Sherlock Holmes | fictional character | Britannica.com fictional character The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes, fictional character created by the Scottish writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle . The prototype for the modern mastermind detective , Holmes first appeared in Conan Doyle’s A Study in Scarlet, published in Beeton’s Christmas Annual of 1887. As the world’s first and only “consulting detective,” he pursued criminals throughout Victorian and Edwardian London , the south of England , and continental Europe. Although the fictional detective had been anticipated by Edgar Allan Poe ’s C. Auguste Dupin and Émile Gaboriau ’s Monsieur Lecoq, Holmes made a singular impact upon the popular imagination and has been the most enduring character of detective fiction. (See also Sherlock Holmes: Pioneer in Forensic Science .) Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes in one of several movies in which he played the detective created … The Granger Collection, New York Conan Doyle modeled Holmes’s methods and mannerisms on those of Dr. Joseph Bell, who had been his professor at the University of Edinburgh Medical School.

In particular, Holmes’s uncanny ability to gather evidence based upon his honed skills of observation and deductive reasoning paralleled Bell’s method of diagnosing a patient’s disease. Holmes offered some insight into his method, claiming that “When you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.” His detecting abilities become clear, though no less amazing, when explained by his companion, Dr. John H. Watson , who recounts the criminal cases they jointly pursue. Although Holmes rebuffs praise, declaring his abilities to be “elementary,” the oft-quoted phrase “Elementary, my dear Watson,” never actually appears in Conan Doyle’s writings. Sherlock Holmes (right) explaining to Dr. Watson what he has deduced from a pipe left behind by a … Photos.com/Jupiterimages Watson’s narrations describe Holmes as a very complex and moody character who, although of strict habit, is considerably untidy. His London abode at 221B, Baker Street, is tended by his housekeeper, Mrs. Hudson. Holmes appears to undergo bouts of mania and depression, the latter of which are accompanied by pipe smoking, violin playing, and cocaine use.

Throughout the four novels and 56 short stories featuring Holmes, a number of characters recur, including the bumbling Scotland Yard inspector Lestrade ; the group of “street Arabs” known as the Baker Street Irregulars, who are routinely employed by Holmes as informers; his even wiser but less ambitious brother, Mycroft; and, most notably, his formidable opponent, Professor James Moriarty , whom Holmes considers the “Napoleon of crime.” Similar Topics Humpty Dumpty Claiming that Holmes distracted him “from better things,” Conan Doyle famously in 1893 ( The Final Problem) attempted to kill him off; during a violent struggle on Switzerland’s Reichenbach Falls , both Holmes and his nemesis , Professor Moriarty, are plunged over the edge of the precipice . Popular outcry against the demise of Holmes was great; men wore black mourning bands, the British royal family was distraught , and more than 20,000 readers cancelled their subscriptions to the popular Strand Magazine, in which Holmes regularly appeared. By popular demand, Conan Doyle resurrected his detective in the story The Adventure of the Empty House (1903). Holmes remained a popular figure into the 21st century.

Among the most popular stories in which he is featured are The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle (1892), The Adventure of the Speckled Band (1892), The Adventure of the Six Napoleons (1904), and the novel The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902). Holmes’s character has been translated to other media as well, and he is widely known on both stage and screen. The earliest actor to have essayed the role is William Gillette (a founding member of the New York Holmes society still known as the Baker Street Irregulars), who gave several popular theatrical portrayals at the turn of the 20th century. Those who have appeared as Holmes on-screen include Basil Rathbone , Peter Cushing , Jeremy Brett , Robert Downey, Jr. , and Benedict Cumberbatch . Ironically, two of the emblems of Holmes, his meerschaum pipe and deerstalker hat, are not original to Conan Doyle’s writings.

Gillette introduced the curved meerschaum pipe (it is thought to have been easier on the actor’s jaw during a long performance), and Sidney Paget the deerstalker (or “fore-and-aft”) cap—it was de rigueur for country living—in more than one illustration for The Strand of Holmes at work on his investigations in the country. Promotional poster for The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939), starring … © 1939 Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation; photograph from a private collection Britannica Stories Big Radio Burst from Tiny Galaxy In addition to myriad translations of the Holmes adventures throughout the world, a genre of parodies and pastiches has developed based upon the Sherlock Holmes character. An entire collection of more scholarly “higher criticism” of Conan Doyle’s writings was initiated by Ronald Knox ’s “Studies in the Literature of Sherlock Holmes” (1912). More recent higher criticism is epitomized by the work appearing in The Baker Street Journal (begun 1946), a quarterly publication of the Baker Street Irregulars. Holmes devotees, known as Sherlockians or Holmesians, frequently gather in societies around the world to pay tribute to the master detective with a cultist fervour.

The most established of these societies are the Baker Street Irregulars, founded in 1934, and the Sherlock Holmes Society of London, founded in 1951. The latter traces its origins to the Sherlock Holmes Society that was formed in London in 1934 and counted among its members the scholar and writer Dorothy L. Sayers ; it had ceased its activities by the 1940s. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. A Biographical Introduction Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. A Biographical Introduction [ Victorian Web Home —> Visual Arts —> Authors —> Arthur Conan Doyle —> Next ] Introduction Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is known all over the world as the creator of one of the most famous fictional characters in English literature, the master detective Sherlock Holmes, but he was much more than the originator of modern detective literature. He was a man of many talents and pursuits: a medical doctor, multi-talented sportsman, prolific and excellent storyteller, keen patriot and a staunch imperialist, as well as a campaigner against miscarriages of justice. He tried his hand in many genres of fiction and poetry.

He wrote detective stories, historical and social romances, political essays and an innumerable number of letters to the press, public figures, acquaintances and friends, to his adored mother and other family members. Last but not least, he was a formidable public speaker and a dedicated Spiritualist, who investigated and popularised supernatural phenomena. A Victorian to the bone, he cherished the ideals of duty, chivalry, honour and respectability. The origin of the surname Doyle had an ancient Irish surname, ranking twelfth in the list of the most common surnames in Ireland. It can be derived from the Gaelic Dub-Ghaill ('dark foreigner'), the name which the Celts gave to the Vikings, who began settling in Ireland more than 1,000 years ago, or from the Anglo-Norman surname of d'Oillys, who arrived in England with William the Conqueror and then settled in Ireland. There is a controversy about the full name of the author of the Sherlock Holmes stories. He always signed himself: A. Conan Doyle. Whether Conan is a middle name or the first part of the compound surname is a matter of dispute among Doylists. The entry in the register of baptisms of St.

Mary's Cathedral in Edinburgh gives 'Arthur Ignatius Conan' as his Christian names, and 'Doyle' as his surname. Ancestors The Doyle family originated in Ireland and were dedicated Roman Catholics. Arthur Conan Doyle's grandfather, John Doyle (c. 1797-1868), a tailor, was born in Dublin into a devoutly Catholic family. All John's siblings entered Catholic religious orders, but John, who exhibited artistic talents, decided to become a painter. In 1820, he married Marianne Conan, a daughter of a Dublin's tailor. In c. 1822, John and Mary Doyle moved to London with their baby daughter and rented a house in Soho, which was inhabited by artists and writers. John wanted to become a portrait painter, but soon he gained fame as a political cartoonist under the pseudonym of HB. In 1833, he moved with his wife and children to a large house near Hyde Park at 17 Cambridge Terrace, where he subsequently entertained notable people including Sir Walter Scott, Charles Dickens, Benjamin Disraeli, William Makepeace Thackeray, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Millais, and Edwin Lanseer.

