#robert de vere

[girlcavalcanti]

richard we are Not beating those allegations

[sekihamsterdiestwice]

Well since not many people are happy with the sad dance here I present the happy dance...

[skeleton-richard]

A request from @shredsandpatches , from @mcnuggyy 's adorable ot3 art meme. It felt great drawing again after not doing anything for so long.

(Source link in the notes)

Done in Autodesk Sketchbook for iPad.

[heartofstanding]

Great thoughts: Robert de Vere calling William Courtenay “Big Willie” to his face.

Alternatively: William Courtenay walking in as Richard II calls him “Big Willie”

[une-sanz-pluis]

The first full-length study of Richard II's favourite, Robert de Vere, Earl of Oxford and Duke of Ireland, is coming out this July!

And it's by a reputable scholar (James Ross) and published by an academic press so it won't be the usual crapshoot pushed out by Amberley/Pen & Sword/The History Press.

[no-side-us]

Letters From Watson Liveblog - Jan. 31

The Noble Bachelor, Part 2 of 3

Ooh, you tell him Holmes. I have a feeling if Simon knew all the clients Holmes has had and will have in his career, he would probably show him some more respect.

I was unaware "tomboy" was originally a British word, so that's an interesting little fact.

Also, based on this description and her background, I can see why Lady Hatty Doran might not feel comfortable being part of high-class British society, and would thus disappear so suddenly.

Holmes likes to do this a lot, just tell his client he's solved the mystery without telling them what the solution is. Depending on who the client is, it can come off as either very rude or very funny.

Lestrade! We finally get to see you in a story!

There aren't that many secondary characters from one story to another, so seeing Lestrade (alongside other inspectors) is nice in that it's a good connective tissue between them all.

This whole back-and-forth between Holmes and Lestrade is very fun. It's a classic case of Holmes knowing all and saying nil, while Lestrade knows very little but has a bunch of evidence regardless. I don't remember how many stories he's in, but I do hope we get to see Lestrade more.

Is this like an old British version of twirling your finger by your temple and pointing at someone to indicate they're being crazy? Or does this gesture have some other meaning?

Anyways, I am very curious for the next letter, and to find out what exactly Holmes means by Lady St. Simon not existing.

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3

[fideidefenswhore]

Lord Hussey, Mary's Chamberlain, and Paulet were sent to Beaulieu at some time during September [1533] with strict orders [...] that the Lady Mary was to cease calling herself Princess forthwith. Paulet's use in this connection was undoubtedly intended to indicate that this order came from the King personally, but Mary absolutely refused to accept it. As a result, on 30th September [1533] articles were drawn up to be delivered to her by the Earls of Oxford, Essex, and Sussex, condemning her usurpation of the title and threatening the King's displeasure. Paulet's message had been an informal warning—this was a formal one. It was equally ineffective.

The Life and Career of William Paulet (2008)

[napoleonic-sexyman-tournament]

Friends, enemies, comrades, Jacobins, Monarchist, Bonapartists, gather round. We have an important announcement:

The continent is beset with war. A tenacious general from Corsica has ignited conflict from Madrid to Moscow and made ancient dynasties tremble. Depending on your particular political leanings, this is either the triumph of a great man out of the chaos of The Terror, a betrayal of the values of the French Revolution, or the rule of the greatest upstart tyrant since Caesar.

But, our grand tournament is here to ask the most important question: Now that the flower of European nobility is arrayed on the battlefield in the sexiest uniforms that European history has yet produced (or indeed, may ever produce), who is the most fuckable?

The bracket is here: full bracket and just quadrant I

Want to nominate someone from the Western Hemisphere who was involved in the ever so sexy dismantling of the Spanish empire? (or the Portuguese or French American colonies as well) You can do it here

The People have created this list of nominees:

France:

Jean Lannes

Josephine de Beauharnais

Thérésa Tallien

Jean-Andoche Junot

Joseph Fouché

Charles Maurice de Talleyrand

Joachim Murat

Michel Ney

Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte (Charles XIV of Sweden)

Louis-Francois Lejeune

Pierre Jacques Étienne Cambrinne

Napoleon I

Marshal Louis-Gabriel Suchet

Jacques de Trobriand

Jean de dieu soult.

