Birth of Sherlock Holmes

Tomorrow a major new film adaption of the Sherlock Holmes stories is released in UK. This fictional character was invented by a young doctor, Arthur Conan Doyle, who had moved to Portsmouth in 1882. His practice was initially slow so inbetween patients Doyle indulged his talent for writing. The first story introducing Holmes, A Study in Scarlet, was published in 1887 in the Beeton's Christmas Annual and was an immediate hit. Although detective fiction was not by any means the only writing Conan Doyle undertook, Sherlock made his fortune. In 1890 he left Portsmouth a wealthy, established author.