I’m sure we’ve all seen the famous calabash pipe, favoured by Sherlock Holmes. You know, the curly calabash with it’s distinctive shape? It’s just as much a part of Sherlock Holmes as his deerstalker hat and magnifying glass.

The original calabash pipes are made from the calabash gourd. The African variety is regarded as the best to use, as the European (usually Greek) calabash gourds rarely have the right shape favoured by the pipe makers.

The main part of the calabash pipe is the top, bent stem of the African calabash gourd. The actual bowl, in which the tobacco is smoked, is an insert, often of meerschaum or porcelain. Which is inserted into the hollowed out gourd stem, with the aid of a cork gasket.

A ferrule, of wood, or plastic, or other suitable material, is inserted into the narrow part of the gourd stem. This is to take the bent vulcanite pipe stem which is the part which goes into the mouth of the smoker. If that stem were to be inserted directly into the gourd there would be a good chance of cracking or breaking it.

Some calabash pipes are decorated with silver bands, even a silver cover around the top of the bowl. So we can see that these pipes are pretty labour-intensive. Making them expensive these days.

Calabash pipes smoke cooler and drier than many other types of pipe, because it’s construction means that the smoke passes from the bottom of the actual smoking bowl into the empty space of the gourd beneath, which takes away a lot of the heat and strength of the smoke.

Now, where Sherlock Holmes comes in. The construction of the calabash pipe gives it a low centre of gravity. This allows the smoker to easily hold the pipe in the mouth alone. Actors would take advantage of this property, as it allowed them to depict their character smoking a pipe while leaving the hands free for other “business”. Think of Basil Rathbone and William Gillette, who both played Sherlock Holmes.

In fact Sir Arthur Conan Doyle never actually wrote of Sherlock Holmes smoking a calabash pipe, and Sidney Paget in his illustrations usually had Holmes smoking a long-stemmed (churchwarden) pipe.

We know that Sherlock Holmes himself preferred very strong, harsh tobacco, and would probably never have given the calabash the time of day, due to it’s mellowing effect upon the smoking mixture.



By: Chris Haycock

About the Author:

It has been said that the American detective story began sometime in the later nineteenth century. Many critics give credit to an author named Anna Katherine Green for starting this American version of what was already an interest in Europe. Shortly after the budding of what we call the beginning of American detective stories, the realization was that even the first American detective story was influenced in some way by Europe. Whether it was influenced by one of the earlier novels such as Collins, or even by one of Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes tales, it is uncertain, but it was almost surely derived from Europe. The plots and themes all point to the European influence and rules.

It was later largely realized that the most significant difference between the American version and the English version is the language. The American crime story is much more harsh and blunt. The language that an American crime story entails is various and is much like the blend in our current society whereas the language in a classic English derived crime story is more upper class English and not as corrupt with obscenities or just plain old regular American dialogue. American crime stories blend perfectly the everyday speech that is commonly heard in this vast melting pot of different cultures and heritages

These pulp fiction stories were truly the first real stories that can be called American in almost every sense. The corruption of the social life in America and the prohibition that was ongoing in larger cities spurred a sort of revolution. This disgruntlement had to show its face somewhere and pulp fiction stories became the method of choice for many writers. The Black Mask was one such pulp magazine publication that actually lasted for quite some time before finally being killed off sometime in the nineteen fifties.

Pulp magazine stories gave way to the hard – boiled detective stories around the nineteen twenties. This type of story focused on the tough guy detective. They were stories of gangsters and the like. They were definitely no comparison to Sherlock Holmes, who despite his cleverness, was not perceived as being much of a tough guy.

Book publications of American detective fiction appeared in the late twenties and the early thirties made this action more popular among writers and publishers alike. Even though these stories that were made into books had most likely already appeared in pulp magazine publications somewhere along the line, the writer had to be one of the best available. It was not common to allow someone who was not one of the best in the field to be published, therefore, only the top pulp writers were offered such a special achievement. Others were simply not good enough, by publishing quality standards, to spend the time and money on.

Books opened the door to television and the detective program was born. This type of show offered a short story that was acted out on live television. Most of these were badly acted and had poor characters but they were able to evolve over the years into something much more desirable to watch. With some of the current crop being actually quite good.



By: Chris Haycock

About the Author:

The use of a main character is neccessary in any story, so that one may have a point of view for basis. This point of view allows the reader to be more knowledgeable about what is going on in the character’s head. It gives insight to thoughts and feelings of the character and lets the reader know when the character is feeling pain or is just plain exhausted. It would be unnecessary to have more than two main characters to be used as reference and it is really more difficult for the reader to be able to distinguish between the thoughts of more than one person, let alone more than two.