François-Étienne-Christophe Kellermann

17.Louis Davout

Pauline Bonaparte, Duchess of Guastalla

Eugène de Beauharnais

Jean-Baptiste Bessières

Antoine-Jean Gros

Jérôme Bonaparte

Andrea Masséna

Antoine Charles Louis de Lasalle

Germaine de Staël

Thomas-Alexandre Dumas

René de Traviere (The Purple Mask)

Claude Victor Perrin

Laurent de Gouvion Saint-Cyr

François Joseph Lefebvre

Major Andre Cotard (Hornblower Series)

Edouard Mortier

Hippolyte Charles

Nicolas Charles Oudinot

Emmanuel de Grouchy

Pierre-Charles Villeneuve

Géraud Duroc

Georges Pontmercy (Les Mis)

Auguste Frédéric Louis Viesse de Marmont

Juliette Récamier

Bon-Adrien Jeannot de Moncey

Louis-Alexandre Berthier

Étienne Jacques-Joseph-Alexandre Macdonald

Jean-Mathieu-Philibert Sérurier

Catherine Dominique de Pérignon

Guillaume Marie-Anne Brune

Jean-Baptiste Jourdan

Charles-Pierre Augereau

Auguste François-Marie de Colbert-Chabanais

England:

Richard Sharpe (The Sharpe Series)

Tom Pullings (Master and Commander)

Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington

Jonathan Strange (Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell)

Captain Jack Aubrey (Aubrey/Maturin books)

Horatio Hornblower (the Hornblower Books)

William Laurence (The Temeraire Series)

Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey

Beau Brummell

Emma, Lady Hamilton

Benjamin Bathurst

Horatio Nelson

Admiral Edward Pellew

Sir Philip Bowes Vere Broke

Sidney Smith

Percy Smythe, 6th Viscount Strangford

George IV

Capt. Anthony Trumbull (The Pride and the Passion)

Barbara Childe (An Infamous Army)

Doctor Maturin (Aubrey/Maturin books)

William Pitt the Younger

Robert Stewart, 2nd Marquess of Londonderry (Lord Castlereagh)

George Canning

Scotland:

Thomas Cochrane

Colquhoun Grant

Ireland:

Arthur O'Connor

Thomas Russell

Robert Emmet

Austria:

Klemens von Metternich

Friedrich Bianchi, Duke of Casalanza

Franz I/II

Archduke Karl

Marie Louise

Franz Grillparzer

Wilhelmine von Biron

Poland:

Wincenty Krasiński

Józef Antoni Poniatowski

Józef Zajączek

Maria Walewska

Władysław Franciszek Jabłonowski

Adam Jerzy Czartoryski

Antoni Amilkar Kosiński

Zofia Czartoryska-Zamoyska

Stanislaw Kurcyusz

Russia:

Alexander I Pavlovich

Alexander Andreevich Durov

Prince Andrei (War and Peace)

Pyotr Bagration

Mikhail Miloradovich

Levin August von Bennigsen

Pavel Stroganov

Empress Elizabeth Alexeievna

Karl Wilhelm von Toll

Dmitri Kuruta

Alexander Alexeevich Tuchkov

Barclay de Tolly

Fyodor Grigorevich Gogel

Ekaterina Pavlovna Bagration

Ippolit Kuragin (War and Peace)

Prussia:

Louise von Mecklenburg-Strelitz

Gebard von Blücher

Carl von Clausewitz

Frederick William III

Gerhard von Scharnhorst

Louis Ferdinand of Prussia

Friederike of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

Alexander von Humboldt

Dorothea von Biron

The Netherlands:

Ida St Elme

Wiliam, Prince of Orange

The Papal States:

Pius VII

Portugal:

João Severiano Maciel da Costa

Spain:

Juan Martín Díez

José de Palafox

Inês Bilbatua (Goya's Ghosts)

Haiti:

Alexandre Pétion

Sardinia:

Vittorio Emanuele I

Lombardy:

Alessandro Manzoni

Denmark:

Frederik VI

Sweden:

Gustav IV Adolph

[homomenhommes]

THIS DAY IN GAY HISTORY

based on: The White Crane Institute's 'Gay Wisdom', Gay Birthdays, Gay For Today, Famous GLBT, glbt-Gay Encylopedia, Today in Gay History, Wikipedia, and more … January 6

1367 – Richard II of England (d.1400), born Prince Richard of Bordeaux was the second, but only surviving child, of Edward, Prince of Wales (also known as the Black Prince and the eldest son and heir of King Edward III) and his wife, in Bordeaux, Gascony, where the Black Prince was serving at the time. At the age of four, Richard became second in line to the throne upon the death of his elder brother, Edward of Angouleme, and heir apparent when his father, the Black Prince, died five years later (1376). Richard was dubbed a Knight of the Garter by his grandfather only months before the old king died on June 21, 1377. With the death of Edward III, Richard ascended the throne as King Richard II at the young age of ten.

