Sherlock Holmes is
probably the best-known
fictional detective of all
time. He is able to solve
incredibly complex crimes
using his powers of
observation and deduction,
sometimes without leaving his flat in Baker
Street. He never fails to amaze the police and
his best friend and assistant Dr Watson.
Sherlock Holmes's creator, Arthur Conan Doyle, was born in Edinburg in 1869 and studied medicine at Edinburgh University. One of his professors, Dr Joseph Bell, inspired the character of Sherlock Holmes.
 Like Sherlock Holmes, Dr Bell was lean and dark, with intelligent grey eyes and a nose like an eagle's beak. He also had amazing powers of observation and deduction. Joseph Bell was often able to diagnose patients before they had said a word about their symptoms. He could even guess their occupation!
|  Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Conan Doyle wrote his first Holmes story, A Study in Scarlet, in 1887. Soon he found that he could earn more money by writing, so when he was 32 he gave up medicine and took up writing full time.
Doyle wrote all sorts of books, from historical novels to adventure stories. But it was his detective stories, with the brilliant Sherlock Holmes as their hero, which brought him money and fame.
Later, Arthur Conan Doyle became tired of writing about Sherlock Holmes. He tried to kill him off in a deadly struggle with his enemy, Professor Moriarty. But the outcry from the reading public was so great that he had to bring him back to life.
TThe Sherlock Holmes Museum at 221b Baker Street of the most visited museums in London. It's unlike ot museums because very little here is locked up in glass cases. You can sit in Holmes's armchair by the fireplace, you can examine his things and put on his deerstalker hat. But you are not allowed to smoke his pipe!
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