Losing My Mind A Little Over This Sherlock Holmes Stamp, Which Was Created In 1993 And Depicts A Scene

Bruh did I just get clocked wtf

This tweet is just... Odd. Very odd.

Like... You live like this? You write like this? You think like this??

honestly it was a red flag when bbc sherlock went “well obviously the word written in blood isn’t the german word for revenge, it’s clearly the beginning of the name ‘rachel’, what absolute idiot would fail to see that” when in the original novel it is, in fact, the german word for revenge, which sherlock points out gleefully to a roomful of policemen who all figure it’s the beginning of the name ‘rachel.’

and by red flag I mean it was a clear sign that the adaptation was trying to one-up the source material, instead of engaging with it with love.

In fifth grade a boy tried to impress me by swallowing a whole tadpole live and I punched him so hard that he puked and the tadpole was fine.

i need to read more academic articles to make my yaoi more insane

hmmm

Eye see. Heh.

The Criterion Bar’s Gay History

Most know the Criterion Bar as the place where Dr. John Watson met his young friend Stamford on that fateful night before being introduced to the one and only Sherlock Holmes, the man who would be the star of Dr. Watson’s writings.

What is not commonly known or spoken about is the Criterion Bar’s Victorian history…

That of being a Victorian Gay Bar.

Now official ‘gay bars’ were not exactly a thing in the Victorian Era due to anti-LGBT laws (including Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885). That said, the Criterion Bar was known (when the stories were written) as a meeting point for gay men in the Victorian era.

‘A New City of Friends’: London and Homosexuality in the 1890s

By Matt Cook

“..Ives noted that the Criterion Bar on Piccadilly Circus was ‘a great centre for inverts’ until it closed in 1905 .”

The Inverted City: London and the Constitution of Homosexuality 1885-1914, M. D. Cook

https://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/jspui/handle/123456789/1620

The Criterion Bar is spoken about by George Cecil Ives, an LGBT advocate in the Victorian era and leader of the secret LGBT society, the Order of Chaeronea.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_Chaeronea

George Cecil Ives was also friends to both Oscar Wilde and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and George Cecil Ives were friends and cricket teammates on the team “Allahakbarries”, which, at the time, they thought meant ‘Heaven Help Us’.

When it comes to Sherlock Holmes, of all the bars within London that could be chosen for Dr. Watson and Stamford to meet, and for Watson to be lead from to be introduced to Holmes, Sir. Arthur Conan Doyle chose to use -that- one.

(Special thanks to @ImaBretthead for pointing out the bar’s past.)

“ Willie Hornung, the brother-in-Law Of ACD, was a friend of George Ives. He used him as the model for the gentleman thief Raffles, in his series of books. Sir Arthur was also acquainted with Mr. Ives.

Cafe Royal, The Langham Hotel, The Criteron Bar…These are not coincidences.”

- @ImaBretthead

“We had a pleasant little meal together, during which Holmes would talk about nothing but violins, narrating with great exultation how he had purchased his own Stradivarius….this led him to Paganini, and we sat for an hour over a bottle of claret while he told me anecdote after anecdote of that extraordinary man”

SOOOOO many things to unpack here. Most obviously: AUTISM BABY. Holmes’ most prominent special interest (besides ash, of course) is music, particularly violins. He talks about this stuff for an hour straight (also he’s probably a little tipsy, I love the idea of drunk Holmes just infodumping about his special interests)

I also LOVE thinking about how SHERLOCK HOLMES IS OBSESSED WITH PAGANINI IN THE SAME WAY THAT WE ARE OBSESSED WITH SHERLOCK HOLMES.

And the fact that Watson LISTENS to all this. Not only that, but he ENJOYS it. He finds spending time with Holmes pleasant, not a chore to get to the cool deductions. He’ll listen to Holmes talk about violins for hours BECAUSE HE WANTS TO. And that warms my heart.