In 1832, Charles Altamont Doyle, Sir Arthur's father, was born. He grew up with one sister and three brothers. All his brothers made splendid careers: James William Edmund (1822-1892) was a historian and history illustrator; Richard (1824-1883) became a Punch cartoonist like his father; and Henry Edmund (1827-1892) became an art critic and a painter. In 1869, he was appointed Director of the National Gallery of Ireland. Charles (1832-1893), Arthur's father, was not as successful as his elder brothers. Although he exhibited an original artistic talent, he was not able to earn a living from his paintings. At the age of 17, he moved to Edinburgh, Scotland, and got the job of a clerk in the Office of Works as an architectural draftsman. He rented lodgings in the New Town, a central area of Edinburgh, in a house owned by a Roman Catholic widow Catherine Foley.

In 1855, he married his landlady's daughter, Mary Josephine (1837-1921), aged seventeen, with whom he had nine children, seven of whom survived infancy. Childhood Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle was born on May 22, 1859, at 11 Picardy Place, Edinburgh. He was baptised two days later in nearby St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church. Arthur was raised in a dysfunctional family because his father, an impecunious artist, was neurotic and could hardly support the family with a clerk's meagre salary. He developed a serious drinking problem, which eventually brought him to a mental asylum in 1881. Arthur's mother was a strong-minded Irishwoman, who traced her ancestry to the Plantagenets. She held the family together and carried the burden of running the household and raising the children. In his Memories and Adventures Conan Doyle writes that his boyhood in Edinburgh was Spartan at home and more Spartan at the Edinburgh school where a tawse-brandishing schoolmaster of the old type made our young living miserable.

From the age of seven to nine I suffered under this pock-marked one-eyed rascal who might have stepped from the pages of Dickens. [11] Arthur's mother, who knew well contemporary English and French authors, was a masterful storyteller, and she inspired her son to take interest in history and literature. She exerted a strong influence on his future career. She told him stories of their family ancient aristocratic roots. At the age of about five Arthur wrote his first story, which had only thirty-six words. It was about a Bengal tiger and a hunter. Education At the age of seven Arthur began his education at Newington Academy in Edinburgh. Then thanks to his mother and the financial help of his uncles, particularly, Michael Conan, a Paris correspondent for the Art Journal, Arthur received good education. First, he was sent for a year to Hodder, a prep school which prepared for a prestigious Jesuit school, Stonyhurst College, in Lancashire, which Arthur started in autumn 1870. As Andrew Lykett writes: Stonyurst was conservative and ultra-montane.

This meant that its Rector or Head, Father Edward Ignatius Purbrick, followed a firm papal line in seeking to stem the tide of materialism in post- Darwinian Britain. [Lycett 32] Arthur did not like the strict discipline and excessive religious instruction which the Jesuits had imposed on pupils. He was soon disillusioned with the Christian faith and when he was leaving the school he became almost an agnostic. While at Stonyhurst College, Arthur edited a school paper called Wasp and next the Stonyhurst Figaro, in which he revealed his talent as a future story writer. He also became a keen sportsman. In his later life he played cricket, rugby, football and golf, and was a cross-country skier. After passing the London Matriculation Examination at Stonyhurst, Arthur spent a year in a Jesuit grammar school, Stella Matutina, in Feldkirch, Austria, where he was to learn German. He did not speak much German because he was surrounded by other English boys, but he discovered the short stories of Edgar Allan Poe, such as “The Gold Bug” and “The Murder in the Rue Morgue,” which later exerted a great influence on his detective fiction.

At Feldkirch he also edited a student paper, the Feldkirch Gazette, which carried the motto “Fear not, and put it in print.” However, when he wrote an editorial criticising the Jesuit teachers' custom of censoring the boys' letters, the paper was shut down. Arthur's uncle, Michael Conan, a famous journalist, encouraged him to write, but he did not take this idea seriously at that time. (Pascal 18) As a young boy Arthur was an avid reader, and one of his most favourite books was Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe. His other early readings included the novels of Robert Michael Ballantyne, Mayne Reid, James Fenimore Cooper, and Jules Verne. He spent much of his spare time reading, and once he borrowed so many books from the local library that, as he recalls in Memories and Adventures, a special meeting of a library committee was held in his honour, at which a bye-law was passed that no subscriber should be permitted to change his book more than three times a day.

(Pascal 13) In 1876, Arthur Conan Doyle began to study medicine at his mother's suggestion at the University of Edinburgh, which had been one of the best medical schools at that time. He met Dr. Joseph Bell (1837-1911), the famous lecturer and an expert in the use of deductive reasoning, who inspired the character of Sherlock Holmes, and the physiologist, Professor William Rutherford (1839-1899), a model for Professor Challenger. He also studied under Sir Robert Christison (1797-1882), one of the founding fathers of modern toxicology. (Harris 449) During his medical studies, Arthur desperately tried to earn money for his living and to support his family. 1879, he worked as a medical assistant to Doctor Hoare in the town of Aston (now a district of Birmingham); next he worked in Sheffield and in Ruyton-XI-Towns, Shropshire. As a student he began writing short stories to earn some extra money.

His earliest fiction, “The Haunted Grange of Goresthorphe,” was rejected by Blackwood's Magazine, but The “Mystery of the Sasassa Valley” was accepted for publication by Chambers Journal. He also published a scientific article, “Gelseminum as a Poison” in the British Medical Journal. In 1880, Conan Doyle took a break from his studies and went on a daring six-month sea voyage to the Arctic on the whaling ship Hope. All British whale ships had to carry a surgeon, even if he was a 20 year-old medical student. During the voyage Doyle wrote a fascinating diary which was published recently. This voyage inspired him to write the story, “The Captain of the Pole Star.” Medical profession and part-time authorship Finally, in 1881, Conan Doyle passed qualifying examinations and settled in the Portsmouth suburb of Southsea in the next year to begin his own medical practice. As a keen sportsman, he joined the Southsea Bowling Club and the North End Cricket Club, and started playing rugby. He also joined the Literary and Scientific Society. Soon he found out that he was not satisfied with his medical career and decided to try his hand in writing fiction.

From a young age he found pleasure in writing letters and articles and, finally, composing short stories. In Southsea, Doyle, aged 23, wrote articles and short stories for London Society, All the Year Round, Temple Bar, Lancet, and The British Journal of Photography. He also wrote his first novel, The Narrative of John Smith. Its manuscript was lost in the mail on its way to the publisher. Although not good fiction, the novel provides a fascinating insight into the young writer's mind. It was published in 2011. This early novel is about a middle-aged man who is stricken with gout and confined to his bed for a week. He attempts to write a book, and expounds his views on topics such as medicine, religion, literature and interior design. Many of the opinions reflect the author's outlook, e.g. his belief in the importance of science and medicine, and his scepticism about religious dogma. In the 1880s Conan Doyle continued his private medical practice at Southsea, which turned out to be far from prosperous, and published fiction in various magazines.

In 1886, he wrote a novella, A Study in Scarlet, which introduced the character of Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson. Because of its brevity it was not published as a separate book, but was included in Beeton's Christmas Annual in the following year. The Annual was not very popular and Doyle decided to write historical romances instead of detective fiction. Conan Doyle often wrote to his mother about his longing to have a wife. Eventually, in 1885, he married Louise 'Toulie' Hawkins, whom he had met while treating her terminally ill brother Jack. Surprisingly, instead of going on a honeymoon with his young wife, he went on a tour of Ireland with the Stonyhurst Wanderers, the school's old boys cricket team. Four years later Arthur and Louise had their first child, Mary, and in 1892 their second child, Arthur, known as Kingsley. In 1890, Conan Doyle studied briefly ophthalmology in Vienna.

