Silver Blaze

Today is my husband’s birthday and therefore it is quite a coincidence that I should be writing about Silver Blaze, as it is his favourite Sherlock Holmes story.

Husband used to be a racing journalist and remains a very knowledgeable admirer of the sport. I suppose it is quite natural therefore, that Silver Blaze should be his favourite. As today is his birthday, my little blogging challenge is causing a degree of friction between us. He wanted to go out for the day, have Sunday lunch in a lovely country pub and spend the afternoon walking together before celebrating with a few friends tonight - but what about the blog? My suggestion that we stayed in tonight so that I could re-read Silver Blaze and write my blog was met with - “It’s like you’re having an affair with Sherlock Holmes, he certainly gets more of your attention than I do.”

I must admit that trying to cope with my full time job at our busiest time of year, helping to look after my mother who has dementia and write this daily blog is quite a challenge. Yes, husband is being neglected.

So as I will be out tonight, here’s a quick round-up of my thoughts on Blaze, which is easy really because I absolutely love the story too and re-reading it was a pleasure.

Followers of my blogs will know that Blaze was my favourite Granada episode because they captured the humour and adventure aspect of the original so perfectly, and Jeremy Brett was on top form.

But the actual story has much to shout about too from the playful way Holmes toys with a sceptical colonel Ross to the way he deduces the truth about what really happened to the thoroughbred out on the moor.

Everything is brilliant; the way Holmes knows that the stable boy was poisoned because the curry would have been strong enough to disguise it, the discovery of the groom’s double-life, the significance of the lame sheep and, of course, the immortal line about the curious incident of the dog in the night-time. What’s not to love in this clever, inventive tale? 9 out of 10.