Hello out there to anyone who is fortunate enough to have stumbled across the BCAS blog! And also a big hello to anyone who is only reading this because you’ve just spent the past hour/day/however long putting up with the two of us going on about it! It’s BB here, with my first blog post. Slightly apprehensive, I’ll admit – I hope it lives up to HAN’s standards! I thought I’d start with a little something Sherlocky I did last week, because it ties in with BenMaBeb very nicely.
Because I’m cool, I spent my lunchtime last Friday standing up in front of 20ish people, absolutely bricking it, about to do a history presentation. Entitled ‘A Study in Forensics: The History of the Science of Deduction’, the inspiration for what can only be described as an act of stupidity (or maybe bravery, if I want to big myself up a bit) came by reading the absolutely incredible, non-stop, on-the-go Sherlock Holmes series by the one and only genius that is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Anyone who is anyone will have read at least one of his 4 novels and 56 short stories, and must surely agree with me that no crime fiction writer could ever better his style, originality, characterisation and storylines, and I must confess that I am often found sitting in the classroom engrossed in a massive red book – my entire collection of the Sherlock Holmes stories, bought for just £15 at the Sherlock Holmes Museum in Baker Street. (Actually, it was found in the shop by HAN, my fellow lovely blogger.)
As with most things that I start, I didn’t have a clue where the presentation was headed; I just knew that somehow, I wanted to include a bit of history, a bit of forensics, a bit of the Sherlock Holmes stories, and a few DVD clips from the BBC series of Sherlock. Obviously, this is where the magnificent Benedict Cumberbatch comes into this post, in the form of the great Sherlock Holmes himself.
So, I locked myself in my room one day in the Easter holidays, laptop on my lap (which I guess is where it’s meant to sit), iPod in my ears (again, where else would I put it?), and spent the next I-don’t-know-how-long researching anything and everything to do with forensics and history. Eventually, weeks later (literally, the night before I was due to do the presentation) I came out with a completed end product. Blood spatter analysis, fingerprinting, craniology, ballistics, toxicology and psychological profiling, all just about mashed into a half-hour long sesh one lunch time in the history classroom. However, what absolutely 100% without a doubt stole the show were the 3 BEAUTIFUL clips from Sherlock; each one showing Cumberbatch in all his incredible acting abilities. (At least, they did after a slightly embarrassing moment when I couldn’t work Windows Media Player. I sincerely advise you readers to try out any technology you use BEFORE you start speaking to a room full of people.) Honestly, the number of people who came up asking to borrow my DVD afterwards! Only Benedict Cumberbatch could mesmerise pretty much every member of an audience with just 3 minutes of superbly outstanding acting, and by waving a gun around his head to demonstrate how a left hander would find it difficult to shoot themselves in the right temple. There are no words to describe it – he is BRILLIANT!
So, I’m going to sign off with plea for you to comment on and subscribe to our blog – be the first! And also, if you haven’t already, watching Sherlock is an absolute MUST!
BB :)
"Oh hell, what does it matter?! So we go round the sun - if we went round the moon or... round and round the garden like a teddy bear, it wouldn't make any difference."
-- Sherlock