He then visited the Hygiene Institute in Berlin, where Robert Koch's cure for tuberculosis was being tested, and reported on the cure, first in a letter to the Daily Telegraph, and next in an article “Dr Koch and his Cure,” published in the Review of the Reviews. Although he had some doubts about the curative properties of the new procedure, he was impressed by Koch himself as “a model of scientist as hero.” (Kerr 84) After return to England, Conan Doyle moved to London with his wife and daughter to start practice as an eye specialist at 2 Upper Wimpole Street. However, as he wrote in his Memories and Adventures, “not one single patient had entered the threshold of my room.” (96) Having no patients he had plenty of time to reconsider his career, and eventually, he decided to undergo a significant metamorphosis from doctor to writer (Kerr 91). In August, Doyle decided to give up medicine and make his living as a full-time professional writer. He next moved with his family to Tennison Road in South Norwood to concentrate only on writing.

He published the first six “Adventures of Sherlock Holmes” in the Strand Magazine, and in 1890, the second Sherlock Holmes novel, The Sign of the Four, in Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine. When the stories were published in book form as The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892), “the Baker Street mania finally swept the public. By then Conan Doyle had launched himself as a full-time professional writer.” (Dirda 12) Life at Undershaw and Windlesham In 1893, Louise was diagnosed with tuberculosis. During the first years of the illness, the Doyles spent much time in Switzerland, hoping that local climate would help her. While in Switzerland Conan Doyle practised winter sports and became the first British to cross the Alpine pass in snow shoes. After return from Switzerland to London, Conan Doyle met the novelist Grant Allen at luncheon, who told him that he had also suffered from consumption and that he had found the climate of Surrey beneficial for his health. Doyle rushed to Hindhead, the highest village in Surrey, with buildings at between 185 and 246 metres above sea level.

He immediately bought a plot of ground, and commissioned a house to be built before leaving with his wife for Egypt in the autumn of 1895. The house, called Undershaw, which was designed for rest and recuperation of his wife, was ready in 1897. During the years at Undershaw Conan Doyle wrote The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Return of Sherlock Holmes, The Great Boer War, Sir Nigel, and many other short stories and nonfiction writings. Louise died in 1906 at the age of 49. Shortly after the death of his wife, Conan Doyle married Jean Leckie (1872-1940), a beautiful daughter of a wealthy Scottish family, who rode horses, hunted, and had trained as a singer. (Pascal 94) She turned out to be the greatest love of his life. He had met her at a party in 1896, while Louise was still alive and fell in love at first sight. It appears that the relationship with Jean was platonic until Louise died. They were married a year later and he bought the house Windlesham, near Jean’s parents in Crowborough, Sussex.

Conan Doyle had two children with his first wife: Mary Louise (1889-1976) and Kingsley (1892-1918), and three children with his second wife: Denis Percy Stewart (1909-1955), Adrian Malcolm (1910-1970) and Jean Lena Annette (1912-1997). Literary career Conan Doyle’s literary output is prodigious. During his writing career Sir Arthur wrote twenty-one novels and over 150 short stories. He also published nonfiction, essays, articles, memoirs and three volumes of poetry. He left thousands of letters to the press, his mother (about 1500 letters), family, friends and acquaintances, including Winston Churchill, P. G. Wodehouse, Theodore Roosevelt, and Oscar Wilde. Jeffrey and Valerie Meyers, editors of The Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Reader: From Sherlock Holmes to Spiritualism (2002) write: He shared Dickens's sense of justice and social responsibility, his warm humanity and delight in the lively individuality of the characters he created.

Like Dickens, he published his stories and novels, often in serial form, in the weekly magazines that were the staple of popular entertainment in the late nineteenth century. Like his younger contemporary and friend, H. G. Wells, he used his scientific education and medical training in his fiction and challenged the prevailing belief in the idea of progress. Like Wells, he also became an important public figure whose opinion was sought on the crucial issues of the day, an influential speaker at a time when the lecture was a popular event. [x] The Sherlock Holmes stories Between 1887 and 1927, Doyle wrote four novels and fifty-six stories with Sherlock Holmes, a brilliant London-based “consulting detective” famous for his astute observation, deductive reasoning and forensic skills to solve difficult cases. Holmes's fictional forefather was Edgar Allan Poe's detective C. Auguste Dupin, but it was Conan Doyle who first introduced to literature the character of the scientific detective. Holmes, one of the best known and most popular characters in English literature, is not only a successful master detective, but he is the epitome of the Victorian and imperial values. Sherlock Holmes embodies the system that he comes to protect.

He is the man of reason, of science, of technology; he is from the upper class and was educated at Oxford; he eventually becomes rich; and he frequents best city clubs and other haunts of the gentleman. [Lehan 84] The first novel that introduced Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson of 221B Baker Street, London, A Study in Scarlet, a tale of murder and revenge, appeared in Beaton’s Christmas Annual in 1887, and the second, The Sign of the Four, in Lippincott's Monthly Magazine in 1890. After publishing the first set of Sherlock Holmes stories in the Strand Magazine between 1891 and 1893, Doyle was not particularly proud of his detective fiction. He planned to write an opera, a book of medical short stories and a Napoleonic saga. He believed that historical romances, and not his detective stories, were his most important work.

(Wilson 22) In 1893, he tried to kill off Holmes at the height of his popularity by plunging him over the Reichenbach Falls with Professor Moriarty, Holmes's greatest enemy, but in 1902 Holmes appeared in The Hound of the Baskervilles because the reading public demanded further adventures of the great detective. As a matter of fact, Doyle did not bring Holmes back to life, but told a story that had taken place before his disappearance at the Reichenbach Falls. (Redmond 24) However, there was such a great public outcry that he eventually resurrected the master detective in “The Adventure of the Empty House” in the 1903 October issue of the Strand Magazine. Doyle created the first truly great detective in fiction and gave a great impetus to detective story as a fictional form. The tremendous popularity of Sherlock Holmes in the late Victorian and Edwardian periods can be explained by the fact that he not only embodied the late Victorian faith in the power of logic and rationality, but above all restored confidence that the British were capable to maintain law and order not only in Britain but also in the Empire at large.

The Professor Challenger stories Although the Sherlock Holmes stories are his best fiction, Conan Doyle wrote novels and short stories in many genres. These include historical fiction, horror and suspense, psychological thriller, science fiction, poetry, and plays for the stage. In addition, Sir Arthur wrote nonfiction works on a variety of subjects: essays on literature, accounts of England’s involvement in the South African War and World War I, memoirs and diaries, writings about photography, works on the paranormal, occult and Spiritualism . Arthur Conan Doyle is also the author of fantasy and science fiction, which includes three novels and two short stories: The Lost World (1912), The Poison Belt (1913), The Land of Mist (1926), “The Disintegration Machine” (1928), and “When the World Screamed” (1929). The Lost World introduced his second most famous character, Professor George Edward Challenger, who guides an expedition deep into an isolated plateau in the South American jungle where some prehistoric animals (dinosaurs) and indigenous race of ape-like people still live. Challenger, a scientist of enormous intellect and adventurer, was designed to be a character to rival Holmes.

The Poison Belt is an apocalyptic novel that features the same characters who appear in The Lost World. Astronomers discover that the Earth is about to be engulfed in a belt of poisonous gas “ether” from outer space. Prior to (apparently) extinguishing all life on the planet, the belt causes a mysterious outbreak of illness whose symptoms are irritability, loss of inhibition, coma, and (pseudo) death. (Harris 453) In The Land of Mist (1926) Professor Challenger is converted to Spiritualism. The Challenger stories, which recall Jules Verne’s science fiction, are less popular of Doyle's fictions than the Sherlock Holmes stories. However, they contain interesting narrative structure and their themes concern imperialism, positivist science, the male role, evolution, degeneration theory and atavism. (Christensen 121) Historical romances Arthur Conan Doyle wrote several popular works of historical fiction. The first was Micah Clarke (1889), which is set in the seventeenth century during the Monmouth Rebellion.

