Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Speckled Band

By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 1892

Narrated by Simon Vance

This story is taking place in 1883.

Sherlock Holmes and his loyal friend and assistant Dr. John Watson is getting a visit from a young woman called Helen Stoner. Helen´s twin sister Julia has been murder on the night before her wedding. Helen and Julia were talking about the upcoming wedding. When Helen was on her way back to her own bedroom, Julia came out of her room screaming. Before she died she said to her sister: “it was the band, the speckled band!” Helen is living with her old and violent stepfather Dr. Grimesby Roylott. Holmes founds that if both the sisters were getting married they would received a large number of money from their mother income, and they also learned that if the two sisters gets married then Dr. Roylott would be left with very little, and therefore Holmes is falling the main suspicion on him. One night Holmes and Watson are later in the house were the murder of Julia Stoner were, and finds a strange bell cord over the bed. In Dr. Roylott´s workroom they see a big collection of exotic animals from India.

I think that this short story was very exciting, and Simon Vance’s voice was great for the story. The short story is round 50 minutes long. I give the book 4/5 points

Eng bokrecension

I have read Point Blanc, the second book in the series of Alex Rider by Anthony Horowitz

It is a criminal/spy book series in 8 parts. The first book “Stormbreaker” was in 2006 filmed with Geoffrey Sax as the director, with actors and actresses like bill Nighy, Ewan McGregor, Stephen Fry, Alicia Silverstone and Alex Petyffer as Alex Rider in the cast list.

Alex rider is a 15 year old boy, who lives with his housekeeper Jack Starbright after that his paternal uncle Ian Rider is getting killed by a Russian spy called Yassen Gregorovitch in a car crash. Ian rider worked as a spy at M16, and was investigating the Lebanese businessman and computer entrepreneur Herod Sayle and the new computer model “Stormbreaker”. The computer is being sent to every school and every student in Great Britain. But inside all the computers is a little but powerful and dangerous bomb. Alex begins at M16, and is sending to find Sayle and Gregorovitch, which he does in the end.

In the second book called Point Blanc, Alex is going to begin in a spy school in the Alps called Point Blanc. Before his journey to the school, he is living with a family and is disguised as the family couple’s youngest son. The father is the owner of the big business chain Friend, Sir David Friend. One day a woman who works in the spy school called Eva Stellenbosch, comes and taking Alex to a hotel where is supposed to stay to the term beginning. But one day Alex is getting drugged by his drink at dinner. Mrs. Stellenbosch photograph Alex naked and after she are putting him back to bed. When his waking up he found Mrs. Stellenbosch and the evil South African scientist Dr. Grief, who is planning to destroy the world with clones, by his plan called ”project Gemini”.

I think the book series is really good. It is good book for young adults. Anthony Horowitz has done a lot of books, and he has also written script for criminal TV-series like the Midsomer Murders and Poirot. I give the book 4/5 points.

What would i like to do if I won 100 million in Swedish Kronor?

I would like to go on a broad holiday, probably to Orlando, Florida to visit Universal Orlando resort and “the Wizarding World of Harry Potter” which is a part of the big fun park with lots of shops. Some of the shops are the Ollivander wand shop (where you could buy a wand with designs from the films), a candy shop called Honeydukes and Zonkos joke shop with crazy jokes articles, and a restaurant called “The three Broomsticks” and a pub called “the Hogs head”. And to buy souvenirs(like wands, props and T-shirts), food, candy(like chocolate frogs, Bertie Bott´s Every flavor beans and cauldron cakes)and drinks like Butterbeer(said to be quite sweet and real comforting and nice and smooth going down) from the Harry Potter books and films. There is also lots of rides, like the Dragon challenge(based on of the scenes from the fourth harry potter film), and the big Hogwarts castle with rooms, props and cool production designs, and a big ride called “Harry Potter and The Forbidden Journey” with special films just for the park with the actors. Or I would save the money to the bank, to future things like house or apartment or something I want to do when I get older. If I want an apartment, it will probably be in a big city, like Malmo or Stockholm because I like when I living near everything. Or I should use the money to get a job at a theatre or something like that, because I think that I want to be an actor or maybe someone who is working with television as a TV host or maybe like as an editor or a producer for plays, films and TV shows. Or if I want to go on a cinema or a big play on at theatre I could pay with the money.

Sometimes maybe we can think that a 100 millions in Swedish kronor is very much. But if I want to do something big like a holiday or buying a house, it will cost very much money and I can only choose like one thing to buy or do.

Can you photograph anything you want?

I think that you can photograph anything you want. But the person that you photograph must agree that it´s okay. Like if I should photograph on a summer vacation at the beach, then it is not okay to photograph a half naked woman that you do not know. In that case it is not okay to photograph a human who does not want to be photographed. And if I am walking on the street and see a poor sick man, sitting and begging for money, I do not photograph him just for fun.

