Current Episode:

Wednesday, June 17, 2026

2:21 PM 0

“a rough familiarity” [LAST] 


According to one Sherlockian scholar, there is material in "The Musgrave Ritual" that is strangely familiar. You may or may not have picked up on it before. We certainly didn't.

E. Butler Richards, in Vol. 9 of Baker Street Miscellanea, wonders if Watson or Holmes was pulling the wool over our eyes in this entry from an early part of Holmes's career. Does he succeed in convincing us of his thesis? It's just a Trifle.


If you have a question for us, please email us at trifles@ihearofsherlock.com. If you use your inquiry on the show, we'll send you a thank you gift.

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Don't sleep on "Trifling Trifles" — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode. We release these at the beginning of every month. The latest episode is "for those with ears attuned to catch the distant view-halloo!" This is a benefit exclusively for our paying subscribers. 
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Download | 25.4 MB 22:54



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Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra
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Wednesday, June 10, 2026

2:21 PM 0

“Funds were wanting, however” [STUD] 


Not every case Sherlock Holmes took involved a crime. Often times, clients were dealing with a puzzling situation or a conundrum without a crime. And taking their cases to Sherlock Holmes was the best recourse.

And a number of these cases involved clients who were in a bit of a financial jam. Interestingly these cases all appeared in fairly close succession. Coincidence? Perhaps it's just a Trifle.


If you have a question for us, please email us at trifles@ihearofsherlock.com. If you use your inquiry on the show, we'll send you a thank you gift.

There's a new "Trifling Trifles" episode out — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode. We release these at the beginning of every month. The latest episode is "for those with ears attuned to catch the distant view-halloo!" This is a benefit exclusively for our paying subscribers. Check it out (Patreon | Substack).

Our Merch Store is now open: Trifles mugs, notepads, and oval stickers can be yours (or someone else's, if you'd like to make it a gift). Start shopping today. 


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Download | 21.5 MB 23:01



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Wednesday, June 3, 2026

2:21 PM 0

“Corresponding member of the Swedish Pathological Society” [HOUN] 


When James Mortimer, M.R.C.S. left behind his walking stick in The Hound of the Baskervilles, it was filled with clues — enough to lead Watson to his medical directory, which listed Mortimer as a member of the Swedish Pathological Society.

In his 2008 Morley-Montgomery Award-winning article in Vol. 58, No. 4 of The Baker Street Journal, Mattias Boström, BSI ("The Swedish Pathological Society") determined that Mortimer's membership was an impossibility. He explains why and it's just a Trifle.


If you have a question for us, please email us at trifles@ihearofsherlock.com. If you use your inquiry on the show, we'll send you a thank you gift.

There's a new "Trifling Trifles" episode out — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode. We release these at the beginning of every month. The latest episode is "for those with ears attuned to catch the distant view-halloo!" This is a benefit exclusively for our paying subscribers. Check it out (Patreon | Substack).

Our Merch Store is now open: Trifles mugs, notepads, and oval stickers can be yours (or someone else's, if you'd like to make it a gift). Start shopping today. 


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Download | 21.9 MB 23:04



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Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra
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Wednesday, May 27, 2026

2:21 PM 0

“To my astonishment it was Sherlock Holmes” [CROO]

What if we told you that Watson wasn't exactly honest with readers in "The Crooked Man"? That his telling of the tale masked that it was actually he, and not Sherlock Holmes, who solved the case.

John Rabe, son of old Irregular W.T. Rabe ("Colonel Warburton's Madness") questions Watson's version of "The Crooked Man" in Vol. 76, No. 1 of The Baker Street Journal. And it's just a Trifle.


If you have a question for us, please email us at trifles@ihearofsherlock.com. If you use your inquiry on the show, we'll send you a thank you gift.

Our Merch Store is open: Trifles mugs, notepads, and oval stickers can be yours (or someone else's, if you'd like to make it a gift). Start shopping today. 


