The tie is not my clan tartan, but it looked Scottish enough! |
Great
men and women inspire great statutes. I’ve had the good fortune to see three
great statues of Sherlock Holmes in person.
Earlier
on this blog I’ve written about visiting the statues of Holmes in Meiringen,Switzerland, in 2008 and London in 2012 with my wife and another couple. Maintaining
the four-year pattern, this year at the end of May we made a courtesy call on
the statue in Edinburgh, just across the street from where Sir Arthur Conan
Doyle was born.
I
found the monument quite satisfactory. To me it’s a good Holmes. It doesn’t
look exactly like any other representation of Holmes on state, screen, or
printed page, and to me that’s a good thing.
Curiously,
the plaque at the base of the statue - donated to the city of Edinburgh in 1991 by the Federation of Master Builders - memorializes not Holmes but Conan Doyle. So does a nearby pub, The Conan Doyle. We’ve
also dined at the Sherlock Holmes Pub in London and Sherlock in Meiringen. I’m
happy to report that all three are well worth the visit, with both food and Sherlockian
artifacts that are worth attention.
A curious
side note: Our waiter a few days later in Oban, Scotland, told us that he was
from Edinburgh and the Conan Doyle had been his local pub as a young man. He then
informed us that Conan Doyle was a murderer who killed a rival and stole his
plot! And I don’t think he believed me when I told him that this was a crackpot
theory that no serious scholar credits.
We were on a Trafalgar Tour of Great Britain a few years ago. As we left the bus in Edinburgh to be on our own, I said "lets look for the Sherlock Holmes statue". As we walked down the street, I turned and at least one third of the bus were following us. After visiting the Mr. Holmes, we all had a lovely lunch at the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Pub that was on a corner.
ReplyDeleteThere is a small ledge on the base about 15 inches from the ground. If you stand on it and look at the base of the statue you can see embedded near Holmes' feet the footprint of s gigantic hound. There are also the pawprints of a much smaller dog - Edinburgh's own Grey Friar's Bobby!
ReplyDeleteReally? That's fascinating!
Delete