Sunday, October 16, 2016

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Chronology

1855      Charles Altamont Doyle, the youngest son of a political cartoonist, John Doyle, known as H.B., and Mary Foley, his Irish landlady's daughter, marry in Edinburgh on July 31.
1856      Anne Mary Frances Conan Doyle, known as 'Annette', Arthur's elder sister, is born.
1858      Catherine Doyle is born. She dies in infancy.
1859      Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle is born on May 22 in Edinburgh, as the third child of Charles and Mary Doyle.
1861      Mary Doyle is born. She dies two years later.
1864      At the age of almost five Arthur writes his first story (only thirty-six words) about a Bengal tiger and a hunter.
1866      Caroline Mary Burton Doyle, called 'Lottie', Arthur's younger sister, is born. Arthur is sent to stay with his mother's relatives in Ireland, where he witnesses a confrontation with the Fenians. He is sent to Newington Academy in Edinburgh.
1867      Arthur attends Hodder, a Roman Catholic prep school in Lancashire. Constance Amelia Monica Doyle, called 'Connie', Arthur's youngest sister, is born.
1870      Arthur begins education at Stonyhurst College, a Jesuit boarding school in Lancashire, and remains there for five years. He writes verses and edits a school paper.
1874      Visits his uncle, Richard Doyle, illustrator for Punch, in London.
1873      John Francis Innes Hay Doyle, called 'Duff', Arthur's younger brother, is born.
1874      Arthur spends Christmas in London at the studio of his uncle Richard Doyle, at 7 Finborough Road, Chelsa. He sees Henry Irving in Hamlet.
1875      Arthur passes the Matriculation Examination at London University and next spends a year in a Jesuit school, Stella Matutina, in Feldkirch, Austria, to improve his German.
1876      Conan Doyle returns home from Austria via Lake Constance, Basel, Strasbourg, and Paris, where he stays briefly with his uncle Michael Doyle, who encourages him to read Edgar Allan Poe. In autumn he enrolls in the University of Edinburgh Medical School.
1877      Bryan Mary Julia Josephine Doyle, called 'Dodo', Arthur's youngest sister, is born.
1879      Arthur works as a medical assistant to Doctor Hoare in Birmingham. His first short story, “The Mystery of the Sasassa Valley”, is published in Chambers Journal. He also publishes a scientific article, “Gelseminum as a Poison” in the British Medical Journal. Arthur's father is taken to a nursing home.
1880      Serves as a ship's surgeon on the Arctic whaler Hope.
1881      Earns the degree of Bachelor of Medicine and Master of Surgery. Visits Waterford in Ireland, where his family used to live before emigration to England. Leaves from Liverpool to serve as a shipboard medical officer on the steamer Mayumba bound for West Africa. “That Little Square Box” published.
1882      Conan Doyle leaves for Southsea, Portsmouth, to establish his own medical practice. Publishes in London Society, All the Year Round, Lancet, and the British Journal of Photography. Writes his first novel, The Narrative of John Smith, which was later lost and published in 2011.
1883      Publishes in the British Journal of Photography a semi-autobiographical photographic essay, “To the Waterford Coast and Along It” and “The Captain of the Polestar” in Temple Bar. Joins the Portsmouth Literary and Scientific Society.
1884      Publishes “J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement” in Cornhill Magazine, “The Heiress of Glenmahowley” in Temple Bar, and “The Cabman's Story” in Cassell's Saturday Journal. His uncle Dicky dies leaving him a little money.
1885      On 5 August, Conan Doyle marries Louise Hawkins (nicknamed 'Toulie'). Publishes “The Man From Archangel” in London Society.
1886      After reading The Reminiscences of Judge Edmonds, Doyle becomes interested in spiritualism and the paranormal.
1887      A Study in Scarlet, the first Sherlock Holmes novel, is published in Beeton's Christmas Annual. Conan Doyle is initiated into Freemasonry at the Phoenix Lodge No. 257 at Southsea, Portsmouth, as an unattached mason.
1888      The first book edition of A Study in Scarlet.
1889      Mary Louise Conan Doyle, the first child of Conan Doyle, is born. Micah Clarke published. Anne Frances (Annette) dies unmarried.
1890      Doyle studies ophthalmology in Vienna. Visits the Hygiene Institute in Berlin where Robert Koch's cure for tuberculosis was being tested, and reports on the cure for the Review of the Reviews. Anne Mary Frances Conan Doyle dies of influenza on January 13 at the age of thirty-three. The second Sherlock Holmes novel,The Sign of the Four is published in Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine.