Don't sleep on "Trifling Trifles" — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode. We release these at the beginning of every month. The latest episode is "for those with ears attuned to catch the distant view-halloo!" This is a benefit exclusively for our paying subscribers. 
Check it out (Patreon | Substack).


Leave Trifles a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify; listen to this episode here or wherever you get podcasts


Download | 21.3 MB 22:58



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Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra
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Wednesday, May 20, 2026

2:21 PM 0

“the business in the crypt” [SHOS] 


If you experience claustrophobia, this may not be the episode for you. Because it's all about being shut up in close spaces. And it's the monthly "Mr. Sherlock Holmes the Theorist" episode.

Denise M. Rogers walks us through the gothic theme shared between Edgar Allan Poe and some of the Sherlock Holmes stories in her Baker Street Miscellanea article "Crypts, Secret Rooms and Subterranean Passageways: Entombment as a Motif in the Canon" from Spring 1990. It's just a Trifle.


If you have a question for us, please email us at trifles@ihearofsherlock.com. If you use your inquiry on the show, we'll send you a thank you gift.

Our Merch Store is open: Trifles mugs, notepads, and oval stickers can be yours (or someone else's, if you'd like to make it a gift). Start shopping today. 


Don't sleep on "Trifling Trifles" — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode. We release these at the beginning of every month. The latest episode is "for those with ears attuned to catch the distant view-halloo!" This is a benefit exclusively for our paying subscribers. 
Check it out (Patreon | Substack).


Leave Trifles a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify; listen to this episode here or wherever you get podcasts


Download | 21.3 MB 22:58



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Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra
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Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0



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Wednesday, May 13, 2026

2:21 PM 0

“an exaggerated view of my scientific methods” [SUSS] 


We consider Watson a reliable narrator. At least we hope he is. And yet there are a number of times when Sherlock Holmes accuses his Boswell of romanticizing the factual.

Is Holmes simply taking issue with how Watson writes with a more emotional and imaginative framework? Or is it possible that Watson was also exaggerating to make the stories more exciting? It's just a Trifle.


If you have a question for us, please email us at trifles@ihearofsherlock.com. If you use your inquiry on the show, we'll send you a thank you gift.

Our Merch Store is open: Trifles mugs, notepads, and oval stickers can be yours (or someone else's, if you'd like to make it a gift). Start shopping today. 


Don't sleep on "Trifling Trifles" — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode. We release these at the beginning of every month. The latest episode is "for those with ears attuned to catch the distant view-halloo!" This is a benefit exclusively for our paying subscribers. Check it out (Patreon | Substack).


Leave Trifles a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify; listen to this episode here or wherever you get podcasts


Download | 27.9 MB 30:12



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Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra
Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band.
Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0



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Wednesday, May 6, 2026

2:21 PM 0

“the hidden wickedness” [COPP] 



Vincent Starrett eventually became the dean of American Sherlockians, widely recognized as the foremost expert and significant collector, in part due to his publication of The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes in 1933. This month's Morley-Montgomery Award episode comes to us from Starrett expert Ray Betzner, BSI ("The Agony Column") from Vol. 57, No. 3 of The Baker Street Journal.

But before that book made its way to the public, a chapter appeared in a rather unusual place. For Starrett, who was accustomed to his Jimmy Lavender series appearing in, shall we say, less than family-friendly places, his Sherlock Holmes material appearing there must have been just a Trifle.


If you have a question for us, please email us at trifles@ihearofsherlock.com. If you use your inquiry on the show, we'll send you a thank you gift.

There's a new "Trifling Trifles" episode out — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode. We release these at the beginning of every month. The latest episode is "for those with ears attuned to catch the distant view-halloo!" This is a benefit exclusively for our paying subscribers. Check it out (Patreon | Substack).

Our Merch Store is now open: Trifles mugs, notepads, and oval stickers can be yours (or someone else's, if you'd like to make it a gift). Start shopping today. 


