The Hound of the Baskervilles

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Sir Arthur Conan DoyleLIFE…

•Was a British author

•Born in Edinburgh, Scotland on May 22,1859

•Studied medicine at University ofEdinburgh (*Met Dr. Joseph Bell)

•Opened own practice (not successful)

•In down time, began writing stories

LIFE, continued

•Was very athletic (football[aka: soccer],cricket, golf)

•Married Louise Hawkins (died of TB in 1906)- had 2 children

•Married Jean Leckie in 1907 - 3 children

•Wrote an article about the Boer War

•Was knighted in 1902

•Wrote many historical articles and nonfictionworks.

DEATH

•Found clutching his chest in the hall of hishome in East Sussex, England

•Died of heart attack on July 7, 1930,

aged 71

•His tombstone in New Forest,Hampshire reads:

STEEL TRUE

BLADE STRAIGHT

ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE

KNIGHT

PATRIOT, PHYSICIAN & MAN OF LETTERS

WORK

•THE CANON (of Sherlock Holmes)

–4 novels & 56 short stories

–First NOVEL: A Study in Scarlet (includedSherlock Holmes & Dr. Watson)

–First book of SHORT STORIES (1892) : TheAdventures of Sherlock Holmes

–Originally published short stories monthly in theStrand Magazine

–Second collection (1894): The Memoirs ofSherlock Holmes

SHERLOCK HOLMES

•A FICTIONAL character

•Based on Conan Doyle’s medical professorDr. Joseph Bell (gifted surgeon, greatobservational and deduction skills)

•Lived at 221b Baker Street, London (landladyMrs. Hudson)

•Assistant, Narrator, & Foil of stories: Dr. JohnWatson

•Many readers thought HOLMES was REAL!

DEATH OF HOLMES

•After two novels and 24 short stories, Conan Doylegrew tired of Holmes and wanted to spend his timewith more “important” work - so he killed him offin the short story “The Final Problem” in 1893.

•How? In a battle with his nemesis ProfessorMoriarty - they both fall to their deaths at theReichenbach Falls

•Readers were OUTRAGED!

–Wore black armbands

–Sent death threats to Conan Doyle

–Placed memorials at the Reichenbach Falls

THE RETURN OF HOLMES

•Eventually, Conan Doyle DID decide tobring back Holmes, and he did so in a storycalled “The Adventure of the Empty House.”

•Apparently, Holmes had faked his own deathto fool Moriarty’s henchmen.

•Conan Doyle went on to write 32 morestories and one more novel before officiallyretiring his famous detective.

QUIRKY STUFF

•ACD wrote a book called The Coming ofthe Fairies (1921).

•He was CONVINCED that fairies existedand proved it by adding photographs.

•The photographs were actually FAKED bytwo young girls - the “fairies” were actuallypaper cutouts!

THE COTTINGLEY FAIRIES

Modern Connections: HOUSE & HOLMES?

•Hmmm…

•The names are similar.

•Both are BRILLIANT -always solving cases byobservation and intelligence.

•Both have sidekicks: Wilson &Watson

•Notice the address behindWilson?

Sherlock Holmes in Film

•The Guinness Book of World Records has consistentlylisted Sherlock Holmes as the "most portrayed moviecharacter" with more than 70 actors playing the part in over200 films

BUT THEN…

•Then, while vacationing in 1901,ACD was playing golf with his friendBERTRAM FLETCHERROBINSON.

•Robinson told him of a local legendabout Squire Richard Cabell, amonstrously evil man, whose deathcame at the mouths of a pack ofhuge, fire-breathing hounds (calledBlack Shucks)…

WHAT?

•Conan Doyle could NOT pass this up…and he didn’t really want to invent a newdetective, so to his readers’ joy, he madeHolmes his main character once again.

•Incidentally, he did not bring Holmes backto life (yet), but set this story at an earliertime in Holmes’ life.

BASKERVILLE HALL

•Cromer Hall in Norfolk, England was theinspiration for BASKERVILLE HALL.

GRIMPEN MIRE

•Fox Tor in Dartmoor. The swampy land thatlies beneath it, Fox Tor Mires, is said to havebeen the inspiration for Grimpen Mire in thenovel The Hound of the Baskervilles.