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1891      Arthur Conan Doyle starts a practice as an eye specialist at 2 Upper Wimpole Street, London and lives nearby at Montague Place. In August, Doyle decides to give up medicine and make his living as a full-time professional writer. The White Company is published in a serialised form in Cornhill Magazine. The first six "Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" are published in the Strand Magazine. Charles Doyle is transferred to the Royal Edinburgh Asylum as a private patient.
1892      Conan Doyle goes to Norway with Jerome K. Jerome and skis for the first time. Louise gives birth to Arthur Alleyne Kingsley. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is published by Newnes. Charles Doyle is transferred to the Crichton Royal Lunatic Asylum, Dumfries.
1893      Charles Doyle dies at Crichton at the age of 61. Louise is diagnosed with tuberculosis. Conan Doyle takes his wife to Davos, Switzerland, because of her ill health. He is the first British to cross the Alpine pass in snow shoes. Joins the British Society for Psychical Research. Publication of “The Adventure of the Final Problem,” in which Holmes is apparently killed. Another stay in Switzerland at the end of the year.
1894      Publication of The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes and Round the Red Lamp, a collection of medical short stories. Conan Doyle goes on a lecture tour of the United States. The play Waterloo” is performed.
1895      “The Exploits of Brigadier Gerard" published in the Strand. Conan Doyle and his wife Louise visit Egypt. They cruise up the Nile to Wadi Halfa – a trip which inspired Arthur to write The Tragedy of the Korosko. Conan Doyle travels to the front during the Sudan War hoping to witness battle firsthand. The Stark Munro Letters, a semi-autobiographical novel, is published.
1897      Conan Doyle and his ailing wife Louise move to their new residence, Undershaw, a house in the village of Hindhead, Surrey, near the town of Haslemere, about 40 miles south west of London. The Napoleonic novel,Uncle Bernac, is published. Conan Doyle meets and falls in love with Jean Leckie, a beautiful woman 14 years his junior.
1898      The Tragedy of the Korosko published.
1899      A Duet, with an Occasional Chorus published. ACD resigns from the Masonic Lodge.
1900      Doyle serves in the Boer War as a volunteer doctor in the Langman Field Hospital at Bloemfontein between March and June. He writes a book, The Great Boer War. Runs for a seat in Parliament, representing the Unionist Party, but loses the election.
1901      Sherlock Holmes is brought back in The Hound of the Baskervilles, published in the Strand Magazine.
1902      The War in South Africa: Its Causes and Conduct published. It soon sells 300,000 copies. Conan Doyle is knighted for this publication, which defends British conduct in the Boer War. ACD rejoins Freemasonry.
1903      Resurrects Sherlock Holmes in “The Adventure of the Empty House" in the October issue of the Strand.
1904      Conan Doyle is made a member of the Crimes Club.
1905      Receives the honorary degree of LL.D. from the university of Edinburgh. The Return of Sherlock Holmes is published in book form.
1906      Louise dies at the age of forty-nine. Sir Nigel is published. Conan Doyle begins investigation of the George Edalji case. Stands for Parliament again, but is defeated.
1907      Conan Doyle marries Jean Elizabeth Leckie, whom he first met and fell in love with in 1897. Through the Magic Door published.
1908      The couple move to Windlesham, Crowborough, Sussex.
1909      Denis Percy Stewart Conan Doyle is born to Jean and Arthur. Conan Doyle writes The Crime of the Congo, a long pamphlet in which he denounces the horrors of that Belgian colony. Becomes President of the Divorce Law Reform Union (until 1919).
1910      Conan Doyle becomes involved in the Oscar Slater case. Adrian Malcom is born to Jean and Arthur. "The Marriage of the Brigadier," the last of the Gerard stories, is published in the Strand.
1911 Conan Doyle and Jean participate in the motor car race called Prince Henry Tour. Withdraws from Freemasonry. Has his first airplane flight from Hendon airfield. The Last Galley (short stories, mostly historical) published. Two more Holmes stories appear in the Strand: "The Red Circle" and "The Disappearance."
1912      The first Professor Challenger story, The Lost World, is published. Lena Jean Annette is born to Jean and Arthur. Conan Doyle argues with George Bernard Shaw about the Titanic.
1913      The second Professor Challenger book, The Poison Belt, is published. Publishes an article “Great Britain and the Next War" in Fortnightly Review. Campaigns for a channel tunnel.
1914      Travels to the Canadian west. After the outbreak of World War One, Conan Doyle, aged 55, tries to enlist in the military; when he is rejected, he forms a local volunteer force. Writes To Arms!
