the Turkish bath. It was over a smoke in the pleasant lassitude of the drying-room that I have found him less reticent and more human than anywhere else.
This is quite typical of Holmes' self-indulgence, and there is something of the decadent nineties that pervades all the stories. After all, this is the decade bestrode by Oscar Wilde, who memorably declared: 'Pleasure is the only thing one should live for. Nothing ages like happiness.'
In the Adventure of the Twisted Lip, Watson finds Holmes in an opium den:
'I suppose Watson,' said he, 'that you imagine I have added opium smoking to cocaine injections and all the other little weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical views' On this occasion, he was in fact on business rather than pleasure.
Then there is Holmes the smoker. Pipes, cigars, cigarettes, loose tobacco. You name it, Holmes smokes it. In fact without the references to smoking, the 670,000 Conan Doyle wrote across the adventures of Sherlock Holmes would be probably be halved. Never was there a worse case of passive smoking than the one suffered by poor Dr Watson. But you see smoking is considered essential to Holmes' brain work.
"It is quite a three pipe problem,' he tells Watson. 'and I beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes."
Don't you love the precision of that? He doesn't know the solution to the problem yet, but he knows exactly how long it will take him to get there.
This is one of my favourite descriptions of Holmes' habits and its inextricable link with his thought processes:
A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, who when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind would go for days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over.
He put on a large, blue dressing gown and then wandered around the room collecting pillows from the bed and cushions from the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of Easter divan, upon which he perched himself crosses legged with an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front of him. In the dim light of the lamp, I saw him sitting there, an old brier pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him.
The references are exhaustive, the most famous perhaps being the fact that he kept his tobacco in his Persian slipper and his cigars in the coal scuttle. These are two of the key references for any aspiring writer of Holmes fiction. Leave them out and you will leave the fans disappointed.
Smoking is not confined to quiet moments at Baker Street. Cigar and cigarette ash are often the key to solving cases too and we learn Holmes has written monograms about identifying different types of ash.
Now of course Sherlock Holmes is all about finding solutions. But when there is no case to absorb him, he turns to a solution of quite a different kind. I'm referring of course, to Holmes' most notorious transgression: the 7 percent solution. Conan Doyle makes no attempt to conceal Holmes' cocaine use, appearing as it does in in the very first line of The Sign of Four.
Sherlock Holmes took his bottle from the corner of the mantel-piece and his hypodermic syringe from its neat Moroccon case. With his long, white, nervous fingers he adjusted the delicate needle, and rolled back his left shirt-cuff.
It is hard to imagine even an Irvine Welsh novel beginning in such a brazen way. But he turns to narcotics only when there is no brainwork to be had. It helps him 'escape from the commonplaces of existence.'
He requires constant stimulation of the mind – and when there is none, he either withdraws to his room, in a funk for days at a time, or reverts to his cocaine use. Indeed it seems quite probable evidence that Holmes was a sufferer from bipolar disorder – susceptible to unpredictable mood swings. One minute he is waking Watson in the dead of night to pursue a suspect through the rain, the next he refuses to leave his room for three days.
For the most part, brainwork dominates the stories. Holmes is not the man depicted in the Guy Ritchie/Robert Downey Junior version, swinging from chandeliers like Zorro. Notwithstanding several memorable episodes involving bartitsu, an obscure branch of the martial arts, which involves the use of a cane, and a spot of boxing, he is more commonly found in his mouse-coloured dressing gown, slumped in his chair until the small hours losing himself in a problem
Holmes is not merely a brain on a stick. Nor is he some sort of 19th century superhero. He is an unusual combination of both mental and physical prowess.
To anyone thinking of writing a Sherlock Holmes pastiche. There is one simple piece of advice. Read all of Conan Doyle's stories first. Yet it transpires that this is not something Conan Doyle chose to do himself. Despite his obvious mastery of plot and character, the books are full of continuity errors.
The mystery of the three dressing gowns.
Holmes dressing gown is described first as blue, then as purple, then mouse coloured. Conan Doyle clearly had better things to do that go rummaging through his old stories to keep things consistent.
Then there's Dr Watson. Considering he is one of the two main characters, one would have thought that the author would keep a few notes as an aide memoir. But again, Conan Doyle is hilariously inconsistent. In one story the bullet wound he receives in Afghanistan is in the shoulder. In another it is in the leg. This gives the modern writer a dilemma as to which version he is going to use.
In the Man with the Twisted Lip, Conan Doyle even get his name wrong, with Mary referring to him as James, rather than John. (By the way, did you know that Holmes' sidekick was originally called Ormond Sacker, before settling on John Watson?) And to keep up with Watson's marriages is beyond the abilities of most.
There is even a Conan Doyle adventure that is set in the years after Holmes death in his tussle with Moriarty but before his resurrection in the Adventure of the Empty House. But if anything, these errors only add to the charm. And as I have found out myself, there is nothing a true Sherlockian enjoys more than pointing out an error. Indeed some have speculated that this was Conan Doyle's intention – laying mysteries within mysteries. More likely he was churning out the stories at such a rate he didn't have time to check them properly.
But what is that really appeals about the stories? Undoubtable, there is something in Holmes' magnetic charisma and he dynamic between Holmes and Watson. Then there is the remarkably stylish prose, the quick as a whip plotting and Conan Doyle's unique ability to create a vivid sketch of a character in just a couple of lines. Listen to this description of Inspector Bardle of the Sussex Constabulary — he was 'a steady, solid, bovine man with thoughtful eyes, which looked at me now with a very troubled expression.' Just a sentence but you get a very complete sense of his character and appearance. This is a remarkable skill, but an essential one for a writer of short stories.
But it is the alchemy of it all working together that makes it such a success. Yes, the adventures are formulaic, but there is wit and invention in abundance. Above all, there is an unusual facility of the language that elevates these stories above the commonplace. Shakespeare used approximately 28,000 unique words. Conan Doyle uses 35,000. He may have been writing popular fiction, but he saw no reason to compromise the quality of the writing.
So what have we learned about Holmes?
He's a hedonist and man of action, but whose greatest pleasure is brain work. He's an eccentric who owns three different coloured dressing gowns. He values friendship but has very few. He is detached from his emotions but is capable of feeling great pride and envy. He is blessed with an unusually brave and loyal friend in Dr Watson.
The stories have endured because of the quality of their writing and ingenious plotting. They are full of glamour and decadence – the Victorians and Edwardians enjoyed them in the same way we enjoy watching a James Bond film. But I think it is for the unique dynamic between Watson and Holmes and the quality of darkness and strangeness that the stories continue to appeal.
So, after 130 years, the Holmes phenomenon show no signs of abating. To spend time in the man's company is to be constantly delighted and confounded.
But have we proved that Sherlock Holmes was imaginary? I'm not so sure. How often has Holmes told us that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?
Christopher James is the author of three Holmes novels, most recently Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Beer Barons.
Fragment of lost play by William Shakespeare discovered in Tuscany
Four hundred years on from Shakespeare's death, the discovery of a fragment of a new play, The Jeweller of Florence, is dividing academic opinion. Could there really be an undiscovered work in the Bard's canon?
There are two plays generally accepted to be written, at least in part, by William Shakespeare, which are now considered 'lost.' The first, ironically, is titled, Love's Labour's Won and is mentioned on a contemporaneous 16th century bookseller's list. It is also referred to by the late 16th century writer Francis Meres, although no text is extent. This has led some scholars to believe that it was merely an alternative title for All's Well That Ends Well or Much Ado About Nothing.
Then there is the intriguing prospect of Cardenio, said to be a late collaboration between Shakespeare and Fletcher, also referenced in documents from Shakespeare's time. Its source, it is said, is Cervantes' Don Quixote , which fits Shakespeare's pattern of drawing on existing sources as the starting point for his own works. Over a hundred years on from Shakespeare's death, a play emerged called Double Falsehood produced by one Lewis Theobald in 1727. He admitted that he adapted it from no less than three manuscripts of an unnamed play by Shakespeare. Critical consensus is that Double Falsehood does indeed contain authentic work by Shakespeare.
This leads to the most recent discovery, in February 2016 of a single page of a play in a private collection of papers in Lama, a remote hamlet in Tuscany. 'The fragment is a tantalizing prospect,' says Shakespearean expert, Professor Anna Greening, 'made even more so by the name of Ferdinando I de'Medici inscribed in the margin, leading some to believe he was the patron of the work.
'It is thought to be written around the same time as The Merchant of Venice, 1596, possibly earlier. A draft of the inscription, also included in the papers reads: The most excellent history of The Jeweller of Florence being the true account of the marriage between Alessandra, daughter of the Duke of Florence and Flavio, master jeweller. With the obtaining of a necklace of pearls for the wife of the Duke and the comic interludes of Filippo the clown who appears in divers jocular scenes.'
It was discovered in a cache of papers by a family who had recently purchased a property in the area. 'The theory runs as follows,' says Professor Greening. 'Ferdinando I de'Medici, son of the infamous Cosimo I of Florence, was a cardinal and eventually the Grand Duke of Tuscany. He was a ruthless and perhaps a cruel man even by the standards of the day. But at heart, he was an artist. This manifested itself in his collecting. He was a man of enormous curiosity and boundless appetites. He created an unrivalled collection of sculpture, bestowed patronage on poets and composers and commissioned mosaics, notably the intricate pietre dure created from precious stones.
'Above all, he was obsessed by the idea of artistic genius. As a man of the court, naturally his principle entertainment was theatre. The re-enactments of battles on the Arne are legend. But he was a man of the world and his interests extended far beyond the shores of the Mediterranean. He dreamed of establishing civilizations in the new world, creating great cities in Brazil. We believe he had heard of this man William Shakespeare and had his plays translated and enacted for him. He was fascinated by the playwright's mind; how he could conjure a man from the air and make him as real as you or I. But it was not enough simply to hear his plays; the same words that had been heard by countless others. The Medici was a family of limitless wealth and power. Nothing was impossible for them and once set on a course they could not be easily swayed. Through his brokers he sent word to England that he would commission this playwright at whatever cost. He wanted a play that would be no less dazzling in its ambitions than any other Shakespeare's great works. For this he would pay handsomely. But there was one condition, it must be his and his alone.
'A fee was negotiated, it is believed through Richard Burbage, the actor and one of Shakespeare's closest associates. No one has recorded the sum, but it must have been stupendous. In 1596, he was writing four plays simultaneously. How could he write another?
'Legend has it,' continues Professor Greening, 'that he wrote it in a furious burst over three days. At the end of it he drank a bottle of Spanish wine and then slept for a day and a night. A single copy was printed in conditions of the greatest secrecy.'
If the theory seems fanciful, then the fragment itself is convincing enough, even if, perhaps it does not contain some of Shakespeare's greatest poetry.
What music, sir, is this?
Tis wedding music, my lord. They practice as larks at dawn.
What happy pair will join in such delight?
Hannibal's elephants would not trumpet
With such joy as this. The trunks of England's
Trees would shake at such a cacophony.
This fanfare of angels, this well wrought sound
of heaven, has seeped through our vault of sky
and filled the twin cathedrals of our ears.
Fetch me those who engendered this row
I shall bless their matrimony, their solemn vow.
(They go)
What foul weather has blighted our fair conceit!
The servant's flapping tongue forewarns the duke
Of a marriage. But yet he has not wind
That these nuptials are his own daughter's,
And that she is betrothed to the only son
Of his foresworn enemy. What dark skies
would come from this unseen tempest;
such squalls and that would wreck his heart.
Soft, fair brother, he hath not the reason
Nor temperament to suspect; his season
Is always spring; serenity blossoms
In him as bitterness dwells in the spleen
Of the cynic; by the time he smells the rose
The altar will be clear, the candles snuffed.
Now where goes Flavio? These hours 'til our
Brother's union will I fear be fraught;
