Talk:Baker Street Irregulars/Archive 1

Archive 1

Although I couldn't find a reference for this, I believe the British SOE (Special Operations Executive) during World War 2 was known as "the Baker Street Irregulars" because they occupied several offices on 83 Baker St. in London.

Bow Street Runners

This seems only marginally related, plus the Bow Street Runners were long defunct by the 1880's, not contemporaries of Holmes or Doyle. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Elakazal (talk • contribs) 05:04, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

Where else?

The article asserts the original fictional band of street urchins was found in the "Sherlock Holmes stories", yet I can only recall seeing them in A Study in Scarlet. Did they show up anywhere else so as to justify the plural? TCC (talk) (contribs) 03:19, 17 January 2006 (UTC)

The Sign of Four, at least.[1] Daibhid C 16:00, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

Buckaroo Banzai credit

This term obviously came into being due to the film The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, whose fans and fictional legion associated with Buckaroo is called Blue Blazers Irregulars.. Or is it the reverse..?

In any case, there should be some sort of mentioning however brief it should be. DrWho42 00:04, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

You have got to be kidding. TCC (talk) (contribs) 04:03, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

Mmm, I'm suspecting I got it reversed... DrWho42 04:07, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

"The Baker Street Irregulars" were first mentioned in A Study in Scarlet, written in 1886. The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension came out in 1984. So you're not even a century off! Hazards of time travel, I suppose...

It might be worth a mention in the "popular culture" section anyway. TCC (talk) (contribs) 04:46, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

Definitely worth a mention in the "Influence on other Popular Works" section. Steamboat28 (talk) 03:17, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

The Baker Street Irregular Astronomers section

The whole The Baker Street Irregular Astronomers bit (1) doesn't seem related and (2) reads like promotional material from the group -- so much so that I'd be floored if it wasn't inserted y a group representative. I'm deleting the section. Feel free to revert, but if you do, please discuss here. mcgees.org (talk) 08:49, 26 December 2010 (UTC)

Wrong illustration

The illustration is of Billy the pageboy, not a Baker Street Irregular. 173.21.54.229 (talk) 21:11, 6 March 2012 (UTC)

Unsourced content from the Literary society section

Today an editor hid a considerable amount of text in the Literary society section and left an edit summary that reads, "Hiding material until better references are available, this reads like promotional material". After reviewing the guidelines at Help:Hidden text, I have moved this large amount of text to the talk page for future consideration. This content was marked as having no footnotes since March 2015. Please consider adding this content back into the article when sources are given. — WFinch (talk) 15:44, 27 January 2016 (UTC)

Formal members are known as investitures, and bear club titles derived from the Holmes stories.

The organization convenes every January in New York City for an annual dinner, which forms part of a weekend of celebration and study involving other Sherlockian groups and enthusiasts. The present leader (the "Wiggins") is Michael Whelan of Indianapolis, Indiana. The leader is elected for life and selects his successor.

The BSI is considered the preeminent Sherlockian group in the United States and one of the most preeminent in the world. There are also scion societies approved by the BSI in dozens of local communities. While most of the regional groups welcome new members, the BSI itself does not accept applications for membership. Instead, membership and the awarding of an "Irregular Shilling" are offered to those who have made a name for themselves in local groups or in Sherlockian publications. Regional societies of the BSI are located around the world.

The BSI does not provide financial support to its numerous scion societies, but does provide contacts and literary resources between fans and scholars via the societies. These societies continue to flourish throughout the U.S., sponsoring events and featuring original works of Sherlockian scholarship.

Because the BSI refused membership to women until 1991, a group called the Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes was formed in the late 1960s. Its quarterly journal is titled The Serpentine Muse. Official membership in ASH, like that of the BSI, is by invitation only, and its official members are likewise given investiture names. In recent years, both clubs have welcomed both genders equally. However, ASH is a literary social club at which attendance and participation (whether in the flesh or via other media) is a serious consideration for membership—unlike that of the BSI, which at times inducts distinguished Sherlockian figures without previous person to person interaction. In addition, all ASH events without exception are open to any interested parties, while the BSI Dinner remains invite-only. ASH, as an independent group and a non-scion society, operates entirely outside the umbrella of the BSI, although a great many of its members overlap. Another notable difference is that ASH meets in New York City on the first Wednesday of every month, and the BSI officially meet once a year during the January BSI Weekend.

The vast majority of this information is quite accurate and I'm sure can be sourced in the literature, although exactly which Sherlockian publications are RS's for wiki purposes might be a fine line. I might do some rewriting; for example, I would not quite say that "ASH meets in New York City on the first Wednesday of every month," as the "ASH Wednesday" dinners are not formal meetings. Nor do I think our article needs to get into the details of the BSI's and ASH's membership criteria; on the other hand, it would be worth mentioning that there are BSI events, other than the annual dinner, that are open to all interested Sherlockians, not just to the invested BSIs. The publications issued by the BSI, including the manuscript series, warrant attention. There is an infinite amount of information that could be provided about all of this, but let's see what level of detail people think would be reasonable here. Newyorkbrad (talk) 15:59, 27 January 2016 (UTC)

Thank you, NYB, I'm glad you spotted this. — WFinch (talk) 16:27, 27 January 2016 (UTC)