1915      The Valley of Fear, the final Sherlock Holmes novel, is published in book form. Five Holmes films are released in Germany.
1916      Conan Doyle declares his belief in spiritualism in the Light magazine.
1917      Speaks publicly on spiritualism for the first time. His Last Bow is published by John Murray. ACD publishesThe New Revelation, proclaiming himself a spiritualist. Danger! and Other Stories published.
1918      Eldest son, Kingsley, dies from pneumonia, which he contracted during his convalescence after being seriously wounded during the 1916 Battle of the Somme.
1919      Vital Message published. Brigadier-General Innes Doyle, sir Arthur's brother, dies from post-war pneumonia.
1920      ACD writes about the Cottingley fairies in the December issue of the Strand. Lectures on spiritualism in Australia. Meets the famous illusionist Harry Houdini.
1921      Mother dies. His wife Jean discovers that she had the ability to do trance-writing. The Wandering of a Spiritualist published.
1922      Lecture tour in North America. Announces belief in fairies. The Coming of the Fairies published. Jean Conan Doyle attempts to contact Houdini's deceased mother.
1923      A second visit to North America. Our American Adventure published.
1924      Memories and Adventures published (reprinted with additions and deletions in 1930). Our Second American Adventure published.
1925      The Lost World is made into a film. The Land of Mist published. At the International Spiritualist Congress, held in Paris, Sir Arthur is nominated Honorary President.
1926      ACD publishes a two-volume book, The History of Spiritualism.
1927      The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes published.
1928      Conan Doyle launches a five-month tour of Africa, visiting South Africa, Rhodesia and Kenya. The Complete Sherlock Holmes Short Stories is published by Murray.
1929      Visits Scandinavia and Holland. On his return he suffers a heart attack. The Maracot Deep published.
1930      Sir Arthur Conan Doyle dies in his home, Windlesham Manor, in Crowborough, East Sussex on July 7, of heart attack, and is buried at the rose garden in Windlesham. He is later reinterred together with his wife in Minstead churchyard in the New Forest, Hampshire. The Edge of the Unknown published.
1940      Sir Arthur's second wife, Lady Jean Conan Doyle, dies on 27 June.
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Adaptations of Sherlock Holmes

It has been estimated that Sherlock Holmes is the most prolific screen character in the history of cinema. The first known film featuring Holmes is Sherlock Holmes Baffled, a one-reel film running less than a minute, made by the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company in 1900. This was followed by a 1905 Vitagraph film Adventures of Sherlock Holmes; or, Held for Ransom, featuring Maurice Costello as Holmes. Sherlock Holmes has also been a prolific screen character in foreign language films, such as the Russian 2013 mini-series version broadcast in November 2013.
Many similar films were made in the early years of the twentieth century, most notably the 13 one- and two-reel silent films produced by the Danish Nordisk Film Company between 1908 and 1911. The only non-lost film is Sherlock Holmes i Bondefangerkløer, produced in 1910. Holmes was originally played by Viggo Larsen. Other actors who played Holmes in those films were Otto Lagoni, Einar Zangenberg, Lauritz Olsen and Alwin Neuss. In 1911 the American Biograph company produced a series of 11 short comedies based on the Holmes character with Mack Sennett (later of Keystone Kops fame) in the title role.
By 1916, Harry Arthur Saintsbury, who had played Holmes on stage hundreds of times in Gillette’s play, reprised the role in the 1916 film The Valley of Fear
The next significant cycle of Holmes films were produced by the Stoll Pictures company in Britain. Between 1921 and 1923 they produced a total of 47 two-reelers, all featuring noted West End actor Eille Norwood in the lead with Hubert Willis as Watson.
John Barrymore played the role in a 1922 movie entitled Sherlock Holmes, with Roland Young as Watson and William Powell in his first screen appearance. This Goldwyn film is the first Holmes movie made with high production values and a major star.
Clive Brook played Sherlock Holmes three times: The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1929), as part of an anthology film, Paramount on Parade (1930), and Sherlock Holmes (1932).
In 1931 Raymond Massey played Sherlock Holmes in his screen debut, The Speckled Band, while Arthur Wontner played Holmes in five British films from 1931 to 1937.
Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce played Holmes and Watson in The Hound of the Baskervilles which launched a 14 film series. Rathbone is regarded as the Holmes of his generation.
Many other films have been comedies and parodies which poke fun at Holmes, Watson, their relationship and other characters. These have included Billy Wilder's The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes with Robert Stephens and Colin Blakely as Holmes and Watson.
