28 May Arthur Conan Doyle

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, born in Edinburgh in 1859, graduated with a medical degree from the city’s University. He set up practice in Portsmouth in 1882 and it was there that he wrote A Study in Scarlet (1887), the novel that introduced the world to the great consulting detective, Sherlock Holmes, and his trusty companion, Dr John Watson. Following the success of the second Holmes novel, The Sign of Four (1890), Doyle wrote 24 short stories for The Strand Magazine (1891-93). The success of the third Holmes novel, The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902), created a demand for more short stories. So, reluctantly, Doyle provided The Strand Magazine with Holmes stories off and on until 1927. Doyle’s prolific output ultimately included four Holmes novels and more than fifty Holmes short stories.

Doyle died at the family home in Crowborough, Sussex, in 1930 aged 71 and was buried in the rose garden there. His remains were later reinterred in the graveyard of All Saints’ Church in the village of Minstead, Hampshire. In Crowborough, Doyle is commemorated by a life-size bronze statue in the town center. In London, Holmes’ fictional home at 221B Baker Street (actually 239) is now the Sherlock Holmes Museum. A short walk away there’s a larger-than-life statue depicting the great detective in characteristic pose. On a side street near Trafalgar Square is the Sherlock Holmes pub, whose Victorian-style interior is filled with references to Doyle’s stories. Another atmospheric pub, Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, in a side alley off Fleet Street, was a regular haunt of Doyle and other literary figures, including Charles Dickens and Dr Samuel Johnson.