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Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle was born on May 22, 1859 to a "normal" father, Charles, and a highly artistic mother Mary.
After struggling with the trials of a Jesuit education in London during his early years, Arthur opted to not pursue an artistic
future in favor of a medical one.
It was fortuitous that he did. It was at the University of Edinburgh where young Arthur met his muse, Dr. Joseph Bell. It
was Dr. Bell's skills at logic, deduction, and observation that gave Arthur the qualities for his most memorable character,
Mr. Sherlock Holmes.
After achieving his medical degree, he worked first as a ship's doctor and then in private practice. Although he had been
published during college for assorted short stories, it was during this time that he first explored Sherlock Holmes in
A Study in Scarlet
Sir Arthur never considered Holmes to be "good writing". Holmes was crass commercialism with which Sir Arthur hoped to finance
his more serious works, which although accepted, never came close to the appeal of his detective.
With the public clamoring for more and more Holmes, Sir Arthur found himself playing Dr. Watson in real life to a character
who was far larger than life. He died on July 7, 1930.
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