22 May in Literature

This day in 1859, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was born. He is the creator of one of the most popular, literary sleuths, Sherlock Holmes.

He was born in Scotland and studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh. There he met Dr. Joseph Bell, who was a teacher with extraordinary deductive reasoning power. He was, years later when Doyle started writing, the inspiration for Sherlock Holmes.

After finishing his studies he moved to London and opened a medical practice. It was very slow, so he had time to write. His first Sherlock Holmes story, A Study in Scarlet, was published in Beeton's Christmas Annual in 1887. From 1891 his stories about the famous detective appeared in The Strand magazine. From this year he could support himself on his writing and left his medical profession. He got tired of his hero and tried to kill him off in The Final Problem. However, by this time the demand for the stories was so great that he had to resuscitate him again.

Doyle also wrote history, pursued whaling and engaged in many adventures and athletic endeavours.
He was knighted for his work in a field hospital in South Africa. After his son died in World War I, he became a dedicated spiritualist. He died in 1930.