But for a stoup of wine to numb our nerves.
While the possibility of a hoax remains, the pages are currently being forensically examined and dated with the results expected in January 2017. Then there is the question of the remainder of the play. Is it still waiting somewhere on a Tuscan hillside to be discovered?
There is a compelling piece of evidence that corroborates the story. In 1597 Shakespeare suddenly found the money to buy New Place, the grandest house in all of Stratford. How could a simple actor find such wealth?
The discovery has already inspired a work of fiction: Sherlock Holmes and The Jeweller of Florence, by Christopher James, which puts the famous detective on the trail of the lost play.
The Sherlock Holmes Toolkit – 10 things you'll need to write a new Holmes adventure
So what are the ten things every aspiring Sherlock author needs to write a convincing Holmes novel or short story?
A splendid title, preferably with a colour in it: there are no less than ten adventures in the original canon that feature a colour in the title, from The Adventure of the Yellow Face to The Adventure of the Red Circle.
A reliable guide to Victorian London slang:
A superb, twisty plot. If you can't come up with one of your own, why not seek help from this work of madness: https://www.brainpickings.org/2012/01/06/plotto/
Some historical knowledge of the year in which your adventure is set. Your friend Wikipedia is the invaluable help.
All 56 Holmes short stories and four longer works. There is simply no point starting until you've read all of these. You will just annoy aficionados with your school boy/girl errors..
The MacGuffin – the object, person or idea that the protagonists seek and which drives the plot along. Think Rosebud in Citizen Kane. For your Holmes adventure this could be a suitably curious object of unknown providence. I used eight ruby elephants for my first Holmes adventure.
Some choice vocabulary. Holmes is an eloquent fellow. You may need to brush up your English if you are to produce a truly credible effort.
A brilliant villain – give him some suitably grotesque impediment, such as a missing ear or six toes on one foot. He should be a match for Holmes in strength and intellect. Don't automatically reach for Moriarty.
Some light relief – there's plenty of humour in the original canon, so bring on some light relief in the form of some helpful nitwit or ludicrous situation. In The Adventure of the Ruby Elephants, Holmes stuffs a diminutive monocle salesman (who insists on wearing two monocles at the same time) in a large Ming vase.
Some philosophical moments – some of the best of Conan Doyle's writing is when Holmes muses on some aspect of the human condition from his lofty vantage point in 221B Baker Street.
Buy two new Sherlock adventures for a limited time only on eBay, including The Jeweller of Florence which is not officially available until 16 September 2016
The Thirty-Nine Steps
It was only last year that I finally got around to reading John Buchan's The Thirty-Nine Steps. I'd watched the celebrated Hitchcock film, but the book has a particularly stylish and exhilarating quality all of its own. The voice of the irrepressible, resourceful Richard Hannay, an engineer and intelligence officer recently arrived in London from Africa is what gives its character, both cynical and scornful of authority. The pace is astonishing, with several things happening almost at once – there are chases, explosions and gun fights, but the central motif is travel.
Buchan clearly has fun with the possibilities offered by motor cars and aeroplanes and along with trains, and chases on foot across Scottish moors, Hannay is always on the move. The plot, which revolves around a plan to precipitate a European war, is almost ancillary to the odd characters (including a milkman, hung over road worker and prospective parliamentarian) Hannay meets on the way. While it owes something of a debt to Conan-Doyle, it has inspired a thousand of copy-cat blockbusters and Hollywood films, particularly those which feature the archetype of the stylish, clever, maverick outsider, wayward, but ultimately committed to King and country. Ian Fleming, you suspect had a copy on his bedside table.
Anyway, all of this inspired the inevitable song!
10 great adversaries of Sherlock Holmes
Holmes aficionados know there's more to life than Professor Moriarty. The Sherlock Holmes stories contained an astonishingly colourful cast of cads, crooks and show boaters (most frequently wayward colonels for some reason). Indeed Conan Doyle was often at his best when drawing pen sketches of his villains. It is of remarkable how he can conjure them into life with just a few deft strokes.
Here is a list nine memorable scoundrels from the original canon, plus a surprise at number ten from my own, new Sherlock Holmes novel: The Adventure of the Ruby Elephants. Beware of some spoiler alerts, however, as some of these are not revealed as the villains until the end of the stories. You have been warned!
Irene Adler, A Scandal in Bohemia
To Sherlock Holmes, she is always the woman. I have seldom heard him mention her under any other name. In his eyes, she eclipses and predominates the whole of her sex.
'What a woman – oh, what a woman!' cried the King of Bohemia.
Colonel Lysander Stark, The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb
I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark rushing forward with a lantern in one hand, and a weapon like a butcher's cleaver in the other.
Charles Augustus Milverton, The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton
He was a man of fifty, with a large intellectual head, a round, plump, hairless face, a perpetual frozen smile and two keen, grey eyes, which gleamed brightly from behind broad, golden-rimmed glasses.
'Mr Holmes, Mr Holmes,' he said, turning the front of his coat and exhibiting the butt of a large revolver. I have been expecting you to do something original.'
Professor Coram, The Adventure of the Golden Pinze-Nez
It was a gaunt, aquiline face which was turned towards us with piercing dark eyes, which lurked in deep hollows under overhung and tufted brows. His hair and beard were white, save that the latter was curiously stained with yellow around his mouth. A cigarette glowed amid the tangle of white hair. 'Tobacco and my work – that is all that is left to me.'
Baron Gruner, the Adventure of the Illustrious Client
The fellow is, as you may have heard, extraordinarily handsome, with a most fascinating manner, a gentle voice and that air of romance and mystery which mean so much to a woman. He is said to have the whole sex at his mercy and to have made ample use of the fact…The Baron has little waxed tips of hair under his nose, like the short antennae of an insect.
Mr Culverton Smith, The Adventure of the Dying Detective
With a shrill cry of anger, a man rose from a reclining chair beside the fire. I saw a great yellow face, coarse grained and greasy, with a heavy double chin, and two sullen menacing grey eyes that glared at me from under tufted and sandy brows.
'What is this?' he cried in a high, screaming voice. 'What is the meaning of this intrusion?'
Colonel Sebastian Moran, The Adventure of the Empty House
It was a tremendously virile and yet sinister face which was turned towards us. The brow of a philosopher above and the jaw of a sensualist below, the man must have started with great capacities for good or for evil.
Colonel James Moriarty, The Adventure of the Final Problem
He is extremely tall and thin, his forehead domes out in a white curve and his two eyes are deeply shrunken in his head. He is clean shaven, pale and ascetic-looking, retaining something of the professor in his features. 'It is a dangerous habit to finger loaded firearms in the pocket of one's dressing gown.'
John Clay, The Adventure of the Red Headed League
'John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher and forger. He is a remarkable man, is young John Clay. His grandfather was a Royal Duke and he himself has been to Eton and Oxford. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him yet.'
The Archangels, The Adventure of the Ruby Elephants
I awoke in a room that was perfectly dark. The floor was cold, and the air was damp, like that of a cellar.
'Stand up, Dr Watson,' came a voice.
'Who are you?'
'My name is Michael.' There was a light in the form of a single flame. I heard another voice.
'I am Raphael,' it announced and another torch was lit.
Then behind me, another:
'Uriel.' And at the fourth point of the compass:
'I am Gabriel.' I was at the centre of the four flames.
The four of them wore identical black frock coats, top hats and strange, round spectacles with darkened glass. At the far end of the room, they gathered themselves into a knot, with blades flashing at the end of their canes, their eyes gleaming like demons.
'You are vampires, not angels,' I cried.
Holmes comes to Haverhill
To Haverhill's leafy East Town Park on a balmy summer evening for The Chapterhouse Theatre Company's splendid production of The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes. As far as I could make out, this is an original play and a fine one it is too. Tightly constructed with stylish, snappy dialogue, this is close to the spirit of the original. Flocks of swifts dart through the sky and soundtrack of twittering birds makes for an evocative setting.
Holmes and Watson are summoned to a nunnery to investigate the mysterious Eye of God, an ancient talisman that has been protected within the nunnery for centuries. Holmes is acted with some aplomb, both masterful and eccentric, capturing his infuriating brilliance. (The performance is another reminder of the sizable debt Dr Who owes to Holmes and Conan Doyle). Watson is equally good, unusually robust, and less deferential than he is in the original stories. Both actors are magnificent speakers – projecting out into the trees and the families playing in the park. There is terrific chemistry between the two and the long suffering Watson's nerves (and teeth) are tested to the limit.
The supporting cast are excellent too; the formidable head of the convent has a wholesome, matronly authority while the two novices are respectively feisty and earnest. Brother Benjamin (a beekeeper Holmes fans!) has a superb energy and holds his own against the two male leads.
There is a slight uncertainty of tone. Like the books, the play is essentially a melodrama and the company has resisted the urge to play it too broad. There are moments of mild slapstick however, which threaten to take it into more comic territory but this is by no means a send up. There are touches of horror too and the drama with its various wrong -footing diversions is expertly executed.
All the usual Holmesian tropes are in place: Sherlock appears in disguise, there's the Webley revolver and some very natty tailoring; Holmes is pencil thin in green tweeds and wing collar. The smoking has been toned down for more enlightened times and audiences, although, amusingly, some herbal cigarettes play an unusually important part in the drama.
A light shower during the second half (cue a spray of floral umbrellas) only served to add atmosphere to this compelling production and I thoroughly enjoyed myself (abetted by a couple of bottles of Badger's Hopping Hare beer!) The evening was topped off by winning a bottle of white wine in the half time raffle and best of all, it was Watson who sold me the winning ticket! Gloriously old fashioned, outdoor entertainment for ages 12 to 112.
Sherlock Holmes and The Adventure of the Ruby Elephants
Some excellent news! MX Publishing will be bringing out my first Sherlock Holmes novel: The Adventure of the Ruby Elephants in late autumn 2015. The book is set in 1890 (quite early for Holmes) and involves diamonds, rubies, assassins in top hats, Penny Farthing chases and lots more! The incredibly talented Bob Gibson has designed the cover. What a treat.
How to write a Sherlock Holmes novel
My apologies to anyone who was following the blog only to find that I suddenly vanished into thin air. Well, I'm back. The reason for my disappearance? I was writing a new Sherlock Holmes novel, which I have now completed.
I began my preparations by reading all of Conan Doyle's brilliant short stories and novels. Check out The Adventure of the Three Students – they're not all about murder. You will be dazzled at the ingenuity of the plotting, the stylish trappings and the pungency of the wit. Essentially authentic Holmes is light comedy meets Hammer horror.
I then plugged away, rattling out 500 words a day for most of the year. It's been a bit of a slog, but incredibly enjoyable. So what's the secret of writing a Holmes' pastiche?
1) If you get stuck, return Holmes and Watson to 221b Baker Street, put them in their armchairs and get them to talk about something. Anything. New inventions, things in the news and so on. Then get someone with an unusual character feature (a limp, a scar, a missing ear etc.) to walk in.
2) Make Watson incredibly loyal to Holmes and keep the friendship between them to the fore at all times. It's basically a Bromance.
3) Invent some colourful baddies, each with an interesting Achilles Heel. Don't automatically reach for Moriarty!
4) When things get a little slow, get Holmes to practice some of his Bartitsu, the obscure martial art that combines boxing, stick fighting and kung fu. It makes for a good break between the pipe smoking.
5) Find different words for the carriages they ride in. You will find Watson and Holmes spend an incredible amount of time travelling between places in hansoms, broughams, etc. etc.
6) Introduce a feisty female with a special power that will intimidate Holmes a little. He can respect her, but otherwise will show no interest.
7) Focus on objects and tiny details – Holmes' art is all based on the observation of 'trifles' to solve the crimes. Leave lots of clues for the reader, some of which can be red herrings.
8) Give Mycroft, Holmes' brother, a couple of stylish cameos, showing his superior intelligence and large appetite, but don';t overuse him.
9) Introduce some strangeness; real oddity; the Victorians loved this and this is what makes the Holmes' books so memorable. Remember to include colourful and authentic food and drink, like deviled kidneys!
10) Research as many Victorian exclamations as possible. Watson utters these with astonishing regularity as Holmes calmly reveals the next plot twist. 'By Great Gordon's Ghost, Holmes!' 'Heaven's!' 'Mercy!' etc.


