Sherlock Holmes and Literature After the first weeks of acquaintance, Dr. Watson wrote on his list that Holmes had no knowledge of literature. However, to an attentive reader, his mistake becomes visible almost immediately - literally a couple of pages between them.

Sherlock Holmes and Shakespeare Holmes' relationship to Shakespeare deserves a separate discussion. Still, throughout the entire epic, he quotes no less than fourteen plays by the great playwright, and one of them - "Twelfth Night" - twice, of which, as already mentioned, the Holms scholars even

Sherlock Holmes and Philosophy According to Dr. Watson, Holmes also had no knowledge in the field of philosophy. Again, the doctor was wrong. Perhaps Holmes was not particularly fond of philosophical theories, but given his deep knowledge of linguistics, history, religion and music

Sherlock Holmes and religion Of course, Holmes, like Conan Doyle, was a man of his time, so he combined rational thinking with faith in God. Without fanaticism, of course, but without the slightest sign of atheism. Conan Doyle was an ardent opponent of scientific materialism

Sherlock Holmes and Politics It is difficult to say how much Holmes was interested in politics, but one thing is certain - with a brother like Mycroft, he was aware of various nuances of management british empire, which most of the inhabitants have not heard of. Rather, we can say that

What did Sherlock Holmes smoke? Holmes was a heavy smoker, there is no doubt about that. At the first meeting, negotiating with Watson about living together, he asks: “I hope you don’t mind the smell of strong tobacco?” And in the future, he smokes in almost every

Sherlock Holmes - writer Some of the works written by Holmes have already been mentioned, but of course it is worth dwelling on this activity of his in more detail. Of course, he was not a professional writer, like Dr. Watson, all his works were scientific and / or

Sherlock Holmes and the press As you know, Holmes did not want to be written about in the newspapers. However, he was very interested in the newspapers themselves. In those days, print media were the only media, it was they who disseminated information and formed public opinion. Newspapers

Sherlock Holmes and emotions It is generally accepted that Holmes was a man of little emotion. This reputation was created for him, of course, by Watson, who wrote in "A Scandal in Bohemia": "In my opinion, he was the most perfect thinking and observing machine that the world has ever seen." To break

Sherlock Holmes and racism Strange topic, isn't it? However, it has been actively discussed since, in 2011, the Holmes stories made it to the list of famous children's books that have hidden racism. Three episodes served as the reason for this: 1) In The Sign of the Four, the author calls

Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty Anyone who has watched at least one movie about Sherlock Holmes is well aware that the main enemy of the great detective is Professor Moriarty. However, out of sixty stories about Holmes, the sinister professor appears in only ... in one. This is the story of the last

Sherlock Holmes and hand-to-hand combat In the fight against criminals, Holmes used not only the power of his mind. Since he personally conducted investigations, he often had to resort to physical force, and sometimes even use weapons. It can be established for sure that

Sherlock Holmes and drugs Even if Conan Doyle were a visionary, able to see a hundred years ahead, he could not endow his hero with a vice more relevant to future readers. Moreover, Holmes does not take the widely popular opium, but morphine (the predecessor

The popularity of Sherlock Holmes, who was born more than a century ago, is experiencing another wave. A new TV series filmed by the BBC brought the image of a famous detective to new level- stories about Sherlock and Dr. Watson now unfold in the modern world.

But this is far from the first boom associated with the name of a fictional deduction genius. Since the first appearance of the stories about Sherlock Holmes and to this day, people from all over the world write letters to him, sending them to 221B Baker Street. The house where the doctor and the detective lived is so famous that the Sherlock Holmes International Society purchased it and founded a museum named after the great detective there.

In the entire history of the existence of this character, dozens of films have been made about him, but the Soviet film adaptation, created in 1970-1980, is still considered one of the best. She gave rise to a second wave of love for Holmes. And now, the series "Sherlock" with Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, as well as feature films with Robert Downey Jr. leading role again drew attention to a man whose name is essentially synonymous with logic, deduction, detective and investigation. And at the same time, to his methods, with the help of which Sherlock Holmes came to such accurate conclusions.

Reading books and watching films about Sherlock, at first we do not understand at all what observations his logical chains are based on, how he conducts investigations and solves crimes. And all because Sherlock is an extremely mysterious person who only talks about his methods after the case is solved. After his explanations, everything seems so easy and simple - but why didn't we think of it ourselves? After all, there is no mysticism in the deductive method, it is based solely on facts.