Richard was deemed fit to govern and a series of councils were set up to conduct business in the king's name for the next three years. When the first of these councils met, not only was John of Gaunt, Richard's powreful uncle left out, but also the king's other remaining uncles, Edmund of Langley and Thomas of Woodstock, the Earls of Cambridge and Buckingham respectively. But although John of Gaunt had no official title in Richard's government, he was to remain a leading and influential political figure for nearly the entire reign, though he and the king would not be without their differences.

The young Richard managed to weather a number of crises, including the Peasant's Revolt at the ripe old age of 14. During the following years, the king gradually came of age and moved closer to reaching his majority reign. It was also during this period that he began to come under the influence of a small group of courtiers that were to greedily consume all of his attentions. This group consisted of three primary figures: Sir Simon Burley, the king's tutor since he was a young child; Michael de la Pole, the king's chancellor and Earl of Suffolk after 1385; and Robert de Vere, Earl of Oxford, whom Richard would ultimately upgrade to Marquis and, soon after, Duke of Ireland.

Richard's close friendship to DeVere was disagreeable to the political establishment. This displeasure was exacerbated by the earl's elevation to the new title of Duke of Ireland in 1386. The chronicler Thomas Walsingham suggested the relationship between the king and DeVere was of a homosexual nature, possibly due to a resentment Walsingham had toward the king.

On top of this, it was also wondered whether Richard was a homosexual since he never bore any children. When thinking of the reign of Richard II, it is difficult not to compare it with that of his great-grandfather, Edward II (another supposed homosexual). Like Edward, Richard had difficulty making decisions for himself and came to be dependent on a small group of favorites for advice, usually bad advice, to run the realm.

This reliance on favorites turned the nobility against him, and he was eventually deposed by Henry IV, and died in captivity in 1400.

1412 – Joan Of Arc, Roman Catholic Saint and national heroine of France (this is a legendary date) (d.1431); Joan wore men's clothing between her departure from Vaucouleurs and her abjuration at Rouen. This raised theological questions in her own era and raised other questions in the twentieth century. The technical reason for her execution was a biblical clothing law. The nullification trial reversed the conviction in part because the condemnation proceeding had failed to consider the doctrinal exceptions to that stricture.

Doctrinally speaking, she was safe to disguise herself as a page during a journey through enemy territory and she was safe to wear armor during battle. The Chronique de la Pucelle states that it deterred molestation while she was camped in the field. Clergy who testified at her rehabilitation trial affirmed that she continued to wear male clothing in prison to deter molestation and rape. Preservation of chastity was another justifiable reason for cross-dressing: her apparel would have slowed an assailant, and men would be less likely to think of her as a sex object in any case.

She referred the court to the Poitiers inquiry when questioned on the matter during her condemnation trial. The Poitiers record no longer survives but circumstances indicate the Poitiers clerics approved her practice. In other words, she had a mission to do a man's work so it was fitting that she dress the part. She also kept her hair cut short through her military campaigns and while in prison. Her supporters, such as the theologian Jean Gerson, defended her hairstyle, as did Inquisitor Brehal during the Rehabilitation trial.

Because Joan wore men's clothes and armor, scholars have speculated about her gender identity and sexuality. Did Joan wear male apparel because she was transgendered? Or did she do so in order to be taken seriously by the men whose support she needed to carry out the orders given by her visions? Was Joan a lesbian or bisexual, if those English terms may be applicable to a French woman living almost six hundred years ago? What relationship did her gender expression have with her sexuality? What about Joan's emphasis throughout her life on her virginity?

It is difficult adequately to address these personal issues based on the historical evidence that we now possess. It is clear, however, that Joan's cross-dressing was a significant part of her life, and that as a cross-dressed warrior and military leader she was venerated by French royalty, soldiery, and peasantry alike.

1854 – English fictional detective, born; What!? Sherlock Holmes? Why include the famous, hawk-nosed detective, a figment of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's fertile imagination? Why? Because almost no one realizes that Sherlock Holmes, whom his creator almost named "Sherinford," was Gay.

