A couple of quick questions. As Phileas and Passepartout head off in their first-class train carriage travelling from London to Paris,...

Are you ready to join us on this perilous adventure? As Phileas and Passepartout set off in haste from London, we can hear the unmistakable glorious sounds of the music of England… A musical postcard written by Robert Buckley , evoking the history and charm of the English countryside. Robert Buckley and his Postcard from England Robert (known as Bob) Buckley was born in Brighton, UK in 1946, but was spirited away at the age of nine to live in Canada. Despite this, he maintai

A gasp rippled through the opulent Reform Club. Phileas Fogg, a man of unwavering punctuality and stoicism, had just shattered the serene...

Jules Verne: By Étienne Carjat/ Adam Cuerden - This file comes from Gallica Digital Library and is available under the digital ID btv1b84497879/f1, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=83065220 Before he became one of the most successful French authors, Jules Verne was a competent amateur pianist and had written songs and librettos for comic operas. The author once worked as a secretary with the Théâtre-Lyrique, one of four opera companies performing

Fancy some more sleuthing while we look forward to the next Band Festival? The title character of the Inspector Gadget franchise is a bionic police inspector who is always getting into trouble. You can see in him elements of Maxwell Smart (actor Don Adams spoke the part in the original series) and Inspector Jacques Clouseau (a Clouseau-like moustache featured in the original Inspector Gadget pilot, but was subsequently removed for copyright reasons). He is clumsy, dim-witted,

Detective fiction has left an indelible mark on our literary and cultural landscape, thanks to the unforgettable characters it has given...

Today’s great detective first came to life on the silver screen, but his character pays homage to some of his famous literary...

The theme music from the Agatha Christie’s Poirot TV series is instantly recognisable and won its composer Christopher Gunning his second...

We head across the Atlantic from the UK/Europe for the location of today’s Great Detective series, but both the award-nominated actor and...

What does it take to make a truly authentic on-screen Great Detective? In a previous post, we looked at the brilliant Aussie trio behind...

Sherlock Holmes is known for his sharp wit and keen eye for detail. But he also had a passion for music, and particularly violin music....

There is real life mystery in the life of Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, creator of two very individual literary Great Detectives,...

Like most credible writing, Nicolas Freeling’s idea for Commissariat Piet Van der Valk came out of real life events. Having dropped out...

The TV series “Midsomer Murders”, based on UK writer Caroline Graham's Inspector Barnaby mystery novels , originally had a working title “Barnaby” until screenwriter Anthony Horowitz supplied the familiar UK title. John Nettles stepped into the role of Chief Inspector John Barnaby in 1996 after painstaking casting. So, where was he before Midsomer, and where on earth has he been since? Before joining the Midsomer cast in 1996, John Nettles was already playing the role of a de

Sherlock Holmes’ now familiar deerstalker cap and curved calabash tobacco pipe were not really part of the original character in the...

Here’s one for the musical super-sleuths! How is Franz Liszt linked to The Pink Panther in the world of the movies? “Song without End”...

Everyone knows the character Inspector Barnaby and the exquisitely mysterious theme music for Midsomer Murders, but who is the composer...

What’s the connection between the 1964 hit single “Have I the Right?” (which pushed The Beatles out of number one spot in the charts) and...

The author of the Miss Fisher Murder Mysteries crime novels is not a household name like Agatha Christie, in spite of her own...

Matt Monro, known as “the Man with the Golden Voice” recorded the song “And you smiled” in 1973. This reached 28 on the UK charts, but...