If you happen to Google “Sir Arthur Conan Doyle”, you will get thousands of search results for the great creator and writer, famous for his immortal creation, the great detective SHERLOCK HOLMES.
Sherlock Holmes was undoubtedly the Harry Potter of his time.What more? I think he will outlive Harry Potter. Sir Arthur earned a lot of money through his novels and lived a life that many of us would envy. But like every great story, Doyle’s story too was one of its kind and was not all too bright and shiny as one would like to think.
Sir Arthur was born on may 22,1859, and was a doctor by profession. He graduated from university of Edinburgh in 1881. It was during this time that he started writing short stories to earn some money on the side.
Sir Doyle’s medical career was in ruins. It never took off. He tried to establish his practice in Plymouth and Portsmouth (England) but he didn’t succeed. It was during the hours he spent waiting for patients, he started writing novels and created Sherlock Holmes.
His stories received great appreciation from audience around the world and very soon Holmes was a phenomenon.
Soon enough Doyle got tired of Holmes and wanted to write something else and evolve his art of writing.
In November 1891 he wrote a letter to his mother and confessed, “I think of slaying Holmes… and winding him up for good and all. He takes my mind from better things.” To which his mother responded, “You won’t! You can’t! You mustn’t!” ( Apparently, the letter is not publicly available.)
Sir Doyle received continuous pressure from publishers and audience to continue writing about Holmes.When finally Sir Doyle killed Holmes in his novel “The Final Problem”, he faced the wrath of public and publishers alike. He received life threatening letters from people ordering him to bring Holmes back to life. People even threw stones at his house , mentally torturing Sir Arthur and forced him to continue writing about Sherlock Holmes. This resulted in the Return of Sherlock in his next novel.
People were crazy for Sherlock and most of them believed him to be real, immortal and unbeatable and they could not stand the fact that he could die or worse, FAIL.
Under this pressure Sir Arthur continued writing “Adventures of Sherlock Holmes” against his wish till he died.
On his 71 st b’day he confessed that he was tired of hearing about Holmes. He said “Holmes is dead. I am done with him.”
On 7 July just 1 month and a few days after this speech Sir Arthur too died of a heart attack.
Till this date people send letters to Sherlock Holmes at his fictional address 221 B bakers street in London. Hoping that he would help them. These letters include cases form missing cats to stolen Jewelry!!
Generations have enjoyed Sherlock Holmes’s Novels and their TV/Film adaptations yet they were nothing but pain and depression for the person who wrote them.
Various Film/ TV adaptations of Sherlock Holmes.
I like to think Sir Doyle was more John Watson than he was Sherlock Holmes. In awe of Sherlock’s intellect and annoyed at him, both at the same time.
Anyway, Who’s ready for season 4?
The boys will be back soon! Here’s the first official picture of #Sherlock and John from Series 4. pic.twitter.com/MqGfuUWb96
— Sherlock (@Sherlock221B) August 31, 2016
Coffee Table Thoughts 
Great information! Thank you for sharing. 🙂
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