He was, of course, the first consulting detective, a vocation he followed for 23 years. In January 1881, he was looking for someone to share his new digs at 221B Baker Street, and there being no personal ads in the Village Voice or The Advocate (remember those?) in those days, a friend introduced him to Dr. John H. Watson.

Before agreeing to share the flat, the two men, immediately attracted to one another, listed their respective character deficiencies. Holmes admitted to smoking a smelly pipe, although he didn't mention that he was a frequent user of cocaine. Watson owned up to a peculiar habit of leaving his bed at odd hours of the night.

"I have another set of vices," he admitted, but, then, so did Sherlock. The two became friends and roommates for the rest of their lives. For the sordid details of the famous marriage of true minds that followed, read Rex Stout's astonishing "Watson Was Woman," in which the famous creator of Nero Wolfe (himself hardly a paragon of butch studliness) reveals that Watson and Holmes were the most extraordinary Gay team in sleuthing history.

In 1971, The Traveller's Companion, Inc., an affiliate of Olympia Press, published a book based on the assumption that Holmes and Watson were lovers: The Sexual Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Claiming to be from a newly-discovered secret cache of John Watson's papers, the book retells, very erotically, some of the original stories. It is hard-core gay porn at its best!

1961 – Bill Hayes is an American non-fiction writer and photographer. He has written four books – Sleep Demons, Five Quarts, The Anatomist, and Insomniac City – and has produced one book of photography, How New York Breaks Your Heart. His freelance writing has appeared in a number of periodicals, most notably The New York Times.

Hayes was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the fifth of six children, five of them girls. He remains close with his sisters. His mother Jean was an artist; his father John a military man who had lost an eye as a paratrooper in the Korean War. When Bill was three, the family moved to Spokane, Washington, where his father bought a Coca-Cola bottling plant. His mother opened an art school, where Hayes learned to develop and print film. Hayes was close with his maternal grandmother, Helen, from the age of eleven until he left home for college. In high school, Hayes was drawn to the writing of Joan Didion. Hayes attended Santa Clara University in California.

Hayes knew he was gay at a young age, though he had relationships with women in high school and college. He came out at age 24, and considers his orientation to be a core part of his identity.

Hayes' father never accepted him as a gay man and did not maintain a relationship with him, but when John Hayes developed dementia, he came to believe Bill was an old Army friend, and spoke with him warmly. Bill's mother also suffered with dementia until her death in 2011.

Hayes lived in San Francisco for many years, where he worked at the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. His partner of sixteen years was HIV-positive. In 2009, Hayes moved to New York City, where he had a relationship with neurologist and writer Oliver Sacks, until the latter's death in 2015. Hayes' experiences in New York and his six-year relationship with Sacks are the subject of his book Insomniac City.

Hayes has described his adult life as "colored by death" – the deaths he dealt with in his AIDS Foundation work, the sudden death of his longtime partner in San Francisco, and later the death of his partner Oliver Sacks.

1968 – Today is the birthday of the Hungarian politician Gábor Szetey. Szetey is the former Secretary of State for Human Resources, a role he held since July 2006. He is a member of the Hungarian Socialist Party.

Szetey publicly declared that he was gay at the opening night of Budapest's Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, on July 6, 2007. He is the first LGBT member of government in Hungary, and the second politician to come out, after Klára Ungár. Szetey's coming out came at the end of a speech on equality and tolerance:

"When we can be proud of being Hungarian, Romanian, Jewish, Catholic, Gay or Straight... If we can be proud of our differences, we will be proud of our similarities. I believe in God. And I believe that all men and women have the right to love and be loved. Everywhere. Love has no party preference. Neither does happiness or choosing a partner. So: I am Szetey Gábor . I am European, and Hungarian. I believe in God, love, freedom, and equality. I am the Human Resources Secretary of State of the Government of the Republic of Hungary. Economist and HR director. Partner, friend, sometimes rival. And I am Gay."

!n the audience was Klára Dobrev, the wife of Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány, as well as four other members of the Hungarian cabinet. The Prime Minister supported Szetey on his blog and called for public debate about same-sex relationships in Hungary. Hungary currently recognises same-sex registered partnerships. After the coming out of Mr. Szetey, the Parliament adopted the Registered Civil Union Act, which came into force 1 January 2009.

