Sherlock and John's Anniversary, belated

One hates being late to a party, but when one has to figure out the address of the party at the last minute, that will happen.

Yesterday the Johnlock tweets started flying with the word anniversary, it was plain something of importance happened ten years ago, and I knew BBC Sherlock is now about a decade old, but it seemed rather late in the month for show dates. Some fanfic event? The Crobabies nuptials?

Nope. The real deal. Chronology 2.0, baby!

It was this morning until I could start tracking things, and the RadioTimes was on it. According to John Watson's official blog, Sherlock and John met on January 29th, 2010. As with all Sherlockian chronology matters, some small amount of belief must enter the picture, and in this case it's the year -- not specified in the blog, but assumed as the year it came out.

The January 29th date is on much more solid footing than some other claims I've seen that Victorian Holmes and Watson met on New Year's Day, and I'd bet one could make a case for bumping those guys' meeting to January 29th as well, giving us a little rest from celebrating Sherlock Holmes's birthday before getting to the big anniversary. And as Holmes's birthday is based on the flimsiest of premises, putting the anniversary on the 29th is not a big deal. (Besides, Christmas on December 25? The biggest holiday in Christendom, and just as arbitrary. So why not?)

The anniversary of the day Sherlock Holmes and John H. Watson met is a grand Sherlockian day no matter who you are, and the January 29th date seems a lot more popular than Christopher Morley's belief in January 1, 1881. That dude has messed with us enough picking Holmes's birthday out of a hat to honor his brother. And besides, we already have a holiday on January 1. Let's save a special day for our special boys.

So happy belated anniversary, John and Sherlock! I'll get you a card on time next year, I promise!