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The English Invasion

- an illustrated report - Part II

Missed Part I?

 

The Canal Tour was a little chilly experience.

Lise Lotte, herself in a gorgeous blue velvet costume, provided historical and Canonical commentary during the whole tour. Everyone was also occupied trying to spot Canonical boat names on the vessels that we passed. For we had allied ourself with a series of boat owners along our route. They had been given big signs with names from the well known stories, and so had temporarily renamed their boats!

Our guests were supposed to spot these boats out and write down the names. There was only one important rule, which was that only names written in Baskerville Font and with Violet Ink would count! Apparently some of the names were too well hidden, for the winner (who was revealed later) had only found 7 out of 13.

The Canal Tour was near the end when we passed the Little Mermaid and the rain started to fall. The wind was strong, too, so it had been a tour on the water well worth a description by Watson's eloquent pen. We were all feeling cold, but luckily something happened which completely diverted the attention from the grim weather. Suddenly some figures, so far sitting unnoticed in the stern of the ship, moved abruptly forward. "It's the Aurora!" Sherlock Holmes shouted, as the small wooden boat swung in front of us.

"It's the Aurora!"

(above and below) 'Holmes', 'Watson' and 'Inspector Jones' in action

On the boat in front of us a man, dressed in rags, desperately squeezed a box under his one arm while his other fist was raised in a threatening gesture towards us. A small creature, 'Tonga', was standing at his side. 'Inspector Athelney Jones', 'Dr. John Watson' og 'Sherlock Holmes' strode to the front of the boat, involved our skipper, and directed the chase. The whole scene was as taken from THE SIGN OF FOUR. We saw the villain 'Jonathan Small' pour something out into the water. It was sparkling bright gemstones, the 'Agra Treasure' - for environmental and economical reasons substituted by ice cubes added food coloring. There was shouting, our skipper was urged to go faster, and several shots were fired - and 'Tonga' disappeared out of sight.

The small Aurora made for the Toldboden Quay, 'Small', not one-legged, but limping, clinging to his crutch, got ashore. But we were right behind him, and he was quickly captured.

The boat chase is near its end....

'Small' was handcuffed and escorted by 'Inspector Jones' and 'Holmes' to the Copenhagen Harbour Building. The rest of us followed - only too happy to find a shelter for the rough weather. 'Mr. Smith', who so bravely had kept the Aurora going, unfortunately had to sail his boat home, so he couldn't join us for the reception. Here awaited us the aforementioned snacks and the fine sherry, which the British Ambassador (the real one), Mr. Philip Astley, had donated.

'Mr. Smith.'

Mr. Astley was not able to be present himself since he was on a business trip to Greenland, but he was represented by the Junior Ambassador, Paul Yaghmaurian and his wife. They were clearly impressed and astonished by the many strange people and Mr. Yaghmaurian asked in a low voice if all these peope honestly belived that Sherlock Holmes was real. A question which, naturally, called forth loud laughter.
The time of reckoning was now. 'Small', who was truly pitiful, told his sad story. The actors continued the scene from THE SIGN OF FOUR: 'Small' was questioned in the 'living room in Baker Street 221b', and the beautiful chest was presented to 'Miss Mary Morstan' who, very appropriately, was present. Since the key was gone, 'Watson' immdediately volunteered to shoot open the box, but 'Holmes', handing out a table knife, persuaded him to use less drastic methods.

Holmes and Jones

The chest was opened and the treasure - well, we all know that it had been sprinkled out in the Thames/Copenhagen Harbour during the chase. But instead, as a surprise, the 'Agra Treasure Chest' contained small booklets, which we - through a donation from Carlsberg - had been able to have printed for the day. Many of the Danish Sherlockians had contributed to the making of it.

At the reception in the board Room in the Copenhagen Harbour Building.

And with this the story ended. The actors had filled their roles admirably There was wild cheers and applause for them all. Since 'Tonga' had wanted to see the rest of the show, it had been agreed that he, or rather she in our version, would only be wounded during the chase, and so (s)he had been "allowed" when shot to fall backward into the boat rather than into the water.