Readers must be able to locate a happy medium when reading and writers have to be able to provide that happy medium. In classic detective writing, it is important to create a main character, the detective. The detective can be formal or informal but it is important to establish his attitudes and morals. The character is almost as important as the story that it helps to tell. If a character was produced that had no background, the reader would not understand completely why the character did what he did. Common phrases of the character are also helpful to have on hand because that is a trademark of the character. Think of Sherlock Holmes, what is one phrase that is best remembered of Doyle’s oh so popular detective? “Elementary, my dear Watson, elementary.” People commonly use that phrase even now, in this day and age, in a kind of silent homage to the character. Despite the fact that Doyle never actually had Holmes utter that phrase.

This detective can be crazy or just a little off in the head. It doesn’t matter as long as the character is well brought out and foreshadowed. Such characters must be able to be imagined by the reader so that they may hold the reader’s attention during even the slowest period in the book or short story. There is no supernatural power that can be used by the character because that is completely against the rules in the classic detective story. These stories are modest, simple tales of crimes that have been committed by someone unknown. The crime must be solved and the detective must be the hero at the end of the story. The detective cannot, however, commit the crime that is being investigated. No matter how interesting it may seem to put that into the story, again, it is against the rules of the classic detective fiction story. The character must be winning, genuine, and have minor quirks that normal or slightly abnormal individuals have. Make the character as real as it can be.

If the writer chooses to make a second main character, this character should be able to flow evenly with the other main character. Such is the use of Watson in Doyle’s tales of Sherlock Holmes. Although Watson may not be a main character exactly, he is definitely a main supporting character whose thoughts and feelings are aware to the reader.If one can effectively create a winning character and a winning storyline, the rest will be history.

By: Chris Haycock

About the Author:

Classic detective stories are now just that, classics. They opened the door for writers with vivid imaginations and well grouped wordings to fantasize a world of crime and crime solving. The early writers composed their stories in such similar detail that one could easily compare one story from one author with that of another in the same genre. Many stories exist, but only a few are deemed notable by critics.

The authors of many of what are now considered classic detective fiction genre wrote by a certain set of rules. These underwater metal detector were occasionally broken and bent but the storyline never strayed far from the original rules that were set in place.

Many call these types of stories “Who Done Its” but they can be classified under the name of classic detective fiction’. The story follows a general set of rules. These rules were originally published by Ronald Knox to give the writer a clear set of boundaries when writing detective fiction. Written in the heyday of classic detective fiction, the rules are as follows:

From Fr. Ronald Knox’s famous The Ten Commandments List for Detective Novelists

· The criminal must be someone mentioned in the early part of the story, but must not be anyone whose thoughts the reader has been allowed to follow.

· All supernatural or preternatural agencies are ruled out as a matter of course.

· Not more than one secret room or passage is allowable.

· No hitherto undiscovered poisons may be used, nor any appliance which will need a long scientific explanation at the end.

· No Chinaman must figure in the story.

· No accident must ever help the detective, nor must he ever have an unaccountable intuition which proves to be right.

· The detective must not himself commit the crime.

· The detective must not light on any clues which are not instantly produced for the inspection of the reader.

· The stupid friend of the detective, the Watson, must not conceal any thoughts which pass through his mind; his intelligence must be slightly, but very slightly, below that of the average reader.

· Twin brothers and doubles generally, must not appear unless we have been duly prepared for them.

If these rules were followed completely, it would be difficult to constantly generate new plots and stories. One must offer variety to the reader; variety of the plot and storyline as well as of the characters and instances. If Sherlock Holmes were a writer, how would he have solved this catastrophe? “Elementary, my dear Watson”. That is how. He would develop an elaborate tale and, no matter the circumstances, he would weave the tale effortlessly around the reader just like his creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Doyle cleared the way for other writers to become more spontaneous in their writing while still being somewhat focused on the rules. His elaborate bending of those rules gained him the popularity among readers that he so deserved. Would Sherlock Holmes have been as interesting if he had never stumbled upon a crime? Of course not.

Among good reads, the classic detective fiction novel should come in somewhere near the top, mixed with various other genres. Such collections as The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is still a good seller and can be found at nearly any bookstore due to the still common popularity. Such readers may occasionally have to special order some items though; due to the length of time those novels have been in existence. If there were more good fictional detective novels gracing the shelves of the bookstores today, there would not still be the demand for those fantastic pieces that were created so many years ago.

