Current Episode:

Wednesday, September 25, 2024

2:21 PM 0

“She responded beautifully” [SCAN] 


Occasionally — very occasionally — there are flaws in Sherlock Holmes's reasoning. Or, if not flaws, then something that doesn't quite hold up when we put our own magnifying lens against it.

There is one such example in "A Scandal in Bohemia," as pointed out by a listener. One we had never considered before, but one that is just a Trifle.

Do you have a topic you'd like to recommend? Email us at trifles@ihearofsherlock.com and if we use your idea on the air, we'll send you a thank-you gift.

All of our supporters are eligible for our monthly drawings for Baker Street Journals and certain tiers receive thank you gifts. Join our community on Patreon or Substack today.



Download | 21.3 MB, 21:19 




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Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra 
Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band 
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Wednesday, September 18, 2024

2:21 PM 0

“To a collector of fairy tales” [HOUN] 


Of the many things we know about Sherlock Holmes — or think we know about him — his knowledge of chemistry and his violin-playing skills are probably most closely associated with him.

However, in 1952, Remsen Ten Eyck Schenck pulled the evidence together and compared it with what merely passed as opinion in a Baker Street Journal article. And what he found is more than just a Trifle.

Do you have a topic you'd like to recommend? Email us at trifles@ihearofsherlock.com and if we use your idea on the air, we'll send you a thank-you gift.

All of our supporters are eligible for our monthly drawings for Baker Street Journals and certain tiers receive thank you gifts. Join our community on Patreon or Substack today.



Download | 21.3 MB, 21:19 




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Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra 
Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band 

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Wednesday, September 11, 2024

2:21 PM 0

“his attitude and manner told their own story” [SCAN] 


The tragedies on September 11 ensured that it is a date that will forever be stamped in the history books. What to do when it coincides with an episode drop date for Trifles on our monthly travel series?  

As we glanced through the Sherlock Holmes canon, we found that a number of trips and voyages were associated with tragic outcomes. Part of it was a matter of the times and the risks of traveling; others seemed to be associated with karma. Together, they're just a Trifle.

Do you have a topic you'd like to recommend? Email us at trifles@ihearofsherlock.com and if we use your idea on the air, we'll send you a thank-you gift.

All of our supporters are eligible for our monthly drawings for Baker Street Journals and certain tiers receive thank you gifts. Join our community on Patreon or Substack today.



Download | 24.3 MB, 26:31 




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Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra 
Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band 


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Wednesday, September 4, 2024

2:21 PM 0

“his attitude and manner told their own story” [SCAN] 




Last month, we lost prolific Sherlockian David Stuart Davies. But prolific doesn't quite cover it. He was insightful and delightful, he amused and schmoozed, he wrote and spoke, created and debated, was always elated.

In his memory, we're taking a deeper look at his article "First Encounters of the Holmes Kind" from Vol. 47, No. 1 of The Baker Street Journal — an essay on why "A Scandal in Bohemia" was the perfect first short story for Sherlock Holmes. It's just a Trifle.

Do you have a topic you'd like to recommend? Email us at trifles@ihearofsherlock.com and if we use your idea on the air, we'll send you a thank-you gift.

All of our supporters are eligible for our monthly drawings for Baker Street Journals and certain tiers receive thank you gifts. Join our community on Patreon or Substack today.



Download | 23.3 MB, 25:24 




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Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra 
Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band 

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Wednesday, August 28, 2024

2:21 PM 0

“he had actually won as much as four hundred” [EMPT] 


It's hard to believe, but we've managed to notch our 400th episode of Trifles. And we can't think of a better way to celebrate than by highlighting some of our favorite episodes from throughout the show.

We put our usual amount of consideration and thinking into this effort, and we think it's something that will delight old listeners as well as new. It's just a Trifle.

Do you have a topic you'd like to recommend? Email us at trifles@ihearofsherlock.com and if we use your idea on the air, we'll send you a thank-you gift.

All of our supporters are eligible for our monthly drawings for Baker Street Journals and certain tiers receive thank you gifts. Join our community on Patreon or Substack today.



Download | 22.5 MB, 24:16 



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Music credits

Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra 
Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band 





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Wednesday, August 21, 2024

2:21 PM 0

“private revenge” [CHAS] 


In "The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton," Watson tells us that a woman with a "dark, handsome, clear-cut face" lifted her veil and "emptied barrel after barrel into Milverton’s body," leaving him dead on the floor.

But in the Summer 2024 issue of The Baker Street Journal (Vol. 74, No. 2), Carla Coupe wonders if Watson wasn't giving us the whole story. It's just a Trifle.

