The Adventure of the Red-Headed League
| "The Adventure of the Red-Headed League" | |
|---|---|
| Author | Arthur Conan Doyle |
| Series | The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes |
| Publication date | 1891 |
| Client(s) | Wilson |
| Set in | Oct 1890 |
"The Adventure of the Red-Headed League" is one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Arthur Conan Doyle. It first appeared in The Strand Magazine in August 1891, with illustrations by Sidney Paget. Conan Doyle ranked "The Red-Headed League" second in his list of his twelve favorite Holmes stories. It is also the second of the twelve stories in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, which was published in 1892.
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[edit] Plot summary
Jabez Wilson, a red-haired London businessman, comes to consult Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson. He tells them that that some weeks before, his young assistant, Vincent Spaulding, urged him to respond to a newspaper want-ad offering work to only red-headed male applicants. The next morning, Wilson had waited in a long line of fellow red-headed men, was interviewed and was the only applicant hired, because none of the other applicants had hair to match Wilson's red locks.
Wilson, whose business mainly operates in evenings, was well-paid, receiving four pounds a week for several weeks (equal to £330 today);[1] the work was obviously useless clerical work in a bare office. Finally one morning, a sign on the locked office door inexplicably announced that "THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE IS DISSOLVED."
Wilson then went to the landlord, who said that he'd never heard of Duncan Ross, the person who managed the league office. The landlord did remember the tenant with scarlet hair and gives him a card which directs Wilson to an artificial knee company. Wilson ends the story with how frustrated he is losing the four-pounds-a-week.
Holmes and Watson laugh a little over the ridiculous situation, but Holmes assures him that by Monday they would have the case solved. After Holmes' client, Wilson, leaves (having given the detective a description of Spaulding), Holmes decides to go and see Spaulding, whom Holmes notices has dirty trouser knees. Holmes then taps on the pavement in front of the pawnbroker's shop. With the case solved, he calls Police Inspector Jones and Mr. Merryweather, a director of the bank located next door.
The four secrete themselves in the bank vault and confront the thieves, John Clay, who has a long history of criminal activity already, and his helper Archie. Under the alias of Spaulding and Ross, they had contrived the 'Red-Headed League' rigmarole to keep Wilson out of his shop while they dug in the basement, in order to break into the bank vault next door.
Back at Baker Street, Holmes explains to Watson how he solved the case.
[edit] Analysis
The dates given in the story do not match the characters' descriptions of time passing. The date that Wilson sees the advertisement is April 27, 1890 and he has been at work for 8 weeks (~2 months) at copying out in longhand, the Encyclopædia Britannica. He comes to Sherlock Holmes and shows the advertisement, when Doctor Watson reads it and says "Just two months ago." .[2] Thus that happened by end of June. However the date on the door telling of the league being dissolved is that of October 9, 1890, 6 months after the ad was placed. The two previous dates are consistent and thus this October date is incorrect, if it has any meaning.
Dorothy L. Sayers analyzed this discrepancy and claims that the dates must have been August 4 and October 4 respectively.[3]
[edit] Adaptations
The story was adapted for a 1951 TV episode of Sherlock Holmes starring Alan Wheatley as Holmes.[4]
The first American adaptation of the story was in the 1954 TV series starring Ronald Howard.
An adaptation of "The Red-Headed League" was used for an episode of the 1965 television series Sherlock Holmes starring Douglas Wilmer as Holmes and Nigel Stock as Watson.[5]
In the 1985 television adaptation starring Jeremy Brett, the scheme was masterminded by Professor Moriarty and Clay is Moriarty's star pupil of crime.
A radio adaptation aired on April 26, 1977, on the CBS Radio Mystery Theater. Kevin McCarthy was the voice of Holmes.
[edit] In other media
In the Sherlock Holmes parody Without a Clue, starring Michael Caine and Ben Kingsley, Clay and Archie are shown breaking into the Royal Gallery.
In early editions of Arthur Conan Doyle's autobiography, Memories and Adventures, he mentions an organization called "The Glove" as an inspiration for The Red-Headed League. In later volumes this reference has been removed.
The plot of the story was used by The Deaf Man as a means to confuse the detectives of the 87th Precinct in the Ed McBain novel The Heckler. The Muppet Sherlock Holmes comic-book series has the story as its third edition.
The Monk episode "Mr. Monk and the Employee of the Month" borrows heavily from this story.
The 21st December 2011 episode of an Indian Sitcom, F.I.R. (TV series) drew substantially from this story.
The Law & Order: Criminal Intent pilot "One" borrows some concepts from this story.
[edit] References
- ^ UK CPI inflation numbers based on data available from Lawrence H. Officer (2010) "What Were the UK Earnings and Prices Then?" MeasuringWorth.
- ^ Arthur Conan Doyle, "The Penguin Complete Sherlock Holmes" (penguin 1987) pp.178
- ^ Dorothy L. Sayers, "The Dates in The Red-Headed League", reprinted in 17 Steps to 221B Baker Street (George Allen and Unwin, 1967) pp.57-67. Sayers' analysis is somewhat tongue-in-cheek In the Foreword to Unpopular Opinions, in which this essay also appeared, Sayers says that the "game of applying the methods of the Higher Criticism to the Sherlock Holmes canon... has become a hobby among a select set of jesters here and in America."
- ^ IMDb - "Sherlock Holmes" The Red-Headed League (TV episode 1951)
- ^ The Red-Headed League (1965) - IMDb
[edit] Wikimedia links
Works related to The Red-Headed League at Wikisource 
Media related to The Red-Headed League at Wikimedia Commons
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