More serious, non-canonical films were A Study in Terror (with John Neville and Donald Houston) and Murder by Decree (with Christopher Plummer and James Mason) both of which involved Holmes and Watson investigating the murders by the Whitechapel serial killer Jack the Ripper. And Young Sherlock Holmes with Nicholas Rowe as Holmes andAlan Cox as Watson playing the duo as schoolboys.
The 1974 novel The Seven-Per-Cent Solution, a "lost manuscript" of a Holmes adventure, was also made into a film in 1976 starring Nicol Williamson as Holmes and Robert Duvall as Watson.
The 1988 film Without a Clue was a comedic twist on the familiar Holmes legend. Dr. John Watson (Ben Kingsley) is a genius crime fighter and successful author. Fans of his novels clamor to see the real Sherlock Holmes and Watson realizes that his audience simply would not accept the fact that Holmes was a fabrication and to reveal himself as the creator and brains behind him would be tantamount to literary suicide. To solve his dilemmas, Watson hires Reginald Kincaid (Michael Caine), an alcoholic, womanizing, ne'er-do-well actor to impersonate Holmes.
The twenty-eighth film in the VeggieTales series is entitled Sheerluck Holmes and the Golden Ruler, and features Larry the Cucumber as Holmes and Bob the Tomato as Watson.
Robert Downey, Jr. appears as the detective in the Guy Ritchie–directed Sherlock Holmes (2009) and its sequel Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011), with Jude Law as Dr. Watson, Rachel McAdams as Irene Adler, and Jared Harris as Moriarty.
In 2010, low-budget film company The Asylum produced Sherlock Holmes, which is intended to capitalize on Guy Ritchie's film. It stars new actor Ben Syder as Holmes and Torchwood actor Gareth David Lloyd as Watson. It was shot in Wales and directed by Rachel Lee Goldenberg.
In the 2015 film Mr. Holmes, Ian McKellen portrays the detective as a 93-year-old retiree, living in a countryside farmhouse with his housekeeper (Laura Linney) and her son. As his memory deteriorates, he struggles to recall the last case of his career, which sent him into retirement.
It was announced that Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly will star in a comdey titled "Holmes and Watson" with Ferrell as Holmes and Reilly as Watson.
See also the 1971 film They Might Be Giants, starring George C. Scott and Joanne Woodward, which portrays a man who believes himself to be Sherlock Holmes.
            There have been many television incarnations of Sherlock Holmes, varying in faithfulness to the source material from direct adaptations of Holmes stories, most notably The Hound of the Baskervilles, to new stories set in the present day and even the future.

Television series

            One of the earliest television appearances was the 1951 BBC mini series Sherlock Holmes starring Alan Wheatley as Holmes and Raymond Francis as Watson.
            Three years later, the first American adaptation of Holmes and Watson, Sherlock Holmes was produced by Sheldon Reynolds in 1954, and starred Ronald Howard as Holmes and Howard Marion-Crawford as Doctor Watson produced in Paris, France.
            In the 1960s, there was a BBC TV series entitled Sherlock Holmes with Douglas Wilmer and Nigel Stock. Peter Cushing, who had earlier played the detective in the Hammerversion of The Hound of the Baskervilles, later took over from Wilmer in the lead role.
            The 24 part 1980 series Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson starred Geoffrey Whitehead as Holmes and Donald Pickering as Watson.
            In 1982, Granada Television aired an eight-part series entitled Young Sherlock: The Mystery of the Manor House which told the story of Holmes' youth. The show starred Guy Henry as Sherlock Holmes.
            Also in 1982, the BBC produced an adaptation of The Hound of the Baskervilles, starring Tom Baker as the detective.
            Jeremy Brett starred as Holmes in a Granada Television adaptation screened from 1984 to 1994, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, with David Burke and subsequently Edward Hardwicke as Watson. All but 18 of the Conan Doyle stories were filmed before the death of Jeremy Brett from a heart attack in 1995. Between 1984 and 1994, 36 episodes and five films were produced over six series. Brett and Hardwicke reprised their roles as Holmes and Watson in 1988-89 in a West End stage play, The Secret of Sherlock Holmes, written by Jeremy Paul.
            In 1988, the animated series Alvin and the Chipmunks aired an episode entitled "Elementary, My Dear Simon", which stars Simon as Holmes, Theodore as Watson, Alvin as Professor Moriarty, and Dave as Inspector Seville.
            An animated series, Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century, brings Holmes into the future through the marvels of science. There is also a Japanese animated series called Sherlock Hound featuring anthropomorphic canine characters. Several of its episodes were directed by Hayao Miyazaki. Another Japanese anime series called Case Closed, based on the manga of the same name, features a main character by the name of Conan who is heavily influenced by Sherlock Holmes.
