Why 221B Baker Street?
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There are questions we rarely ask, simply because they seem too small to matter. Here's one: why did Arthur Conan Doyle choose 221B as the address of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John H. Watson's Baker Street flat? It's not an important question. But it is a genuine mystery.
Every Sherlockian knows that 221B Baker Street didn't actually exist when Holmes and Watson supposedly rented their rooms there. Wikipedia notes that an 1890 map of London shows the highest street number on Baker Street at the time was 85. So why 221B? The standard answer is that Doyle invented the address on purpose, so no one could claim to live in the great detective's old rooms. I don't disagree — but that explanation only goes so far. It doesn't say why 221, specifically, and not 220 or 222. Was the number arbitrary? And why "B"? Why not "A," or no letter at all? As it turns out, there's a real answer — and you can hear it in Chapter 8 of Watson & Doyle, Part 1. Press play below to listen. If you like what you hear, the full audiobook is available for download — just click the DOWNLOAD button under the image of the cover. |
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