It was Holmes who quoted, quite finely I must say, "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact¹." Recently I have found that in the world of The Great Mouse Detective, many Basilians², unlike Sherlockians³, are somewhat inexperienced in the scientific art of deduction. Matters at that clearly obvious in the film are neglected and overlooked, and many false facts have emerged, among them is the historical dating of the events in the Disney film. "The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes⁴."

Perhaps it is minor slip-ups in the facts presented, or naïve needs to believe in immaterial rumours, or simple inexperience that Basilians fail to learn the logic of the obvious. In the historical dating of the film's events, I hope to clear many of these falsities with the use of pure logical deduction, just like Sherlock Holmes. "Any truth is better than indefinite doubt⁵."

Most of the film spans in about two nights, the conclusion happens days afterward. Consider the facts addressed:

1. The Flaversham toyshop was closed for the night and Olivia's birthday was that evening ("You know, Daddy, this is my very best birthday.⁶").
2. Plus Dawson, after the beginning credits, introduces the audience as "the eve of our good Queen's Diamond Jubilee⁶," evidently the night before the Jubilee (for example, Christmas Eve is also known as The Night Before Christmas).
3. Later on, in Ratigan's lair, where Hiram Flaversham was taken prisoner, The Napoleon of Crime stated that Flaversham would have everything done "by tomorrow evening⁶." Affirming that tomorrow evening was the night of the Jubilee, he repeated this fact to the group of henchmen with a newspaper. "Tomorrow evening, our beloved monarch celebrates her Diamond Jubilee⁶."

The second is day and/or night of the Diamond Jubilee.

1. Fidget recently returned back to the lair with all the items he's collected from the list, including Olivia. Ratigan returned to Flaversham's prison, after presenting him his kidnapped daughter to her, he threatened that Flaversham's project had to "be ready tonight⁶."

The scene of Basil's deductions of Fidget's shopping list is in-between Ratigan's threat to Flaversham's project to ready tonight and time wrap to The Rat Trap Saloon, which happens roughly a few hours before the Diamond Jubilee starts. Thus one may assume this scene happened around the afternoon or early evening, since it had to take some time of slipping into disguises and lay out a plan.

Then there are the events that happened during the evening of the Diamond Jubilee. The sequence was fast-paced for the most part (so try to keep up):

1. The time wrap to The Rat Trap Saloon, with song sequence and bar fight. Perhaps only a few hours before of the Diamond Jubilee began.
2. Ratigan's "overkill" trap, where Ratigan could not sit and watch because Basil was "fifteen minutes late⁷," and he had "an important engagement at Buckingham Palace⁶."
3. The kidnapping of Queen Moustoria.
4. Basil escaping the "overkill" trap, then rushing to save the Queen.
5. Ratigan's ingenious plan failed, when the Queen robot dummy goes haywire.
6. The balloon chase through the London sky, and the climax at Big Ben, the clock rang nine o'clock (count the number of bells). It is unlikely that it was nine in the morning since Ratigan said "tonight⁶" earlier.

All the events above explains the span of two nights, but what is the exact date precisely?

At the beginning of the film, a caption addresses "London 1897⁶," yet what day of 1897? To confirm the facts:

1. The day before the Jubilee was Olivia's birthday.
2. Queen Moustoria's Diamond Jubilee was during the same time of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. (Buckingham Palace was dressed for the occasion in the human world with large patriotic banners, as well as the mouse world with tiny patriotic banners.)

If the 21th were the date of the Jubilee, the day before would be the 20th and therefore Olivia's birthday! Clean and simple.

After the climax of Big Ben, saving the Empire, there is a very short passage of time, apparently!

The film returns back to Baker Street to a newspaper article of Basil and Dawson being "thanked by the Queen herself⁶," presenting them with a medal. The newspaper was dated "23 July 1897⁶," which is days after the Diamond Jubilee.