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Scrobipalpa grisea is a moth of the family Gelechiidae. It is found in Russia (Middle Volga and southern Ural and Siberia: Tuva), Korea, Mongolia and China (Inner Mongolia).

References

Moths described in 1969
Taxa named by Dalibor Povolný
Scrobipalpa

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Jerusalem Post Diaspora
Israeli couple turns their honeymoon into a 'farmingmoon'
"For our honeymoon, we wanted to see other farms and find out what we're interested in," Tracey said. "We want to start doing farming for real."
By LARRY PENKAVA/THE COURIER TRIBUNE
Published: JULY 22, 2018 17:30
Tracy and Rob Ben-Or
(photo credit: COURTESY OF TRACY AND ROB BEN-OR)
COLERIDGE, NC – Most newlyweds start their lives together with a honeymoon. Tracey and Rob Ben-Or chose to turn their honeymoon into a "farmingmoon."
What's a farmingmoon? Let their website explain:
"Amateur farmers using our honeymoon as an opportunity to visit small farms and homesteads around the world, and record some podcasts along the way."
The couple, married on May 3 in their backyard in Israel, decided to set aside three weeks to visit farms in Europe and the United States to find out how they want to become farmers. While searching the web for sites to visit, they found Ozark Akerz Sustainable Farm on Instagram.
Ozark Akerz, located on Parks Crossroads Church Road north of Coleridge, is owned by Mike Hansen and Sue Meyers. They raise Pineywoods cattle as well as various free-range birds while tending an extensive garden.
Last week, the Ozark Akerz couple entertained the "farmingmooners," showing them around the farm and grilling Pineywoods burgers for lunch. They also provided insights on how to get started in agriculture.
Currently, they rent a cottage on a quarter-acre lot north of Tel Aviv. Their postage-stamp farm is large enough for three chickens and a small garden, not to mention a large pomegranate tree, under which they exchanged their vows.
The Ben-Ors are Americans, she having grown up on Long Island, NY, and he in St. Louis.
Rob has been to culinary school and now co-owns a "street food shop" in Tel Aviv called Bunny Chow. Tracey earned her MBA from Tel Aviv University and has had her own wedding-planner business. Now, however, she works part-time for a local organic farm and creates custom floral arrangements on the side.
BUT THEIR goal is to be farmers. According to their website, www.havatbenor.com, "Together we share a love for nature, animals and growing food and flowers. Our dream is to build our own small-scale farm that is ethically driven and a source of sustainability for our family and community."
Hence, their farmingmoon tour, which took them to Italy and the United Kingdom prior to arriving in the US. They visited a half-dozen small farms in Vermont and New York before coming to North Carolina, where they spend nights with Tracey's sister. They leave Sunday to go "back to reality," according to Rob.
"I think it's been invaluable," he said of the trip. "We feel much more sure about our decisions. And we're not just visiting farms. A lot of it is driving and talking about how we want to take our experiences back."
"We saw things that are possible for us to do," Tracey added. "We both know it's important to map things out before spending money. Some (farmers) have other incomes."
"Part of our income may end up with an Airbnb," Rob said.
The young couple met in 2015 at a friend's wedding in Israel. Tracey was still living in New York, which meant a bi-continental long-distance relationship. She moved to Israel for good a couple of years later.
They have a number of decisions to make before starting their own small farm. But first, they want to "work on someone's farm and get experience," Tracey said.
Meanwhile, another trip may be in the works in the coming months. The Ben-Ors would like to visit farms on the West Coast of the US and in Europe, and "see what farmers do in Israel."
Tracey noted the growing movement in the US, particularly among young farmers, to be sustainable – with no sprays, few antibiotics, free-range animals and rotation crops and pastures. She said the idea is to "support other farms and don't try to do everything."
Israel has its unique problems, not the least of which is a dry climate. "There's not a lot of water," Tracey said, "so they have to be innovative in irrigating."
Rob talked about the Negev Desert in southern Israel. "You'll be driving on the desert in the middle of nowhere and then see green for two or three miles" where a large farm has transformed the desert into a garden. That requires expensive desalination of sea water and drip irrigation, he said.
WHAT'S POSITIVE about farming in the desert, Rob said, is that the government sometimes offers funding for those willing to try it.
No matter where they decide to farm in Israel, it's almost a given that they'll have to start out leasing land, since the price of land is very expensive. "We need to be flexible in what we do, go where the money is and work with the climate," he said.
"On our trip, we're learning from other people and exposing ourselves to people doing cool stuff," Tracey said. "We now have a small garden, where we're testing. We feel ready to take the next step, to help other farms before going on our own."
"We'll be searching, looking for places," Rob added. "We're going to go full-time working in agriculture. We want to get a year or two of solid work with others, then reevaluate to see if we can do our own thing. We're big believers in apprenticeship-style learning."
Another factor they've considered during their farmingmoon is the economics of farming. "We have to put up capital," Tracey said. "Of the farms we've looked at, some have family support and others have a lot of debt."
Hansen seconded that: "You can't spread the money out. We had a lot of upfront costs," including some $20,000 to fence in the pastures.
When Tracey mentioned the importance in England of community farming, Hansen agreed, saying, "That's what we learned. Our neighbors have been great" in helping them get Ozark Akerz started.
Despite all the unanswered questions, Tracey and Rob are pretty sure about one thing. "I think we like cows," she said.
"Yes, we'd like to work with animals," Rob said. "They may be more meaningful to us than vegetables."
"Cows have more personality than vegetables," Tracey added. "But how are we going to visit family if we're stuck to the farm?
"We love chickens, too, and we will have chickens," Tracey said. "Or, we could go back and do it totally differently."
Rob likened their decision-making process to a puzzle. Each factor, he said, is like a piece of a puzzle.
"I think it's like getting puzzle pieces together," he said. "You take those and figure out how they fit together to build a picture."
Here's what Ozark Akerz owners Mike Hansen and Sue Meyers had to say about the farmingmooners:
"Their farming philosophy was exactly the same as ours, which considering the age difference was very encouraging. Sue and I felt like old millennials. We love their passion for farming the way our grandparents (their great-grandparents) did.
"Our advice was to find breeds that would work well in their area. That's a big part of sustainable farming.
Pineywoods work great in North Carolina, much better than we thought they would. The heat tolerance and the fact that they eat grass, wild herbs and other native plants, shrubs and vines makes them perfect for our farm.
"We suggested that they look at Zebu cattle. Apart from that, we didn't really give them any advice. We showed and told them about how we farm and put it into context for sustainable farming. We also encouraged them to define what sustainable farming means personally to them.
"Before we started farming, we had one definition of sustainable farming, but with time and experience, we have come to discover that our personal definition of sustainability is different from other sustainable farmers.
"For example, we don't vaccinate the Pineywoods herd. They have built up a disease and pest resistance from centuries of running wild, a tolerance that we believe we can eradicate with a few generations of vaccination. Not vaccinating has its risks and not all farmers (sustainable or not) are willing to take that risk, but we believe we will be doing this endangered breed a disservice by doing what vets generally recommend."
To follow Tracey and Rob on their farmingmoon adventure, visit their website, www.havatbenor.com. They have podcasts, which will continue to be posted regularly.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Give Me My Remote > #1 featured > THE FOLLOWING: Shawn Ashmore on the Potential in Season 2, Season 1's Lessons, and More
THE FOLLOWING: Shawn Ashmore on the Potential in Season 2, Season 1's Lessons, and More
THE FOLLOWING may have concluded its first season nearly three months ago, but it won't go back into production on season 2 for a few more weeks.
And while there may not be too much to spoil, I spoke with THE FOLLOWING star Shawn Ashmore (Mike) about the season finale, the lessons learned from the first season, what comes next, and what he's hoping to see…
Kevin Williamson has been open about filming beyond what aired as the final scenes of THE FOLLOWING's first season, so how was it for you as an actor to not be quite sure how the year was going to end?
Shawn Ashmore: To be honest, they didn't issue pages; that scene wasn't in the script. I only knew about it because [director/executive producer] Marcos Siega told me about it. So I wasn't sure exactly what happened in the scene until I watched it on TV. They told me about it, but brutally, it's not the same thing as reading a script and knowing exactly what's going to happen and what the tone is and how it all happens. It was interesting.
The thing I really liked about this season was I never really interacted with the cult members, and so when I was watching the show — and I did, I watched every episode, because I genuinely like the show — I felt like I was surprised that I was so removed from half of the episode. I could actually enjoy the show, and it wasn't like, "Oh, I know what's going to happen." So the ending was kind of fun, because I sort of knew that was going to happen, but I didn't know how it was going to play out. So it was kind cool. I enjoy that. I like the mystery of it.