The ability to use the deductive method is extremely useful and will be useful not only to detectives, but also to ordinary people. But is it possible to learn how to use the Holmes method? Although Sherlock is a fictional character and his image is largely exaggerated, but the method works, and it is quite possible to learn it. Moreover, the hero of Conan Doyle was copied from real person. Joseph Bell, a professor at the University of Edinburgh, had a talent that Sherlock flaunted on more than one occasion. From various details of his appearance, his clothes and manners, he guessed the profession, past and marital status.

Scientific basis

Sherlock Holmes does amazing and exciting things, but they have no scientific basis! A person who is sure that the ability to solve crimes is based on some unique abilities of the hero can say so. And it turns out to be wrong.

When an experienced practicing chemist combines various substances, their reactions can resemble a trick - they change color and structure, explode, hiss ... In general, a chemical experiment is like a real miracle. But this is for us, the townsfolk, who are not aware of the formulas. For a scientist who has devoted years to research, who has read dozens of books and scientific papers, who has received more than one burn from reagents, this is not a miracle at all, but the result of long and hard work.

But at the same time, complex long-term scientific developments can look like simple and interesting demonstrations on the verge of entertainment.

It's the same with the deductive method - it seems like everything is simple. But in fact, this is just the result of scientific research, long and painstaking research, studying tons of statistical material ... In general, boring science in its purest form.

The name of the deductive method comes from Latin word deductio, that is, inference. This means that in deduction the problem is solved by deriving the particular from the general with the help of logical laws. The catch is that in reality Sherlock did not use the deductive method in his investigations, but the opposite of it - the inductive one. It is based on the fact that the general is derived from the particular, the full picture emerges when the details are studied. But this is exactly what the great detective did - he compared the evidence and all available information, drew up the unknown details of the crime and received a ready-made chain of events.

Nevertheless, Mr. Holmes still, albeit nominally, used the deductive method, instructing his followers: “If you discard what is not comparable with the available facts, only one answer remains. And even if it seems impossible, it is correct.”

Sherlock Holmes was attentive to the clues of his intuition. He argued that sometimes it is easier to understand something than to explain to others how it was done. For example, you will not have any doubts that two times two is four. But explaining why you are so convinced of this will be much more difficult.

Sherlock Holmes owns the following phrase: “The life of any person is a long chain of causes and effects. And it is enough to know one link to unravel all the others. These words are essentially the credo of his methodology. Of course, there was no room for absurd accidents in the book, unlike real life, so Sherlock's methods worked in all scenarios. In reality, everything can not be so magical. But still development logical thinking , observation and other skills of a brilliant detective can be done by anyone. Below we will tell you about these useful acquisitions.

1. Notice and remember the little things

In the stories of Conan Doyle, it is not in vain that such a character as Inspector Lestrade is present - he shows readers errors in the methodology of investigations. One of his main oversights is the omission of small details. He was wrong so often precisely because he did not take into account all the details, but made his assumption only on the basis of those that fit into his version, discarding the rest.

Sherlock Holmes did everything exactly the opposite - he collected as much information and evidence as possible, considered all possible options and chose the only one, the most probable one. After that, the version was still tested, and only then did it become the solution to another mystery.

2. Be able to concentrate

In the moments when Sherlock was thinking about the case, nothing could distract him. He did not communicate with others, did not answer questions and became extremely unsociable. And all because he was completely immersed in the case, endlessly pondering the facts and developing versions.

In today's Sherlock, the writers made his aloofness a trait of a sociopath, but in reality, Sherlock became an introvert only for the duration of the investigations. In ordinary life, he was a sympathetic and good-natured romantic, who was beautifully portrayed by Vasily Livanov in the Soviet film adaptation.

The ability to focus on primary tasks and not be scattered on unnecessary emotions is very important for the development of the detective's abilities.

3. Gain new knowledge and improve skills

Sherlock Holmes remembered all kinds of tobacco ashes, soils in England, poisons and chemicals, seals and coats of arms, writing paper and a million other things that are not known to the townsfolk. The detective scrupulously studied everything that could be useful in his investigations. He was well versed in forensic science, managed to work as a biochemist in a hospital, played the violin, was savvy in art, had hand-to-hand combat skills, was engaged in boxing and fencing, knew Latin ... You can’t list everything. And all this was a great help in the work of the detective.

4. Build your "Memory Palace"

Sherlock Holmes easily operated on the huge amount of data that he kept in memory. To do this, he used the "halls of the mind", where he placed all the information in a certain order. This memory method does not belong Conan Doyle, he was known in ancient greece, long before the Baker Street detective showed up. It was used not only by a British detective, but also by Hannibal Lecter, a serial killer and cannibal.

The method consists in building associations, with the help of which the necessary information is fixed. All facts are in known to man building in a certain order, each data block has its own place.