The White Company (1891) recounts the history of a company of medieval English archers during the Hundred Years' War, in the years 1366 and 1367. In 1906, Doyle published its prequel, Sir Nigel, which is set in the early phase of the Hundred Years' War. Doyle also wrote a series of short stories about a Napoleonic hussar named Etienne Gerard, which were first published in magazines and eventually in book form: The Exploits of Brigadier Gerard (1896) and Adventures of Gerard (1903). They are “brilliant evocations of the Napoleonic ethos.” (Dirda 73) Earlier in 1892, he published The Great Shadow and Other Napoleonic Tales. It should be noted that Conan Doyle was often disappointed at being famous chiefly for the creation of the Sherlock Holmes character. He had a much higher esteem of his historical novels than the Sherlock Holmes stories. Nonfiction Arthur Conan Doyle also wrote nonfiction. In 1907, he published Through the Magic Door, a long essay about the charisma and charm of books.

He also wrote several books dealing with public topics, such as The Crime of the Congo (1910). He also published A History of the British Campaign in France and Flanders ( 6 vols., 1916-1920), and A Visit to Three Fronts (1916). In 1914, Doyle wrote several pamphlets about the war. In 1924, Doyle published his excellent autobiography, Mysteries and Adventures, which recounts his life from early childhood, education, voyages as a ship's doctor, medical practice in Southsea, his literary endeavours, experiences from the Boer war, legal and political campaigns, interests in sports, and commitment to spiritualism. Knighthood In 1900, Doyle served in the Boer War as a volunteer doctor in the Langman Field Hospital at Bloemfontein between March and June. After return home he wrote a lengthy book, The Great Boer War, which sought to justify the British cause and to emphasise the great need for army reform and modernisation. The book was hailed in the press for its accuracy and fairness.

(Pascal 99) In 1902, Doyle received his knighthood from the British Crown for a pamphlet, The War in South Africa: Its Causes and Conduct, in which he defended England's position in the Boer War in South Africa and for his service to the nation. He was reluctant to accept the title, but his mother talked him into it. (Pascal 103) There is also a theory that king Edward VII, who was an avid reader of Sherlock Holmes stories, knighted him to encourage him to write more stories about the 'master' detective'. Interest in spiritualism Arthur Conan Doyle became interested in the paranormal in the late 1880s and studied it for the rest of his life. In the last quarter of his life, he abandoned literary career and devoted himself to spreading the spiritualist message throughout the world. He lectured on spiritualism in Great Britain, Australia, and South Africa, and the United States, during which he covered 55,000 miles and addressed a quarter of a million people. In 1926, he published The History of Spiritualism in two volumes at his own expense.

Other accomplishments Sir Arthur was a large, vigorous, active man, with all of the Englishman's traditional fondness for sports. Throughout all his adult life he wore the “walrus” moustache of the late Victorian era. He was an outstanding sportsman; he played football, and billiards. While living in Southsea he was a goalkeeper for Portsmouth Association Football Club. He was also a keen cricketeer. “For many years Conan Doyle even belonged to a rather literary cricket team called the Allahakbarries, its name punningly combining the Arabic formula praising God with a nod to the team’s captain J. M. Barrie (creator of Peter Pan).” (Dirda 13) Between 1899 and 1907, he played 10 first-class matches for the Marylebone Cricket Club. He also practised boxing and was a pioneer motorist and a rally-driver. In the 1890s, he started ski-touring to Switzerland. He was an occasional bowler and keen golfer. In 1910, he was elected captain of the Crowborough Beacon Golf Club, East Sussex. Conan Doyle was always a partisan of the underdog.

He campaigned successfully against miscarriages of justice. He conducted a long campaign to defend the half-British and half-Indian solicitor George Edaljii, who had been accused of mutilating animals. Julian Barnes' novel, Arthur and George (2005) recounts this episode in his life. Conan Doyle also campaigned for the release of Oscar Slater, a German Jew born in Upper Silesia, who was accused of murdering an old woman in Glasgow. Doyle exposed inconsistencies in the police investigation and Slater was finally freed. Conan Doyle was also an early champion of building the Channel Tunnel, which, he believed, was necessary, “for the deployment of troops and armaments in France in an anticipation a German war.” (Wynne 21) For his various accomplishments he received the honorary degree of LL.D. from the university of Edinburgh in 1905, and was a knight of grace of the order of St. John of Jerusalem. Death and legacy Towards the end of his life Sir Arthur suffered angina which he contracted during his exhausting world tours.

He died of heart failure on July 7, 1930, in Crowborough, East Sussex, leaving his widow Jean, their three children, Dennis, Adrian and Jean, and his daughter Mary, by his first wife. His eldest son, Kingsley, who served in World War One, was seriously wounded at the 1916 Battle of the Somme; later he developed pneumonia which he contracted during his convalescence and died in 1918 aged 25. The last words of Conan Doyle were addressed to his wife. He whispered smiling to her: “You are wonderful.” (Davis xvi) He was 71 years old. Sir Arthur and his second wife are buried at the New Forest Church of All Saints, Minstead. Legend has it that as a devoted spiritualist, he was first buried in an upright position in the garden of his home at Crowborough. The house in Crowborough was sold, but the graves remained until 1955, when the Doyle family decided to fulfil Lady Jean's original wish that they be buried together at All Saints. The remains of Sir Arthur and Lady Jean were exhumed from the garden and reinterred in the churchyard.

After a short private ceremony the couple were laid horizontally to rest. The epitaph on the gravestone in the churchyard at Minstead in the New Forest, Hampshire, reads: “Steel True, Blade Straight, Arthur Conan Doyle, Knight, Patriot, Physician & Man of Letters.” Conclusion Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a versatile and complex personality; he was physician by education, keen sportsman, war correspondent, campaigner for social justice, creator of the world's most famous fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, author of historical and social novels, and active Spiritualist. As Douglas Kerr has written in his recent book: “Arthur Conan Doyle was, arguably, Britain's last national writer.” (13) An Irish by ancestry, Scottish by birth and upbringing, and British by choice, devoted to Crown and Empire, he still remains one of the most popular British authors and a national icon. Sherlock Holmes | PPC Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia Edit Classic Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson Holmes is most famous for his amazing feats of deductive reasoning, which are fueled by his keen observations. He has profound knowledge of chemistry and criminal cases and a solid understanding of British law, anatomy, poisons, and practical geology.

He is also very good with disguises, such that Watson failed several times to see through them. He is an excellent violin player. In the physical realm, he is an expert single stick fighter, bare knuckle boxer, and swordsman. He is a good shot with a pistol, and knowledgeable in a form of martial arts called 'baritsu' in the books. This was a misspelling of an actual English self defence system, bartitsu, based on martial arts from Japan. Bartitsu is still practised in England and has made a recent comeback. He is also a recreational user of morphine and a cocaine addict. He injects the cocaine from a seven percent solution. He is canonically not only disinterested in women, but actively and rather vehemently distrustful of all women. Watson states that Holmes has an 'aversion to women' but 'a peculiarly ingratiating way with [them].' Holmes states, 'I am not a whole-souled admirer of womankind'; in fact, he finds 'the motives of women ... so inscrutable ... How can you build on such quicksand? Their most trivial actions may mean volumes ... their most extraordinary conduct may depend upon a hairpin'.

The only woman to ever garner interest from Holmes beyond the case they bring to him is Irene Adler, and even then, Holmes never goes beyond a few passing mentions of her. The author, Conan Doyle, remarked to muse Joseph Bell, 'Holmes is as inhuman as a Babbage's calculating machine and just about as likely to fall in love '. Sherlock Holmes head over heels in love with anyone is a chargeable offence. Holmes retires to Sussex Downs around 1903-1904 and takes up beekeeping. He was created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, a Scottish author and physician. He first appeared in publication in 1887 in A Study in Scarlet. The short stories and serialized novels were published until 1927. He appeared in four novels and fifty-six short stories. The period covered by the written works ranges from about 1880 to 1907, with a final case in 1914. All but four of the stories are told by John H. Watson. Two of those are narrated by Holmes himself, and the other two are in third person.