In the clipping, a photograph shows Basil's clothes clean in neat (not a rip on him) and Dawson back in his usual dress (no pirate costume). Basil and Dawson changed their clothes somewhen between the events at Big Ben and the Queen's public thank you, this presents further evidence of the passing of time. However, suspiciously, I have to question how injuried Basil really after his battle with Ratigan: A few scars? A little bleeding? We may never know for sure... Also, historically, in these events, the Queen would sent for an audience and plan an honourary ceremony, which usually takes days or months of planning. Yet if it is only the passing of a few or some several hours after Queen Moustoria's kidnapping to whenever the honourary ceremony, how fast were the invitations send? Did London's elite even join in? Or was it a private ceremony? Or was it "free admission" so all the public could join and celebrate the victory of Basil of Baker Street and Dr. Dawson, and saving of British Mousedom? Can we assume who the guest list, at least? Sure, we can! Being large players on the case, it's easy to assume that Flavershams were there. Also, Sherlock Holmes had an elder brother, Mycroft⁸, who has a little known but highly important position in the British Government, thus could Basil have had a brother in a similar position? I assume that Basil's unmentioned brother (see Myerricroft Basil) may have been at the ceremony, or perhaps the brothers met up later? Or did Basil's former clients from past cases have come over to congratulate him? Again, we may never know for sure...

In relation, one must also consider Victorian England's media speed, how long does it take for the newspapers to print and circulate their editions about this ceremony? In Victorian times, most newspapers regularly had early, morning, morning, afternoon, and evening editions: the reporters have to write out their articles, scriveners make copies to send to different newpapers, a compositor (or typographer) has to typeset all the little, engraved letters into words and then sentences, they have to be placed in a machine, which will feed paper, ink-print them, then workers tie them into stacks, then they are circulated on by paperboys on busy street corners. Since audiences with the Queen are usually conducted during the evening, the article is most likely came from the morning edition of the 23rd. Therefore the ceremony took place on the 22nd, I assume it is very likely to be during the same hours as the Jubilee, thus that would be around 24 hours after the Diamond Jubilee. Some simple mathematics there.

As the audience reads this clipping, Olivia and his father say their bittersweet good-byes to the Detective, before they are too late to "catch our train⁶." What day was this scene?

The exact date of this scene is leaves some room for imagination. The weather was overcast, it is difficult to acknowledge if is day or night. Dawson proudly recalls the ceremony rather vividly, commenting that is was "very thrilling⁶," suggesting that the occasion was very recent.

It can be suggested, though not confirmed, that the scene was during the day and/or night of 23rd July, Basil and Dawson just framed up the article from the morning paper, as Olivia was visiting -- apparently her last visit. Olivia and her father at the beginning of the film lived in London, yet at the very end, they needed to catch a train. To travel about London, one takes a cab or omnibus, trains are far long distances. Though there are many possibilities, it is most likely that the Flavershams have decided to move out of London. This would be for safety concerns, in case Ratigan decides to come back from the dead and seek revenge. However, it is possible that the Flavershams decided to take a vacation, but Olivia's farewell is potent and clearly suggests she'll be going away for a long time.

This is also the occasion when Dawson and Basil sealed a parntership, such a happy and memorable event!

One may consider it as "elementary" when the facts are addressed in clear order, yet I think Holmes said it better: "The ideal reasoner would when he has once been shown a single fact in all its bearing, deduce from it not only all the chain of events which led up to it, but also all the results which would follow from it⁹."

Here is the BIG problem and rips this entire essay apart:

Since the year of 2002, after the release of the GMD DVD, a few Basilians have contacted me on a very large problem with the dating of the film. In the close-up of the morning edition article a date is, once blurred in VHS but clear as can be on DVD, the date of the article is shown. The dates says "Monday, June 23rd, 1897⁶"! The 23rd is a very possible date for the newspaper, thus the ceremony would have taken place on the 22nd. However, this entire essay has all the events of the film on July 1897, not June 1897! If Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubliee happened in July, how on earth did we go back in time to June?