1
Joseph Bell amazed his students by guessing patients' jobs just from looking at them.
True / False
True — Bell amazed students by guessing patients' jobs and lifestyle just by observing them carefully.
What did Arthur's mother say when he told her his plan to kill Sherlock Holmes?
She wrote to him saying "You won't! You can't! You mustn't!" — making clear she was completely against the idea of Holmes being killed off.
Arthur wanted to kill off Sherlock Holmes because he preferred writing serious historical novels.
True / False
True — Arthur felt Holmes stories weren't serious or artistic enough, and he wanted to focus on historical novels.
Arthur Conan Doyle's father was a successful civil servant who earned a lot of money.
True / False
False — Arthur's father was a timid and impractical civil servant who ended up in a mental hospital; he was not successful.
Arthur Conan Doyle believed that photographs of fairies were genuine.
True / False
True — Arthur believed photographs of a little girl with fairies were real, and even wrote a book about it in 1922.
In what city and country was Arthur Conan Doyle born?
Spell the city!
Edinburgh, Scotland
Why did Arthur Conan Doyle have time to write while working as a doctor in Southsea?
His medical practice was not a success — very few patients came, so he had a great deal of free time on his hands.
When Holmes died in print, the Strand lost 30,000 readers in protest.
True / False
False — The Strand's circulation increased by thirty thousand copies when Holmes returned in The Hound of the Baskervilles; readers wrote thousands of letters and some insulted Doyle when Holmes died.
What was wrong with Arthur's father that meant he had to go to hospital?
He was an alcoholic and epileptic.
What job did Arthur take in 1880 on a ship?
Ship's doctor on an arctic whaler
Name the popular monthly magazine where Holmes stories appeared.
The Strand
Describe Holmes' study: the furniture, style, colours and objects.
Style: Victorian
Colours: Red and gold, dim lighting
Furniture: Writing desk (Holmes), smaller desk (Watson), armchairs, bookshelves
Objects: Deerstalker hat, magnifying glass, pipe, violin, microscope, revolver
What was the title of the story in which Holmes died?
The Final Problem
By how many copies did the Strand's circulation increase thanks to The Hound of the Baskervilles?
Thirty thousand copies
What is spiritualism?
The belief that you can communicate with the spirits of the dead.
What is on the third floor?
Wax models of famous scenes
Characters: Professor Moriarty, Irene Adler
A bathroom with a porcelain toilet
In what year did Arthur Conan Doyle die, and where?
Spell the name of the city!
7 July 1930, in Crowborough, Sussex
What two ideas did Arthur's mother fill him with?
Honour and chivalry
How did readers react when Holmes was killed? Give two specific details.
Readers reacted with outrage. Twenty thousand of them cancelled their subscriptions to the Strand, and people wrote thousands of letters to Doyle begging him to bring Holmes back. Some readers even insulted him directly — one woman simply wrote "You Brute."
How the building became a museum?
The building was built in 1815 and was a boarding house. The address 221B Baker Street did not exist when the stories were written. In 1990, the building was opened as the Sherlock Holmes Museum — the first museum for a fictional character.