Sherlock Holme's Creator
Sherlock Holme's Creator is an article published in the Hull Evening News on 21 may 1926.
Sherlock Holme's Creator
Sherlock Holme's Creator.
Congratulations from a world of readers and cricketers will go out to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who is sixty-seven to-morrow. He was born in Edinburgh, and practised as a doctor (with a leaning towards eye work) in Elm-grove, Southsea, from 1882 to 1890. I say cricketers will remember the day because, although golf and billiards are his favourite recreations now, there was а time when he wielded the willow freely, and the spirit of his books is always that of the good cricketer.
Getting the Name.
The name of Sherlock Holmes was derived partly from the cricket field. Sir Arthur called the detective "Holmes" as a revolt against what he considered the Dickensian habit of thinking of a detective by such a name as "Sharp." He wanted an ordinary name. And Sherlock was arrived at because Sir Arthur had been playing cricket for the United Services against the M.C.C., and against the bowling of Sherlock and Attewell he amassed to his delight twenty or thirty runs. The name Sherlock appealed to him, and became incorporated in his stories as the first name of his hero. The play which was founded on the stories was almost entirely the work of Mr William Gillette, the American actor, who one day cabled to Sir Arthur the question: May I marry Sherlock Holmes?" To which the creator of the famous detective replied: "You may marry or murder him or do anything you like with him!"
