Sherlock:-
Yes, I would agree with you with regards to the late Basil Rathbone Walter, he was made for the role of Holmes. I took the information below from The Net:-
Basil Rathbone
(1892 - 1967)
South African-born Basil Rathbone was the son of a British mining engineer working in Johannesburg. After a brief career as an insurance agent, the 19-year-old aspiring actor joined his cousins repertory group. World War I service as a Lieutenant in Liverpool Scottish Regiment followed and he won the Military Cross (a consdierable feat) for bravery during the conflict. A rapid ascension to leading man status on the British stage followed and Rathbone's movie debut was in the London-filmed The Fruitful Vine (1921).
Tall, well profiled, and blessed with a commanding stage voice, Rathbone shifted from modern dress productions to Shakespeare and back again with finesse. Very much in demand in the early talkie era, one of Rathbone's earliest American films was The Bishop Murder Case (1930), in which, as erudite amateur sleuth Philo Vance, he was presciently referred to by one of the characters as 'Sherlock Holmes'. He was seldom more effective than when cast in costume dramas as a civilized but cold-hearted villain: Murdstone in David Copperfield (1934), Evremonde in Tale of Two Cities (1935).
Rathbone was a good friend of Robin Hood star Errol Flynn, and a far better swordsman. He was greatly admired for his athletic cinema swordsmanship, particularly as Sir Guy of Guisborne in the long fight scene in Robin Hood. Other noteworthy swordfights appear in The Mark of Zorro and The Court Jester (1955). The later duplicates a scene in the former in which Rathbone slices a candle in two and leaves it burning.
Never content with shallow, one note performances, Rathbone often brought a touch of humanity and pathos to such stock 'heavies' as Karenin in Anna Karenina (1936) and Pontius Pilate in The Last Days of Pompeii (1936). He was Oscar-nominated for his portrayals of Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet (1936) and the crotchety Louis XVI in If I Were King (1938).
Quite interesting to note you mentioned the Dr Buck Ruxton case as well, there was a programme on television regarding this grisly episode. Strange isn't it, the odd-ball things people do and think they are entitled to escape the penalties for such actions.
Forensic Medicine Archives Project
University of Glasgow
Case against Dr Buck Ruxton, Lancaster, Moffat and Manchester (1935)
Case File [Ref. GUAFM/2A/25] contains notebooks, correspondence, anatomical reports, witness reports, extracts from Ruxton's diary, photographs, and lantern slides.
Dr Buck Ruxton was charged with the murder of his wife and housemaid in Lancaster, England. Ruxton dismembered their bodies and disposed their body parts in and around the town of Moffat, Dumriesshire. Ruxton was arrested tried in the Manchester High Court. He was found guilty and hanged at Manchester on 12th May 1936.
Click on image to enlarge
1. The police search for evidence in Moffat
[Ref: GUA FM/2A/25/109]
Click on image to enlarge
2. Detectives arrive in Moffat
[Ref: GUA FM/2A/25/114] l-r Supt. Adam Maclaren, Glasgow; Chief Constable W. Black, Dumfriesshire; Assistant Chief Constable Warnock, Glasgow; Chief Constable A.N. Keith, Lanarkshire; Det.-Lieut. Hammond, finger print expert, Glasgow, and Det.-Lieut. Ewing, Glasgow.
Click on image to enlarge 3. DL Hammond at work with his Camera
[Ref: GUA FM/2A/25/274] In December 1931, Percy Sillitoe was appointed Chief Constable of Glasgow. Under Sillitoe's direction, Sergeant Bertie Hammond was placed in charge of the finger-print section of Glasgow CID. The finger-print laboratory also undertook work in photography and ballistics. Hammond drew on his expertise in fingerprints and photography in the Ruxton Case. He took photographs in the ravine (Gardenholme Linn) in Moffat where remains had been found. Later Hammond photographed the ridges on the underlying skin of the thumb (Body No. 2). This image of the incomplete thumbprint was detailed enough however had sixteen points of similarity of prints found in Dr Buck Ruxton's house. Numerous other photographs were taken of the body parts by Detective Constable Thomas S. Stobie and other members of the Edinburgh Police Force in the University of Edinburgh's Forensic Medicine Laboratory. 
Click on image to enlarge 4. Photograph entitled 'Flag to show area at which portion (obsc) from Linn. River Annan
shown. Note portion re possible flooding'
[Ref: GUA FM/2A/25/73]
Click on image to enlarge
5. John Glaister Junior's notebook entitled 'Moffat Case'.
[Ref: GUA FM/2A/25/1] Click on image to enlarge
6. The human remains were taken to the University of Edinburgh and a underwent a post mortem examination. This book contains Glaister notes taken during the examination, and lists samples of hairs, fibres etc. which were taken for laboratory examination. [Ref: GUA FM/2A/25/1]
Click on image to enlarge
7. Examination of productions for use in the trial
[Ref: GUA FM/2A/25/45]
Evidence/productions are collected for the trial of the accused, Dr Buck Ruxton. This photograph shows numerous labelled productions which underwent stringent laboratory tests at the University of Glasgow, and were then submitted in court as formal pieces of evidence; they include a bath and a photographic portrait of Ruxton's wife.