I'm not the kind of actor that needs to know every single detail; I'm not concerned with that. I need to know what I need to know. And then if some stuff is kind of secret…I just don't put my nose where it needs to be sometimes, because I like to be surprised. I enjoy that.
That could be a good way to keep yourself alive…
SA: [Joking] Just don't bring any attention to yourself and maybe you'll survive! Which we all know is not true: anyone can die at any point.
How much do you know about season 2? Is it basically what's out there, or do you know a few tidbits more?
SA: I basically know what's out there. I haven't read a script yet. I think they're doing a last pass before they release it. We start shooting in mid-August, so we'll be getting it soon. I had a conversation with Kevin and Marcos at Comic-Con sort of about what they put out there. And I guess there are a few details I know…I know a little bit more, but not a lot. I know what I basically need to know. I have some questions that I wanted to know, just so I could mentally prepare, because you know there's a time jump. For me, it was more important to know the broad strokes of what has happened in the year so when we jump back in, I'm going in the right way. I don't need to know all the details, but what has this year been like? It's going to be an interesting season. Mike's journey is not over and his life isn't getting any easier. I love it.
Are you also filling in some of those blanks yourself, given how many gaps there must be in that year?
SA: Yeah. And that's a dangerous thing to do sometimes as an actor, because Kevin Williamson is so specific and when he gives you a script, it's ready to go. There's no room…you don't need to interpret what he wants to say, it's all right there. That's what I love about working with him: he's always clear on what he wants. So I can extrapolate and come up with things I think he might be going through, but I'm cautious I'm not going too far. Because even in the pilot, we didn't learn a lot about Mike in the pilot, so I sat down with Kevin before we started shooting and I had all these ideas and half of them he was like, "That's great." And the other half of them, he was like, "I don't want to go there." So until I have those discussions with him, I don't run too far with a potential idea. It's more about a mental state and an emotional state as opposed to "oh, this is what he's been dealing with" or "oh, he started drinking in the off time." I'm not going to add anything Kevin hasn't been giving to me, but it's just a general emotional state.
Is there a line you guys have to toe in order to not make Mike too much like how Ryan was when we first saw him in the pilot?
SA: Here's the thing: what I thought was interesting about Mike's sort of decline was it mirrors what Ryan was going through. So I think that's something we're trying to show. And, again, that's my question. How far does Mike go down the rabbit hole? Does Ryan pull him out? Does he stop himself? Does he go all the way? Those are things I don't know yet. I think he's on that path. I'm not sure where Kevin wants to take it.
I don't know it would be the right thing to have him completely go through what Ryan went through. It might just be two guys sitting around, drinking and maybe that doesn't work. Or maybe it's great. Maybe he bottoms out for a while, it gets really messy, and then something happens to pull him out of it. I don't know.
It could be fascinating to see that dynamic, especially since Ryan is now apparently in a good place.
SA: Right. Maybe there's a bit of a reverse situation. But it's a bit of a delicate thing, because you don't want to have it be too obvious or like, oh, the roles are totally reversed. But I think if that's where it happens to go and if we can keep the two performances subtle, it would be interesting to see the flip side and play around with that for a while. But until I read it, I just don't know.
Completely fair. What do you think Mike's reaction will be to Joe being alive?
SA: I don't think he'll be surprised. I don't. I think that — I certainly don't think Mike thinks that he's out there, but if he's presented absolutely any evidence, he'll be like, let's go. Joe Carroll has done so many more impressive things than fake his own death: creating his own cult from prison, escaping from prison, absolutely ripping the FBI apart…I don't think faking his own death would surprise Mike. He's somewhere, maybe deep down, thinking that's a possibility.
Kevin was also pretty upfront about the power imbalance between the "good guys" and the "bad guys" in season 1. Was that something you were aware of as you were filming things, or was that something that became apparent as you were watching the show post-filming?
SA: It was more apparent when I watched it. And I think the last couple of episodes, I was aware. We have to be a step behind, and it's frustrating for an audience sometimes.
And the other thing, too, is I feel it's the product of procedurals. You watch LAW & ORDER, you watch a HOUSE, the case is always solved, so that's what the audience expects. So I think there's a little less leniency now because procedurals are so prominent and it is satisfying to watch the good guy solve the medical case, to put the guy away.
That being said, serialized stuff is what I enjoy. I love to binge-watch stuff. I actually tend to wait and watch things in a row so I can keep [diving] in.
So I was aware of it, but that's the conceit of the show in season 1, and I think Kevin Williamson addressed it on the panel [at Comic-Con]: we sort of painted ourselves into a corner, and we learned from that. So I think if we can come out in the second season and remove that issue, I think, storytelling-wise and character-wise, it's going to really take off.
Right. While it would have been lovely, in theory, for the cops to be able to outsmart Joe all the time, there's no show if he doesn't pull one over on them occasionally. The arc would have been concluded in two episodes.
SA: Right. And it's not realistic. If you talk with FBI guys or any law enforcement, they track murders, cults, mob, whatever, for months and months and months before they can even make a case, let alone someone as tech savvy and organized as Joe Carroll. It would take a long time to track him down. I think it's a product of what we're used to seeing on television and I can understand an audiences' frustration when the guys you want to see — but I also think there's something very satisfying, knowing that the good guys…and I say that in quotes — are trumped every once in a while, because it makes the payoff all the more satisfying. It's a fine balance to walk.
Is there anything you're really hoping to see in season 2, since so much of your arc is still a mystery to you?
SA: I'd like to see a little more of home life. Not once did we ever go home with him. The case the first season was such a manhunt, it was such the driving force of the thriller, that it would be nice to have a little bit of air. And we've talked about that. I think there's going to be a little room to develop these characters. I feel like it's the first movie in a trilogy, and you get all the storytelling out of the way, and you get a little room to breathe with the characters you've gotten to know. So I'm looking forward to that. Specifics? I think the trajectory Mike is on is great. I think he's growing as an agent, he's growing as a man. He's becoming callous, which I like.
Are you terrified to have a love interest? Happy endings aren't really the norm on this show…
SA: I don't know! It would be interesting. I think it would be an interesting challenge on the show, because it's a very romantic show, actually, in a weird way. But it's not a traditional, let's have actors look at each other in a nice dinner scene. But I think it would be interesting to interplay the horrific aspects of it, and then a home life where you're like, I have to take my girlfriend out. I think that could be interesting to show these characters shifting gears. I think that's fascinating in real-life law enforcement where they see a suicide, and then they have to come home and put their kids to bed or take them to school. How do you deal with that? I think, as an actor, that could be a really interesting thing to navigate. It could be really, really appealing to experience.
THE FOLLOWING will return on Fox in early 2014.
THE FOLLOWING: Kevin Bacon and Shawn Ashmore on Season 3's New Big Bad, the Ryan-Mike Partnership, and More
THE FOLLOWING Bosses on a Ryan Hardy-Centric Season 3, Michael Ealy's New Big Bad, and More
THE FOLLOWING: Kevin Bacon and Shawn Ashmore Tease What Ryan and Mike Will Be Up to in Season 3
THE FOLLOWING Post-Mortem: Shawn Ashmore on the Mike Twist in 'Sacrifice'
THE FOLLOWING's Shawn Ashmore: 'Things Get Dramatically Worse' For Mike
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This is an extract from Maximus, a middle-grade novel written by Steve Heron, released in 2018 by Serenity Press. Maximus is available through www.steveheron.com, some bookstores, online bookstores etc.
'Everyone was laughing, including Maddy. I turned around to see what was so funny and saw my footy boots hanging in the rafters.
So, that's what they were laughing at. I could see Jason laughing the most. The hot lava bubbled inside of me as their laughter fuelled the fire. This time I couldn't hold it in. I erupted like Mount Vesuvius.
My arms swung around like a mad octopus. Somehow my fist connected with the closest person, Jason. Thwack! I felt the awful impact of flesh on flesh. His head wrenched sideways. He did a half pirouette and crashed to the ground as if someone had pulled a rug out from under his feet. Everyone gasped in shock.
I didn't mean it. It just happened.
Everything seemed to freeze, except me. I took off.
I ran like a fugitive and hid behind the undercover area where I thought no one could find me. I curled up in a ball, put my arms on my knees and slumped my head on my arms. I was in big trouble. Kids got suspended for hitting other kids, even if they didn't mean to.
How was I going to talk my way out of this? Everything officially sucked.
Dad's words materialised in my brain: We don't solve problems with our fists, we use our words. Lately his words hit harder than fists'.


