Comprehension check

I. Look through the text. Divide it into logical ports. Entitle each part.

II. Answer the following questions:

1. How can you characterize English cooking?

2. What is the ideal English breakfast?

3. What is tea for Britain? What is the English way of making it?

4. What do Englishmen eat for lunch?

5. Why is Sunday dinner a special occasion?

6. What is understood by "a five o'clock tea"?

7. What is the most popular English meal?

8. How is it usually eaten?

III. Give English equivalents for the following Russian expressions:

основательный обычная семья

заваривать (чай) жаренный в кляре

добавлять специи бесценный сверток

великолепный запах

IV. You want to treat an Englishman to a typically British meal. Think of the menu.

A Pint of Beer with Sherlock Holmes

Pre-reading activity

Look up in the dictionary and check the pronunciation of the following words:

Fraud, claret, sleuth, stalwart, surpass, tableau

How can you single out one or two the best of so many Lon­don public houses or pubs so beloved by the English?

However, Sherlock Holmes pub is unique as it is both a pub and a memorial to the great detective created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, whose 140 birthday anniversary was marked in May this year.

Ask any adult in Russia whether he or she has read Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's stories about Sherlock Homes and you'll get a resounding “yes”.

I vividly remember during my school days being put on endless waiting list at the library in order to check out the adventures of Sherlock Holmes. The copies were in great demand by eager young readers.

Several generations of Russians have read and have been thrilled, mystified and above all entertained by the adventures of the famous detective.

It is impossible to keep track of all the de­tective and suspense novels produced today. Books upon books, crammed with murders, theft, arson, frauds, maniacs, spies, and crooks; most of them easily forgotten. But not so the tales of Sherlock Holmes. No detective has been so successfully eccentric as Mr Holmes, and none has had such a devoted sidekick as Mr Watson.

We know that Holmes smoke shag, that he never scorned food and drinks though he sometimes forgot to eat. We know that

he was fond of dining in Italian restaurants and that he liked claret and burgundies and that his habits remained unchanged.

When I visited London for the first time a few years ago, I asked a policeman at Trafalgar Square for the address of Sherlock Holmes' home. The stalwart bobby started leafing through the pages of a directory under the letter A for Baker Street. Failing to find the address there, the helpful officer checked under the letter H.

"Here we are!" he exclaimed. "The pub is situated at 10 Northumblerland Street. You should turn left and go along".

At the end of the short narrow street, I saw a four - floor Victorian house. There hanging over the door, was a portrait of the great detective - his face was painted with clean - cut features and deep - set eyes that looked out from under a deer-stalker cap; pipe held firmly between his lips.

It was lunch time and the bar was rather crowded. A stout barman was pouring light white -bread beer into mugs and straights.

"May I have a look around the place?" I asked.

"Why, what are you interested in?"

"Well, this is the pub of the famous Sherlock Holmes, isn't it?"

"Are you from Canada?"

"Russia"

"Perestroika? I see. OK".

There was a photo exhibit of the many actors who took on the role of Sherlock Holmes. Among them was William Gillette, ac­tor/playwright and one of the first to adapt the character to stage and screen.

On the wall was a portrait of Eille Hordwood, a noted figure of the silent film era, who played the part in The Sign of Four in 1922. Olive Brook was there who starred in The Return of Sher­lock Holmes in 1929 and finally Arthur Wonter in the 1935 film The Triumph of Sherlock Holmes, who perhaps gave the strongest performance as the sleuth. On another wall was a replica of the head of the Hound, of the Baskervilles along with the beast's footprints.

All sorts of historical items were pre­sented: a pair of handcuffs which were in common use in the 1880s, a model of a han­som cab, the service revolver of Dr. Watson, and so on.

"Go on and see Sherlock Holmes' living room, it's upstairs", said the barman pointing to a sign at the foot of the stairs which read "Baker Street, 221b".

A few steps farther, I entered a rather spacious dining room. A middle-aged wait­ress in a white apron invited me to sit at one of the tables.

I explained the reason for my visit and she invited me to look around, but I couldn't find Sherlock Holmes's living room.

"He lives here", said the woman with such conviction, as though Holmes and Watson would walk through the door and join us at any minute.

Sherlock's room was separated from the dining area by a wall of glass. Beyond the partition were the many objects made famil­iar in Doyle's tales. The chair and hearth rug, the table full of pipes: Holmes was fond of smoking, bringing to mind his words: "This will be a three pipe problem".

The Inverness cape and deer-stalker hat were hanging from a hook on the door and beside them was the frockcoat, top hat and stethoscope of Dr. Watson.

Wax figures of Holmes sitting in the chair and Watson stand­ing by the table complete the tableau.

The idea of assembling a collection of Sherlock Holmes and rep­resenting to the public arose in 1951 during the Festival of Britain.

It was evolved by the Public Libraries Committee of the Bor­ough of St. Marylebone (where Baker Street is located).

Many Sherlock Holmes devotees donared the items, all from the time period in which the novels took place.

The exhibition was displayed in New York during the follow­ing year. Here the enthusiasm arose by exhibition surpassed ex­pectations, and it became evident that a collection of such out­standing interest should find a permanent home, and the home should be London.

An old Victorian house situated near the Old Scotland Yard on Northumberland Street was found. Here used to be the pub The Arms which was given a new name Sherlock Holmes.

The barman showed me a Visitors' book where I found a great many comments by tourists from all over the world including Russia.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who died on July 7, 1930, succeeded in creating a character so forceful and pictur­esque that it took on a life beyond fiction, giving London and its visitors a place where they can sit down for a pint among die memories of the great investigator Sherlock Holmes.