Arthur Conan Doyle

Arthur Conan Doyle was born in Edinburgh on 22 May 1859 and died on 7 July 1930. He trained as a physician and worked as a doctor before turning fully to writing. In 1887 he introduced Sherlock Holmes, the brilliant consulting detective, and Dr Watson, his loyal friend and narrator. Their adventures, many of them first printed in magazines, made Holmes one of the best-known characters in all fiction and helped shape the modern detective story, with its emphasis on observation, deduction and clear reasoning.

Doyle was proud of other work too. He wrote historical novels, adventure tales such as The Lost World, and non-fiction, and he took an active part in public life. He later became a committed supporter of spiritualism. His lively, economical storytelling still draws new readers more than a century on.