«Today, July 7st, Arthur Conan Doyles‘s death, doctor, novelist and European writer, creator of the unforgettable character, detective teacher, Sherlock Holmes» is commemorated
Arthur Conan Doyle was born on May 22th, 1859, to a talented family of Irish painters in the city of Edinburgh. He studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh from 1876 to 1881. Upon completion of his studies, in June 1882, he moved to Portsmouth, a small town in the south-east of England, where he opened a clinic.
At the beginning of his career as a doctor in Portsmouth, he did not do as well as he expected, so he started writing stories during his free time without imagining the success he expected. Such was the fame and popularity that he achieved with his writings that after five years he completely abandoned medicine to devote himself fully to literature.
Sherlock Holmes
On October 14, 1892, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle first published «The Sherlock Holmes‘s Adventures» a collection of twelve short stories told in the first person with fictional detective Sherlock Holmes as the main character, the stories were in chronological order and the only characters that were repeated in all of them were Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson.
2009 Sherlock Holmes adaptation. Source: los40
All the stories told in this book are in solidarity with the social injustices of the time and try to correct them. Holmes is presented as someone who offers a new sense of justice. This fictional character went down in history and has starred in several film adaptations.
Interesting data
In addition to conceiving the world’s most famous literary detective, Conan Doyle was a prolific author in various written genres. He had an adventurous spirit that took him to remote latitudes unknown to his time. Among his many qualities, Dr. Arthur Conan Doyle had an innate talent for sports, which gave him the title of «Forerunner of Alpine Skiing and Motorsports».
At forty, Doyle volunteered to participate in the Boer War, but was turned down because of age and being overweight. However, at his insistence, he was accepted as a doctor and offered his services in Africa, where he treated countless cases of typhoid and war wounds. After his return he tried to enter politics as a candidate for Parliament by the Liberal Unionist Party, however, he could not win.
Tragedy and death
Not all of Conan Doyle’s history is full of moments of success. He suffered firsthand the pain of war by losing his oldest son during World War I. This fact left a deep wound in his soul and was one of the main reasons why he began to believe in ghosts and spiritual sessions. On July 7st, 1930, at the age of 72, he suffered a heart attack while he was at home.