In the early 1990s, Konstantin Lifschitz received a grant from the Russian Cultural Foundation. Around that time, he started to perform in European capitals such as Paris, Amsterdam, Vienna, Munich and Milan. He toured Japan with The Moscow Virtuosi under Vladimir Spivakov, while in Europe he toured with the St Petersburg Symphony Orchestra under Yuri Temirkanov, and also performed with Mischa Maisky and Gidon Kremer in many European cites. In 1995 he received the ECHO Klassik Award of "Most Promising Artist of the Year" for his first recording, and the following year he was nominated for a Grammy award for Bach's Goldberg Variations.
Since his sensational debut recital in the October Hall of the House of Unions in Moscow at the age of 13, Konstantin Lifschitz performs solo recitals at major festivals and the most important concert venues worldwide and appears with leading international orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, NDR Symphony Orchestra Hamburg, MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra, SWR Symphony Orchestra, Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra, Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, Academy of St Martin in the Fields, RAI National Symphony Orchestra and Danish National Symphony Orchestra.
In 2017 autumn, he launches the complete Beethoven Sonatas Cycles (8 concerts) in Hong Kong, Taipei and Taichung and performs various works by Beethoven and Bach in Tokyo, Shanghai, Nicosia, Maastricht, Berlin and Omsk. He will also be part of the Stravinsky Year Gergiev's project and will be the soloist in the Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatoire Grand Hall with the Concertos by both Stravinsky and Bach under Anatoly Levin.
In the 2018/19 season he will appear with orchestras such as Ural Philharmonic Orchestra under Dimitry Liss, Naples Philharmonic under Andrey Boreyko and will perform solo recitals at Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Moscow Philharmonic Hall, La Sala Verdi Milano and many others. He is also invited by numerous festivals including Tokyo Spring Festival, Rancho La Puerta's Music Festival, XII Mariinsky International Piano Festival, Trans-Siberian Art Festival, Kutna Hora Music Festival, London Piano Festival, Würzburg Bachtage and Musiktage Höri Bodensee, where he serves as an honorary patron.
Konstantin Lifschitz's latest album "Saisons Russes" with works of Ravel, Debussy, Stravinsky and Jakoulov was released by Orfeo in November 2016. As a prolific recording artist, he has been releasing numerous CDs and DVDs, many of which have received exceptional reviews. Lifschitz has made several recordings with the Orfeo label including Bach's Musical Offering, the St. Anne Prelude and Fugue and Three Frescobaldi Toccatas (2007), Gottfried von Einem Piano Concerto with the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra (2009), Brahms Second Concerto and Mozart Concerto K. 456 under Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (2010), Bach The Art of Fugue (2010), the complete Bach Concertos for keyboard and orchestra with the Stuttgart Kammerorchester (2011) and Goldberg Variations (2015). In 2008, a live recording of Lifschitz's performance of Bach Well-Tempered Clavier (Books I and II) at the Miami International Piano Festival was released on DVD by VAI. In 2014, Beethoven's complete violin Sonatas with Daishin Kashimoto was released by Warner Classics.
Konstantin Lifschitz is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music in London and has been appointed a professor of the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts since 2008.


