Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Facts about Sir Doyle

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle died at 71 years old
Born: May 22, 1859
Birthplace: Edinburgh, Scotland
Best known as: The creator of Sherlock Holmes

     
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Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Biography

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was the creator of Sherlock Holmes, perhaps the most famous detective in all of literary fiction.

Arthur Conan Doyle was born in Scotland and studied medicine there, eventually serving as a physician in the Boer War (1899-1902). But his fame rests on his creation of the eccentric and super-deductive “consulting detective” Sherlock Holmes.

Doyle published his first Sherlock Holmes tale, A Study in Scarlet, in 1887. Over the following 40 years he published 56 short stories and four novels featuring Holmes and his sidekick, Dr. Watson.  Sherlock Holmes was a keen observer, relentlessly logical and a master of deduction from the smallest of clues — traits that made him a model for many later detectives, and made Arthur Conan Doyle a model for many later mystery writers.

Late in life, Arthur Conan Doyle became closely interested in mysticism and wrote the 1926 book A History of Spiritualism. He was knighted in 1903 for his services to the crown, including his authorship of the 1902 pamphlet The War in South Africa.

Extra credit

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle also created Holmes’s nemesis, the crafty arch-villain Professor Moriarty… Arthur Conan Doyle and Dr. Watson have much in common: both are medical doctors, both are writers, and both served in the British Army… According to his New York Times obituary, Arthur Conan Doyle was married to the former Louise Hawkins from 1885 until her death in 1906. He was married again to the former Jean Leckie from 1907 until his own death in 1930. Doyle had two children with his first wife, three with his second.


     

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