The original novel, A Study in Scarlet, includes a long section written in omniscient that neither Holmes nor Watson knew. Dr Joseph Bell Conan Doyle said that his inspiration for Holmes came from Dr Joseph Bell, who was the first to apply science to the detection of crime, and taught his students the Method, which was to make accurate observations, logical deductions, and finally, to find concrete proof. He would astound his students by accurately diagnosing his patients' ailments, occupations, histories, and nationalities after only a short period of observation. Some believe that Doyle based Watson on himself, and every film and television adaption of Sherlock Holmes has included a Watson that at least somewhat resembles Doyle. Watson is portrayed in the books as competent, intelligent, physically capable, and a better shot than Holmes. He is married to Mary Morstan in 1887, but when Holmes returns from his 'death' in 1894, the doctor speaks of sad bereavement and moves back into Baker Street. Hints in the stories may indicate that Watson marries up to two more times. He is also referred to as quite the ladies' man, reporting in The Sign of Four his 'experience of women which extends over many nations and three separate continents'.

Adaptions Edit The Guinness Book of World Records has consistently listed Sherlock Holmes as the 'most portrayed movie character', with 75 actors playing the part in over 211 films. A few of the adaptions are detailed below. Basil Rathbone played Sherlock Holmes with Nigel Bruce as Watson in fourteen films from 1939-1946. Nigel Bruce's portrayal of Watson as a heavyset bumbler marked the character for many years. The Disney answer to Sherlock Holmes is the 1986 animated feature The Great Mouse Detective, based on the Basil of Baker Street books by Eve Titus. The Great Mouse Detective features mice versions of Sherlock Holmes (Basil of Baker Street), Dr. Watson (Dr. David Q. Dawson), Professor Moriarty (Professor Ratigan), and Mrs. Hudson (Mrs. Judson). The Granada adaption: This is considered the definitive modern adaption (1984-1994) with Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes and David Burke and Edward Hardwicke playing Watson.

This version largely tells the stories from the books, but details frequently differ, enough so that it should be noted whether the author of a story used the bookverse or the Granada-verse before charging. 2009 Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson 2009 movie: This movie has Robert Downey Jr. as Sherlock Holmes and Jude Law as Watson. This version is an original story by Lionel Wigram and focuses on Holmes' more anti-social eccentricities and his martial abilities. No explicit reference to his use of cocaine is made, but it is referred to obliquely in the 'You do realize that what you are drinking is meant for eye surgery?' remark made by Dr Watson. A historical use for cocaine is as a local anesthetic for eye surgery. The Dr Watson in this movie is very physical, a good shot, a ladies' man, and a gambler. The last is taken from a reference in 'The Adventure of the Dancing Men', in which Holmes states that he has Watson's checkbook locked in his drawer for safekeeping. A sequel to this movie was released in late 2011. Called A Game of Shadows, it is based off "The Final Problem".

2010 TV series : This adaption is set in the present day. The plots of the first season are loosely based on the original stories, with smaller or greater parts being lifted directly from the source material. In the s Martin Freeman as John Watson and Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes in BBC Sherlock. econd season, however, they are blantantly modern adaptations of the three most famous Holmes stories (A Scandal in Bohemia, the Hound of the Baskervilles, and the Final Problem), designed to bring Sherlock in contact with three concepts: love, fear, and death. The third season's episodes are only lightly based on the source material, and show a much more humanised Sherlock Holmes. In the series, Sherlock Holmes is, according to himself, a 'high-functioning sociopath' who is 'married to [his] work'. He is played by Benedict Cumberbatch. Doctor Watson is a troubled veteran from the Afghan war, played by Martin Freeman. The series was created by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, who have both also worked on Doctor Who . So far, it consists of six 90-minute episodes.

The first three were aired in 2010, and the second three were aired in 2012. A third season had been commissioned around the time of season two, and has been released in 2014. 2012 TV series (known as CBS Elementary, to contrast with BBC Sherlock): This adaptation is also set in the present day, albeit in New York City rather than London. It features Jonny Lee Miller as Sherlock Holmes, a recovering drug addict and consultant to Lucy Liu and Jonny Lee Miller as Joan Watson and Sherlock Holmes in CBS Elementary. the NYPD, and Lucy Liu as Joan Watson, an ex-surgeon turned sober companion turned consulting detective. Holmes and Watson work with Captain Thomas N. Gregson and Detective Marcus Bell to solve various homicides, few of which are direct adaptations of the source material but rather have minor references to them (Silver Blaze, bloody messages on the wall, etc). CBS Elementary has, from its first announcement, had a rocky relationship with BBC Sherlock, as both are modern adaptations (and Cumberbatch and Miller worked opposite each other in an adaptation of Frankenstein where they also played the same character).

The BBC fanbase has expressed concerns over the fact that Watson in Elementary is played by a woman of colour, as well as potential copycat moves since both are playing with the same source material. However, the two shows are distinctly unique, as Elementary focuses more on a slow character development (not to mention it has more episodes) and brings in a plot twist with its Irene Adler character, played by Natalie Dormer. This series explores the development of Holmes and Watson's partnership as well as Holmes's development as a character as he struggles with sobriety, amid other things. Non-canonical Works There are many, many instances of non-canonical works based on Sherlock Holmes. Each of these should be considered their own canon, influenced by the Sherlock Holmes canon, but unable to direct their influence back onto the original. Notable Works that Largely Disregard Canon Edit The Seven Percent Solution by Nicholas Meyer, wherein Holmes is a severe cocaine addict whose drug-addled mind creates the supervillain Moriarty. 'The Final Problem' and 'The Empty House' (the stories that include Holmes' supposed death and his return to London) are said in this 'verse to be complete fiction.

Holmes is actually a patient of Sigmund Freud discovering the mommy issues that fuel his addiction during his three-year absence. The introduction by Watson to this work also states that 'The Lion's Mane', 'The Mazarin Stone', 'The Creeping Man' and 'The Three Gables' (all Arthur Conan Doyle–written adventures from 1927's The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes) are forged 'drivel'. It also includes a nearly random cameo by the main character from The Prisoner of Zenda. Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century, which is a 26-episode animated television programme from 1999-2001. The show based some episodes on original Holmes cases, and others had very little to do with the original canon. In this story, Moriarty has been brought back to life by cloning and Holmes is brought back by cellular rejuvenation, possible because his body was preserved in honey in the basement of Scotland Yard. Watson is a compudroid owned by Beth Lestrade, a New Scotland Yard Inspector and descendant of the original Inspector Lestrade. Notable Works that Seek to Expand Canon Edit By focusing on other characters: Enter the Lion by Michael P.

Hodel and Sean M. Wright focuses on Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock's elder brother. Books by Gerard Williams focus on Dr James Mortimer, a character from Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles. The Irene Adler Adventures series by Carole Nelson Douglas focuses on Irene Adler, a character from Doyle's 'A Scandal in Bohemia'. The first book, Good Night, Mr Holmes, retells 'A Scandal in Bohemia' from Irene's point of view. The series is narrated by Adler's companion, Penelope Huxleigh, in a role similar to that of Dr Watson. By introducing new characters: The Mary Russell series by Laurie R. King recreates Sherlock Holmes (starting with The Beekeeper's Apprentice), set during the First World War and the 1920s. Her Holmes is (semi) retired in Sussex, where he is literally stumbled over by a teenage Russell. Recognising a kindred spirit, he gradually trains her as his apprentice. As of 2009, the series includes nine full-length novels and a novella tie-in with a book from her Kate Martinelli series, The Art of Detection.

