Active vocabulary

accident ['xksIdqnt] несчастный случай

alive [q'laIv] живой

anxious [´xNkSqs] обеспокоенный

appeal [q´pi:l] просьба, призыв

be fascinated [´fxsIneItId] быть оча­­рованным, завороженным

desperate [´despqrIt] отчаянный, безнадежный

destroy [dIs'trOI] разрушать, уничтожать

dispel [dI´spel] рассеивать

fictional [´fIkSqnql] вымышленный

flood in [flAd] приходить пото­ком, стекаться, наводнять

immortal [I´mO:tql] бессмертный

insist [In´sIst] настаивать

kidnap ['kIdnxp] похищать (чело­века)

magazine [´mxgqzin] журнал

majority [mq´GPrIti] большин­ство

poison [´pOIzqn] отравить

private ['praIvIt] личный

reveal [rI´vi:l] раскрывать, разоблачать

solve [sPlv] решать, разрешать

Practise aloud

anxious flood kidnap private draft

poison gimmick alive politely dispel

appeal mystique desperate national fictional

majority publicity magazine photograph accident

millionaire knighthood autograph immortal fascinated

Sherlock holmes revealed at last

When they couldn’t find Patty Hearst, the kidnapped daughter of the American newspaper millionaire, only one man could solve the mystery... Britain’s immortal sleuth, Sherlock Holmes. It was the same with the Watergate affair, with the kidnapping of the U.S. union boss, Jimmy Hoffa, and with attempts on the life of Pre­sident Ford. Dozens of letters pleading with Holmes to fly to the United States arrived at his Baker Street office.

“We’ll pay your fare and expenses,” said one letter from Fort Lauderdale, in Florida. “If any man can help us, you can. We have heard so much about you.”

It is like this every day for the world’s most famous detective. Fifty letters a week pour in – ranging from desperate appeals for help to birthday cards. Some want to know personal things, such as the blend of pipe tobacco he smokes, or why he never received a knighthood from the Queen. The majority of letters are asking for help or advice. “Immortal sir, I need your help in solving the death of my aunt. She was poisoned and the County Sheriff’s Department insists it was an accident,” wrote one anxious young man from Wisconsin.

Police Sergeant Ronald Mastion wrote from Brooklyn: “I am one your greatest fans. I plan to visit London soon. Perhaps we could get together for a drink.”

In recent years, more than 15,000 letters have flooded in from Japan, Russia, South Africa and the United States to 221B Baker Street in London, the address given by the author, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, as the flat which his fictional detective, Sherlock Holmes, shared with Dr Watson.

In fact the building is the head office of the Abbey National Building Society. There, in a 4^th-floor office, 27-year-old Chris Bazlington works as the detective’s private secretary. “I spend hours carefully drafting replies to the let­ters and I answer them all,” said Chris, editor of the Company’s magazine Roof Top. “I usually tell them that Mr. Holmes is either tied up with a case or busy with his bees in Sussex and, regretfully, cannot reply in person.

Most of the letters are from schoolchildren working on projects, who are fascinated by the mystique of the great Sherlock Holmes. But a lot of them are from adults who actually believe he is still alive and living here. I never destroy any illusions. Some want autographed photos of him, but I usually tell them he never signs anything or allows himself to be photographed because of the nature of his work. Some letters are quite difficult and I have to think carefully about the answers”.

Tourists visit Baker Street and ask to see the famous Mr. Holmes. They are either shown to his “secretary’s” office or politely sent away with a printed handbook entit­l­ed The Immortal Sherlock.

Why doesn’t the Abbey National Building Society dispel the myth once and for all? The answer is Sherlock Holmes is the best publicity gimmick it has ever had.

From «Current»