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'Breath Of The Wild' mod randomises every part of the game
Carefully curated to create absolute chaos
By Jack Grimshaw
The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild. Credit: Nintendo
A new mod for Nintendo's The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild will allow players to randomise nearly every game element.
READ MORE: Spider-Man 'Marvel's Avengers' preview: thwips, quips, and AIM gunships
Randomiser mods have been around for a while and can change many parts to keep the experience fresh for veteran players while occasionally adding an extra challenge. Instead of a carefully crafted game with items available at specific times and a neatly designed difficulty curve, players can encounter high-level gear in the first chest or receive little more than a wooden sword from an end game boss.
This Breath Of The Wild randomiser has a few extra features, though. Players will find that many other aspects of the game will be changed, not just loot. Players have a chance to arrive in an unexpected location when they fast travel or move between shrines and the overworld.
"I aimed to expand the definition of a 'randomiser' for this legendary game… So I built a new system which I named 'The Randomiser Cycle'," explains the mod's video.
The cycle will appear to choose a random element of the game to change. Enemy spawns will be randomised along with their weapons. The time of day and weather effects will be randomised. Eating, resting and saving will also be affected. Specific skills such as champion abilities can be disabled, and shrines can be locked.
There will also be a new "goal mode", which gives players a random task to complete before facing off against Gannon.
Modder Waikuteru will be releasing the Breath Of The Wild mod for free, but fans can support their work and gain early access through their Patreon.
In other news, GTA The Trilogy may have an unfinished VR mode hidden in its systems, which may also point to the officially announced GTA: San Andreas VR that is in the works for the Quest 2 VR headset.


Despite a host of online articles detailing the death of the job board and the alleged lower standard of candidates from job boards, recruitment agencies are still finding that job boards are offering one of the best ways to source and find talent to fill vacancies.
Recent research has shown that when it comes to filling positions, job boards are second only to referrals as the top way of finding the ideal candidate, representing just over 20 per cent of the market. Social media, which has been grabbing many of the headlines, makes an entry on to the list for the first time in seventh place with 3.5 per cent of positions being filled this way. Job boards have shown themselves to continue to be more than twice as effective at helping companies fill a spot within their firm compared to the next on the list, which are career sites with 9.8 per cent.
Social media is expected to gain a larger share of the action, with more and more companies turning to platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter to search for talent to fill their vacancies. However, the fact remains that social media has quite some distance to go to catch up on job boards.
With just over one in five jobs being filled via job boards, it will be some time before the predicted 'death of job boards' is an actual reality, if that day ever even comes.


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Alan Bradwell
June 28, 1957 - March 30, 2021
Alan Leroy Bradwell Sr., 63 of Knierim, died Tuesday, March 30, 2021, at the Paula J. Baber Hospice Home in Fort Dodge. Services will be 3:00 PM on Friday, April 2, 2021, at the Lighthouse Ministries in Fort Dodge. A time of gathering for family and friends will be from 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM on Friday at Lighthouse Ministries. Alan Leroy Bradwell, the son of John and Edna (Lower)Bradwell, was born June 28, 1957, in Fort Dodge. Alan went to Fort Dodge Schools and graduated from Fort Dodge Senior High in 1976. He worked for Isaacson Roofing in Fort Dodge and joined the Iowa Army National Guard in 1976. Alan served in the Iowa Guard for 8 years. On April 28, 1984, Alan married Becky Brundige. Two years later they moved their family to Hastings, Minnesota where Alan worked for the John A. Dalsin Roofing until an injury forced him to retire. Becky and Alan would later divorce. In 1994, Alan moved back to Iowa and made his home in Knierim. He would help some area farmers until his health prevented him from working any more. Alan loved the outdoors. Fishing, gardening, riding his Harley, watching drag racing, listening to music, and fixing things were some many things Alan loved to do. He will be known for his heart of Gold. Alan would welcome complete strangers into his home if they were in need. He would give his shirt off his back if you were in need. Alan is survived by his daughter, Jamie (Austin) Kakacek of Pocahontas, Iowa; sons, Alan (Angie) Bradwell Jr of Humboldt, Iowa and Jeremy (Lindsey) Brundige of Sullivan, Indiana. His grandchildren, Colin, Alayna, Ava and Alivia Kakacek and Chloe and Connor Brundige; his two sisters Susan Bailey and Nancy (Mike) Chardoulias both of Fort Dodge; and a dear friend, Carolyn Lyon. He is preceded in death by his parents, his five brothers, Jon, Brian, Mark, Steve, and Mike: also, his sister-in-law, Deb Bradwell-Hamlow.
Alan Leroy Bradwell Sr., 63 of Knierim, died Tuesday, March 30, 2021, at the Paula J. Baber Hospice Home in Fort Dodge. Services will be 3:00 PM on Friday, April 2, 2021, at the Lighthouse Ministries in Fort Dodge. A time of gathering for family... View Obituary & Service Information
The family of Alan Bradwell created this Life Tributes page to make it easy to share your memories.
Alan Leroy Bradwell Sr., 63 of Knierim, died Tuesday, March 30,...
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MB, BS, també coneguda com a Emily Mary Page Stone, va ser una metgessa de l'estat de Victòria, Austràlia.

Biografia
Mary (nascuda Reed) va néixer a Mornington, Victoria, filla del botiguer John Stone i de la seva esposa Laura Matilda. Va ser educada a Austràlia i a Anglaterra, formant-se com a professora. Va tornar a Melbourne, on va ensenyar a diverses escoles privades abans de formar part de la Universitat de Melbourne com a estudiant de medicina el 1889.

Es va graduar després d'una brillant carrera escolar, quedant segona entre els cinc millors del seu postgrau. Això l'hauria d'haver donat dret a un lloc com a oficial mèdic resident al Royal Melbourne Hospital, però fou polèmicament desqualificada per raó de sexe.

Va fer la pràctica durant setze anys, primer a Windsor i després a Hawthorn, abans de morir com a conseqüència d'una caiguda de la bicicleta després de xocar contra un carretó.

Va ser activa en la causa per la temprança i secretària de la branca victoriana del Consell Nacional de les Dones d'Austràlia (NWA).

Les seves cosines Constance Stone i Clara Stone també van ser metgesses.

Reconeixements
Una sala d'operacions a l'Hospital Queen Victoria de Melbourne, dissenyat per I. G. Beaver, va ser dedicat a la seva memòria pel Consell Nacional de les Dones d'Austràlia.

El 2007, Stone va ser afegida al Llibre d'honor de dones victorianes.

