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Posts Tagged ‘Sherlock Holmes’

Sherlock Holmes Walks In London

Tuesday, April 27th, 2010

THE MAN WHO MURDERED SHERLOCK HOLMES
An Exclusive Preview From our new film that you will soon be able to buy on our London Walking Tours.

Well the winter has well and truly gone, and the sun is shining. Mark Ubsdell and Richard Jones took a break from conducting our various London walks and  have been working on the new Sherlock Holmes documentary throughout the winter and we’re pleased to announce that the trailer for it is now live. Much time was spent walking the streets of London and Edinburgh throughout what just happened to be the coldest winter for thirty years. But, thanks largely to Marks hard work and dedication, our next drama documentary “The Man Who Murdered Sherlock Holmes” is almost ready and you will soon be able see it on our various Sherlock Holmes London walks.

The drama-documentary really is a stylish piece that features interviews with some of the world’s leading Sherlockian academics. There are some fantastic dramatic reconstructions, a specially composed soundtrack and in between Richard introduces you to the streets of London and Edinburgh and the various locations that featured in the life of Conan Doyle and the world of Sherlock Holmes.

So take a look at the preview trailer. We hope you enjoy it.

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Haunted Britain, Sherlock Holmes and London walks

Monday, January 25th, 2010

What a  great, though snowy, week I spent in Edinburgh! But now it’s back to London and my regular Walks.

The Haunted Britain trips have been turning up some real gems and the book is set to meet the deadlines in time for its publication on Halloween. I’m off down to Somerset this week ( I couldn’t make it there the other week because I got turned back by the snow) and will be trying to count the stones at Stanton Drew Stone Circle.

The recent snow played havoc with our London ghost walks, but we soldiered on and many of our walkers chose not to take up our offer to transfer to another night. I have to say London was really atmospheric in the snow and, although sub zero, virtually all those who chose to soldier on said how atmospheric it made the old streets of London. Those who we did transfer were very impressed, not to say grateful, that we offered the transfer service. We even phoned people up and actually offered them the option to transfer, and those who had transport problems on the night were also transferred. This is something we’ve been doing ever since we started taking bookings back in 2005. Unlike other London walks we like to limit the number of people on our tours to a sensible and manageable number, which is why we ask people to book in advance. But we also understand that things can go wrong (the recent snow being a great example of this) so we always ask that people call us should they encounter any problems.

In addition we now  have  twelve top flight Blue Badge Guides conducting our tours, several of whom have done tours for other London walks, and they all say how much they prefer our system because it is far simpler and much more guide/client friendly.

A Little Sherlock Holmes Information

I was joined in Edinburgh Mark Ubsdell because part of the reason for being up there, in addition to researching my new Haunted Britain book, was to film the great new documentary we’re working on about Sherlock Holmes and his creator Arthur Conan Doyle. Did you know that when Conan Doyle wrote the first Sherlock Holmes stories he’d spent very little time in London? In fact it was the streets of Edinburgh he was  picturing when he wrote the first stories. I have to say that Edinburgh looked truly magical in the snow and we got some great location shots. We also conducted interviews with several Surgeons at the Royal College of Surgeons; filmed at  the site  of Conan Doyle’s birthplace, from which the statue of Sherlock Holmes is currently missing because of the work on the trams in Edinburgh, and even filmed Dr Joseph Bell’s grave (the man upon the character of Holmes was part based). We also looked at Conan Doyle’s friendships with J. M Barrie and Oscar Wilde.

We’ll be filming in London next week and then the documentary will be all but complete. We’ll post details of when its ready on the website.

In the meantime it’s back to the haunted London walks at weekends and, of course, our nightly Jack the Ripper tour of London.

All the best.

Richard

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London and Edinburgh Walks

Monday, January 11th, 2010

Richard is currently off in Edinburgh working on his new book Haunted Britain, and also will be filming for his new Sherlock Holmes Documentary on Thursday and Friday.

