Arthur Conan Doyle · 1891
Questions on the text, each answered in the book’s own words, with the minute you hear it.
Challenge a friend: 123BookWarThe text
Answer A ship’s carpenter
“It’s as true as gospel, for I began as a ship’s carpenter.”
Answer Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania
“On account of the bequest of the late Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., there is now another vacancy open”
Answer 7 Pope’s Court, Fleet Street
“Apply in person on Monday, at eleven o’clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 Pope’s Court, Fleet Street.”
Answer Vincent Spaulding
“His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he’s not such a youth, either. It’s hard to say his age.”
Answer Photography
“Never was such a fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures.”
Answer A coster’s orange barrow
“Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope’s Court looked like a coster’s orange barrow.”
Answer Wigs
“But we have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and once by paint.”
Answer Mr. Duncan Ross
“‘My name,’ said he, ‘is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor.”
Answer Ten to two
“‘What would be the hours?’ I asked. “‘Ten to two.’”
Answer Seven
“so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for Pope’s Court.”
Answer Four golden sovereigns
“on Saturday the manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my week’s work.”
Answer Abbots, Archery, Armour, Architecture and Attica
“I had written about Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B’s before very long.”
Answer October 9, 1890
“THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE IS DISSOLVED. October 9, 1890.”
Answer William Morris
“his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new premises were ready.”
Answer A manufactory of artificial knee-caps
“when I got to that address it was a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross.”
Answer A white splash of acid
“Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, though he’s not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon his forehead.”
Answer Fifty minutes
“It is quite a three pipe problem, and I beg that you won’t speak to me for fifty minutes.”
Answer Sarasate
“Sarasate plays at the St. James’s Hall this afternoon,” he remarked. “What do you think, Watson?”
Answer Third right, fourth left
“Third right, fourth left,” answered the assistant promptly, closing the door.”
Answer The Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank
“There is Mortimer’s, the tobacconist, the little newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane’s carriage-building depot.”
Answer Seven-and-twenty
“It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I have not had my rubber.”
Answer 30,000
“borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of France.”
Answer An hour and a quarter
“From comparing notes afterwards it was but an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must have almost gone”
Answer Archie
“Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I’ll swing for it!”
Answer ‘Sir’ and ‘please’
“Have the goodness, also, when you address me always to say ‘sir’ and ‘please.’”
“The Red-Headed League,” The Strand Magazine, August 1891; collected in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, 1892. Public domain.