Kristian, 'Tonga' and May.

At the reception.

All the actors - and of course the Junior Ambassador - got a framed drawing by the late Henry Lauritsen, a great cartoonist and former president of the Danish Baker Steet Irregulars. Both the tourist agency, Wonderful Copenhagen, and Denmark's official television took pictures and filmed the whole day.

A relatively long passage was shown in the evening news. Another would later be used in a book programme as example of literary fan culture together with discussions about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes and in particular the story THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES.

Holmes and Jones talking with 'Queen Victoria' and another cheerful lady.

Danish Television had also been very helpful lending us two costumes, which we had not been able to provide ourselves (for Watson and Jones), plus handcuffs and guns. Speaking of guns it must be said that they had actually caused a bit of a problem.

As usual: "The fair sex is your department, Watson".

Kristian and May.

Licenses must be obtained for all firearms in Denmark, even starter's pistols, so it was not easy to find something that could be used. After all, we would not risk provoking an unscripted scene with Holmes and Watson arrested by the Danish police. Luckily, the television studio provided some theatrical props, to everyone's relief, and a small cap gun was used for the sound effects.

Anders Hammarqvist.

In the lounge on the cruise liner.

After about an hour with much talking and laughing, we set out for the cruise liner. Several people took a taxi, because the weather was still unstable. On the ship, many of the Sherlockians had changed to evening dress. The ladies' gowns were luxurious. We gathered in the lounge for a snack and a glass of champagne. Kim Sjøgren (Denmark's finest violinist) and his girlfriend met us here.

Jørgen Frørup on the ship.

Lise Lotte, Kristian and an English couple.

Some awards and decorations were presented by the British Club to the Danish Sherlockians. "About two hundred years ago, a British ship landed in Copenhagen and caused a bit of damage," Peter Horrocks from the British club declared, in a wry reference to the British bombardment of Copenhagen in 1807. "It is our intention to make amends for the incident."

(3 pictures here around) Dinner on the ship. Mr. Howlett, the founder of the English Sherlock Holmes Club, announced that the events of the day had left him speechless (which, in his own opinion, did not often happen.)
Soon hereafter dinner was announced. The buffet was fine, but since we only made up a small fraction of the many people in the restaurant, we didn't get the chance to talk much to other people than the ones with whom we shared a table.

Jørgen Frørup: "the results of the Danish jury..."

After the dinner we went to a salon where a musician entertained the guests. Here Jørgen Frørup - also in full evening dress - made a speech and presented the prize to the winner of the boat spotting competition. The prize was a Henry Lauritzen drawing and a bottle of Gl. Dansk - a special Danish bitter.

And then - at last - the scene was entrusted to Kim Sjøgen who treated us with a marvellous show. His solo performance with comic comments bore strong reminiscence of the late Victor Borge. Sjøgren's play can provoke a tear in the eye of even the most unsentimental of men and apparently he hit a soft spot in the Englishmen, not least after he managed to play SILENT NIGHT on all 4 strings simultaniously, having unstrung the bowstrings!

Kim Sjøgren.

Kim Sjøgren.

We were then asked to provide popping cork effects by clapping during the CHAMPAGNE GALOP. "Count down: TWO-ONE-clap," Sjøgren said. But most of us had popped more than a few corks by that time, so we were not even capable of doing the much less difficult: "ONE-TWO-clap."

With Sjøgren's fabulous performance, the last of his tunes being SHOULD OLD ACQUAINTENCE BE FORGOT, this festive event was, alas, coming to an end. We said our goodbyes and bon voyages and bade our visitors good fortune in Sweden, their next stop on the tour. Then we headed for the exit, which was not exactly easy to find on such a big ship. At midnight we parted on the Langelinie Quay.

The Copenhagen Speckled Gang,
who had arranged this day, would like to thank:

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