The In all of crime fiction, maybe even in all of fiction, there are a few

characters who have enjoyed the longevity and continued popularity of Sherlock Holmes.

Since Sir Arthur Conan Doyle introduced the Great

Detective in 1887, Holmes and his friend and colleague Dr. John Watson have been

a nearly constant presence in popular culture.

Holmes has headlined plays, television shows, including two that are currently airing, films, and radio series.

85 years ago this month, Sherlock Holmes made his debut as a radio detective,

and were celebrating the anniversary with two of his adventures from the airwaves.

Writer Edith Meiser adapted Arthur Conan Doyle's The Adventure of the Speckled Band for

broadcast on October 20th, 1930. More than anyone else, it's

Meiser, an actress and script writer who's responsible for

Meiser's Baker Street to radio.

Meiser was a fan of the Holmes mystery since childhood,

and she obtained sponsorship and pitched a series of Holmes stories to NBC.

She would serve as the writer for Holmes first decade on the air, adapting Conan Doyle's stories and penning her own original Holmes

adventures. The first actor to play Sherlock Holmes penning her own original Holmes Adventures.

The first actor to play Sherlock Holmes on radio was William Gillette, an actor who was closely

associated with the role thanks to a popular Sherlock Holmes play he'd written and starred in.

Several actors followed Gillette in the role in a number of radio runs through the 1930s,

but in 1939 on the heels of the success of 20th century Fox's big screen version of the Hound of the Baskervilles,

Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce brought their portrayals of Holmes and Watson to the new

adventures of Sherlock Holmes on radio. Between 1939 and 1946 the pair

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