Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: Creator of world's most famous detective

If you are a reader of detective stories, you would know the character Sherlock Holmes. Did you know that the person behind this famous fictional character is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle? He has written hundreds of stories based on this character as well as others. Many of his novels have been turned into plays and movies.

Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle was born on May 22, 1859 in Edinburgh, Scotland, to a prosperous Irish Catholic family, which held a prominent place in the art world. His father was Charles Altamont Doyle. His mother, Mary Foley used to make up stories for the young boy.

At the age of nine years, with help from wealthy relatives, Arthur was sent to a boarding school in England where he spent the next seven years. He didn't like his studies and rebelled against corporal punishment; his only consolation was writing to his mother and playing cricket, which he was quite good at. He also realised his strength at story-telling; with his friends being enthralled with the stories he made up for them.

Conan Doyle graduated in 1876 at the age of 17; decided on a medical career; and was sent to the University of Edinburgh. There, he met many other writers and was most impressed by his teacher, Dr. Joseph Bell, whose skills of observation, logic, dedication and diagnosis were later portrayed in his most famous character of Holmes.

Several years later, Conan Doyle wrote 'The Mystery of Sasassa Valley' and 'The American Tale'; the second was published in a London journal. At 22 years of age, during his third year of studies, he was offered a job on a whaling boat, which was sailing to the Arctic Circle.

This journey led to the book 'Captain of the Pole Star'. Afterwards, he returned to his studies, though without much enthusiasm, and a year later, got the Bachelor of Medicine and Master of Surgery degree. Then, he took up a post in Africa, but gave it up as he didn't like the continent very much. After a few years working with another doctor, he opened his own practice. Around this time, he started trying his skills both as doctor and author.

In August 1885, Conan Doyle got married to Louisa Hawkins. His first novel featuring the characters Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson was the 'Tangled Skein', which was published later as 'A Study in Scarlet'. By now, he had a daughter named Mary and a son named Kingsley.

In 1891, Conan Doyle decided to abandon his medical career and pursue writing full time.

In 'The Final Problem', he killed off his most popular detective, Holmes, but had to revive him later due to the severe criticism levelled against this move by the readership.

When South Africa's Boer War started in the 1900s, he wanted to fight, but since he wasn't allowed to, he took part in the mission as a doctor. The result of this expedition was 'The Great Boer War'.

Then, he unsuccessfully contested a seat in Central Edinburgh, and wrote probably his most famous work 'The Hound of the Baskervilles'.

He was also knighted by King Edward VII for his services during the Boer War. During this period, he helped solve many real crimes too.

After his wife's death in 1906, Conan Doyle married Jean Leckies in 1907. He also moved to Sussex while 'The Speckled Band' became a successful play. He had three more children; two sons and a daughter.

With his son Kingsley dying in World War I, Conan Doyle turned to spiritualism and started undertaking psychic tours around the world. He started suffering from heart problems and passed away on July 7, 1930.