It is difficult to talk about this technique in a nutshell, so it is better to familiarize yourself with separate articles on this topic - “ Cicero's method of remembering»

5. Trust your intuition

More than once it happened that it was intuition that helped Sherlock Holmes to make the right decision. At critical moments, when it was necessary to act quickly, the genius of investigations chose the path that his sixth sense told him (read - " How to develop intuition"). Of course, we are talking not about some superpowers, but about experience that leads a professional in the right direction better than any compass.

One can argue about does intuition exist and whether it is possible to trust premonitions, but Sherlock Holmes - trusted. And, most likely, he did the right thing.

6. Keep practicing

The English detective used to say that his mind was like a train. It is known that a heavy train is not easy to disperse, so Sherlock did not stop him - he constantly practiced in various logic puzzles and kept my mind sharp. Thanks to this, his “train” always raced at full speed, easily overcoming the necessary distances between the links of the logical chain.

As you can see, there are no miracles in the methods of Sherlock Holmes. With some effort, any person gifted with an inquisitive mind and patience can approach his idol - become more attentive, educated, persistent and quick-witted.

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Many generations have admired the ability of the legendary detective Sherlock Holmes to solve even the most incomprehensible riddles. In his reasoning, he adheres to facts and logic, but the main ability of Holmes can rightfully be called the power of intuition. Any person is able to use intuition for everyday observations. Set out to develop your Sherlock Holmes-like intuition to make the best decisions when interacting with other people.

Steps

Part 1

Part 4

What is deduction? Sherlock Holmes finds criminals using deduction, a method that draws conclusions from guiding theories. Sherlock formulates his theories through connections that are made through observational skills and personal knowledge.

Build a theory. A master of deduction builds theories on facts, so that later he can come to reliable conclusions based on theories.

• Look for patterns in your life. Start noticing who, what, where, why, when and how. For example, pay attention to who makes coffee in the office. It may turn out that the only person who prepares coffee until 8 am is Tatyana, the chief accountant.
• Make generalizations based on facts. Using the pattern, we can generalize that all the coffee that is prepared before 8 am will be brewed by Tatyana.
• The theory allows us to conclude that if there is no coffee in the office after 8 am, then Tatyana did not come to work.

1. Test your theory. When you build a theory based on generalizations, try to test it for validity. According to the example above, the next time there is no coffee in the office after 8 am, find out if Tatiana is there.

2. Develop ability to solve problems . This ability will allow you to use deduction to find optimal solutions. Learn to quickly find solutions to problems in order to use deduction.

   • First outline the problem and examine the facts. Collect and analyze information. All possible solutions should be compiled in the form of a list and study their shortcomings.

The answer is very simple. The first step is to ask yourself the question: “Do we need it?” And if necessary, it is quite possible. Sherlock's mind is a perfect, but narrowly sharpened tool. If we recall the lists of what the main character had to give up, and this is mentioned in the first stories of Conan Doyle, it is clear that this is a person who has invested everything in the development of this tool and in its use for the benefit of mankind. But even this does not guarantee that Sherlock would have succeeded in another occupation, for example, in the game on the stock exchange, in medicine or in art.

The mind of Sherlock Holmes is tuned to the investigation of crimes, and its owner amazes the interlocutor in a conversation with knowledge of what he did the previous day. It is entirely possible to develop oneself, one's mental faculties in general, and the ability to perform logical operations of a certain kind, in particular deductive and inductive ones, as well as the ability to draw conclusions on the basis of a certain number of key features, provided there is sufficient observation to detect and highlight the most significant ones. It has been proven that intelligence itself is due to heredity by about 60%. But a person who has less potential and puts in more effort can easily overtake a person who puts in less effort and has more potential. That is, everything here depends on perseverance, work, the correctness of attempts and the willingness to give up everything superfluous. If you resist, put your whole life into becoming a great detective like Sherlock Holmes, then it is quite possible that in 20 years you will succeed if you stubbornly train observation, memory and logic, abandoning everything else. The same Holmes, according to the canon, did not read books that were not useful for investigating crimes.

There are a huge number of exercises for training the mind, here there are computer game simulators, and recently a nice book was published on the development of memory using the methods of special services. There, much is connected not only with memory, but also with the extraction of the necessary information and the development of observation. Nobody canceled the existing logical tasks which it is customary to decide with children and which adults needlessly refuse to solve at their leisure. In this case, the mind must work in tandem with feelings. In solving complex mental problems, for example, in chess, emotions help - not violent emotional outbursts, but subtle emotions that guide the search, that intellectual feeling that suggests that the solution is close. Sherlock Holmes is the quintessence of a certain mindset, which can be called analytical. I don’t know if there are exactly such people in life, I haven’t met such people, but this does not mean that they do not exist.