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Download | 25.6 MB 26:27



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Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra
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Wednesday, April 29, 2026

2:21 PM 0

“As to your dates, that is the biggest mystification of all.” [CREE] 



If you want to know five different options for dates of a Sherlock Holmes story, all you have to do it get four chronologists together. Such is the case with "The Five Orange Pips."

In the mid-1990s, Les Klinger, BSI ("The Abbey Grange") looked at evidence within the story and external to it to determine if Watson's claim of 1887 would hold up. Along the way, he tested the assumptions of many other Sherlockians before him. It's just a Trifle.


If you have a question for us, please email us at trifles@ihearofsherlock.com. If you use your inquiry on the show, we'll send you a thank you gift.

There's a new "Trifling Trifles" episode out — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode. We release these at the beginning of every month. The latest episode is "for those with ears attuned to catch the distant view-halloo!" This is a benefit exclusively for our paying subscribers. Check it out (Patreon | Substack).

Our Merch Store is now open: Trifles mugs, notepads, and oval stickers can be yours (or someone else's, if you'd like to make it a gift). Start shopping today.


Leave Trifles a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify; listen to this episode here or wherever you get podcasts


Download | 25.6 MB 26:27



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Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra
Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band.
Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0



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Wednesday, April 22, 2026

1:19 PM 0

“spat out some atrocious word” [CREE] 


One of the curiosities of Victorian and Edwardian life that doesn't get much attention, at least in Sherlockian conversation, is that of spats.

This curious piece of attire related to footwear gets a scant two mentions in all of the Sherlock Holmes stories (do you remember who is mentioned as wearing them?), but its history and evolution are even more fascinating. It's just a Trifle.


If you have a question for us, please email us at trifles@ihearofsherlock.com. If you use your inquiry on the show, we'll send you a thank you gift.

There's a new "Trifling Trifles" episode out — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode. We release these at the beginning of every month. The latest episode is "for those with ears attuned to catch the distant view-halloo!" This is a benefit exclusively for our paying subscribers. Check it out (Patreon | Substack).

Our Merch Store is now open: Trifles mugs, notepads, and oval stickers can be yours (or someone else's, if you'd like to make it a gift). Start shopping today.


Leave Trifles a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify; listen to this episode here or wherever you get podcasts


Download | 25.3 MB 27:20



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Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra
Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band.
Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0



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Wednesday, April 15, 2026

12:48 PM 0

“This little group forms the real family” [WIST] 


Baker Street Miscellanea is the source of this month's Mr. Sherlock Holmes the Theorist episode. Rev. Raymond Holly, in Number 50, Spring 1987, wondered who "The Real Three Garridebs" were. Or namely, one of them.

He brings us into French Napeleonic territory on this journey of discovery. How does Brigadier Gerard connect with the problems of Nathan Garrideb? It's just a Trifle.


If you have a question for us, please email us at trifles@ihearofsherlock.com. If you use your inquiry on the show, we'll send you a thank you gift.

There's a new "Trifling Trifles" episode out — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode. We release these at the beginning of every month. The latest episode is "for those with ears attuned to catch the distant view-halloo!" This is a benefit exclusively for our paying subscribers. Check it out (Patreon | Substack).

Our Merch Store is now open: Trifles mugs, notepads, and oval stickers can be yours (or someone else's, if you'd like to make it a gift). Start shopping today.


Leave Trifles a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify; listen to this episode here or wherever you get podcasts


Download | 19.8 MB 21:44



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Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra
Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band.
Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0



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Wednesday, April 8, 2026

11:33 AM 0

“he arranged a number of breadcrumbs” [PRIO]  


Toast is a simple accompaniment of breakfast that we take for granted. We place bread in an appliance and minutes later, we have a perfect slice of toast.

It wasn't quite so simple in Victorian times. How was toast cooked in Mrs. Hudson's kitchen? And in which stories do we even find toast mentioned? It's just a Trifle.


