Sherlock Holmes
Gavin Southway and his mother came all the way from Bristol for the event  IBTimes UK

Sherlock Holmes fans gathered in London over the weekend in a bid to break the Guinness World Record for the number of people dressed as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's fictional detective.

Organised by the Undershaw Preservation Trust, a charity set up to protect Conan Doyle's Surrey residence Undershaw, 113 people turned up dressed as Sherlock Holmes.

There is currently no world record for the greatest number of people dressed as Sherlock Holmes and the Trust will now await confirmation from Guinness that their attempt has been successful.

While he did not attend the event due to filming commitments, Mark Gatiss, who is patron of Undershaw and writer of the BBC series Sherlock, said in a message: "Saving Undershaw has been a three pipe problem but we solved it! Huge thanks to everyone who's worked so hard to preserve Conan Doyle's legacy & splendid home.

"Good luck today. If you look closely you might see Benedict Cumberbatch under one of those deerstalkers or maybe Norris Macwhirter!"

To break the world record, attendees had to wear a deerstalker and a cape and sport a pipe and a magnifying glass. It was held in UCL's Christopher Ingold Building, just a short walk from 221b Baker Street, where Sherlock Holmes lives.

People came from across the globe, with some Sherlocks travelling from the US and Japan just for the event, which coincided with current Sherlock actor Benedict Cumberbach's birthday.

Steve Emecz, manager director at MX Publishing and event organiser, said he was pleased with the turn-out, describing the day as "fantastic". He thanked Gatiss for supporting Undershaw and added that it had been a "complete coincidence" the attempt fell on Cumberbach's birthday.

Jacqui Southway, 45, attended the event with son Gavin, 8, and had travelled from Bristol dressed as "double Sherlock": "We got some very funny looks but quite a lot of people were interested in what we were doing and were so interested when they heard about the world record ... We'd done a lot of reading about Undershaw and had to come along."

Gavin said that while he had not read any of the books yet, he was a big fan of the latest BBC series. "I liked his trick in one episode where Benedict Cumberbach was at a graveyard and while he hid behind a tree, Dr Watson was fooled by a pretend gravestone!"

Related