The Final Solution is a 2004 novel by Michael Chabon. The story, set in 1944, revolves around an unnamed 89-year-old long-retired detective (who may or may not be Sherlock Holmes but is always called just 'the old man'), now interested mostly in beekeeping, and his quest to find a missing parrot, the only friend of a mute Jewish boy. A number of young adult and children's series, notably Tracy Mack's Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street Irregulars (2006-present), Robert Newman's Case of the Baker Street Irregular (1984), and Steven Elliot-Altman et al's Dark Horse comic The Irregulars (2005) focus their attention on the Baker Street Irregulars, Holmes' band of street-urchin informants. These vary in genre from quite accurate historical fiction to science fiction. By expanding on cases, either those mentioned in canon but never written by Doyle or new ones that attempt the same tone as the originals: The Exploits of Sherlock Holmes by Conan Doyle's son Adrian Conan Doyle with John Dickson Carr.

The Lost Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Ken Greenwald, based rather closely on episodes of the 1945 Sherlock Holmes radio show that starred Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, and for which scripts were written by Dennis Green and Anthony Boucher. Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective contains five new Holmes stories by Andrew Salmon, Van Allen Plexico, Aaron Smith and I.A. Watson. 'Sherlock Holmes and the Giant Rat of Sumatra' (mentioned in 'The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire') has been used as the basis for at least six novels. By exploring periods in Holmes' life unexplored in canon: The film Young Sherlock Holmes explores youthful adventures of Holmes and Watson as boarding school pupils. The two did not meet in canon until they took rooms together at Baker Street, so this could arguably be included in the 'disregards canon' section. By using the Sherlock Holmes mythos in different genres: The Cthulhu mythos seems to be a popular crossover genre, with at least two short story collections mixing the two worlds with varying success. Neil Gaiman's short story " A Study in Emerald " (2003), for example, frames "A Study in Scarlet" in a British Empire ruled by the Old Ones.

Colin Bruce uses Sherlock Holmes as the framing device to teach logic and popular science in his books, The Strange Case of Mrs. Hudson's Cat: And Other Science Mysteries Solved by Sherlock Holmes (1997) and Conned Again, Watson!: Cautionary Tales of Logic, Maths and Probability (2001). Fantasy/sci-fi Holmes stories include Ronan Coghlan's Sherlock Holmes and the Heir of Albion (2007), a fantasy that sets Holmes, Moriarty and the Giant Rat of Sumatra against reptilian beings in human guise, and Manly W. Wellman's Sherlock Holmes' War of the Worlds, a crossover with H.G. Wells's science fiction classic featuring the Martian-occupied London. In Badfic Edit Bookverse and Granada-verse (which is posted in the book section at FF.net) is subject to the standard array of slash, love interests to the asexual character of Holmes, and 'fell through time' stories, although none of them stand out as particularly prevalent. Compared to many fandoms, the overall quality of writing on FF.net's Sherlock Holmes book section is unusually high.

The Great Mouse Detective (Disney) Edit Bad fanfiction in the GMD fandom primarily consist of Mary Sues in the form of potential clients for Basil. There is also a lot of Basil/Olivia Flaversham, which is squick potential since Olivia is only a child at the time of the film. 2009 Film Edit The 2009 film stirred up the slash writers. The 'fell through time' plot is pretty common, also, usually with the girl that went back in time being a love interest to Holmes. Bad slash is usually between Holmes and Watson, with bad slash authors frequently either ignoring or vastly exaggerating the popular attitude of the time toward male/male relationships. Possession often woobifies Watson or forces Holmes to become emotional and demonstrative, both of which are of course extremely OOC . Mary Watson may be dropped into a plothole or turned into a Token Homophobic Jerk . However, a great deal of good slash exists, and the Sherlock Holmes canon easily accommodates it, since Watson's obvious affection for Holmes and Holmes's evident dislike of women have both been established.

Holmes can also be written as asexual, with or without platonic romance; he is one of the few well-known characters whose canon leans more toward asexuality than any other orientation. BBC Sherlock Main article: Sherlock (BBC TV series) Due to the on-screen chemistry between Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, fanfiction written for the BBC Sherlock series primarily focus on their relationship. With a Canon that blatantly teases its audience about the sexual orientation of both Watson and Holmes, it is only natural for the fanfiction to be full of "Johnlock" slash. Other prominent ships include Mycroft/Lestrade ("Mystrade"), Watson/Lestrade (often revolving around bonding over dealing with Sherlock's eccentricities) and Moriarty/Moran ("MorMor"), even though Moran has yet to make an appearance in the series. (There is fandom speculation that Moran is one of the assassins in the second series, but that is, as yet, unconfirmed.) The Sherlock fandom has the same types of badfic as its 2009 film counterpart, with bad slash between Sherlock and John (and other pairings).

While there has been concern about Twu Wuv fics between Sherlock and Irene Adler, the new series has largely defused those fears while escalating the Johnlock potential. BBC Sherlock also (rather unsurprisingly) harbours a goldmine of Mary Sues. They are often related to canon characters (siblings of Sherlock, nieces of John, etc) or the new tenant in 221C. Most Sherlock Sues are extremely insidious, hiding in stories with decent grammar and only tagging along with the plot of the series. However, like all Sues, they tend to warp canon personalities, and Sherlock Holmes often gets the brunt of it. Boarder Lily Winterwood has written a list of warning signs of the presence of Stulock Holmes, or the character replacement of Sherlock Holmes. It's also said that once he is character-replaced, BBC-verse Sherlock Holmes becomes extremely aware of his situation and of the PPC, and has been known to recognise agents who regularly work in his 'verse. This can be alleviated through Bleeprin and neuralyzation , although those are only temporary measures until his next replacement. Sherlock Holmes and the PPC Edit Sherlock Holmes minis are mini-Hounds of the Baskervilles .

They serve as enforcement at two separate OFUs . The original, the Baker Street Fanfiction Academy , was started by Juliet Norrington, and later adopted by Lux Piper. It is currently discontinued, but can still be found here . It primarily covered the original Doyle canon. There is also a Modern London Campus of the BSFA, written by Lily Winterwood . It specifically focuses on the BBC's Sherlock. Agents Native to Sherlock Holmes Sherlockian FAQ - The Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia Sherlockian FAQ Here is the answers of the most frequently questions asked by newcomers in Sherlockiana : Contents Who's Who Who is Sherlock Holmes? Dictionary definition : Sherlock Holmes is a fictional character created by Arthur Conan Doyle appearing in 60 stories published between 1887 and 1927. He is an amateur consulting detective. The first story is a novel entitled A Study in Scarlet (1887) and the last one is a short story entitled The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place (1927). The action take place mostly in London, England, during the Victorian and Edwardian eras.

Sherlockian definition : Sherlock Holmes is a real British amateur consulting detective born in 1854, dead or not (see FAQ on this topic Is Sherlock Holmes dead? ). He lived at 221b Baker Street in London, with his friend and biographer, Dr. John H. Watson . Arthur Conan Doyle was the literary agent of Watson. Dictionary definition : John H. Watson is a fictional character created by Arthur Conan Doyle . Sherlockian definition : John H. Watson was a British M.D. born in the early 1850's. He was living at 221b Baker Street with Sherlock Holmes and was his assistant, his biographer and his only friend. He is the author of the stories about the detective's investigations (while Arthur Conan Doyle was his literary agent). More about John Watson... Who is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle? Dictionary definition : Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) was a Scottish writer, physician, sportsman, poet, politician, justicer and spiritualist. He wrote more than 200 fictions of which 60 are stories of Sherlock Holmes.

