Silly Sherlockians

On Sunday I saw a post on Bluesky saying that it's John Watson's birthday and I was confused. What is that based on? A particular story or TV show? A particular Watson actor? I'd never heard of a settled date for Watson's birthday. Searching the internet revealed various dates without any reasoning, and strangely all summer dates. Finally I found this website summarizing various Sherlockian theories. As always, it's flimsy "evidence" based on Watson drinking wine with lunch as if celebrating something. Stupid trivial crap like that. The only guy arguing against a summer date was Brad Keefauver, but still "using the time-honored hangover system of dating birthdays" and surprisingly he chose to use The Speckled Band story.

I would, therefore, like to propose the opening of “The Speckled Band” for the morning after Watson’s birthday bash. In that April morning of 1883, Holmes awakens a slightly resentful Watson at 7:15 a.m., the doctor being a bit put out as he fully expected Holmes to sleep in. Daylight, according to Violet Stoner [sic] came well before six that morning, so 7:15 is hardly an ungodly hour to be wakened ... unless, of course, one had a rough night before.

I mean, what kind of reasoning is that? Plus I'd have more respect for the theory if he could remember that the client is named Helen Stoner, not Violet. "Violet Stonor" is the name ACD used in his "Stonor Case" play based on Speckled Band, and it's actually Julia's alternate name, not Helen's. And in his Sherlock Peoria article, Keefauver keeps slipping between 1883 and 1893 as the date of the story. You accuse Watson of not being good with dates, while not checking your own dates for typos? The fucking arrogance. Plus, Helen never said it was daylight. She said, "I started from home before six." Do you not know anyone who gets up before dawn to start their commute to work? And Helen wasn't going to work; she was escaping her home in a panic about the whistle she heard in the dead of night; she was rushing to see Holmes and "knock[ing] sleepy people up out of their beds," with some urgency. Holmes, though amused, speaks as if they are ALL having an early morning, so I would contend that it IS an ungodly hour to wake up, even when you don't have a hangover.

So I still have no idea what Watson's birthday is, and there's nothing convincing in anybody's arguments. What if I make it May 4th?

But no, that's their "unhappy anniversary" I've decided in Madness. (There's too many pop culture holidays on May 4th anyway. Need a less crowded date.) Incidentally I found an interesting post about asexuality on Daily Kos, which will give me more to think about in how to resolve their love. This is the most writing I've done in a long time.

Edited to add: Ah, I was wrong. Helen does indeed say "daylight" much later in the story. After the whistle, she says:

I was too shaken to go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn...

So that, taken with "I started from home before six" seems to mean daylight was before 6 AM that morning. My point about Helen's name and the 1883/1893 flubs still stands, though.

Also, I reread the Stonor Case play (often retitled as The Speckled Band), and discovered that Billy the page boy was pretending to be Holmes's daughter Amelia. Holmes came in disguise as a butler named Peters, and brought Billy as his accomplice in Stoke Moran. I don't know if the Sherlock & Daughter writers knew this fact, but how fitting that they named their daughter character Amelia too.