The Hound of the Baskervilles News

For those of you who remember the 1960s, you may recall a television series produced by the BBC that starred Douglas Wilmer, BSI and then Peter Cushing, each with Nigel Stock as their Watson.

In preparation for 2009 Sherlock Holmes starring Robert Downey Jr., one can not help but remember favorite Holmes from the past.

To most of the world, Sherlock Holmes is a fictional character, a master of deductive reasoning created by British writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle over the course of 60 novels and short stories.

I don't know whether to apologize if I did or apologize if I didn't. People seem to love to be scared.

Sherlock Holmes fans antsy with anticipation for the forthcoming extravaganza starring Robert Downey Jr.

THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES by Steven Canny and John Nicholson, from the story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

From left: Jonathan Croy, Ryan Winkles, and Josh Aaron McCabe star in "The Hound of the Baskervilles.'' Sir Arthur Conan Doyle books and Basil Rathbone DVDs are not usually hot commodities in the Berkshires, even as summer wanes.

Tragedy and political messages are gone, and zaniness is in at Shakespeare & Company.

Riding a motorcycle, Arthur Conan Doyle looks like he's revved up and raring to go to the Havant Literary Festival.

I have to confess that I am not a great fan of Sherlock Holmes. I appreciate the character, and I am familiar enough with him through a sort of pop culture osmosis, but that would be about it.

The Beatles weren't the first rock band. McDonald's wasn't the first fast-food chain.

In fact, Lee's been active in the movies since making his screen debut in Terence Young 's Gothic romance, Corridor of Mirrors in 1948, but he's been a true star to the post-pubescent thrill seekers of my generation since his work as the definitive, cooly erotic Transylvanian count in the Hammer classic Horror of Dracula in 1958.

Christopher Lee, the world's most famous Dracula, is awarded a knighthood for his 60-year career in acting.

Christopher Lee, whose acting roles have terrified generations of film-goers, is knighted in the Queen's Birthday Honours List.

Last week the trailer for Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes hit theater screens and the internet.

The game is still afoot. Today is the 150th anniversary of the birth, on Picardy Street in Edinburgh, Scotland, of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes.