Sherlock Holmes

The Holmes stories have been translated into 234 languages and are as popular today as they were in1887. Conan Doyle, just 27, was a bored doctor working in the south of England when he dreamed up his highly eccentric hero based on his old mentor at Edinburgh University's medical school, Dr. Joseph Bell. It was Bell's parlor trick to diagnose a patient just by appraising him from a distance, and holmes was to share this quirk. The Holmes stories have been translated into 234 languages and are as popular today as they were in 1887. Conan Doyle, just 27, was a bored doctor working in the south of England when he dreamed up his highly eccentric hero based on his old mentor at Edinburgh University's medical school, Dr. Joseph Bell. It was Bell's parlor trick to diagnose a patient just by appraising him from a distance, and Holmes was to share this trick. Even the Royal Family bemoaned the loss of Holmes when Conan Doyle killed him off. (As reported by Bill Coles, a journalist living in Edinburgh Scotland.)