The story of our famous series about Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson began with a script. Julius Dunsky and Valery Frid once came to Lenfilm in creative association television films and put on the table of the editor-in-chief Alla Borisova a script that no one ordered. It was their personal initiative to film two early works by Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet and A Motley Ribbon.

Igor Maslennikov, who was not a big fan of detective literature, liked this script. I liked the fact that he had one important feature. It was called "Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson". The main mistake of the two hundred films based on Sherlock Holmes stories all over the world is that only Holmes appears everywhere. Despite the fact that all the stories about Holmes are written as if by Watson, in the films he is undeservedly behind the scenes. At the same time, the pairing of characters disappears. Maslennikov noticed that Watson was indeed paid little attention. In the script by Dunsky and Frid, he liked exactly how amazingly accurately and with irony the relationship between two people was written out. Watson became interesting, alive. That is why he decided to take on the production.

The most difficult stage was the approval of the performers for the main roles. Holmes Maslennikov wanted to shoot from the very beginning Vasily Livanov, with whom he worked on his previous film "Yaroslavna - Queen of France", where Vasily Borisovich played the knight Benedictus.

Photo tests of Vasily Livanov for the role of Holmes

But the choice had to be defended - they didn’t even want to hear about Livanov and strongly recommended looking for another actor, for example, Oleg Yankovsky, Sergey Yursky, Alexander Kaidanovsky

Photo test of Alexander Kaidanovsky for the role of Holmes

But a contemporary of Conan Doyle, the first illustrator of Sherlock Holmes stories, Sidney Edward Paget, came to the aid of Maslennikov. Livanov's photo test is compared with a drawing from the beginning of the 20th century and doubts disappear

In the fate of Dr. Watson, photography will also play a role, but a different one. The fact is that for 100 years of the existence of this character, no one thought about what he looks like. So, in the London Museum, Watson is very different: fat, thin, with a mustache, with a beard, with glasses, without glasses, red, black, bald, that is, none. He seems to be undetectable. When the director suggested Vitaly Solomin for his role, they even almost started laughing at him - no one saw an Englishman in Solomin. How will he play an Englishman with such a Russian snub-nosed physiognomy. Other actors were invited to the test photo: Oleg Basilashvili, Alexander Kalyagin, Yuri Bogatyryov, Leonid Kuravlyov. But then Maslennikov in the acting department of Lenfilm discovered a photograph of Vitaly Solomin with an English army mustache glued on. The controversy ended immediately. Solomin's resemblance to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle himself struck everyone

At these photo tests in 1979, Vasily Livanov and Vitaly Solomin will meet for the first time. Like their characters, they became good friends and maintained this friendship for life. Vasily Livanov in an interview called this one of the components of the film's success. true friendship impossible to play, he said. For the viewer to believe in her, the partners actually had to be friends.

Livanovs and Solomins at the dacha drinking tea, 1982 (photo by V. Zavyalov)

For Mrs. Hudson, Maslennikov was looking for an intelligent old woman who could be anyone - English, French, Dutch, Russian. Various actresses tried: Evgenia Khanaeva, Lyubov Dobzhanskaya. But it was in Rina Zelenaya, who at that time was almost 80 years old, that he saw what he was looking for. She was also rejected for the role. They said that she was already at such an age that she would not withstand the loads: "How will we carry her from Moscow to Leningrad?" She joked about it herself. Her name was actually not Rina, but Ekaterina Vasilievna. Once Maslennikov turned to her: "Can I call you Ekaterina Vasilievna?" "What do you mean," came the answer, "it's better to call me Ruina Vasilievna." In the film, Mrs. Hudson has only a few phrases, but the actress did each line with a percussion. It was wonderfully done. When the first film came out, Maslennikov said to Rina Vasilievna: "We are doing well. The audience likes you. Let's increase your role, add, add ... "She replied:" No, no, no! I have never played furniture in my life, and I like it"

Rina Zelenaya on the set of the film "Bloody Inscription", 1979 (from the archive of V. Livanov)

According to the script of the film "Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson", the role of Inspector Lestrade was comical and the director Igor Maslennikov faced the task of finding a comical, funny actor for this role. It turned out that all our comedians are somehow very Russian, and finding an "Englishman" is a whole problem. Two completely different types of actors were offered for this role - Lev Durov and Alexander Shirvindt. But during the auditions, Maslennikov saw that as soon as they start playing, something non-English immediately comes out. And then he remembered Brondukov, who, as it seemed to him, was international. They met, but Borislav Nikolaevich immediately said: "What kind of English am I? I have a Ukrainian accent!" Maslennikov said that the role could be re-voiced. Then Brondukov said: "It's great if it's Igor Efimov." There was an actor at Lenfilm who worked mainly in the dubbing group. Borislav's inner instinct worked - Efimov voiced the role simply brilliantly. The role drawing was found fairly quickly. But with the costume had to tinker. But when they finally found the image of Lestrade - everything is not enough for him, he crawls out of everything, everything is tightened "into the pipe" - then Brondukov immediately understood what to do. Through this appearance, through these leggings, through this stupid cap, I understood where to move.