If you have a question for us, please email us at trifles@ihearofsherlock.com. If you use your inquiry on the show, we'll send you a thank you gift.

There's a new "Trifling Trifles" episode out — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode. We release these at the beginning of every month. The latest episode is "for those with ears attuned to catch the distant view-halloo!" This is a benefit exclusively for our paying subscribers. Check it out (Patreon | Substack).

Our Merch Store is now open: Trifles mugs, notepads, and oval stickers can be yours (or someone else's, if you'd like to make it a gift). Start shopping today.


Leave Trifles a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify; listen to this episode here or wherever you get podcasts


Download | 22.2 MB 22:23



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Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra
Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band.
Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0



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Wednesday, April 1, 2026

2:21 PM 0

“researches which have a medico-criminal aspect” [DYIN]  


This month, the Morley-Montgomery Award brings us up to the year 2006, when Harold Billings pulled out some serious research originating in Edinburgh.

His article "The Materia Medica of Sherlock Holmes" in Vol. 56, No. 3 of The Baker Street Journal helps us understand the sources Holmes may have used for his non-traditional education in the medical field. It may be more than just a Trifle. 


If you have a question for us, please email us at trifles@ihearofsherlock.com. If you use your inquiry on the show, we'll send you a thank you gift.

There's a new "Trifling Trifles" episode out — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode. We release these at the beginning of every month. The latest episode is "for those with ears attuned to catch the distant view-halloo!" This is a benefit exclusively for our paying subscribers. 
Check it out (Patreon | Substack).

Our Merch Store is now open: Trifles mugs, notepads, and oval stickers can be yours (or someone else's, if you'd like to make it a gift). Start shopping today.


Leave Trifles a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify; listen to this episode here or wherever you get podcasts


Download | 22.8 MB 24:21



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Music credits

Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra
Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band.
Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

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Wednesday, March 25, 2026

2:21 PM 0

“through the courtesy of Mr. Moriarty” [FINA]  


As a student and practitioner of the latest forensic sciences as they pertained to the world of crime, Sherlock Holmes was on the cutting edge. He even wrote a number of monographs on topics related to crime.

One might think that among them we might find "on the use of fingerprints to identify criminals." This is not the case. Why, we even had trouble finding trifling details about fingerprints in the entire Canon. Yet it's just a Trifle. 


If you have a question for us, please email us at trifles@ihearofsherlock.com. If you use your inquiry on the show, we'll send you a thank you gift.

There's a new "Trifling Trifles" episode out — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode. We release these at the beginning of every month. The latest episode is about the questionable judgment of the head of the Baker Street irregulars. This is a benefit exclusively for our paying subscribers. Check it out (Patreon | Substack).

Our Merch Store is now open: Trifles mugs, notepads, and oval stickers can be yours (or someone else's, if you'd like to make it a gift). Start shopping today.


Leave Trifles a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify; listen to this episode here or wherever you get podcasts


Download | 22.8 MB 24:21



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Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra
Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band.
Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

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Wednesday, March 18, 2026

2:21 PM 0

“through the courtesy of Mr. Moriarty” [FINA]  

Each month, we look at a bit of Sherlockian scholarship that deserves to be unearthed and explored. Together, we consider the trifling matter is concerns.

This month, we look at A.G. Macdonell's chapter "Mr. Moriarty" in the 1934 landmark publication Baker Street Studies, edited by H.W. Bell.  And it's just a Trifle.


If you have a question for us, please email us at trifles@ihearofsherlock.com. If you use your inquiry on the show, we'll send you a thank you gift.

There's a new "Trifling Trifles" episode out — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode. We release these at the beginning of every month. The latest episode is about the questionable judgment of the head of the Baker Street irregulars. This is a benefit exclusively for our paying subscribers. Check it out (Patreon | Substack).