Do you have a topic you'd like to recommend? Email us at trifles@ihearofsherlock.com and if we use your idea on the air, we'll send you a thank-you gift.

All of our supporters are eligible for our monthly drawings for Baker Street Journals and certain tiers receive thank you gifts. Join our community on Patreon or Substack today.



Download | 17.9 MB, 19:17 



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Music credits

Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra 
Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band 




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Wednesday, August 14, 2024

2:21 PM 0

“‘journeys end in lovers’ meetings,’ as the old play says” [EMPT] 


When it came to London, Sherlock Holmes preferred to stay put. That's what Paul Gore-Booth would have us believe. When he assessed the many tales, he found that most happened in London and its immediate suburbs.

But Gore-Booth went one further: he conjectured about the locales of various unpublished cases. If you know Trifles, you'll recall that we delved into some of the unpublished cases in Season 2. Together, it's just a Trifle.

Do you have a topic you'd like to recommend? Email us at trifles@ihearofsherlock.com and if we use your idea on the air, we'll send you a thank-you gift.

All of our supporters are eligible for our monthly drawings for Baker Street Journals and certain tiers receive thank you gifts. Join our community on Patreon or Substack today.



Download | 45.4 MB, 33:32 



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Music credits

Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra 
Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band 



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Wednesday, August 7, 2024

2:21 PM 0

“I did it clumsily” [DANC] 


Sherlock Holmes was a man of great precision. We learn about his attention to detail and his preferences for improving the art of detection from the very first time we meet him.

But there were instances of clumsiness — his own and from others — that crop up throughout the Canon. It's just a Trifle.

Do you have a topic you'd like to recommend? Email us at trifles@ihearofsherlock.com and if we use your idea on the air, we'll send you a thank-you gift.

All of our supporters are eligible for our monthly drawings for Baker Street Journals and certain tiers receive thank you gifts. Join our community on Patreon or Substack today.



Download | 25.4 MB, 18:32 



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Music credits

Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra 
Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band 




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Wednesday, July 31, 2024

9:53 PM 0

“I am much more anxious” [MISS] 



Four episodes ago, we began a discussion about anxiety in the Sherlock Holmes stories. We managed to make from A Study in Scarlet up through The Hound of the Baskervilles. What about the rest of the Canon?

Worry not! We continue the journey from The Return through The Case-Book. While Sherlock Holmes shows some anxiety in this half of the Canon, we'll find that his clients and others are more anxious. It's just a Trifle.

Do you have a topic you'd like to recommend? Email us at trifles@ihearofsherlock.com and if we use your idea on the air, we'll send you a thank-you gift.

All of our supporters are eligible for our monthly drawings for Baker Street Journals and certain tiers receive thank you gifts. Join our community on Patreon or Substack today.



Download | 35.8 MB, 26:07 



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Music credits

Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra 
Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band 



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Wednesday, July 24, 2024

2:21 PM 0

“she seems indeed to be on a very different level” [SCAN] 



There is one woman in the entire Canon of Sherlock Holmes stories that we can instantly recall as an adventuress. You know who we're talking about.

Can you think of at least one other off the top of your head? We'll help with that. Plus, we'll explore just how the term "adventuress" evolved and what it meant in polite society. It's just a Trifle.

Do you have a topic you'd like to recommend? Email us at trifles@ihearofsherlock.com and if we use your idea on the air, we'll send you a thank-you gift.

All of our supporters are eligible for our monthly drawings for Baker Street Journals and certain tiers receive thank you gifts. Join our community on Patreon or Substack today.

Oh, and our supporters can watch this episode on video!



Download | 26.6 MB, 19:24 



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Music credits

Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra 
Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band 


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Wednesday, July 17, 2024

2:21 PM 0

“concealed it at Mapleton” [SILV] 


This month's Mr. Sherlock Holmes the Theorist episode goes back to 1949 to Volume 4, Number 1 of The Baker Street Journal and Jay Finley Christ's article "Silver Blaze: An Identification (as of 1893 A.D.).

Here Christ looks at what contemporary readers of the Strand would have thought of Watson's tale, specifically identifying which horse Silver Blaze was supposed to be. Oh, and for our Patreon and Substack supporters, we have a video version of this episode. It's just a Trifle.


All of our supporters are eligible for our monthly drawings for Baker Street Journals and certain tiers receive thank you gifts. Join our community on Patreon or Substack today.



Download | 30.2 MB, 22:01 



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Music credits

Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra 
Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band 



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Wednesday, July 10, 2024

2:21 PM 0

“I flatter myself that I could find my way about.” [HOUN] 

Photo credit: David Marcum
 
Dartmoor and its surroundings provided the perfect setting for The Hound of the Baskervilles. Not only did the area have a sense of history (and prehistory) about it, but the sparse surroundings added to the mystique.