Edinburgh is, of course, the place where Arthur Conan Doyle met and studied under Doctor Joseph Bell, the man upon whom he partly based the character of Sherlock Holmes, and the film will take in  both the birth place and the grave of the man who inspired one of fictions most iconic detectives.

In London next week the documentary will take in several locations covered on Richard’s Sherlock Holmes London walks that pertain to the story of how Sherlock Holmes was created.

Robert Downey Jnr, who plays Sherlock Holmes in the new Guy Ritchie movie also played the title role in Chaplain and there is a connection between Holmes and Chaplain in that, in 1905, William Gillette reprised his role as Sherlock Holmes at the Duke Of York Theatre in London and a young Charlie Chaplain appeared on stage alongside him.

The new documentary will feature interviews with some leading Sherlock Holmes academics, Surgeons and experts on 19th century London history.

The first batch of interviews were done blue screen just before Christmas and the backgrounds of 19th century London are going to be put in later this month.

So all in all a busy and exciting month and we’ll have some more information on the new drama documentary, currently under the imaginative title ‘Sherlock Holmes’ and of Richard’s book on Haunted Britain.

Be sure to follow Richard’s Edinburgh rambles on his dedicated blog http://haunted-britain.blogspot.com.

Next week he returns to London and will again be conducting his Haunted London walks.

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Back to London and The Walks.

Friday, January 8th, 2010

Richard got back to London yesterday having spent four days battling through some of the most atrocious weather conditions to have afflicted the country in over 30 years.

On Tuesday he managed to get through to the wonderful Harvington Hall and Walked over the fields to find it blanketed in snow. This lovely old red brick manor house has over 13 priests hides and is a real treasure of bygone England.

Harvington Hall Covered in Snow

Harvington Hall Covered in Snow

Later that day he headed over to Hanbury House and again trudged through the snow to explore its ghostly heritage and get a few snaps of it shrouded in a blanket of pristine snow.

Yesterday, Thursday, he headed for Shipton Under Wychwood, where he reacquainted himself with an old spectral friend Brother Sebastian who haunts the Shaven Crown Hotel.

From there it was off to Burford to glimpse a somewhat gruesome reminder of what all flesh becomes.

This effigy is under one of the tombs in Burford Church.

This effigy is under one of the tombs in Burford Church.

You can see the stories about these places at Richard’s Haunted Britain Blog.

Last night he arrived back in London to allow plenty of time for him to prepare for tonight’s London Ghost Walk. Our walks have been taking place all week, well it’s only snow after all, and as we say we go rain, shine, or thick snow. However, we have offered all our clients the option of transferring to another date should they be unable to make the tour and several have availed themselves of the offer.

Tomorrow night he will be conducting his Haunted London walk around the alleyways and the shadows of the old city, and then on Monday, weather willing, it’s off to Edinburgh to visit more haunted locations and film for his new Sherlock Holmes Documentary of which more at a later date.

So, with the New Year now very much upon us it is most certainly full steam ahead on our London walks.

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Haunted Britain - A Most Haunted Journey

Sunday, January 3rd, 2010

Tomorrow Richard will set off on his journey around Haunted Britain. Time, and snow, willing he hopes to cover Oxfordshire, Bucks, Herefordshire and Worcestershire this week and possibly get down as far as Somerset.

He will be chronicling his journey on a daily blog that he hopes to update several times a day with photographs and even videos which, thanks to a new dongle, should in theory be uploaded as and when the photos are done.

You will be able to follow Richard’s tongue in cheek accout of his journey on his blog at Haunted Britain - A Most Haunted Journey .

A week tomorrow Richard will be taking the train to Edinburgh and, in addition to collecting ghostly tales, he will also be presenting a documentary on Sherlock Holmes (or at least on Dr Joseph Bell who part influenced Conan Doyle as he created the character of Sherlock Holmes).

