Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was born the third of ten siblings on 22 May 1859 in Edinburgh, Scotland.
From 1876 to 1881 he studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh. While studying, Conan Doyle began writing short stories. His first published story appeared in "Chambers's Edinburgh Journal" before he was 20. In 1890 his novel, A Study in Scarlet, introduced the character of Detective Sherlock Holmes. Doyle would go on to write 60 stories about Sherlock Holmes. He also strove to spread his Spiritualism faith through a series of books that were written from 1918 to 1926. Doyle died of a heart attack in Crowborough, England on July 7, 1930.
At the age of 23, Doyle wrote his first novel and send it to a publisher. Unfortunately, it didn’t reach the required destination and he had to pen it down again from memory.
He was a right handed batsman and an occasional slow bowler. He was on the same cricket team Peter Pan author, JM Barrie.
If that was not enough, he even played as a goalkeeper under the pseudonym AC Smith for Portsmouth FC.
Being overweight, he couldn’t become a soldier in the Boer War. So he volunteered as a ship’s doctor and sailed to Africa.
As strange as it may sound, he is said to have spent a million dollars promoting validation that fairies exist. His book, The Coming of the Fairies, addresses their supposed authenticity. It was a photograph of a girl surrounded by fairies, which was a hoax, that prompted him to believe in them.
He was good friends with the famous magician Harry Houdini, but the two later had a bitter spat on the grounds of spiritualism that broke their friendship entirely.
Like his famed character, Doyle was a detective of sorts himself. For example, he used the Holmes method to solve the murder of Marion Gilchrist, a wealthy 82-year-old woman from Glasgow.
In 1900, he ran for parliament in Edinburgh. He contested again for a second time in the Border Burghs in 1906. Although he received a good number of votes both times, he failed to get elected.
Holding a flower in one hand and uttering the words “You are wonderful” to his wife, Sir Arthur Canon Doyle died in his garden on July 7, 1930.
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