Our Merch Store is now open: Trifles mugs, notepads, and oval stickers can be yours (or someone else's, if you'd like to make it a gift). Start shopping today.


Leave Trifles a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify; listen to this episode here or wherever you get podcasts


Download | 29.5 MB 31:50



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Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra
Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band.
Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0


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Wednesday, March 11, 2026

2:21 PM 0

“I can't stand his lordship” [MAZA]  

For hapless Americans, the titles used by peers in the Sherlock Holmes stories can be vexing indeed. One would think that Sherlock Holmes would be able to keep things straight.

Between his devil-may-care attitude toward the upper class and Conan Doyle's own lack of breeding, Damian Thompson found a decided gap in the way certain members of the peerage are titled. And it's just a Trifle.


If you have a question for us, please email us at trifles@ihearofsherlock.com. If you use your inquiry on the show, we'll send you a thank you gift.

There's a new "Trifling Trifles" episode out — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode. We release these at the beginning of every month. The latest episode is about the questionable judgment of the head of the Baker Street irregulars. This is a benefit exclusively for our paying subscribers. Check it out (Patreon | Substack).

Our Merch Store is now open: Trifles mugs, notepads, and oval stickers can be yours (or someone else's, if you'd like to make it a gift). Start shopping today.


Leave Trifles a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify; listen to this episode here or wherever you get podcasts


Download | 20.4 MB 21:41



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Music credits

Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra
Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band.
Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0



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Wednesday, March 4, 2026

2:21 PM 0

“It confirms my diagnosis, as you doctors express it.” [SIGN]  

Our latest Morley-Montgomery award episode features another dive into the medical world of Sherlock Holmes. But this time, it's about a diagnosis made by Dr. Watson.

In 2004, Costa Rossakis, MD, BSI ("St. Bartholomew's Hospital"), a trained cardiologist, investigated exactly what was going on with the nervous Thaddeus Sholto. His article (but not his diagnosis) is just a Trifle.


If you have a question for us, please email us at trifles@ihearofsherlock.com. If you use your inquiry on the show, we'll send you a thank you gift.

There's a new "Trifling Trifles" episode out — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode. We release these at the beginning of every month. The latest episode is about the questionable judgment of the head of the Baker Street irregulars. This is a benefit exclusively for our paying subscribers. Check it out (Patreon | Substack).

Our Merch Store is now open: Trifles mugs, notepads, and oval stickers can be yours (or someone else's, if you'd like to make it a gift). Start shopping today.


Leave Trifles a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify; listen to this episode here or wherever you get podcasts


Download | 24.4 MB 26:41



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Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra
Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band.
Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0




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Wednesday, February 25, 2026

2:21 PM 0

“we have had a close shave” [SIGN] 

Holmes was always clean-shaven, Watson always had a mustache. This is the way of the world of Sherlock Holmes as we know it.

But they didn't arrive at that state naturally. Like any good Victorian gentleman who eschewed whiskers, they had to shave. As did others in the Canon. We explore a bit of the history of shaving and its applications. It's just a Trifle.


If you have a question for us, please email us at trifles@ihearofsherlock.com. If you use your inquiry on the show, we'll send you a thank you gift.

There's a new "Trifling Trifles" episode out — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode. We release these at the beginning of every month. The latest episode is about the questionable judgment of the head of the Baker Street irregulars. This is a benefit exclusively for our paying subscribers. Check it out (Patreon | Substack).

Our Merch Store is now open: Trifles mugs, notepads, and oval stickers can be yours (or someone else's, if you'd like to make it a gift). Start shopping today.


Leave Trifles a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify; listen to this episode here or wherever you get podcasts


Download | 23.6 MB 25:19



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Music credits

Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra
Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band.
Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0






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Our Team

Scott Monty and Burt Wolder are both members of the Baker Street Irregulars, the literary society dedicated to Sherlock Holmes. They have co-hosted the popular show I Hear of Everywhere since June 2007.

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