We hope to get a few snippets of this film online in the coming weeks so that you will be able to have a peek at the Edinburgh that inspired Sherlock Holmes.

Incidentally you can have a look at clips from a film that Richard made in 2009 about  Haunted London.

In the months ahead we’re going to be providing access to several of your great films on London.

Once back from Edinburgh Richard will be filming a segment on Sherlock Holmes in London which will also go live in late February. So all in all there’s lots of great stuff in the pipeline for 2010.

But, in the meantime, why not follow Richard’s Journey through Britain’s Most Haunted Places by Clicking here?

The intention is to update the blog at least once, hopefully more, times a day so why not become a follower and chart Richard’s progress around this Spectred Isle?

The blogs here.

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Start the New Year With a London walk

Friday, January 1st, 2010

Happy New Year. Why not blow away the cobwebs by taking one of many London walks that will show you the hidden places of this magical City?

A good starting point for this London Walking Tour is Temple Underground Station.

Turn right out of the station and then swing left along the Victoria Embankment. Having crossed over Temple Place pause to admire the ferocious silver dragon that stands on a plinth by the road. He is the guardian of the City of London and marks the boundary where the City of Westminster ends and the City of London begins.

Continue past him and go left through the first gate you encounter.

The arch ahead might look familiar if you’ve seen the new Sherlock Holmes movie as it features in the film.

Keep going up the incline of Middle Temple Lane and pause in the courtyard on the left. To your left is Middle Temple Dining hall which dates from the 1570’s.  A little further along go right through the arch and enter Pump Court. High up on he wall on the left is a sun dial that dates from the 1680’s and on which you will read the motto “shadows we are and like shadows depart.”

Keep ahead through the cloisters and on your left is one of London’s true treasures Temple Church which was built by the Knights Templar in 1185. It features in the film and the book of Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code.

Go clockwise round the church and when on its other side cross to the railings where, on the ground, you will find the tomb gravestone of author Oliver Goldsmith.

Backtrack and, at the end of this first walk, go right and out through the fate onto Fleet Street.

Take a stroll along Fleet Street looking our for the magnificent clock on St Dunstan’s In The West, which dates from 1683 and where two giants still chime the hour.

If you keep going all the way along Fleet Street and then over and up Ludgate Hill you will come to St Paul’s Cathedral.

On just a short walk you will have seen much, explored some lovely old parts of London and ended at one of her iconic sights and sites.

These are the sort of things that our London walks make possible. If you would like a print off free tour of London then why not enjoy our Harry Potter London Tour simply send an email request to

harry-potter-pdf@discovery-walks.com

and our automated dispatch will send it to you by return.

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Walks of London - Sherlock Holmes

Wednesday, December 9th, 2009

On Boxing day the new Sherlock Holmes Guy Ritchie film will go on general release in London. There is some debate at the moment as to whether or not Arthur Conan Doyle ever intended  Holmes to be the action hero as portrayed by Robert Downey Junior who plays  him in the movie.

Debate aside, however, some great locations that we cover on our various London walks were used in the film.

Richard was asked by a lady on his London ghost walk on Friday where she could see the archway that is featured in the trailer. The arch in question is the entrance into the Temple, which features two of the Inns of Court. To get to it you can go to Temple Underground Station (which incidentally is where our free Harry Potter London locations  tour  begins). Turn right out of the station, left along Victoria Embankment. Then just keep ahead until, shortly after passing the silver dragon that marks the boundary of the City of London, you will come to a gateway on the left. Turn in through the gate and, lo and behold, the archway in question is directly in front of you.

Another location that features in the trailer, and one that we visit on several of our London walks, is the church of St Bartholomew the Great, which is located close to Barbican Underground Station. Dating back to 1123 this is London’s oldest parish church and is a truly atmospheric place where time well and truly stands still. The church also featured in Robin Hood prince of Thieves, Four Weddings and a Funeral, The Other Boleyn Girl and Shakespeare in Love, so it’s a bit of a super star in its own right!