Referències

Activistes australians
Metges australians
Morts a Melbourne
Naixements del 1865


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Whale droppings visualize microplastics: "Tourists pulled them out of the water with a net" | Science
Earl Warner 2 months ago 2 min read
3 million per dayWhales near Auckland in New Zealand eat around 3 million microplastic particles per day. Researchers at Leiden University and the University of Auckland came to this conclusion in a study of whale droppings.
Thijs Bosker, associate professor at Leiden University, participated in the study. He explains, "Microplastics are tiny particles of plastic that are found everywhere in nature. Large pieces of plastic shatter and end up getting so small that we can't see them anymore. In our water, in the air, in our food, there are small plastic particles everywhere. So it's no surprise that we also found microplastics in whale droppings.
However, the numbers are important, explains the university professor. Bryde's whale droppings that the universities jointly studied showed that the animals ingest about 3 million particles of microplastic per day. Whales ingest about 25,000 parts of microplastic per bite. It comes mainly from prey, krill and plankton. Only 1 in 1,000 microplastics appear to come directly from water. Bosker adds that whales swim near the Auckland metropolis. "So these are city whales," he jokes.
Whenever they saw the whale doing its business, they would pull it out of the water with a net
Thijs Bosker, University of Leiden
It is not yet certain whether microplastics actually cause harm to the health of whales. Bosker: ,, That's the next question. Such research actually always involves three stages: is it found in nature and is it also absorbed there by animals? We both know it now. We are now at step three: is it bad? We do not know yet. There are theories, for example that very small particles can be harmful, but we do not yet know for sure in science. With Auckland, we'll find a way to assess that.
But how the hell do you get whale poo? "It's still quite difficult," laughs the researcher. "Whale droppings are quite liquid. It does not suddenly float, because it dissolves quickly. We also couldn't sail next to a whale all the time. We have therefore entered into a partnership with a local whale safari that goes to sea every day with tourists in search of the animals. Whenever they saw the whale doing its business, they would pull it out of the water with a net and take it to the University of Auckland. It can be that simple. "
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Beautifully designed to compliment Shaker furniture. The raised panel door on this unit has an opening of 17 3/4 wide. The body to this unit meausres 21 3/4W x 12 1/2D x 48 1/2"H Add three inches for the top and crown.


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De stralende staf is een stripverhaal uit de reeks van Suske en Wiske. Het is geschreven door Peter Van Gucht en getekend door Luc Morjaeu. De eerste albumuitgave was op 18 november 2009.

Personages
In het album spelen de volgende personages mee:
Suske, Wiske, tante Sidonia, Jerom, Lambik, professor Barabas, Sinterklaas, Zwarte Piet, Amerigo, kapitein Bakkebaard, Van Zwollem en zijn dochter Anne-Marie, Theofiel Boemerang en zijn vrouw Celestien, Del Rondello, Net de Anker, Grote Voet, werknemer rederij, Kareltje, maatje 36, maatje 45 en maatje 52, schilder, Jos, Broeders van het Verbond der Lege Schoenen, agent en hoofdcommissaris, ouders en kinderen.

Locaties
Dit verhaal speelt zich af op de volgende locaties:
België, het huis van Sidonia (Rent a Sint of Kies een Klaas), rederij A. Verij bij de kade, het ziekenhuis, warenhuis Spot€Goedkoop, Bigfoot Enterprices (Havenlaan 210), politiebureau, havenpolitie, weeshuis, internaat, bouwwerf.

Uitvindingen
In dit verhaal spelen de volgende uitvindingen een rol:
 vliegende robot
 Tele-Ringen

Het verhaal

Lambik betreurt de kredietcrisis en Jerom stelt voor om cadeaus aan de Sint te vragen. Lambik schrijft vierhonderdachtentwintig cadeautjes op een brief en stuurt deze naar Spanje. Suske en Wiske en hun vrienden wachten op de kade de feestelijke intrede van de Sint af. Wat begint als een groot feest waarbij ieders hart vol verwachting klopt, eindigt in een nachtmerrie als de stoomboot de kade dreigt te rammen. Een tussenkomst van Jerom kan een catastrofe nipt vermijden maar betekent zeker niet het einde van de ellende. Sinterklaas en de kapitein van de stoomboot liggen bewusteloos aan dek en Zwarte Piet blijkt ontvoerd.

Suske en Wiske ontdekken dat het schip overvallen werd en dat er belangrijke eigendommen van Sinterklaas gestolen zijn. Zonder het alwetende boek, de onuitputtelijke zak met speelgoed en de magische staf dreigt Sinterklaasavond in het water te vallen. De toverkracht van de staf zorgt ervoor dat de Sint overal tegelijk kan zijn. Suske en Wiske en hun vrienden schieten in actie om de spullen van de kindervriend terug te vinden. Hierbij krijgen ze de hulp van Kapitein Bakkebaard en van Amerigo, het sprekende paard van de Sint.

De vrienden schminken zich en Jerom gaat door de schoorsteen, zodat zijn gezicht zwart wordt van roet. Onder leiding van Sidonia, trekken Lambik, Jerom en Co eropuit om te proberen de gewonde Sint, in afwachting van zijn herstel, als hulpsinterklazen te vervangen op diens talloze afspraken. Theofiel en Celestien verkopen stofzuigers tijdens hun bezoek aan de kinderen en professor Barabas legt de kwantumtheorie uit. Van Zwollem geeft de kinderen geen kans om met de cadeaus te spelen, hij gebruikt ze zelf. Net de Anker zingt een sinterklaaslied. Jerom en Lambik bezoeken een warenhuis en Jerom voorkomt dat Sinterklaas uit het ziekenhuis wordt ontvoerd.

Suske, Wiske en Amerigo zoeken Zwarte Piet en de gestolen spullen en komen bij een rederij. Ze horen daar dat er ook een politieboot met slapende agenten is aangespoeld. Ze gaan op zoek naar de rode helikopter die gezien is bij de boten. Ze ontdekken een factuur aan Bigfoot Enterprises en kunnen met behulp van Amerigo ontkomen aan Kareltje, maar hij waarschuwt per telefoon. De helikopter is blauw geverfd en Suske en Wiske zijn getuige van een bijeenkomst van de Broeders van het Verbond der Lege Schoenen. Samen met Kapitein Bakkebaard en Amerigo gaan Suske en Wiske naar het politiebureau. De hoofdcommissaris gelooft niet dat Bigfoot Enterprises achter de ontvoering van Zwarte Piet zit, maar gaat toch kijken.

De helikopter is verdwenen en de hoofdcommissaris wil Suske en Wiske arresteren, maar Bigfoot laat hen gaan. Kapitein Bakkebaard biedt aan bij de Sint te waken en de vrienden ontdekken later dat de kapitein hen bedrogen heeft. Het politiebureau waar de vrienden aangifte deden, blijkt verlaten. Als ze in het ziekenhuis komen, blijkt de Sint verdwenen. De volgende dag is Grote Voet als Sinterklaas te gast in een talkshow en hij legt uit dat hij de brave kinderen beu is. Voortaan krijgen de stoute kinderen de mooiste cadeaus en brave kinderen krijgen niets. Al snel beginnen alle kinderen kattenkwaad uit te halen. De hulpsinterklazen weigeren nog langer te werken in deze chaos.

Suske en Wiske besluiten te doen alsof ze veranderd zijn, zodat ze in het Alwetende Boek terechtkomen. Ze krijgen een stoutniveau van 8/10 en worden aangenomen bij het Verbond der Lege Schoenen. Al snel krijgen ze een braafheidsmelding en als de kinderen bij de Sint en Zwarte Piet komen, worden ze ontdekt. Kapitein Bakkebaard stopt Suske en Wiske in de zak en neemt hen mee. Lambik en Jerom komen bij tante Sidonia en horen dat de kinderen zich hebben aangesloten bij het Verbond der Lege Schoenen.

Kapitein Bakkebaard en Grote Voet gooien de zak in een betonnen fundering. Jerom bevrijdt de Sint en Zwarte Piet, maar wordt tegengehouden door Grote Voet, Kapitein Bakkebaard en Dorie. Sinterklaas vertelt dat hij onsterfelijk wordt door de staf vast te houden. De staf wordt uit de kluis gehaald nu men weet dat de Sint hiermee vernietigd kan worden. Kapitein Bakkebaard geeft de staf echter terug en Sinterklaas gebruikt een braafstraal op Dorie en de speelgoedstraal op een pistool van Grote Voet. De chocostraal schakelt nog meer wapens uit, maar Grote Voet kan ontkomen.

Suske en Wiske stoppen Grote Voet, voor de zak in de fundering werd gegooid heeft Kapitein Bakkebaard hen laten ontsnappen. De Sint heeft uitgelegd dat het gebeuren kon dat brieven zoekraakten. De brief van Kapitein Bakkebaard is nooit aangekomen bij de Sint en hij heeft inmiddels spijt gekregen van zijn daden. De Sint schenkt de kapitein het fietsje wat hij als kind gevraagd heeft. Grote Voet helpt de Sint als Zwarte Piet, nadat de braafstraal op hem is gebruikt. Lambik zet een enorme schoen, maar ontdekt de volgende ochtend dat hij geen flatscreen-tv als cadeau heeft gekregen.