The reader requires constant entertainment and most of these classic detective fiction novels can provide that to them easily. Although some of the terms and phrases are now somewhat outdated, it is still a most interesting read for the well versed reader to pick up and follow. The books that aren’t exactly highlighted or featured any longer always pique the interest of the most self respected reader. To find such books, one must simply do the research and ask if need be since there are many that are still in print.

In these stories, the reader embarks upon an interesting journey through time to a world where things are still much simpler than the life of today. There are still crimes however, since that is what the book focuses on in depth. A theft may have occurred and subsequently caused a murder. The hero is, of course, the detective. This character is proficient in the means of detecting crime. His attitudes and morals can be described by the author in several different ways, but the general view of the detective is intelligence. If the detective is not perceived as intelligent, how should he be able to solve the crimes that the police cannot? The author makes it interesting of course, using clever phrases and great character descriptions to involve the reader as much as possible in the storyline. The reader often thinking or trying to figure out who the culprit is that committed this crime.

This is why a lot of these novels are referred to more commonly as the “Who Done It” type of book. The author creates an issue, a crime, and the reader is ultimately trying to figure out who committed the crime all throughout the book. If it is written in any great detail whatsoever, the reader will be roped into the book in no time flat; desperately reading on to try to figure out which character committed the crime and exactly how it was pulled off by that character. Doyle was definitely one of the leading writers of the fiction detective novel with his amazingly unusual novels portraying crimes that some would not have thought about being committed. But Doyle could not have accomplished the worldwide recognition of such stories without his leading character, Sherlock Holmes, gracing the pages and solving the crimes at just the right point in the story. This is one of the reasons that his character is so loved, and has to rate today as the classic detective in the classic detective novel.

Do you remember that haunting song by the Beatles, the one with the line “Eleanor Rigby died in the church and was buried along with her name, nobody came”?

A very sad song, and at the time it was rather out of keeping with the type of songs that we had come to expect from the ‘fab four’.

Just to remind you, here are a couple of verses of that song.

“Eleanor Rigby picks up the rice in the church where a wedding has been

Lives in a dream

Waits at the window wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door

Who is it for?

All the lonely people, where do they all come from?

All the lonely people, where do they all belong?

Eleanor Rigby died in the church and was buried along with her name

Nobody came

Father McKenzie wiping the dirt from his hands as he walks from the grave

No one was saved

So, who was Eleanor Rigby, and was she a real person or was she just a figment of the imagination, something like ‘lovely Rita, meter maid’?

Well, I was playing some gigs recently in Liverpool, and although my evenings were busy, the rest of the day was free and so I decided to use my spare time to do some research into this and to try and find out if there really was an Eleanor Rigby.

I looked up a few points of reference in the local library, donned my Sherlock Holmes hat, and set off for a suburb of Liverpool known as Woolton.

In the Anglican church there you will find a typical English churchyard, surrounding the church, and you will find many tombstones, but one headstone in particular caught my attention.

Wait for it. The headstone is dedicated to an Eleanor Rigby.

Having located such an interesting gravestone I then began to ask myself if any of the Beatles lived anywhere nearby. And guess what? As a child John Lennon used to live in Menlove Avenue, which is very close to the church.

This made me think back to my childhood, and I remember as a young boy I and my friends would often play in our local churchyard, playing hide and seek and other games behind the headstones.

Therefore it is not unreasonable to assume that John Lennon also probably often went into this churchyard, and would have seen the headstone dedicated to Eleanor Rigby.

Now unfortunately I only had a couple of days in Liverpool so I was not able to dig any deeper into this, but I intend to return soon and continue my research.

I want to spend some time going through the church records, and I would like to see what I can find out about the other people mentioned on Eleanor,s headstone.

If you would like to be kept posted on this, and kept up to date with my research, then please click on the following link. You will be taken to a page and near the bottom you will find my email address. Just send me a note saying keep me informed or something like that, and I will email you whenever I have found out some fresh information.

Click on Eleanor Rigby to be kept updated.

By: John Savage

About the Author:

The Hansom cab, as favoured by Sherlock Holmes as a method of getting around the city, is, or rather was, a horse-drawn carriage. Designed and patented by one Joseph Hansom, an architect from York, in 1834.