So there you have two locations in the new Sherlock Holmes film which feature on our London walks  and which, even if you don’t take a walk with us, are well worth visiting on your own.

We also have a full set of articles on Sherlock Holmes and Arthur Conan Doyle   that you can read.

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Sherlock Holmes Murdered By The Author!

Wednesday, November 11th, 2009

Our London walks around Baker Street inevitably cover 221B Baker Street, the fictional address of the Greates Detective of all time - Sherlock Holmes.

Holmes, of course, was created by Dr Arthur Conan Doyle and on our Baker Street London walks we tell the story of how he came to create Holmes and Watson.

By 1892 Arthur Cnoan Doyle was having huge success  with his Sherlock Holmes stories that were appearing in The Strand magazine.

But he was growing somewhat tired of his creation and, as we explain on our various Sherlock Homles London walks he believed that the popularity of Sherlock Holmes was having an adverse effect on his more serious work.

This it was that the author began plotting ways that he might kill off his famous creation, or as he put it in a letter to his mother findin a way of  “winding him up for good and all. He takes my mind from better things.”

Ever the pragmatist his  mother questioned the wisdom of doing away with Sherlock Holmes and told him that he might do as he saw fit  responded with the advice “ but,” sh warned him, the crowds will not take this lightheartedly.”

But Conan Doyle’s mind was made up and, in1893, he wrote The Final Problem, which appeared in The Strand magazine in the December of that year. Readers were horrified to read of Holmes was sent plunging over the edge of  the Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland, in the company of Holmes’s arch-enemy Professor Moriarty.

Almost immediately two thousand angry readers cancelled their subscription ot The Strand in protest at the killing off of Sherlock Holmes by his creator. Conan Doyle was astonsished at the reaction his action generated amongst the British Public. Indignant letters poured in from disgruntled Holmes fans. City workers in London Walked around in black arm bands to mourn his passing. Even members of the Royal family were said to have been greatly upset by the demise of Sherlock Holmes.

But as far as Conan Doyle was concerned he had most certainly done the right thing and he now felt immense relief at being freed to concentrate on more worthwhile pursuits.

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London walks and Tate Modern

Monday, September 21st, 2009

When our London walks cross over the River Thames via the Millennium Bridge the view of all those on the tours is captivated, some might even say dominated, by a massive building on the south bank of the River Thames.

This building is Tate Modern but it was formerly Bankside Power Station which closed in 1981 when the price of oil (it was an oil powered power station) rose so steeply that keeping it open simply wasn’t economically viable.

It was a year after this closure that Richard Jones began offering his London walks to the public and the area on the south bank was totally different then.

In those days Bankside was made up of derelict warehouses, dark and sinister little alleyways that snaked behind the warehouses and echoing railway tunnels.

Clink Street, which features on both our Shakespeare and Dickens London walks, was a particularly sinister street. Indeed it was so sinister that in the 1980’s film Murder By Decree, which starred Christopher Plummer as Sherlock Holmes trying to solve the mystery of the Jack the Ripper murders, this area was used to substitute for the streets of Whitechapel.

But then two things happened to change the area. Firstly, Sam Wanamaker realised his life long dream to rebuild Shakespeare’s Globe Playhouse on the south side of the River Thames. Secondly, in 1994, The Trustees of the Tate Gallery, who were looking to establish a new museum to house their modern art collection, acquired the old Bankside Station and launched an international architectural competition for a design that would transform the old Bankside Power Station into a suitable art gallery for their collection.

Their were over 70 entries but a young Swiss company were the winners because they submitted a plan that advocated working with what was left of the Bankside Power Station.

Thus in the year 2000 Tate Modern was opened by Queen Elizabeth 11 and over five million people a year now cross its threshold to admire, criticise, laugh and enjoy their collection.

So when you next join one of our London walks that corsses the Thames via the Millennium Bridge and you look up at the tall building with the soaring chimney, you will now know exactly what it is.

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