A separate word about the music for the film. Maslennikov himself admitted that a huge part of success is music. "Remove the music of Vladimir Dashkevich from these films - and they will become uninteresting, insipid," he said in an interview. However, the style was not immediately found. The director did his best to explain to the composer what "British, imperial" and at the same time ironic music he would like to have in the film, he even spent the night at the radio, recording on a cassette music screensavers Air Force. Maslennikov insisted that Dashkevich listen to this intro and write something in this style, but the composer constantly forgot about the radio. When the director called again with a reminder, out of desperation, Dashkevich simply took the phone on a long cord, pushed it to the piano and played the first thing that came to mind. And in response I heard: “Vladimir Sergeevich, just don’t leave it like that, now take a pencil and write it down, you’ll forget it later.” This is how the legendary melody appeared that accompanies all the films of the Holmes series.

Drawing by Viktor Okovitoy for the film "Acquaintance" (from the archive of I. Maslennikov)

It remains to find where to shoot Victorian England. Mrs. Hudson's apartment itself was made in the pavilions of Lenfilm from old photographs of the Sherlock Holmes Museum. big luck for the picture, according to the director, was the artist Mark Kaplan. Especially for the film, he studied the illustrations of Sidney Paget, who worked on Conan Doyle's books during his lifetime. Pyrotechnician Alexander Yakovlev invented a fireplace made of gypsum logs. Everyone was surprised to find that it was possible to arrange a fireplace in the pavilion that would be exactly like a real one. The base of the fireplace was laid out of refractory bricks, then the pyrotechnicians built a metal cap with a pipe, a serpentine-shaped burner tube connected to a gas cylinder was laid at the base. This burner was decorated with painted plaster logs. The size of the flame was regulated by a valve.

Cameraman A. Lapshov, assistant cameraman A. Ustinov, I. Maslennikov and others in "Holmes' apartment", 1980 (from the archive of I. Maslennikov)

Titles for the series were invented by Maslennikov himself. His idea was embodied by the artist of combined filming: at that time there was no computer graphics and everything was done in a handicraft way.
Here is what Victor Okovity, the artist of combined shooting, recalled:
"I want the titles to appear on paper after ironing," said the director. And I was already thinking how to do it, where to get an old English iron, how to make the inscriptions appear, so that it was in the style of the picture, and so on. He wanted another shot with a spray bottle or cologne, which sprayed a mysterious liquid that revealed the letters. And just at that time, in 1978, I got married, and they gave me a French cologne in an unusual beautiful bottle. I adapted it for this variant of the appearance of letters.

Drawing by Viktor Okovitoy for the film "Bloody Inscription" (from the archive of I. Maslennikov)

Furniture, paintings, dishes were found in museums, bought from the population. The British, having seen the film, were surprised: the details, up to the table setting, are all authentic. Livanov smokes his pipe for real, but on the violin he only imitates the movements of a professional musician who showed how to do it.
By the way, there were three pipes in the film. They are exactly the same, they differ only in the markings. did the first famous master Fedorov, nicknamed "Grandfather", who also made pipes for Stalin and Simenon. He made the first pipe and almost immediately after that he died under the wheels of a trolley bus. Between the filming of the first and second films, this pipe was stolen. The second pipe was made by Fedorov's students. After filming one of the episodes, the second pipe migrated to the Lenfilm Museum. It is no longer known who did the third, and it is no longer known why it was impossible to use the second. But it was this third pipe that survived and is kept by Livanov. He smoked in it tobacco "Golden Fleece" (although, according to his other version - "Amphora"). The tube was so big that it was difficult to hold it in your teeth - a third of a pack fit into it.

Vasily Livanov as Holmes (photo by D. Donskoy, APN)

Igor Maslennikov did not think to make a series. He wanted to limit himself to one film. But the success was such that in the end he had to shoot a sequel. As a result, 5 films out of 11 series were shot. And no one, at least in our country, no longer doubts what Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson look like.