Celebrations of Sherlock Holmes’s 124th birthday were deemed “unusually successful” due to the august presence of honored guests Lady Gore-Booth at the pre-prandial cocktail party and of Lord Gore-Booth, President of The Sherlock Holmes Society of London, at the dinner. Diane Nolan was fêted as The Woman. Six Irregular shillings were bestowed.
Missives from scions worldwide, including a message from Colin Prestige, Chairman of the Sherlock Holmes Society of London, were delivered with gusto. Attendees were treated to learned discourses from Lord Gore-Booth, John Bennett Shaw, Dr. David Musto, Dr. Charles Goodman, and Will Oursler. According to Julian Wolff’s notes, the latter was in fine form: “Without detracting from the others, it must be said that Will Oursler was in rare form; in fact, many in the gathering claimed that they actually understood what he was talking about.”
Dinner Details: January 6, 1978
The Regency Hotel, 540 Park Avenue, New York
Dinner Photo Information
Click on the above photo to see a larger version of it, and maximize your browser window to see the most detail.Key to People in the 1978 BSI Dinner photo (not available at this time)
BSI Honours List
Investitures:Forrest Athey as The Hammerford Will Case
Ted Bergman as The Honourable Philip Green**
Saul Cohen as John Ferrier
Thomas Dandrew II as The Naval Treaty
Cameron Hollyer as The Three Students
Wayne B. Swift as The Giant Rat of Sumatra
* received Investiture at another event during the year
** in absentia
What is an Investiture?
Two-Shilling Award:
Richard W. Clarke
What is a Two-Shilling Award?
The Woman:
Diane (Mrs. Norman S.) Nolan
What is The Woman honour?
"Stand with me here upon the terrace..."
(as named at this Dinner, not their year of passing)
Not listed in the 1978 BSJ report.
What is the origin of “standing on the terrace?”
Morley-Montgomery Award:
Jack Tracy, "'St. Saviour's, near King's Cross'"
The Baker Street Journal v27 n4 (December 1977) pp. 213-218 (available in the eBSJ).
What is the Morley-Montgomery Award?
Reports on the Dinner
The Baker Street Journal v28 n2 (June 1978) p. 111, 123 (available in the eBSJ).List of 1978 BSI Dinner Attendees (not available at this time)
Recordings
None available online at this time.Related Material
1978 BSI Dinner Menu (digitized image at Harvard)Two pages. Cover and interior. Sequence 70-71
Niver, Harold, Toast to Dr. Watson’s Second Wife (digitized image at Harvard)
Presented at the 1978 BSI Dinner
Previous dinner: the 1977 BSI Dinner
Next dinner: the 1979 BSI Dinner
For an index to all BSI Dinners and photos, see our BSI Dinner Summary list.
The BSI Archive is located at the Houghton Library at Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Archival material may be used by any qualified scholar, subject to the normal rules and regulations of the Library. For links to a detailed finding aid and related information, see our BSI Archive at Harvard page.
Page composed on 12/13/2015 by Tamar Zeffren
This page last updated 1/5/16 by Andrew Solberg.