Cover
 Evenals bij het vorige album het geval was werd ook dit verhaal oorspronkelijk aangekondigd met een andere cover. Op de definitieve tekening staan Suske en Wiske afgebeeld zoals ze in het verhaal voorkomen. Bij het maken van de tekening voor de aankondigingsfolder was de exacte outfit van Suske en Wiske in De Stralende Staf nog niet bekend.

Uitgaven

Stralende staf, de
Stralende staf, de


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Licensing, Litigation, Patent
Fair, Reasonable, And Non-Discriminatory Dismissal? (With Prejudice)
Judge dismisses case
For both Google and Apple;
Appeals to follow?
The late Steve Jobs threatened to "go thermonuclear" over Google's Android technology and told his biographer, "our lawsuit is saying, 'Google you f***ing ripped off the iPhone, wholesale ripped us off.'"
But in a June decision, Judge Richard Posner dismissed one Apple lawsuit claiming that Motorola's Android phones "ripped off" the iPhone, as well as Motorola's claim that Apple had infringed a Motorola patent.
Judge Posner has been called the most cited legal scholar of the 20th century, and he normally sits on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. He reportedly volunteered to preside over the Apple-Google dispute in federal district court.
After cancelling a trial between Apple and Google-owned Motorola originally scheduled for June 11, Judge Posner agreed to hear Apple's request for an injunction involving certain Motorola phones. Two days after the June 20 hearing, he issued a 38-page opinion in which he dismissed all claims with prejudice.
By the time it ended, the case involved four Apple patents (out of an original 16) and one Motorola patent (from the original six). The remaining Motorola patent is considered standards-essential to GSM (a mobile communications standard) and is known as a "FRAND" patent, since it must be licensed on "fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory terms" to be accepted as a standard.
Judge Posner questioned whether it was even possible to seek an injunction against the use of a FRAND patent:
How could [Motorola] be permitted to enjoin Apple from using an invention that it contends Apple must use if it wants to make a cell phone with UMTS telecommunications capability — without which it would not be a cell phone?
Motorola subsequently filed a letter with the ITC, where it has a case involving FRAND terms related to Microsoft's Xbox pending, calling Judge Posner's ruling "a recent non-final, non-binding district court decision" – presumably signaling Google's intention to appeal.


Welcome Max Field Hockey players and families! Below are the official hotels for the 2019 Max Field Hockey High School National Invitational in Conshohocken, Pa. Browse the hotel list below and find your home away from home during the tournament.
All of the Holiday Inn Lansdale's spacious guest rooms feature amenities you need such as a microwave, fridge, hair dryer, and iron and ironing board. For dining needs, stop by the on-site restaurant, 1750 Bistro, and bar, Zinc Lounge, where you can meet friends before or after your event. Don't forget to utilize the outdoor pool to soak up the sun and relax after a busy day.
The hotel is conveniently located in West Conshohocken, 15 minutes from downtown Philadelphia and along the Main Line.
168 rooms. Complimentary hot breakfast buffet and WiFi. Seasonal heated outdoor pool and whirlpool. Onsite fitness center, media room and business center. Directly across from the King of Prussia Mall. Two miles from Valley Forge National Historical Park, 20 miles from historic Old City Philadelphia.
With 147 guest rooms, this property offers multi-purpose rooms for meetings and functions as well as free business and fitness centers. King deluxe rooms with microwave and refrigerator also offered. Free deluxe breakfast bar.
Enjoy the complimentary Express Start hot breakfast, free Wi-Fi, fitness center and excellent location across the street from the King of Prussia Mall. Walk to restaurants!
The Valley Forge Casino Resort offers more than 450 guest rooms among two hotels, seven dining spots, two retail outlets, a country music-themed nightspot, fitness center and spa.
Extended services in a contemporary select-service hotel. Indoor pool, fitness center, free Continental breakfast, 24/7 food and beverage. Two miles from King of Prussia Mall with easy access to highways.
Experience style, comfort and versatility at the Sheraton Valley Forge Hotel featuring 180 stylish guest rooms, 58 spacious suites, 25,000 square feet of flexible event space, including a 10,000 square- foot ballroom.
The Homewood Suites by Hilton Philadelphia-Plymouth Meeting is nestled in a commercial and residential area, just 20 miles from Philadelphia. The extended-stay hotel is near daily conveniences you want when away from home.
Conveniently located 2 miles from the Pennsylvania Turnpike, the HYATT House offers hotel accommodations with a residential atmosphere in all of our 131 guest suites. Book your next reservation and enjoy complimentary breakfast & Wi-Fi.
136 rooms. Features complimentary hot breakfast buffet, restaurant and fitness room on-site. Conveniently located, with additional dining and shopping within walking distance. Internet access, HBO, USA Today and local calls.
Perfect for business and leisure travelers alike, the Courtyard in Plymouth Meeting is located near Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) and Valley Forge Convention Center, as well as King of Prussia Mall, Crayola Factory, Sesame Place, Villanova, Temple and La Salle universities.


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This isn't too different than my feelings about wrestlers not immediately diving out of the doorway in cage matches.
Money in the Bank has come and gone and I'm proud to say that I predicted seven out of ten matches correctly (if you count Alexa's interference in the Raw women's title match as a DQ win for Ronda, which I do). Money in the Bank was a HUGE step up from last month's Backlash when it comes to in ring quality, although I was still disappointed in some of the finishes.
Alexa being a champion again after she just lost it two months ago? Pass. Shinsuke losing what could have been his last World Title match? Hard pass. Asuka losing to Carmella due to Ellsworth interference? Well, I was at least preparing myself for this one. I'm just glad that Asuka suffered her first WWE loss to Charlotte at Wrestlemania in what was arguably the best match of the show.


Those who have helped make City of Culture a success have discussed the huge benefit it is bringing to the city.
We've chatted to businesses, volunteers and those involved with organising events across Hull during this special year following a study from the University of Hull which had some glowing results.
The figures released on Wednesday will form a full report on City of Culture which is expected to be ready in 2018.
Some key headlines from the report, studying the first of months of the year, include the stats that there are more than double the number of people visiting events this year with the city enjoying an impressive economic boost.
At least 450 events, exhibitions and cultural activities took place during the first season, attracting more than 1.4m visits, with many drawing large, often sell-out crowds.
This is what some of the people involved with making City of Culture such a success think about the university's findings.
"Made in Hull was a new cultural experience for me. I work a lot on my own so coming back to Hull, working collaboratively and looking at the city through a different lens at a time when it is at the cusp of change has been incredible.
"The first week of January was the craziest, busiest period I've ever experienced in coffee, and that's saying something.
The school visited Hull Truck to show the children a professional theatre, being from a deprived area of the city, only a small number of children had ever visited a theatre.
It had a big impact, with the children so keen to get involved they asked staff to do Hamlet as a production.
Kate said: "The children were engaged by the drama and we could see a clear impact on children's understanding of new texts and vocabulary straight away. The techniques used for writing had a big impact on the quality of their vocabulary and sentence structures.
Hull 2017's blue-coated volunteers continue to welcome visitors with open arms, broad smiles and a contagious spirit.
Debra lived in Hull for 38 years before moving with her family to Wilmslow, Cheshire. Last year she celebrated her 50th birthday and decided to get involved, become a volunteer and see everything that was happening in Hull.
Debra said: "Being a volunteer has not only made me explore more things in the art world, it has introduced me to a network of like-minded people with a can-do attitude who have nothing more in common than being involved in the city.
Cocoa Chocolatier and Patisserie have been working hard to satisfy Hull's sweet tooth from their stall in Trinity Indoor Market since the beginning of 2015.
They are succeeding in achieving their vision of bringing something a bit different to Hull and two years after Cocoa was born, have expanded with the opening of their new flagship shop in Humber Street after being enticed by the streets renovation and increasing popularity.
The impact of Hull's year as the UK City of Culture has not gone unnoticed by these purveyors of chocolatey treats.
Fiona said: "There is just such a positive mood in the city, I've never known people get behind something so much.
"It's wonderful that people want to come to Hull, we've seen a real mix of customers who have travelled from other parts of the country and Europe to experience the museums and events, as well as our chocolate of course."
If you want to try something new you can discover the City of Culture programme at www.hull2017.co.uk.