In a subsequent interview, Szetey declared:

"There is a small but vocal group of right-wing extremists which is intent on offending everyone... According to a survey, 51 percent of the respondents thought my speech was courageous and that it would improve the situation for homosexuals. It's strange that the conservatives, who attach such great importance to neighboring states giving their Hungarian minorities equal rights, couldn't care less about equal rights in their own country."

1976 – Today's the birthday of child actor Danny Pintauro. Pintauro played Jonathan Bower, son of Angela Bower in the series 'Who's the Boss' from 1984 till 1992. He was born as Daniel John Pintauro in Milltown, New Yersey, USA. Pintauro studied English and drama at Stanford University.

Pintauro first appeared on the television soap opera As the World Turns as the original Paul Ryan and in the film Cujo, but he came to prominence on the television series Who's the Boss?. After the conclusion of that series, he was less frequently cast. Pintauro went on to act in stage productions like The Velocity of Gary and Mommie Queerest. He also worked as a Tupperware sales representative and as of 2013, he was managing a restaurant in Las Vegas.

In 1997, in an interview with the National Enquirer tabloid, Pintauro declared that he is gay.

Pintauro (R) with husband Wil Tabares

In April 2013 he was engaged to his boyfriend, Wil Tabares, and they married in April 2014.

In 2015, Pintauro revealed in an interview with Oprah Winfrey that he has been HIV positive since 2003. He also disclosed that he had previously been addicted to methamphetamine.

2015 – Florida recognizes same-sex marriages.

[stairnaheireann]

#OTD in Irish History | 16 January:

1362 – Birth of Robert de Vere, Duke of Ireland, Marquess of Dublin, and 9th Earl of Oxford KG. He was a favourite and court companion of King Richard II of England. He was the ninth Earl of Oxford and the first and only Duke of Ireland and Marquess of Dublin. 1700 – Richard Levinge, an Irish MP and later a prominent Tory, is committed by the English House of Commons to the Tower of London until…

[mihrsuri]

The Lioness and The Bear’s Cubs: The children of Elizabeth Tudor & Robert Dudley in my Tudors OT3 Universe.*

*(An alternate history in which Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII and Thomas (Frain) Cromwell are in a secret triad marriage from 1536, have eight children, Anne is always a beloved Queen and their oldest son marries Mihrimah Sultan and they bring in a truly progressive by modern standards golden world, minus colonialism and empire because it’s my wish fulfilment au)

Anne (b. 1552): As Elizabeth inherited her mothers title before her marriage of Duchess of Pembroke, so Anne, as the oldest daughter, inherited it in turn (to this day, the Duchy is passed to the oldest daughter). She married Matthew Cecil, son of William Cecil (I think this is hilarious due to the fact that okay, Robert and William Cecil aren’t as ‘…FUCK IT’S HIM’ at each other in this AU but they still kind of are, so the fact that their children marry each other is like, Cecil is delighted but also he really has to deal with ROBERT DUDLEY and vice versa). They have eight children - William, Robert, Elizabeth, George, Anne, Turhan, Henry and Mihrimah. 

Anne is her fathers favourite child, without a doubt. She is also extremely like to her maternal grandmother Queen Anne in looks. Incredibly intelligent she becomes a renowned poet in her adulthood - corresponding with other learned women from across the European and Islamic worlds, she loved to experiment with form and style - particularly admired for her series of sonnets. Known to love wearing green, can ride better than both her parents, charms everyone. 

Also she’s her cousin the King’s secret spymaster but that’s an entire other story I might even write one day. 

Henry (b. 1557): Duke of Leicester after his father. Married to Cecily, daughter of John de Vere, Earl of Oxford. He is the father of three children  - Robert, Mihrimah & Thomas. Harry is tbh, a giant womaniser - he and his wife are friends but they married for reasons of companionship and children, not love, though they are fond of each other. He is the courtier, the one who absolutely inherited all his fathers Dramatic - often joked that he should have been an actor upon the stage. Not so much a scholar, though he’s definitely smart, he is a brilliant musician and dancer though. Also known for his fashion sense - he wore ‘brilliant robes of deep black with golden trim’ and an expert jouster which gives his parents approximately fifteen heart attacks. 

Thomas (b. 1557): Henry’s twin. He married Halime, Lady Stanley and they are the parents of four daughters - Elizabeth, Maryam, Soraya & Philippa. Thom is the one who manages the Leicester Estates and he’s happy doing that - his hobby is gardening/garden design and the gardens of the family seat are still famous to this day - he wrote a whole number of works on gardening and gardens and corresponded with gardeners from all across the world. Almost certainly has a plant named after him. Ambitious but his ambitions go into gardening. 