And the wonderful part is that if we were to set foot there in 2024, we would recognize the landmarks and even some of the buildings. In 1965, Kelvin Jones took to identifying some of the real-life locations that we find in the story and it's just a Trifle.


All of our supporters are eligible for our monthly drawings for Baker Street Journals and certain tiers receive thank you gifts. Join our community on Patreon or Substack today.



Download | 41.3 MB, 30:06 



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Music credits

Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra 
Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band 




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Wednesday, July 3, 2024

2:21 PM 0

“weighed down with some great anxiety” [FIVE] 


Where would Sherlock Holmes be without fear and anxiety? It was a common state of mind for a number of his clients, but Holmes himself also exhibited anxious behavior from time to time.

In which stories can we find anxiety? Don't be nervous; we have 10 examples. But there are still more to come that will feature in a discussion in a second part. It's just a Trifle.


All of our supporters are eligible for our monthly drawings for Baker Street Journals and certain tiers receive thank you gifts. Join our community on Patreon or Substack today.



Download | 53.4 MB, 38:54 



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Music credits

Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra 
Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band 



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Wednesday, June 26, 2024

2:21 PM 0

“I sent down to Stamford's for the ordnance map” [HOUN] 

In a number of instances in the Sherlock Holmes stories, we find ourselves guided by maps. Not only as critical elements of the plot, but also as visual aids to readers.

In which stories do we find maps? And what about those that required floorplans to be sketched out as well? It's just a Trifle.

This topic was suggested by listener Ron Groenewoud, who'll be receiving a thank you gift for his efforts. If you have a topic you'd like to suggest and we use it on the air, we'll do the same thing for you. Just drop us a line at trifles@ihearofsherlock.com.

All of our supporters are eligible for our monthly drawings for Baker Street Journals and certain tiers receive thank you gifts. Join our community on Patreon or Substack today.



Download | 37.6 MB, 31:36 



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Music credits

Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra 
Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band 




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Wednesday, June 19, 2024

2:21 PM 0

“he is a remarkable linguist” [GREE] 


Sherlock Holmes has been translated into scores of languages all around the world (just ask Don Hobbs). But what languages was he fluent in or have passing familiarity with?

This is the question Dean W. Dickensheet tackles in Vol. 10 No. 3 of The Baker Street Journal in his article "Sherlock Holmes - Linguist." It's the latest in our series looking at old Sherlockian scholarship and it's just a Trifle.


All of our supporters are eligible for our monthly drawings for Baker Street Journals and certain tiers receive thank you gifts. Join our community on Patreon or Substack today.



Download | 29.6 MB, 21:36 



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Music credits

Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra 
Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band 



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Wednesday, June 12, 2024

2:21 PM 0

“We have three years of the past to discuss” [EMPT] 


Once again, we pack our Gladstone bags and prepare for an episode where we travel. This time, we head to Sussex Downs and then across the Atlantic to New York in some of the early years of Sherlock Holmes's retirement.

What brings us there is from the fertile imagination of Les Klinger, who posits a connection between Sherlock Holmes, Wilson Hargreave, and Andrew Carnegie. It's just a Trifle.


All of our supporters are eligible for our monthly drawings for Baker Street Journals and certain tiers receive thank you gifts. Join our community on Patreon or Substack today.



Download | 29.6 MB, 21:36 



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Music credits

Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra 
Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band 



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Wednesday, June 5, 2024

2:21 PM 0

“his age, and an affliction” [STOC] 

The panoply of elderly individuals in the Sherlock Holmes stories is impressive: Mr. Frankland, the old crank in The Hound of the Baskervilles, the miserly Josiah Amberley in "The Retired Colourman," Old Mr. Farquhar, the previous owner of Watson's practice.

But there were many others, some of whom go almost unnoticed. What similarities do we see among them? How did Conan Doyle's writing about them change over time? It's just a Trifle.


All of our supporters are eligible for our monthly drawings for Baker Street Journals and certain tiers receive thank you gifts. Join our community on Patreon or Substack today.



Download | 32.2 MB, 23:30 



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Music credits

Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra 
Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band 




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Wednesday, May 29, 2024

2:21 PM 0

“the flooring was also thoroughly examined” [SPEC] 


Cocoanut matting, bearskin rug, carpets — there are a number of notable floor coverings mentioned in the Sherlock Holmes stories. But flooring itself is less notable.

Case in point: linoleum, which appears as a passing mention in just three stories, was a popular alternative at the time. What do we know about the history of linoleum, how was it manufactured, and what role did it play in the Canon? It's just a Trifle.


