A former regional-journalist-turned-bookshop-owner is tonight launching Scotland’s first Sherlock Holmes appreciation society.
Barry Young is a former reporter on the Press and Journal newspaper and been in the book trade for a number of years, both in the Irish Republic and Scotland. He now runs Young’s Interesting Books in Skirving Street, Glasgow.
Young, who featured in a story in The Herald this week on his brainchild, points out that although there are more than 400 Sherlock Holmes societies around the world, including 28 in Japan, until now, there have been none in Scotland, despite it being the country of author, Arthur Conan Doyle’s birth.
The inaugural meeting is tonight, at The Boswell pub in Mansionhouse Road, Glasgow, at 7pm.
He is quoted, saying: “In my bookshop there is always interest in Sherlock Holmes. Conan Doyle was an absolute master of storytelling and that is why there is such long-lasting appeal about Holmes and Watson.
“The response so far to my idea for a society has been very good. The first meeting is just to get people together and decide what kind of society it will be.
“I think it will basically be taking it very seriously while at the same time talking gibberish – in the best way, of course. The idea is to have fun at the end of the day – it will all be a little tongue-in-cheek.”
