Sports Biographical Books
Sports Biographical Books gathers books about Arthur Conan Doyle's sporting life. Conan Doyle was not only a writer but also an active sportsman, involved in cricket, football, golf, boxing and other physical pursuits (see all Sports). The works listed here focus on this biographical aspect of his life, including his participation in sport, his sporting circles, but and the influence of sport in his works.
The books are listed in reverse chronological order.
Books about Conan Doyle and Sports
Writers in Whites: How a Group of Literary Cricketers Changed English Culture
By Ollie Randall
Fairfield Books
2026
240 pages
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A study of the literary cricketers known as the Authors, a network of writers who played cricket together from the 1880s to the 1960s. The book examines the cultural influence of cricket on English literary life and includes Arthur Conan Doyle among the writers connected with this sporting and literary circle.
The Authors XI: A Season of English Cricket from Hackney to Hambledon
By The Authors Cricket Club
Wisden
2013
240 pages
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A book about the Authors Cricket Club, a literary cricket team reviving the tradition of writer-cricketers. Conan Doyle is relevant as one of the historic literary figures associated with cricket and the Authors XI tradition, though he is not the book's sole subject.
Sherlock Holmes Was a Pompey Keeper
By Kevin Smith
Halsgrove
2004
160 pages
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A study of Arthur Conan Doyle's sporting life in Portsmouth, focusing on his connection with football and his time as a goalkeeper. Despite its Sherlock Holmes title, the book is chiefly about Conan Doyle as a sportsman and his links with early Portsmouth football.
Books about Sports in Conan Doyle Works
The Story of Spedegue's Dropper: and other cricketing miscellanea
By Arthur Conan Doyle
Solis Press
2016
38 pages
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A small cricket-themed volume built around Arthur Conan Doyle's short story The Story of Spedegue's Dropper, with additional cricketing miscellanea. It is directly connected to Conan Doyle's sporting interests and to cricket fiction.
