Sherlock Holmes

P. Stephen Clarkson Jr., a 30-year analyst for the Social Security Administration and Sherlock Holmes scholar, died Tuesday at Winchester Medical Center in Virginia of colon cancer. The Berkeley Springs, W.Va., resident was 65. Mr. Clarkson was born in Baltimore and earned his bachelor's degree in English from the University of Maryland, College Park. He lived in Randallstown and, for 16 years, in Ellicott City before moving to a mountaintop cabin in Berkeley Springs two years ago. After college he went to work for the Social Security Administration, where he remained until 1993, becoming a senior health and human services analyst.

Arthur Conan Doyle was born in 1859 in Edinburgh, Scotland. He attended Jesuit schools and entered the University of Edinburgh, where he studied medicine. It was there he came across Dr. Joseph Bell, whom he later used as a model for his Sherlock Holmes character.He began writing only after attempts at a medical career failed. In 1888 he published his first book featuring Holmes, "A Study in Scarlet." By 1891 his character had a large following and though Doyle wanted to write more serious literature, saying that Holmes "takes my mind from better things," the author wrote two dozen stories about his most famous character.

The Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Reader: From Sherlock Holmes to Spiritualism, edited by Jeffrey Meyers and Valerie Meyers (Cooper Square Press, 540 pages, $28.95). This is a generous and imaginative selection of works by the inventor of Sherlock Holmes -- and, though others are sometimes credited, the enduring detective-story genre. There are 18 pieces in all, including Part I of A Study in Scarlet and several other Holmes stories. But, at least for anyone who has read all of Dr. Watson's accounts at least one time, the really interesting stuff is nonfiction -- Doyle was an esteemed journalist.

Local members of Watson's Tin Box of Ellicott City, a Sherlock Holmes literary society, will introduce Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's intrepid fictional detective and talk about his world, his adventures and why people around the world continue to read and write about him. Characters from the stories will make an appearance. The program, to be held at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 13 at the east Columbia library, is to mark the start of a Sherlock Holmes essay contest for seventh-graders. Contestants will be asked to read The Speckled Band, a Holmes story, and write a five-paragraph analytical essay about it. Contest rules are available at www.hclibrary.

Leslie S. Klinger is not one of those Sherlock Holmes obsessives who feel compelled to actually live as if they were distant relatives of the fictional detective. He doesn't greet visitors wearing a deerstalker hat and an Inverness cape, and his cheerful contemporary home in Malibu, Calif., is a far cry from the Victorian lodging house at 221B Baker St. where Holmes and his trusty sidekick, Dr. John Watson, lived in London. But as Holmes himself could attest, first impressions can be deceiving.

The Complete Sherlock Holmes Collection [MPI Home Video] $130 MPI Home Video's delectable The Complete Sherlock Holmes Collection ($130) includes all 14 features that starred Basil Rathbone as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's remarkable sleuth and Nigel Bruce as his partner-in-crime-solving Dr. John H. Watson. The tall, hawklike Rathbone was one of cinema's busiest character actors -- appearing in such films as Romeo and Juliet, Anna Karenina, The Adventures of Robin Hood and If I Were King (for which he received an Oscar nomination)

GIFT SALE What --Artfully Wilde Gift Sale s Bunting Meyerhoff Interfaith Center, 3509 N. Charles St., on Saturday. The lecture starts at 7 p.m. followed by the concert at 8:30 p.m. No reservations are required, but seating is first come, first served. Call 443-287-9960 or visit pha.jhu.edu/superstrings. FREE Holmes, Sherlock Holmes Spend a day with Sherlock Holmes and learn about the history of British nobility, peerage and baronetage. Noble and titled characters in the Holmes adventures will be discussed in monologues.

* Gamber: Units from Gamber responded to a fire alarm on Kays Mill Road at 10:14 p.m. Saturday.* Sykesville: Firefighters investigated a fire alarm sounding on Frederick Road at 8:12 p.m. Saturday.* Carrolltowne: Sykesville firefighters were dispatched to investigate an alarm sounding in a building on Marvin Avenue at 1:43 p.m. Thursday.* Sykesville: Units from the Sykesville company responded to a fire alarm sounding in a building on McNeal Road at 11:57 a.m. Thursday.* Sherlock Holmes Estates: Sykesville was dispatched to investigate a fire alarm sounding in a building on Watson Court at 9:58 a.m. Thursday.

Pennsylvania Antiques Fans of 18th- and 19th-century decor will have a huge selection of antiques at their fingertips this weekend at the Pennsylvania Antiques Show in York. Furniture and accessories in styles including formal and country, early folk art, paintings, pottery, redware, cast iron toys and banks will be on display. In addition, there will be new dealers with fine paintings, needlework, period objects and English and American silver. The Pennsylvania Antiques Show is part of "Antiques Weekend in York," composed of three shows within walking distance at the York Fairgrounds.

Brothers . 1/2 ( 3 1/2 STARS) Jim ("In America") Sheridan's movie about wartime trauma and the way it drifts through an entire military clan has three of the best performances of the year: Tobey Maguire is a tough, competent Marine who endures a nightmare stint in Afghanistan; Jake Gyllenhaal is his black-sheep brother, who steps up in the family when the leatherneck is away; and Natalie Portman is the military wife who leans on the ne'er-do-well's shoulder...