There are some fun facts about the author which I am sure many of his followers and fans are not aware of. This is bookGeek’s list of 14 fun facts about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
1. A few people know that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle can actually be credited for the Jurassic Park. He wrote the book The Lost World in 1912, at a time when people hardly knew what dinosaurs were. His book gained immense popularity and inspired a lot of novels and movies.
2. His surname does not have
Conan. It is actually a part of his two middle names. His actual name was
Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle which he changed upon graduating from high school.
Conan thus only later became a part of his surname.
3. It is a known fact that Sir
Arthur Conan was knighted by King Edward VII in 1902. But it wasn’t for writing
fiction but for penning a pamphlet which justified British actions during the
ongoing Boer War.
4. Talking about the knighthood,
at the outset, Doyle had wanted to refuse knighthood on the grounds that what he
did was his duty. His mother, however, was shocked to learn this and later
convinced him to accept the honour.
5. Talking about the Boer War,
Doyle wanted to volunteer as a soldier but he was not accepted because of him
being overweight.
6. Since he could not be a
soldier, he later volunteered as a medical officer on a ship to Africa and it
was this experience which inspired him to write one of his story which he
titled “The Captain of the Polestar.”
7. Conan Doyle was also an
enthusiastic investigator. He amateurishly solved a couple of mysteries. A
particular one which gained much popularity was when he successfully got the
Oscar Slater released from prison. Oscar Slater was wrongly convicted of the
murder of an 82-year-old woman.
8. He was a failed doctor –
Arthur Conan Doyle set up an ophthalmology practice in London which means he
studied to be an eye and vision care specialist. Doyle wrote in his
autobiography that not a single patient ever crossed his door. It was his
failure as a doctor which gave him all the time to focus on his writing.
9. Doyle killed his most famous
creation Sherlock Holmes, the same year his alcoholic father died in an asylum
– 1893. It is also said and believed that he killed Sherlock so that he could
focus on writing about his passion – Spiritualism.
10. The celebrated detective
returned, however. Doyle had to resurrect him ten years later, on public demand
and monetary grounds. Doyle believed that the money earned through Sherlock
books could be used to for popularizing spiritualism.
11. His mother loved Sherlock more
than he did. He is said to have written to his mother “I think of slaying
Holmes,… and winding him up for good and all” He admitted to having gotten
weary of his best creation and it was his mother who persuaded him against it
for a long time before he actually killed him in 1893.
12. Doyle believed in fairies. In
1917, there was a famous hoax called the Cottingley Fairy photographs and Doyle
believed in them and he also spent millions promoting them. He also wrote a
book called The Coming of the Fairies (1921), to promote their authenticity. The
photos were later proved to have been faked.
13. Doyle ran for parliament twice
in 1900 and in 1906. He did receive some good number of votes but never
actually got to win.
14. Doyle’s first book was lost in
the post. At the age of 23, he wrote his first book and had it sent in the mail
to a publisher. But the post was lost and he actually rewrote the book up to
150 pages before finally deciding to give up. The mail and book remain a
mystery to this date.
Doyle
died in a fashion befitting an author like him. At the time of his death, Doyle
was in his Garden and he collapsed, clutching a flower in his hand and is said
to have whispered these last words to his wife: “You are wonderful
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