Sherlock Holmes December 1987

Trevor Leggett was head of the Japanese Department of the BBC.

This is one of his broadcasts to Japan

Zubari for December 1987

Sherlock Holmes December 1987(page 1)

Hello listeners! One hundred years ago, one of the great British fictional characters first appeared in print: Sherlock Holmes – one story each month in the famous Strand Magazine.  They were enormously successful. The author, Conan Doyle, a talented historian, did not like to be famous as the creator of Sherlock Holmes; he wanted to be famous as a historian. So, at the end of the 24th story, Holmes was killed.

The result was amazing, The public acted as if a real person had died.  Many  young men put a black band round their hat – the traditional sign of mourning.  As many as 20,000 readers cancelled their subscriptions to the Strand Magazine.  A woman shouted at Conan Doyle in the street: “You fiend, you murderer!”

It seems surprising that, apparently, she did not clearly see the difference between reality and fiction. However, there was not much entertainment 100 years ago, and the magazines played a big part in the fantasy life of the public. We may think that such a thing could not happen today, but it can! Television is watched for the public. average of three hours a day by the British public (even more in Japan, according to the Japanese surveys).

Some television serials have run for thirty years. On one occasion, an elderly lady in the story, played by a very popular actress, could not keep an appointment because she had a bad ‘migraine headache’, Of course this was just a line in the script. But the BBC received letters from viewers, giving cures for migraine! Even in 1987, the public does not necessarily distinguish reality from fiction.

© Trevor Leggett