Situation and places that you cannot photograph

· When somebody is not dressed, at the beach or in a locker room. That could be personal and if you photograph it could be like that the human is feeling offended or used, maybe the person believes that you are going to put the photo on the internet.

· If somebody is hurted for example if a man has been hit by a car. Then is not okay to photograph.

· People who are angry or sad do not want anybody to stand in their face with a camera and photograph.

· Theatres and cinemas and arts do not allow during a performance, because they have copyright on their own work. For example you cannot put any film at YouTube without permission.

· Secret places like the military and company area, which is forbidden because if you put out on the internet, other military groups in other countries could find out secret things and with companies because other companies cannot find out there secrets and plans.

· You cannot photo kids without permission from the parents.

· Poor people on the street, because it is not okay to just photograph any human just like that.

I looked at www.fotosidan.se/cldoc/1746.htm and a photographer called Mikael Pertmann had a different opinion than me. He said that t only a thing like art, movies and things which is has a copyright and is owned is forbidden to take photos of. And when I looked at the site I was shocked that many of these things that I don’t think should be allowed to photograph is legal is and just a thing that many people which to be forbidden. Mikael also says that it is okay to keep on photograph a person even if they do not want to. I think this is very weird because if someone says to stop, you should do what they say.

The backpacking to England

The 13/7-22/7, me and my family went on a backpacking in England.

London

In London, we stayed at a hotel called Henry III, next to a pub named after Edward Persson. When we were in London, we walked around at the streets, and we visited Hamley´s toy shop. When we visited The Tower of London, with long stairs, dark dungeons and a big room where it was try on-things, for example: “How much of a knight are you?”. In the evening we went to see “Oliver Twist” at a theatre. I think that was one of the best theatres I ever has seen, with great actors and actresses, good production design, wonderful props, costumes and much more. The next day we went to York.

York

In York we stayed at a hotel next to a pub called “The White horse”. In York we visited the Viking museum Yorvik. There they told us that the archeologist found bones of Vikings, and scanned the face of skeleton in a computer, to see how Vikings looked like. Then we were traveling in a vehicle through a Viking village with moving figures, like at Madame Tussauds. Then it was a guide who told us about the village and talked with the figures in Norse, which was the Vikings language. Funniest was then we came to a salesman, and yelled “Raven! Ekorrar (Squirrels)!”, or when we came to the end of the ride and a figure with a funny face who sat in a big basket, which was the Vikings toilet. When the guide asked him what he was doing he yelled, and the guide said we should leave him alone. Next day we went to Birmingham.

Birmingham

It was very nice in Birmingham. We stayed in an apartment hotel, with a kitchen which we used at the evening because we did not want to go to eat at a restaurant. The hotel was next to a canal, and an aquarium with fishes, otters and a 3D cinema. In the aquarium it was an exhibition with the fishes that were in Disney’s “Finding Nemo”, for example the clownfish. The next day we went to Cadbury World, which is a chocolate factory. The first thing we saw was purple lamp posters, and we came in to the factory we smelled sweet chocolate. When the tour begun we all got a cup with melt chocolate with marshmallows that was very sweet. On our way we got like six small chocolate bars. Then we ride in a vehicle like at Yorvik, in a world where chocolate beans who talked with tiny voices and lived in houses like the Smurfs. Childish music was played in the background, and it was really nice to get off the ride. When we were back in the city we met one of my father’s colleagues who worked in Birmingham under the summer. Next day we went to Bath.

Bath

When we came to the hotel where we should stay in two nights, they said that the reservation was only for one night. So the first night we spend at the Hilton. Because the Romans grounded Bath, we were like to visit a roman bath, but no bath let children under twelve years old in, and my little sister Kajsa is eleven. So we walked around the streets and visited an Apple-store. On the evening we found a great restaurant with good food. And on the way back to the hotel, we looked at the viwes, at the big mountains with a little castle on the top. The next night we were sleeping at the hotel we should, in the best bed on the whole trip. Next day we went to Torquay.

Torquay

In Torquay, we stayed in a bed & breakfast hotel, on the top floor, with lots of stairs in a small room. It was not very good shops like in Birmingham. It was very much tourists, and we saw lots of Chinese. It was not very good weather to go to the beach, so we went to a indoor water land with a slide. The next day was it very hard to find a good restaurant, so we eat at Kentucky Fried Chicken. At last we went to London again.

London

When we came back to London we ride a boat on the Thames. We were guided by a funny guy, for example we went by a big pirate ship, and he asked “who has seen the Pirates of the Caribbean?” and almost every one raised their hands, and then he said “This ship has nothing to do with the film, but it is a good film”! On the evening we saw “Mamma Mia!” at the theatre. The day we went back to Sweden was my father’s birthday. And before we went to the train station, we eat at a restaurant, which was like a jungle. Before we were going to the airport we visited Kings cross station where they filmed platform 9¾ in the Harry Potter-films. When we went home.

That was a fantastic journey!