Click on image to enlarge 8. Scrapbook of cuttings related to the case
[Ref: GUA FM/2A/25/297] Dr Buck Ruxton was tried and found guilty of murder and sentenced to hang. This is one of the numerous press cuttings relating to the Ruxton case collected by John Glaister.
There's a really sad case going on at present in The UK.
Police have launched a murder inquiry after one of the bodies found in the burnt-out ruins of a house in Shropshire was identified as the wife of millionaire businessman Christopher Foster.
Christopher Foster (missing), wife Jill (shot) and daughter Kirstie (missing)
West Mercia Police have said Jill Foster had been shot in the head.
She was identified by dental records.
Officers have said a .22 RF rifle that legitimately belonged to her husband was found next to the two bodies.
The other body found in the ruins belonged to an adult man, but his identity has not yet been confirmed. Formal identification is expected to take some time.
Mr Foster and his daughter Kirstie are still considered to be missing.
A search for a possible third body at the home near Oswestry in Shropshire has been put on hold because of safety fears.
Superintendent Gary Higgins said: "Concerns were raised for the safety of those in the building and the walls of the house had begun to lean in towards where search and forensic teams were working."
The family were last seen on Monday evening, before they returned home to their sprawling country estate - Osbaston House in Maesbrook - that evening.
It has been reported that Kirstie may have been talking online to friends in the hours before the massive fire took hold at around 4am Tuesday.
Flames destroyed a stable block and a garage as well as part of the main residence. Three horses and three dogs were found dead on site in the first hours of investigation - they had all been shot.
And the body of a fourth dog has also been found on site next to the two bodies and the gun. The animal had also been killed by a bullet.
West Mercia Police have said that spent and unspent gun cartridges have been found scattered around the grounds of the property.
Earlier today prayers were said at St John's church in Maesbrook for the family.
Reverend Prebendary David Austerberry told the congregation that it is "hard to grasp exactly what has happened" and he added that the Foster's family and friends "must be devastated".
Mr Foster amassed his fortune developing insulation technology for oil rigs but earlier this year the businessman was branded "bereft of the basic instincts of commercial morality" by a High Court judge.
Court documents show that Mr Foster's company, Ulva Ltd, which had gone into liquidation, faced legal action from one of its suppliers for thousands of pounds, and also owed about £800,000 in tax.
:: Police are appealing for information on the case and asking anyone who can help to call the incident room on 08457 444888 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555111.
It's a crazy bloody world at times.
Stoneyhurst Walter.. Lancashire.
A little known fact about the Ribble Valley is that J.R.R. Tolkien was a frequent vistor here and wrote parts of 'Lord of the Rings' here.South African born John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was at the time a Oxford professor and made frequent visits here between 1942 to 1947.His name has just been discovered in the Stoneyhurst guest book where it appears many times.Tolkien found time to write part of the 'Lord of the Rings' in a class room on the upper gallery at the college.When he was not writing he would take walks around the area with his son Michael.His son Micheal later taught Classics at Stoneyhurst in the 1960's and 70's.Because Tolkien was a professor he taught a few lessons at the college on his visits here.On his walks around the area it has been suggested that he got some of his inspiration from the countryside aound the Ribble Valley.Pendle Hill dominates the surrounding area and is associated with witches and sorcery in the 17th century,inspiration maybe for the Middle Earths Misty Mountains or the Lonely Mountain.Around Stonyhurst and Hurst Green there are alot of names of lanes e.t.c. that are familiar in 'The Lord of the Rings'.Towards the end of his life Tolkien use to stay with his son in a house belonging to the college afew hundred yards away from St. Mary's College,in Woodfields.Tolkien had a very strong love of trees and persuaded his son to plant a copse in the garden,evidence of which can still be seen to this day.Later on in his life Michael Tolkien moved down the road to Waddington.Another very famous author associated with Stonyhurst is Sir Auther Conan Doyle who studied at the college and then went on to create the character 'Sherlock Holmes',the setting for his book 'The Hound of the Baskervilles' was itself Stonyhurst
The picture below is from The Net also taken about 1920.
I do have some photographs of the College I took myself, but they are hard copies and I have not looked for them this evening.
It's a well presented school with a great record for education.
The link below is well worth clicking on;-
The next Stonyhurst College Open Day is on Saturday, 15th November 2008. This Open Day is for prospective 13+, 14+ and Sixth Form families. ... www.stonyhurst.ac.uk/welcome.shtml - 11k - Cached - Similar pages