Robert (b. 1559): Sailor, traveller and early travel writer (in that he wrote a chronicle of his travels). Lord High Admiral for his cousin King Thomas II, he travelled as far as Indonesia and lived for a long time in his cousin Maryam’s court in Persia, where he fathered a daughter Parisa with a woman named Tahmina. So so much wandering feet - language nerd in the extreme, Robbie definitely wanted to learn all he could about the world and was a superb commander and leader. Credited with building the modern navy. 

Marian (b. 1580). Marian died in 1680 and was her parents Extremely Surprise Late In Life Child. She was christened Mary but everyone called her Marian. She first married Alfonso, Duke of Ferrera (who I think might be a descendent of Lucrezia Borgia) with whom she had four children - Francesco, Giovanni, Contessina and Lorenzo and secondly Turhan, Earl of Surrey with whom she had twins Turhan & Mihrimah. Marian is amazing - she lived through the English Civil War and the Restoration Period and then the return of the monarchy under her relative Queen Charlotte Askala - during the period of the Restoration King she helped to smuggle out refugees from the Restoration Regime - particularly Jewish, Muslim and other non white families using her contacts in Italy as well as her noble blood to get away with it well into her old age. 

She’s the painter of the family - particularly learning from female artists in Italy - her surviving landscape works hang in the Albion National Gallery today and her informal sketches during the Restoration Regime remain a valuable insight into this period of history. 

[girlcavalcanti]

do you think Richard II and Robert de Vere ever explored each other's bodies

[dathen]

"Lord Robert Walsingham de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral. Hum!”

Honest to god every time Holmes says ‘hum!’ or ‘halloa!’ visible heart emojis float up from my physical form

[skeleton-richard]

Robert de Vere, Anne of Bohemia, and Richard II in Anthony Minghella's Two Planks and a Passion, University of Victoria, 2001.

Source

[wolfpants]

10 favourite characters, 10 fandoms

Thank you so much for the tag lovely @magpiefngrl! I loved reading your list! Most of these will be of no surprise to everyone...

001. Laurent de Vere - I love an uptight, ruthless, calculated man

002. Draco Malfoy - holy fruity prince of drama, can burn a room with one smirk, cries himself to sleep thinking about HJP

003. Baz Pitch - he's here for the drama, flair, and the pining

004. Arthur - did I mention I love an uptight man

005. Robert Capa - ... did I mention I love an uptight man

006. Theon Greyjoy - tragic redemption arcs only

007. Daemon Targaryen - this counts as a different fandom, right? Anyway queen bitch right here

008. Shiv Roy - need I say more

009. Winston Bishop - the man loves cats

010. Alexis Rose - the heart and soul of Schitt's Creek

No pressure tagging @getawayfox @thehoneybeet @danpuff-ao3 @skeptiquewrites @bluebutter-art @geesenoises

[no-side-us]

Letters From Watson Liveblog - Jan. 29

The Noble Bachelor, Part 1 of 3

Woah, that's a development!

Since Mary Morstan really only features in The Sign of the Four, it's a shame we won't get any letters from Watson about her, only a few mentions here and there.

It's nice to see Holmes start the trend of the detective who couldn't care less about how wealthy their client is.

I think it's one of those features of mystery solvers that is kind of essential to their makeup, cause I don't believe I've ever seen a popular detective who's greedy or prioritizes money, though I'm sure they exist.

A quick google search tells me that the "agony column" is the column in a newspaper where people post advertisements relating to missing friends/relatives and other personal matters.

Gotta say, I love when mundane and simple things, for some reason, have names that sound utterly hardcore. The "agony column" sounds more like a threat I'd hear in a Hellraiser movie.

Is this the first time Lestrade has been mentioned in these letters? I believe so, though I'm not sure. Still, of all the inspectors Sherlock and Watson have worked with, it's nice to finally see mention of the most well-known one.

What a quaint way to phrase their engagement. Actually now that I think about it, I wonder if the fact that Watson is set to be married in a few weeks will play any factor into the case.

It's rare for Watson to surprise Holmes, and it's always nice when it happens.

There's nothing really to comment on here, I just think it's funny to see how Watson has compressed an hour of gossiping with Holmes to just a minute's worth of text to read.

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3