Hansom realised that there was a need for a lighter, more manouverable, type of transport than the Hackney carriage at the time so they invented ghost hunting equipment.

The Hackney carriage was much more cumbersome, being a four wheeled carriage, drawn by a pair of horses, and seating six people. By contrast, the Hansom was much lighter, only two wheels, and only needed one horse to pull it’s load of two passengers and driver.

Being much more manouverable, able to turn round in it’s own length, speedier, and able to cope easily with the congestion that was already becoming notorious in London at the turn of the century, the Hansom rapidly became popular. The fact that for a given journey they were quite a bit cheaper than the Hackney did no harm for their reputation either.

Of course, as today, many journeys were undertaken by just one or two people, (Holmes and Watson for example), and often the Hackney carriage was only a third full. However, as Hansoms were not totally enclosed, the front of the cab had just folding doors which protected the occupants feet and legs from mud etc. and they soon gained a reputation as being a bit “racy”, it was not done for ladies to travel alone in them.

The original Hansom cab, as designed by Joseph Hansom, was to combine speed with safety, having a surprisingly low centre of gravity, which made cornering safe. This design was altered by John Chapman, who felt that it was not sufficiently practical. However, although the design was altered, the patent held, and the name Hansom cab was retained.

The cab, as previously mentioned, sat two passengers comfortably, three at a squeeze. The driver sat behind and above the cab on a sprung seat, giving him visibility and control. The passengers were able to communicate with the driver through a trapdoor just behind their heads in the roof. The occupants would also pay the driver through this trapdoor. He would then operate a lever, releasing the door so they could get out. Problems with non-payers even then!

Over the years the cab was modified, with the addition of a glass window above the doors to enclose the passengers, and a curved fender mounted in front of the doors to stop flying stones etc. thrown up by the horse’s hooves. Depending upon which illustrations, films, and TV shows you have seen you will probably have seen Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson use all these varieties.

At the height of their popularity there were around 3000 Hansom cabs in use in London, and they had spread to many other cities and large towns in the UK. They were also popular in Europe, being particularly well represented in Paris, St. Petersburg, and Berlin. By the late 1890′s they had been introduced to the United States, where they were in common use in New York City in particular.

The Hansom cab remained poular until the 1920′s, when the internal combustion engine had found it’s way into cheap, reliable transport for the masses. Surprisingly however, the last Hackney cab licence was not issued until 1947. Quite a success story.

Classic detective fiction is the type of fiction that really makes a reader focus on the pages. These types of stories are not generally very gory or bloody as such stories can be today, but they do hold some blood and gore inside the pages; they just release it shortly and at proper intervals. The history of classic detective fiction is interesting to say the least.

Most critics agree that classic detective fiction rose from the pages around 1841 when the famous Edgar Allen Poe wrote the story of The Murders in the Rue Morgue. His character, Dupin, is able to solve the crimes that were unable to be solved by the police thereby paving the way for future detectives to come along and do the same. He created the dazzling detective who attempts to solve the perplexing crime and the aloof colleague (or friend) who records every bit of the case in detail. The police, of course are lost. They appear to be unsure of which road to follow and by the end they are completely astonished as everything is laid out before them by the hero (the detective).

After Poes discovery and subsequent tale, there were many attempts at successful detective fiction but none were notable until Recollections of a Detective Police Officer by Waters. At this point, the stories had become almost unreadable since there really was no literary attempt. The end to hack writing came in 1859 when Wilkie Collins The Woman in White forced other writers to show some sort of a literary effort to be able to compete. The other notable novel that followed in Collins footsteps was Hugos Les Miserables (1862) which is still immensely popular in theatre today.

Novels such as this were published for years, giving the public reason to believe that there would never be an evolution of the genre. However, in 1887, Sherlock Holmes emerged from the pages of Beetons Christmas Annual. Unfortunately, the original story did not take off at first. The intricate character had seemed doomed to fade into the pages and be lost forever. Four years later, in 1890, Lippincott picked up Doyle and put him on contract to write more Holmes stories. Strand magazine also began publishing Doyles detective stories. This is when the craze began. The first stories were combined into a book to form a series. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes was enormously successful, and so was the following series, The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, even though Doyle made a decision to kill of Holmes in this series. Of course, since this was now a very popular character, the death of Holmes generated anger and protest among the public. The demand for Sherlock Holmes was greater than ever. Although Doyle obviously did not want to do it, he was finally forced to bring the character back to life around 1905 to appease both the public and the publishers.

