# Did Watson have a gambling problem?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-watson-have-a-gambling-problem/535682>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [April 11, 2010, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-watson-have-a-gambling-problem/535682 "2010-04-11T00:30:55Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\
**Post date:** [April 13, 2010, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-watson-have-a-gambling-problem/535682/21 "2010-04-13T00:44:30Z")

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No – Exapno’s right . People keep trying to introduce him where he doesn’t belong, perhaps because they think Holmes needs a super-adversary, or because they want to forshadow, but Moriarty really shows up very little. The Granada/PBS series throws him in in **The Red Headed League** , and La Rosa’s dramatization of **The Sign of Four** puts him behind The Four (!), and the Willam Gillette play makes him a major figure. And, as I mention, he’s the villain in the second Basil Rathbone movie. He appeared (played by John Huston(!)) in the TV movie **Sherlock Holmes in New York** and played by Leo McKern (!) in **The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes’ Smarter Brother** He’s in a number of pastiches I have. But those are extra-canonical (well, the Gillette play is woven out of bits of Doyle’s stories, so it almost doesn’t count). Moriarty really shows up very rarely in Doyle.

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**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\
**Post date:** [April 13, 2010, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-watson-have-a-gambling-problem/535682/22 "2010-04-13T01:06:20Z")

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No, I stand corrected. There are additional mentions in the stories mentioned.

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**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\
**Post date:** [April 13, 2010, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-watson-have-a-gambling-problem/535682/23 "2010-04-13T10:29:15Z")

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I should point out that ‘Baritsu’, or rather, Bartitsu, was an early form of mixed martial art, combining boxing, singlestick fighting, wrestling, and judo. The judo was taught by students of Jigoro Kano, and there was an emphasis on fighting people of other schools.

It was something of a fad at the time, much like being a ninja in the 90s. So I have to put it as leaning towards ‘action hero’ status.

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