All of our supporters are eligible for our monthly drawings for Baker Street Journals and certain tiers receive thank you gifts. Join our community on Patreon or Substack today.



Download | 36.4 MB, 26:34 



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Music credits

Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra 
Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band 

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Wednesday, May 22, 2024

2:21 PM 0

“Vast sections of it have been cleared” [BLAC] 


When you're really down in details about something — something trifling, perhaps — it's difficult to see the forest for the trees, as the saying goes.

Well, we've discussed trees in two previous episodes, so we thought it was time to look at the forests. There were scant mentions of forests in the Sherlock Holmes stories, but they're worth a Trifle.

You can make topic suggestions to us — if we choose something you recommend (like the one today!), we'll send you a Sherlockian prize.

All of our supporters are eligible for our monthly drawings for Baker Street Journals and certain tiers receive thank you gifts. Join our community on Patreon or Substack today.



Download | 29 MB, 21:07 



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Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra 
Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band 
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Wednesday, May 15, 2024

2:21 PM 0

“at Maiwand without losing my nerve” [STUD] 

Maiwand: Saving the Guns by Richard Caton Woodville, 1883 (Wikimedia Commons)

It is generally accepted that A Study in Scarlet, when Dr. Watson first met Sherlock Holmes, took place in 1881. Watson was just back from the war in Afghanistan, where he had been wounded at the Battle of Maiwand.

But in 1940, Edgar W. Smith took a closer look at the timing between the battle, Watson's recovery time, travel to London and hotel stay, and came to a much different conclusion. He wrote it up in a pamphlet and it's just a Trifle.

You can make suggestions as well — if we choose a topic you recommend, we'll send you a Sherlockian prize.

All of our supporters are eligible for our monthly drawings for Baker Street Journals and certain tiers receive thank you gifts. Join our community on Patreon or Substack today.

BONUS: a digital scan of Smith's original pamphlet is available to our Patreon and Substack supporters.


Download | 29 MB, 21:07 



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Music credits

Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra 
Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band 
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Wednesday, May 8, 2024

2:21 PM 0

“Stop at a telegraph-office, cabby!” [SIGN] 


Cabbies are everywhere in London – indeed, so common in some cases that they're simply overlooked (we see you, Jefferson Hope!). Could Sherlock Holmes have passed himself off as a cabby?

There are certainly points in his career when it would have made sense. And a paper given at a Sherlock Holmes society in Denmark points in that direction. Hop on board with us in this monthly travel series episode! It's just a Trifle.

You can make suggestions as well — if we choose a topic you recommend, we'll send you a Sherlockian prize.

All of our supporters are eligible for our monthly drawings for Baker Street Journals and certain tiers receive thank you gifts. Join our community today.




Download | 26.1 MB, 19:03 



Links / Notes

  • "The Thomas Hogram Letters" by Sven Ranild is an expanded and translated version of a paper delivered in Copenhagen on September 19, 1987, at the Centenary Dinner of the Sherlock Holmes Klubben i Danmark and it appeared in the Summer 1991 issue of The Sherlock Holmes Journal.
  • Episode 124 - Odd Jobs
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Music credits

Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra 
Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band 
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Wednesday, May 1, 2024

2:21 PM 0

“very curious phraseology” [WIST] 


Here's an interesting little subject that ought to intrigue many Sherlock Holmes fans: words. We are a literate bunch, and when we get to learn more about words — especially words with which we're unfamiliar —  that makes us happy. 

This topic was suggested by listener Jennifer Cassasanto, who was curious about some of the foreign and antiquated terms in the Canon. Fair warning, though: this is a pun-filled zone. Word nerds unite! It's just a Trifle.

You can make suggestions as well — if we choose a topic you recommend, we'll send you a Sherlockian prize.

All of our supporters are eligible for our monthly drawings for Baker Street Journals and certain tiers receive thank you gifts. Join our community today.




Download | 41 MB, 29:52 



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Music credits

Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra 
Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band 
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Wednesday, April 24, 2024

2:21 PM 0

“kept as a secret among them” [DEVI] 


When Dr. Leon Sterndale said there was only one known specimen of radix pedis dioaboli – devil's foot root – in a laboratory in Buda, it was clear that it was a poison unknown to science.  

Just what was it that was "used as an ordeal poison by the medicine-men in certain districts of West Africa"? Dr. Robert Ennis had an idea related to a substance we know well today, based on his observations in emergency rooms. And it’s anything but a Trifle.

All of our supporters are eligible for our monthly drawings for Baker Street Journals and certain tiers receive thank you gifts. Join our community today.

This is one of those episodes when we announce the winner. Was it you?



Download | 34.5 MB, 25:10 



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Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra 
Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band 
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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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