This character and the cases that he participated in changed the way that detective fiction would be written from then on. Doyle is now considered to have paved the way for the Golden Age of Detective Fiction.



By: Chris Haycock

About the Author:

The earlier forms of detective fiction often influence the writers of the same or similar genres in the present. The question is how can such writers ever hope to create a more popular character than that of the famous Sherlock Holmes? Could this really be such an impossible feat? The possible is not possible unless one makes it so. Therefore, it is not completely impossible to create such a world renowned character; it just has not been accomplished as of yet.

There are several good detective fiction stories circulating currently but the fact is that none of those characters are quite as fascinating to the public as the character of Sir Arthur Conan Doyles fictional detective stories played out by one Sherlock Holmes. Although this character was a simple man of objective science, he was also just a man. He could be insolent, conceited, and even bizarre while still being humble and even somewhat normal at times. The image that was painted in the minds of the readers by Doyle was that of a slightly atypical male human being that would commit slightly atypical, yet still human, actions. He was a bit unconventional; a bit on the unusual side as we would politely put it today. This is possibly what drew so many followers of Sir Arthur Conan Doyles fantastical tales. But, is Holmes still as popular today as he was one hundred years ago?

If one were to poll the general public and ask them to name a famous detective in literature the most common name that would be given would still be that of Sherlock Holmes. Is this simply because the name is so unusual or is this because the character has welded himself into the mind of the reader forever? Unfortunately, there is no answer to that question; the reader must decide that for him or herself. But, take into consideration that Sherlock Holmes has existed for well over a century. How many characters are still discussed in detail long after the pen has left the paper? There are very few that have earned such a privilege. The classic detective fiction era, therefore, will probably be a constant reminder as well as a basis for more modern detective fiction for many years to come.

In one sense, that makes Sherlock Holmes somewhat of an icon. He is the epitome of the fictional detective stories of the classic era and will be constantly referred to for new ideas and reference when creating a new character. The hope of the writer is that one day an at least equal character will arise from the pages to take on the crime solving of the future. This would preferably be a character with an equivalent amount of gusto and overall emphasis for crime solving that Sherlock Holmes possessed. A character that is human and commits acts of the human; a character with interesting thoughts and feelings who is able to take the reader on an extraordinary journey just by opening a book is the one that will most definitely be able to capture such an esteemed resonance in the world of literature.



By: Chris Haycock

About the Author:

When people think of detectives, the most commonly thought of is Sherlock Holmes. He is one character of classic detective fiction that has remained popular throughout the years despite the fact that he has not been changed in well over the past one hundred. His fan base remains strong and active and the books of the stories that he appears in still sell quite well. The first book to include his adventures has been in print for around one hundred and twenty years.

This character has even been killed off, well, more like while fighting an evil counterpart (Professor Moriarty) and the entangled duo fell over the Riechenbach Falls, but it is all the same in death. So, why did he return to grace in a later compilation of tales? The fans and publishers refused to let him go. The character was so loved and popular that the fan base and the publishers of the books refused to allow Doyle to end his literary reign. It was demanded that Sherlock Holmes be brought back to life. And, so he was. How many other characters exist that have done this? Granted, there are actually a few; especially in the more recent years but in those earlier times this was almost unheard of. There were no immortal detectives! Until Sherlock Holmes, that is.

The reasons are still unknown why Doyle wanted to end the stories of Sherlock Holmes; even though his other works would never gain him the popularity with the fans that the Holmes stories had. This once struggling writer was now ready to end the overwhelming popularity that had gained him recognition around the world. That was so unlike a popular fiction writer. Most wanted and strived for the popularity that Doyle had been lucky enough to find. For one to try to throw it away so easily when others are practically begging for it, one must wonder; why? Is it possible that Doyle had grown tired of the character? Was Doyle just not used to having such a large amount of people await the writings that he produced?

The character had his quirks; there was no doubt about that. He was, at times insolent and conceited, and at other moments quite innocent and aloof but all in all he was a well rounded man. He based his observations on the simple science of things and did not want to believe that there could be any other answer for the reason something had occurred. Supernatural or spiritual events were non existent in his thoughts and he hardly ever came near that way of thinking in any of the stories. The study of science could be a long and drawn out process but he always managed to come up with the truth by the end of the story; showing the police where they had went wrong during their investigations. Early detective fiction brought with it the rise of this great character which is one of the reasons that this type of story will live on for many more years.



By: Chris Haycock

About the Author: