The View From Alex. Kane

11 January 2011

“What on earth is this?” I cried, for at this moment there came the pattering of many steps in the hall and on the stairs, accompanied by audible expressions of disgust upon the part of our landlady.

“It’s the Baker Street division of the detective police force,” said my companion, gravely; and as he spoke there rushed into the room half a dozen of the dirtiest and most ragged street Arabs that ever I clapped eyes on.

“Tention!” cried Holmes, in a sharp tone, and the six dirty little scoundrels stood in a line like so many disreputable statuettes. “In future you shall send up Wiggins alone to report, and the rest of you must wait in the street. Have you found it, Wiggins?”

“No, sir, we hain’t,” said one of the youths.

“I hardly expected you would. You must keep on until you do. Here are your wages.” He handed each of them a shilling.

“Now, off you go, and come back with a better report next time.”

He waved his hand, and they scampered away downstairs like so many rats, and we heard their shrill voices next moment in the street.

“There’s more work to be got out of one of those little beggars than out of a dozen of the force,” Holmes remarked. “The mere sight of an official-looking person seals men’s lips. These youngsters, however, go everywhere and hear everything. They are as sharp as needles, too; all they want is organisation.”

(Stud. 42)

At this moment there was a loud ring at the bell, and I could hear Mrs. Hudson, our landlady, raising her voice in a wail of expostulation and dismay.

“By heavens, Holmes,” I said, half rising, “I believe that they are really after us.”

“No, it’s not quite so bad as that. It is the unofficial force—the Baker Street irregulars.”

As he spoke, there came a swift pattering of naked feet upon the stairs, a clatter of high voices, and in rushed a dozen dirty and ragged little street Arabs. There was some show of discipline among them, despite their tumultuous entry, for they instantly drew up in line and stood facing us with expectant faces. One of their number, taller and older than the others, stood forward with an air of lounging superiority which was very funny in such a disreputable little scarecrow.

(Sign 126)

The Baker Street Irregulars are mentioned only once by name in the Canon, although it seems reasonable to infer that Simpson, the ‘small street Arab’( Croo.419); and ‘Holmes’s own small but very efficient organization’ (Lady 948), are also, along with ‘the Baker Street division,’ references to the Irregulars.

Yet the paucity of material and background hasn’t prevented a whole sub-genre of Holmesiana—including comic books, television series and a growing library of books for children—from blossoming; particularly in the past thirty years.

Indeed, it’s precisely because there is so little information that writers have been able to ‘play the game’ so successfully. We know that Wiggins is the nominated (by Holmes at least) leader; that numbers seem to vary (6 in Stud., 12 in Sign., and an ‘organization’ in Lady); that Holmes pays them to be his eyes and ears; and that they were around for a considerable period of Holmes’s career.

I hadn’t really thought very much about the Irregulars until my daughter (who is 12) stumbled across some books in our local library and asked me about them. We borrowed a few and enjoyed them enormously.

Some of the very best stuff is from Anthony Read and his Baker Street Boys cycle of adventures. Read was the writer responsible for the BBC’s Baker Street Boys series shown in March/April 1983 and he was also a writer/script editor during Peter Cushing’s BBC stint as Holmes in 1965. He was also a writer for Doctor Who, something he has in common with Terrance Dicks (see below) and Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss (co-creators of the new BBC Sherlock series).

Six books, based on the 1983 episodes have been published between 2005 and 2009

• The Case Of The Stolen Sparklers
• The Case Of The Disappearing Detective
• The Case Of The Captive Clairvoyant
• The Case Of The Ranjipur Ruby
• The Case Of The Limehouse Laundry
• The Case Of The Haunted Horrors

Actor Tim Pigott-Smith, who has played both Holmes and Watson, has written three books so far in his Baker Street Mysteries series:

• The Dragon Tattoo
• The Rose of Africa
• The Shadow of Evil

Read and Pigott-Smith have taken a fairly similar approach. The Irregulars are led by Wiggins and the gang consists of both girls and boys. The stories are tightly written and easily readable; and with enough clues for the average 9-12 year olds to pick up along the way. Although not demanding reads (and both writers have a tendency to deploy modern idiom and overegg the Cockney twang) they are enjoyable little adventures in their own right, with characters who should appeal to girls and boys. And both writers keep Holmes and Watson firmly in the picture, too.

Another series, Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street Irregulars, written by the husband and wife team Tracy Mack and Michael Citrin has been ongoing since 2006:

• The Fall Of The Amazing Zalindas
• The Mystery Of The Conjured Man
• In Search Of Watson

This is what Citrin said in an interview in June 2009:

“Until I was 11 years old, I had hardly ever picked up a book, and then my father gave me his COMPLETE SHERLOCK HOLMES by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I quickly became a mystery fan and a reader.

The back page blurb on yet another series, Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street Brigade, explains:

“Even famous detectives need help. When Sherlock Holmes is stumped by London’s greatest crimes, he turns to the Baker Street Brigade—orphans Danny Wiggins, P.T. “Peachy” Carnehan, and Duff Bernard. Then it’s a race through danger and heart-stopping adventure to solve the mystery.”

Written by Jake and Luke Thoene between 1995 and 1998 the series includes:

• The Thundering Underground
• The Jewelled Peacock of Persia
• The Giant Rat of Sumatra
• The Mystery of the Yellow Hands

The London depicted by these young writers is a far cry from that described by Conan Doyle. That said, these are fast paced, inventive capers that will keep a young reader happy.

I suspect that the renewed interest in the Irregulars has a lot to do with the huge success of Harry Potter and a race by publishers on both sides of the Atlantic to tap into a young audience that wants characters and adventures they can identify with. Read, Pigott-Smith, the Thoenes and Mack/Citrin have risen well to the challenge.

One of the most prolific contributors to the Irregulars saga—albeit in an updated version— has been Terrance Dicks, who wrote a series of ten books between 1978 and 1988. His Irregulars are four young detectives who model their methods on those of the great Sherlock Holmes. Again, this was an attempt to introduce Holmes to a modern teenage audience. These books don’t have the right feel about them, in my opinion, but they are well written and plotted. I don’t, however, think that they can compete with those stories which have the Irregulars in the right settings.

• The Criminal Computer
• The Case of the Missing Masterpiece
• The Case of the Blackmail Boys
• The Case of the Cinema Swindle
• The Case of the Crooked Kids
• The Case of the Ghost Grabbers
• The Case of the Cop Catchers
• The Case of the Fagin File
• The Haunted Holiday

Later this year (2011) there will be yet another addition to the Irregulars saga, in the guise of four graphic novels.  As the marketing blurb puts it:

‘Written by Tony Lee, with art by Dan Boultwood, these four books are said to chronicle the adventures of the Baker Street Irregulars, Holmes’ street urchin aides, during the period of the Great Hiatus when Holmes was believed dead after his fateful encounter with Professor James Moriarty at the Reichenbach Falls. Stories titles are: ‘The Adventure Of The Missing Detective’, ‘The Adventure Of The Phantom Of Drury Lane’, ‘The Adventure Of  The Charge Of  The Old Brigade’ and ‘The Adventure Of The Family Reunion.’ In an effort to place the stories in Canonical context, Sherlockian expert Leslie S. Klinger was brought in as a consultant on the project.’

So, there we have it. Like Holmes and Watson themselves—and let’s not forget Professor Moriarty—the Baker Street Irregulars have joined the ranks of the literary immortals. Wiggins and his gang of urchins and street Arabs are destined to remain forever young and forever adventurous. In so doing they will serve as a welcome mat for the Canon and for ‘the best and wisest man whom I have ever known.’