But he also wrote a lot of essays, poems, plays, articles, letters to the press... Sherlockian definition : Arthur Conan Doyle is the literary agent of Dr Watson. He helped him to publish the Sherlock Holmes stories. See his Complete Works... Who was the arch-ennemy of Sherlock Holmes? We could answer: the Crime! But in the era of Sherlock Holmes, we could find a man at the top of pyramid of crime in England : the professor James Moriarty . According to Sherlock Holmes , "he is the Napoleon of crime, Watson. He is the organizer of half that is evil and of nearly all that is undetected in this great city. He is a genius, a philosopher, an abstract thinker. He has a brain of the first order. He sits motionless, like a spider in the centre of its web, but that web has a thousand radiations, and he knows well every quiver of each of them." He is "the greatest schemer of all time, the organizer of every devilry, the controlling brain of the underworld - a brain which might have made or marred the destiny of nations." More about James Moriarty... Who is Mycroft Holmes?

Mycroft Holmes is the elder brother of Sherlock Holmes . He is 7 years older. He only appears 2 times in the Canon : in The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter and in The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans . He is however also mentioned in The Adventure of the Final Problem and in The Adventure of the Empty House ). Holmes said about him: "He was my superior in observation and deduction. If the art of the detective began and ended in reasoning from an arm-chair, my brother would be the greatest criminal agent that ever lived. But he has no ambition and no energy. [..] Again and again I have taken a problem to him and have received an explanation which has afterwards proved to be the correct one. 41 And yet he was absolutely incapable of working out the practical points which must be gone into before a case could be laid before a judge or jury." More about Mycroft Holmes... Who is Irene Adler? Irene Adler was an American singer and adventuress born in 1858 (deceased around 1890). For Sherlock Holmes she was the woman.

She obly appears in one story : A Scandal in Bohemia where she succeed to avoid the trap set by Sherlock Holmes so the detective had a considerable admiration for her. In the detective eyes : "she eclipses and predominates the whole of her sex." But "It was not that he felt any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler." At the end of the affair, Holmes ask as only reward... the photo of Irene Adler. Mrs Hudson is the landlady of Sherlock Holmes and John H. Watson at 221b Baker Street . Who is Lestrade? The inspector Lestrade is part of the British Scotland Yard police in London. Among all the policemen who worked with Sherlock Holmes , he is the most mentionned in the Canon , but not the most efficient. Holmes said about him : "He is quick and energetic, but conventional - shockingly so." and "he is absolutely devoid of reason, he is as tenacious as a bull-dog when he once understands what he has to do, and indeed it is just this tenacity which has brought him to the top at Scotland Yard." List of Scotland Yard's inspectors... Who is Sidney Paget?

Sidney Paget was a British illustrator (1860-1908) who had drawn most of the illustrations of Sherlock Holmes ' stories published in The Strand Magazine between 1891 and 1904. An anecdote is amazing about him: the first choice of The Strand Magazine editor was Walter Paget , the brother of Sidney. An error in the mailing address and the letter went to Sidney Paget and he accepted. The Strand Magazine didn't regret this error. He also illustrated other non-sherlockian stories of Conan Doyle. Others artists illustrated the Canon like: Walter Paget (only one story after the death of his brother), Frederic Dorr Steele , Frank Wiles , George Hutchinson , W. H. Hyde , H. K. Elcock , and many more. Holmes and Watson Life How Holmes and Watson met? Young Stamford, a common friend of Holmes and Watson, introduced Watson to Sherlock Holmes. He appears in the first story: A Study in Scarlet . Watson, returning from Afghanistan where he was injured, was looking for a cheaper lodging than his hotel room on the Strand. He met Stamford at the Criterion Bar (in London) and explained his problem.

Stamford told him that he know someone on the same situation, a man named Sherlock Holmes. They both went to the St. Bartholomew's hospital to meet this Sherlock Holmes... Where Holmes and Watson live? Holmes and Watson lived together at 221b Baker Street , West End, London. Watson, who married, had to quit Baker Street several times (see Canon:Chronologies ). But Holmes lived here from 1881 (installation of the two men) until 1903 (date when he retired in Sussex). Many debates has been raised about this address : the location of the 221, the meaning of the "b", the layout of the appartment, the windows, Mrs Hudson, etc. Today, there is a Sherlock Holmes museum at the 221 Baker Street, where they recreated the sitting-room and chambers... Museum website Is Sherlock Holmes dead? For some sherlockians, Sherlock Holmes is still alive. The 3 main theories are : During his retiring in Sussex, Sherlock Holmes worked on Bee Culture. He would have followed a royal jelly regime which would have increased his life expectancy until now.

During his trip to Tibet, Sherlock Holmes would have drink an elixir of youth given by the Dalaï-Lama. His obituary has never been published in The Times. What is the Great Hiatus? The Great Hiatus is the period from may 1891 to april 1894 (according to William Stuart Baring-Gould chronology) when everyone, even Watson, thought Holmes dead. In The Adventure of the Final Problem , Sherlock Holmes fought to death with Professor Moriarty at the top of the Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland. They both fell in the falls. Holmes and Moriarty was dead. But Holmes will come back several years later in The Adventure of the Empty House . Did Sherlock Holmes receive the French Legion of Honour? Yes. In The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez , Watson tells us that "the tracking and arrest of Huret, the Boulevard assassin - an exploit which won for Holmes an autograph letter of thanks from the French President and the Order of the Legion of Honour." The French president at this time (1894) was Jean-Pierre Casimir-Perier.

Researches has been made by the french sherlockians of the Sherlock Holmes Society of France in 1993 in the archives of the "Musée de la Légion d'honneur". In the section "Foreign dignitaries", they found a "S. Holmes" dated 1909. THey still have to find why the dates are not matching. Did Sherlock Holmes write books? Yes. Here is the list: Books he wrote : and more... Did Sherlock Holmes play music? Sherlock Holmes played violon. He had purchased a Stradivarius which was worth at least five hundred guineas, at a jew broker's in Tottenham Court Road for fifty-five shillings. ( CARD ) Watson said "My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a very capable performer, but a composer of no ordinary merit." ( REDH ) What is the V.R.? Watson told that when Sherlock Holmes was in one of his queer humours would sit in an arm-chair, with his hair-trigger and a hundred Boxer cartridges, and proceed to adorn the opposite wall with a patriotic V.R. (Victoria Regina) done in bullet-pocks.

( MUSG ) Did Sherlock Holmes meet Jack the Ripper? Jack the Ripper (serial killer who terrorized the East End of London in 1888) and Sherlock Holmes are the two most famous characters of the Victorian era. If Holmes participated to the enquiry of the murders, Watson never recounted it in the Canon . As the killer has never been arrested, all hypothesis are allowed... Some even think that the two men are in fact only one! Several literary and cinema writers have already wrote some meeting between the two men: Movie in 1979, Murder by Decree , by Bob Clark Novel in 1984, The Return of Moriarty, by John Gardner Novel in 1995, The Last Sherlock Holmes Story, by Michael Dibdin What is the difference between induction and deduction? Definition of Deduction : A process of reasoning or concluding from the general to the particular or specific. Definition of Induction : A process of reasoning in which individual facts are used to arrive at a general statement or conclusion. Thus, Sherlock Holmes is using induction. Sherlock Holmes and animals? A giant rat of Sumatra : A giant rat mentioned in The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire .

