question: What "first" did the building society that funded A statue of Sherlock Holmes by the sculptor John Doubleday achieve?
answer: it was the first building society in the United Kingdom to demutualise
context: Title: Statue of Sherlock Holmes, London
  Passage: A statue of Sherlock Holmes by the sculptor John Doubleday stands near the supposed site of 221B Baker Street, the fictional detective's address in London.  Unveiled on 23 September 1999, the sculpture was funded by the Abbey National building society, whose headquarters were on the purported site of the famous address.  As no site was available on Baker Street itself the statue was installed outside Baker Street tube station, on Marylebone Road.  Doubleday had previously produced a statue of Holmes for the town of Meiringen in Switzerland, below the Reichenbach Falls whence the detective fell to his apparent death in the story "The Final Problem".
  Title: List of Sherlock Holmes episodes
  Passage: "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" (1984–1985), "The Return of Sherlock Holmes" (1986–1988), "The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes" (1991–1993) and "The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes" (1994), collectively known as "Sherlock Holmes", are a series of adaptations of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories which were produced by Granada Television and originally broadcast by ITV in the United Kingdom.  The series starred Jeremy Brett as Holmes and David Burke (in the "Adventures" series) and Edward Hardwicke ("Return", "Case-Book", "Memoirs") as Dr. Watson.
  Title: Statue of Charlie Chaplin, London
  Passage: The statue of Charlie Chaplin in Leicester Square, London, is a work of 1979 by the sculptor John Doubleday.  It portrays the actor, comedian and filmmaker in his best-known role, as The Tramp.
  Title: Auguste Lupa
  Passage: Auguste Lupa is a fictional character in two pastiche novels by author John Lescroart.  The novels are "Son of Holmes" (1986) and "Rasputin's Revenge" (1987).  Lupa, a secret agent during the First World War, is the son of Sherlock Holmes and Irene Adler.  It is strongly implied that he is the younger version of fictional detective Nero Wolfe in the mystery series by Rex Stout.  Auguste Lupa is one of many aliases used by the character.  Jules Giraud, the narrator of the books, explains that Lupa always chooses as his alias a first name with a connection to one of the Caesars.  Auguste is the name of a Roman emperor and Lupa means "wolf."  Other aliases he has used include Julius Adler and Cesar Mycroft.  The latter surname indicates a connection to Mycroft Holmes, the brother of Sherlock Holmes.  In "Rasputin's Revenge" it is revealed that his real name is John Hamish Adler Holmes, combining the names of Dr. John Hamish Watson, the best friend of Sherlock Holmes, and Irene Adler's surname with the surname Holmes.
  Title: Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Silver Earring
  Passage: Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Silver Earring (known in North America as Secret of the Silver Earring and as Sherlock Holmes: The Silver Earring) is a computer game developed by Frogwares and published in 2004 on two CD-ROMs for Microsoft Windows by Digital Jesters in Europe and Ubisoft in North America.  While the game is "inspired by "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes"," it uses an original plotline — set in London in 1897 — and allows the player to investigate a murder as Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John H. Watson.  A version for Wii was also released in Europe in 2011.
  Title: Sherlock Holmes (2010 film)
  Passage: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, also known simply as Sherlock Holmes, is a British-American 2010 steampunk mystery film directed by Rachel Lee Goldenberg and produced by independent American film studio The Asylum.  It features the Sherlock Holmes characters created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, though it follows an original plot.  The film details an unrecorded case in which eccentric detective Holmes and his companion Dr. Watson investigate a series of unusual monster attacks and a plot to destroy London.  Gareth David-Lloyd plays Dr. John Watson and Ben Syder, making his film debut, plays Sherlock Holmes.
  Title: His Last Bow
  Passage: His Last Bow: Some Reminiscences of Sherlock Holmes is a collection of previously published Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle, including the titular short story, "His Last Bow.  The War Service of Sherlock Holmes" (1917).  The collection's first US edition adjusts the anthology's subtitle to "Some Later Reminiscences of Sherlock Holmes".  All editions contain a brief preface, by "John H. Watson, M.D.", that assures readers that as of the date of publication (1917), Holmes is long retired from his profession of detective but is still alive and well, albeit suffering from a touch of rheumatism.
  Title: Victorian Undead
  Passage: Victorian Undead is a series of comics about Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson dealing with the supernatural.  The first series "Victorian Undead: Sherlock Holmes vs. Zombies" is a six-issue American comic book limited series published by Wildstorm.  The series was written by Ian Edginton, with art by Davide Fabbri.  The story is set in Victorian England and follows Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson in the midst of a zombie outbreak.  It was followed by "Victorian Undead Special: Sherlock Holmes vs. Jekyll/Hyde" (one issue) and a second series "Victorian Undead: Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula" (five issues), which sees Holmes and Watson helping to track down the title character (Count Dracula) before he kills Queen Victoria.
  Title: Abbey National
  Passage: Abbey National plc was a bank based in the United Kingdom and former building society, which latterly traded under the Abbey brand name.  As the former Abbey National Building Society, it was the first building society in the United Kingdom to demutualise, doing so in July 1989.  The bank expanded through a number of acquisitions in the 1990s, including James Hay, Scottish Mutual, Scottish Provident and the rail leasing company Porterbrook.  Abbey National launched an online bank, Cahoot, in June 2000.
  Title: The Adventure of the Gloria Scott
  Passage: The “Gloria Scott”, one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is one of 12 stories in the cycle collected as "The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes".  It is chronologically the earliest case in Sherlock Holmes canon.  This story is related mainly by Holmes rather than Watson, and is the first case to which Holmes applied his powers of deduction, having treated it as a mere hobby until this time.  This is one of the two Sherlock Holmes stories in which a protagonist is haunted by an old acquaintance for an old crime.  The other is "The Boscombe Valley Mystery."
citations: Abbey National Statue of Sherlock Holmes, London