Sherlock Holmes Society of London:
From Exhibition Road, turn west into Prince Consort Road, then north into Kensington Gore. Look back, and you see the Royal School of Mines, part of Imperial College (photo by Roger Johnson)
Sherlock Holmes Society of London:
Rounding the elegant curve of the road, you see before you the majestic magnitude of the Royal Albert Hall (photo by Roger Johnson)
Sherlock Holmes Society of London:
Ahead of you, opposite the northern entrance to the Albert Hall, is Queen Victoria's monument to her beloved Prince Consort, the Albert Memorial in Kensington Gardens (photo by Roger Johnson)
Sherlock Holmes Society of London:
In front of the southern entrance to the Albert Hall is the memorial to the Great Exhibition of 1851. Prince Albert was its patron, and his statue stands proudly atop the pillar (photo by Roger Johnson)
Sherlock Holmes Society of London:
Prince Albert's statue on the Great Exhibition memorial looks south, away from the Royal Albert Hall to the Royal College of Music (photo by Roger Johnson)
Sherlock Holmes Society of London:
By the southern entrance to the Albert Hall: behind the nearer lamp-post is the Royal College of Organists; the handsome tall chimney is no longer in use. (photo by Roger Johnson)
Sherlock Holmes Society of London:
Our guide Richard Dacre knows the Albert Hall inside and out. He is the author of "Royal Albert Hall: Official Souvenir Guide" (photo by Roger Johnson)
Sherlock Holmes Society of London:
Our guide, Richard Dacre, also has an encyclopaedic knowledge of films and cinemas, having owned and ran Flashbacks, Europe's premiere film memorabilia shop, for thirty years (photo by Roger Johnson)
Sherlock Holmes Society of London:
We enter the Royal Albert Hall via the imposing south entrance (photo by Roger Johnson)
Sherlock Holmes Society of London:
Once inside the building, our guide Richard Dacre relates something of the history of the Royal Albert Hall (photo by Roger Johnson)
Sherlock Holmes Society of London:
The magnificent main auditorium of the Albert Hall can seat nearly 5,300 people (photo by Roger Johnson)
Sherlock Holmes Society of London:
From a box in the Grand Tier, we watch as a music act sets up, and the lighting changes from blue to red (photo by Roger Johnson)
Sherlock Holmes Society of London:
There are ten bars and restaurants in the Royal Albert Hall; This is Bar 1871 (photo by Roger Johnson)
Sherlock Holmes Society of London:
Bar 1871 is where we settle ourselves to learn something of this splendid concert hall's connection with Holmes and Conan Doyle (photo by Roger Johnson)
Sherlock Holmes Society of London:
While we wait for our guide Richard Dacre to set up his equipment, some of us take the opportunity to explore the Bar 1871 (photo by Roger Johnson)
Sherlock Holmes Society of London:
Richard Dacre is ready to talk about Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes, and the Royal Albert Hall - and we are ready to listen (photo by Roger Johnson)
Sherlock Holmes Society of London:
Richard Dacre is caught up in the drama of the story as he tells us of the Royal Albert Hall's significance to Holmes and Conan Doyle (photo by Roger Johnson)
Sherlock Holmes Society of London:
Richard Dacre's talk is illustrated with a Powerpoint slide show. The Bar 1871, where we are now a captive audience, tales its name from the Royal Horticultural Gardens exhibition of 1871 (photo by Roger Johnson)
Sherlock Holmes Society of London:
Sherlock Holmes took his friend Watson to "a Wagner night" at Covent Garden, and in the pre-Baker Street years he surely attended the Wagner Festival at the Albert Hall (photo by Roger Johnson)
Sherlock Holmes Society of London:
If his recent military memories allowed, Dr Watson may have been inspired to visit the Colonial and Indian Exhibition of 1886 (photo by Roger Johnson)
Sherlock Holmes Society of London:
Dr James Mortimer was a house-surgeon at Charing Cross Hospital before moving to Devon and setting up his own practice in Baskerville country (photo by Roger Johnson)
Sherlock Holmes Society of London:
Adored stars of the opera and both British residents, was one of them the model for Irene Adler? (photo by Roger Johnson)
Sherlock Holmes Society of London:
Arthur Conan Doyle's experience of the Albert Hall was not limited to concerts and recitals. That may also be true of Sherlock Holmes (photo by Roger Johnson)
Sherlock Holmes Society of London:
"Bendy's Sermon" needs no explanation. Ernest Meads, like Arthur Conan Doyle, was a prominent advocate of spritualism (photo by Roger Johnson)
Sherlock Holmes Society of London:
On the 13th July 1930, the Albert Hall was packed for Arthur Conan Doyle's memorial service. The empty seat beside Lady Conan Doyle was reserved for Sir Arthur himself (photo by Roger Johnson)
Sherlock Holmes Society of London:
The violinists Norman-Neruda - wife of Sir Charles Hallé - and Sarasate were much admired by Sherlock Holmes. Both performed many times at the Albert Hall (photo by Roger Johnson)
Sherlock Holmes Society of London:
Although the works of Orlando de Lassus were little-known in Victorian England, in 1895 Sherlock Holmes wrote a monograph on his "polyphonic motets" (photo by Roger Johnson)
Sherlock Holmes Society of London:
Sadly, perhaps, the identity of "Carina" has never been satisfactorily established (photo by Roger Johnson)
Sherlock Holmes Society of London:
Thanks to our guide Richard Dacre for his fascinating and well-researched talk (photo by Roger Johnson)
Sherlock Holmes Society of London:
It's time to leave the Bar 1871 and continue our tour of the Royal Albert Hall (photo by Roger Johnson)