A remarkable worm : A worm said to be unknown to science mentioned in The Problem of Thor Bridge . Why 27th july 1880 is an important date? Watson was attached to the Fifth Northumberland Fusiliers as Assistant Surgeon. Then he was removed from his brigade and attached to the Berkshires, with whom he served at the fatal battle of Maiwand on 2th july 1880. There, he was struck on the shoulder by a Jezail bullet, which shattered the bone and grazed the subclavian artery. He should have fallen into the hands of the murderous Ghazis had it not been for the devotion and courage shown by Murray, his orderly, who threw him across a pack-horse, and succeeded in bringing him safely to the British lines. Without Murray, Watson would be dead and there would never have Sherlock Holmes stories, so the 27th july should be celebrated by any sherlockians. Did Sherlock Holmes have French origins? Yes, Sherlock Holmes was the grand-son of the sister of the French painter Vernet. ( GREE ) How many times Watson has been married? The exact number is not sure.

Sherlockian experts have to work on debatables chronologies which have different conclusions. At least, two marriages are sure. In The Sign of Four (1888), Watson met Mary Morstan (the Sherlock Holmes ' client) and they married at the end of the story. Mary died between 1891 and 1893. Then, in The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier (1903), Holmes said that Watson had left Baker Street to live with his wife. Any other allusion to Watson's wife are controversial issues because we don't know if it concerns Mary or other woman. What means "b" in the address "221b Baker Street"? The signification of "b" is not sure. Some think it has the same meaning than in France, the "b" is a new building inserted between 221 and 222. And some think it means the appartment (appartment "a" and appartment "b") or the floor. But in these cases it is erroneous to write "221b" in the front door on the building. What means the "H." of "John H. Watson"? We don't know.

Nothing is said about it in the Canon . The British writer Dorothy Sawyers (1893-1957) proposed an interesting hypothesis. She thought it could be "Hamish", which is the scottish equivalent of "James". In The Man with the Twisted Lip , Mrs. Watson called his husband : James. The cliches Illustration by Sidney Paget (1891) No. The calabash pipe was only introduced in England after the Boer war, meaning after The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes . This curved pipe became the symbol of the detective silhouette after the William Gillette performance in his 1899 play and 1916 movie . While acting he couldnt speak with a straight pipe so he was using a curved pipe. Did Sherlock Holmes wear a McFarlane and a deerstalker? Illustration by Sidney Paget (1892) Here are the descriptions of the Sherlock Holmes' outfits when he is travelling in countryside: his ear-flapped travelling-cap ( SILV ) his long grey travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap ( BOSC ) his tweed suit and cloth cap ( HOUN ) There is no more precise description.

The illustrator Sidney Paget (1860-1908), when he illustrated these 3 stories, made the choice to understand it as a deerstalker and a MacFarlane with a hood. Anyway, these were travel and countryside clothings. As Watson said: "In his tweed suit and cloth cap he looked like any other tourist upon the moor...". Sherlock Holmes would never wear these clothes in London, and even less at the Opera like in we could see in some movies. The Granada series with Jeremy Brett is probably the most faithfull adaptation of the canonical description (cloth cap). See photo below: Was Sherlock Holmes misogynistic? No. Holmes never said he hate women. He said that sentiments or emotions could trouble his perfect reasoning. In The Sign of Four , Holmes told to Watson "I should never marry myself, lest I bias my judgment." In many cases, Holmes showed consideration and gentleness to the female clients. Did Sherlock Holmes ever say "Elementary, my dear Watson"? Sherlock Holmes often said his reasonning is "Elementary" and he often told to Watson "My Dear Watson". But never both in the same phrase.

Oh, this is elementary, my dear Watson was first used by William Gillette in his 1899's play and can be heard in the 1916 movie Sherlock Holmes . Was Sherlock Holmes really infallible? No. Sherlock Holmes has already been beaten or outwitted : In The Adventure of the Yellow Face , Holmes is completely wrong in his conclusions. In The Five Orange Pips , Holmes did not succeed to save his client... He was murdered. The Sherlockians Who are the sherlockians? The Sherlockians are people fond of Sherlock Holmes and his universe. They are playing The Game called the Sherlockiana . They like to think that Sherlock Holmes was a real person and do some serious studies like he was an historic personnality. More about Sherlockiana... What is the Sherlockiana? The literary activities of the sherlockians is called the Sherlockiana. The study is limited to the Sherlock Holmes saga in the work of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, including all the characters appearing the stories (their lives, their activities, the places where they live, etc). The sherlockiana is practised by writing articles, studies or conferences (serious or humorous) on the most diverse topics around Sherlock Holmes and his universe.

More about Christopher Morley... What is the BSI and the SHSL? B.S.I. are the initials of The Baker Street Irregulars which is the first American sherlockian society created in 1934. In the Canon , the Baker Street irregulars are the young boys of the London streets who occasionally helped Sherlock Holmes in his investigations. S.H.S.L. stands for the Sherlock Holmes Society of London which is the first British sherlockian society created in 1934 as well but a few months later than the BSI. More about the Baker Street Irregulars... What is a scion society? A Scion Society is a sherlockian society who take the BSI as model for their functionning and declares themselves an affiliate of the BSI, even if the BSI doesn't recognizes them officially. The Stories What is the "Canon"? The Canon is the 60 Sherlock Holmes stories (4 novels and 56 short stories) written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle between 1887 and 1927. The stories written by other authors are not canonical and can't be used for Sherlockian studies. Even those written by Adrian Conan Doyle , the son of Arthur Conan Doyle.

All these stories are called pastiches. Which are the best Sherlock Holmes stories? Everyone has his own opinion. But if you want others opinion, here is two top lists from trustworthy people: According to Conan Doyle himself What is an "Untold Story"? An " untold story " is a case mentioned by Watson in the Canon but never told nor published. For example, in The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire , Sherlock Holmes told to Watson : "'Matilda Briggs was not the name of a young woman, Watson,' said Holmes, in a reminiscent voice. 'It was a ship which is associated with the giant rat of Sumatra, a story for which the world is not yet prepared.'" The story of the Giant Rat of Sumatra is an "untold story". List of untold stories... What is "The Strand Magazine"? The Strand Magazine is a famous British monthly magazine where many Sherlock Holmes stories have been published for the first time between 1891 and 1927. The Adaptations Which was the first sherlockian Cinema movie? The first sherlockian cinema movie is an American short of 30 seconds entitled: " Sherlock Holmes Baffled ".

Produced by "The American Mutoscope and Biograph" and directed by Arthur Marvin . The actor who played Sherlock Holmes is unknown. The movie was released on 26 april 1900. It tells the story of a burglar who appears and disappears like magic in the Sherlock Holmes' living-room. More about Sherlock Holmes cinema movies... Which was the first sherlockian TV movie? The first sherlockian TV movie is an American movie entitled: " The Three Garridebs " aired in 1937 on NBC Television New York. Directed by Robert Palmer . Holmes is played by Louis Hector et Watson by William Podmore . List of Sherlock Holmes TV movies... Which was the first sherlockian Play? The first sherlockian play was a British parody of 1893 entitled " Under the Clock " by Seymour Hicks and Charles Brookfield. Holmes was played by Charles Brookfield . List of Sherlock Holmes plays... Which was the first sherlockian Radio adaptation? The first sherlockian radio show is dated 1930. The show from American WEAF-NBC aired 30 minutes of " The Adventure of the Speckled Band " with William Gillette as Holmes and Leigh Lowell as Watson.

List of Sherlock Holmes radio shows... How many times Sherlock Holmes appeared on screen? Sherlock Holmes is the character who has been the most brought to the screen, as early as the cinema invention. More than 260 movies have been found. It's more than Dracula, Frankenstein, Napoléon or Jesus Christ. However, all the movies are not faithfull adaptations of the stories. Most are pastiches or parodies. Which where the main Sherlock Holmes' performers? The most famous performers are: Cinema

Question: Created by Arthur Conan Doyle, what is the christian name of the famous character, professor Moriarty?
Answer: JAMES