Jeff Sobel for his extraordinary knowledge of armaments, not least the weaponry Watson has recourse to. Jeff’s father, Dean Eli Sobel, was the ever-helpful Head of Department when I was an undergrad and grad student at UCLA.
Sara Wise for her superb review in The Lancet of the Museum of London’s Sherlock Holmes Exhibition 2014/2015 Sherlock Holmes: The Man Who Never Lived and Will Never Die, at www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2814%2962325-4/fulltext#
Elisabeth Thurlow, Archivist, Guardian News & Media, for the historical information from the Manchester Guardian on the attempt on the Sultan’s life in July 1905.
Cdr Peter White RN Ret., Britannia Association. This master of the Royal Navy’s complex etiquette gave me the idea for the important scene where Holmes and Watson are revealed as counterfeit naval officers. As Commander White explained, on short journeys a naval sword is always carried and never hooked up. To get on or off a pinnace, the ‘Senior Officer’s Carry’ would be employed. Holmes and Watson didn’t know this arcane bit of naval etiquette... with unexpected results.
Paul Smith, Thomas Cook’s Archivist, for mapping out Holmes’s and Watson’s journey from London to Gibraltar in 1906, according to the May 1906 edition of Cook’s Continental Timetable. A final journey by steamer would have brought the pair to Gibraltar. The minimum time required for this journey was 104 hours.
Michael Pritchard FRPS, Director General of the Royal Photographic Society, coming up trumps on photography of the period. It was he who brought to my attention the Sultan’s Adams quarter-plate De Luxe hand camera with red-leather covered body and 18 carat gold fittings, the most expensively produced camera in the world.
Michael Palmer, Archivist & Deputy Librarian, Zoological Society of London for great help concerning the lay-out of the Regent’s Park Zoo in 1906. The Birdhouse at London Zoo: although the building that is now the Bird House did exist in 1906, it was built and used as the Reptile House until 1927, when it was converted to the use of birds.
Dr Robert Elgood. SOAS Department of the History of Art and Archaeology. World expert and Research Fellow on Eastern European, Islamic and Asian Arms and Armour. Was at the Wallace Collection 2006-2012.
Menelaos Danellis. Researcher and collector of Ottoman period bladed weapons and firearms volunteering at the Middle East Department of the British Museum. His advice on The Sword of Osman enabled Holmes to recognise the forgery and identify the ringleader of the plot.
Robert Pooley of Pooley Sword Ltd. ‘Yes, we make special presentation Swords, particularly for Arabia. If anyone has the money (considerable), we could certainly reproduce almost exactly the Sword of Osman. What you have to bear in mind with a forgery is not only has the Swordsmith got to copy the blade exactly but so has the engraver. When it comes to the crosspiece and the grip and pommel, this is very much the work of a Silversmith or Goldsmith of some distinction. To copy something is probably harder than making an original.’
Katherine Owen, Woodland Trust Ancient Woodland Restoration Engagement Manager, and Owen Johnson who compiled the Collins tree guide for Europe, for advice on trees in Turkey.
Mrs Jane VS Wickenden, MA (Oxon), DipLib. Historic Collections Librarian, Institute of Naval Medicine, for example for the description of Dr. Watson’s uniform aboard HMS Dreadnought: ‘The most distinctive part of a Surgeon RN’s uniform would be (as it still is) the red distinction cloth between the gold stripes - there would have been no “curl” at that date, and no rank division such as Surgeon Commander.’
Sophie Wilcox, librarian at the Alexander Library of Ornithology, Edward Grey Institute. http://libguides.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/alexanderlibrary who recommended such valuable reference books as Bird Wonders of the Zoo, by Lilian Gask. 1911, and The Avifauna of British India and its Dependencies, by James A. Murray. 1888/1890.
Lorna Cahill, Library, Art and Archives, Stuart Cable, Herbarium, and Christopher Mills, all at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, for wonderful help in tracing plants which may have found their way to the Sultan’s herbarium and gardens at Yildiz.
Professor Alan Dronsfield, Royal Society of Chemistry Historical Group, for his valuable knowledge of the luminous paint of yesteryear incorporated in the ghost scene.
Dr Anne B Hodgson, Department of Chemistry, University of York, suggesting the ghost’s outfit (the ghillie suit) should be rubberised for the safety of the human inside it. (Scottish gamekeepers, don’t try Saliha Naciye’s ruse at home)
Dave Johnson, Wildlife Officer/Bird Keeper, Royal Parks for his help on bird-life in Regent’s Park in the Edwardian period.
Elizabeth Loder and Kristina Fister of the British Medical Journal for valuable help in researching the Victorian approach to ‘puerperal mania’.
Prof Liz Bentley of the Royal Meteorological Society for providing weather details for May 1906 when Dr. Watson went to Regent’s Park. ‘There were some rather warm days early that May, and the temperature on the 8th almost reached 23°C. However, thundery rain followed overnight with nearly 20mm recorded. It then became much cooler, and on the 10th, the maximum temperature was only 9.8°C.’
Wesley Horton of Claremore, Oklahoma, who supplied really interesting information on his collection of code books, many acquired from the Central Code Bureau.
Howard White of Hastings who continues to drop by to chew over my latest plot and scouts out the settings I’ve used around the Sussex Weald and South Downs.
Last (but far from least), my unending thanks to Wikipedia, Google and the Encyclopaedia Britannica for putting most of the world at the touch of a keyboard, even in the very depths of the woodland in England’s High Weald where I retreat on sunny days with my laptop and canvas folding-chair. By contrast when a novelist uncle of mine, Elleston Trevor (Flight of the Phoenix and the Quiller series etc.), started writing in the 1950s, it took him up to a month just to order a book from the library in St. Peter Port for his research - assuming he knew which book he wanted.
Publications
In addition to The Charm of Birds, Edward Grey several published books far removed from his official works, such as Cottage Book and The Undiscovered Country Diary of an Edwardian Statesman (Sir Edward and Lady Dorothy Grey), dedicated to the birds, flowers and trees which enhanced and gave joy to the spring and summers spent in Hampshire.
She, by H. Rider Haggard. First Published 1886. Haggard would have been well-known to every adventurous young man of the Victorian period. He was a founder of the Lost World literary genre. Adventure novels such as King Solomon’s Mines were set in exotic locations, predominantly Africa. She, with 83 million copies sold by 1965, is one of the best-selling books of all time.
Well worth reading is a biography of Rider Haggard titled The Cloak That I Left, by his daughter Lilias. Boydell Press.
The Unveiled Ladies of Stamboul, by Demetra Vaka. Gorgias Press 2005. First published in 1923. The author was born on the island of Prinkipo, off the coast of Constantinople, and emigrated to America at the age of 17. She returned often to Turkey as a foreign correspondent.