            The children's television series The Adventures of Shirley Holmes, which ran from 1996 to 1999, features a main young, modern-day female character who claims to be a distant descendant of Sherlock Holmes himself and has inherited his intellect in solving crimes.
            In 2007, the BBC released Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street Irregulars, a children's series focusing on the Baker Street Irregulars and starring Jonathan Pryce as Holmes.
            In 2009, the BBC began making Sherlock, created by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss. Three seasons of three 90-minute episodes each were broadcast in 2010, 2012, and 2014, starring Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock and Martin Freeman as John. Moriarty appears as a recurring villain. A special episode, "The Abominable Bride", was broadcast in January 2016, with a limited cinematic release worldwide. The fourth series began filming in April 2016.
            CBS in Fall 2012 premiered the series Elementary, a contemporary remake of the Doyle character set in the United States, starring Jonny Lee Miller as Holmes and Lucy Liu as Watson.
            Sherlok Kholms premiered in November 2013 on Russia-1. The eight episodes were filmed in St. Petersburg, Russia and starred Igor Petrenko as Holmes and Andrey Panin as Watson.
            In 2014, NHK produced a puppetry Sherlock Holmes written by Kōki Mitani. It is set in Beeton School, a fictional boarding school and Holmes is a fifteen-year-old pupil who lives in the room 221B of Baker House and resolves the troubles in the school but there's no murder. In the show, John H. Watson is his roommate, Mrs Hudson is a housemother of Baker House and James Moriarty is deputy headmaster of the school.
            While not direct adaptations, the series House, MD and Psych contain elements of the Sherlock Holmes stories. Gregory House derives his name, deductive prowess, and addictive nature from Sherlock, but solves medical mysteries as opposed to criminal investigations. Shawn Spencer has the same observational skills as Holmes, as well as solving criminal mysteries with a medically trained partner (Burton "Gus" Guster).

TV movies

            John Cleese starred as Holmes' grandson - Arthur Sherlock Holmes - in the comic TV special The Strange Case of the End of Civilization as We Know It (1977). Arthur Loweplayed Dr. William Watson, the original doctor's grandson.
            Between 1979 and 1986, Soviet television produced a series of five television films at the Lenfilm movie studio, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. The series were split into eleven episodes and starred Vasily Livanov as Holmes and Vitaly Solomin as Watson. Livanov earned honorary membership Order of the British Empire for a performance ambassador Anthony Brenton described as "one of the best I've ever seen".
            In 1983, Ian Richardson portrayed Sherlock Holmes in The Sign of Four with David Healy as Dr. John H. Watson. Later that same year, Richardson again played Holmes in a version of The Hound of the Baskervilles with Donald Churchill as his Watson.
            In 1986, a TV movie called My Tenderly Loved Detective was made in Soviet Union about the adventures of the female Sherlock Holmes, called Shirley Holmes here, and female Dr.Watson, called Jane Watson here.
            The contemporarily-set 1987 television movie The Return of Sherlock Holmes starred Michael Pennington as the detective and Margaret Colin as Dr. Watson's granddaughter, Jane. Jane, after following directions written by her grandfather years ago, finds out that she has thawed Holmes who had been cryogenically frozen by Dr. Watson for 88 years due to Bubonic plague. They become a team—the essential Victorian gentleman and a post-feminist young woman—to solve a case that combines elements of "The Sign of the Four" with elements from the celebrated news story of a plane hijacked for ransom by D. B. Cooper.
            The 1991-92 series Sherlock Holmes the Golden Years consisted of two TV films, in which Sherlock Holmes (played by Christopher Lee) and Dr. Watson (played by Patrick Macnee) are older adults who continue investigating cases. The two films were Incident at Victoria Falls and Sherlock Holmes and the Leading Lady.
            In 1991, Charlton Heston played Holmes in the Turner Network Television production of Paul Giovanni's play The Crucifer of Blood.
            In 2000 the telemovie Murder Rooms featured Ian Richardson as Dr. Joseph Bell, who solved (fictional) crimes with the aid of his young pupil Arthur Conan Doyle. Four more telemovies followed in 2001. The series was subtitled "The Dark Origins of Sherlock Holmes" for US syndication.
            From 2000 to 2002, Muse Entertainment Enterprises produced four television films for the Hallmark Channel, starring Matt Frewer as Holmes and Kenneth Welsh as Dr Watson, in The Hound of the Baskervilles (2000), The Royal Scandal (2001), The Sign of Four (2001) and The Case of the Whitechapel Vampire (2002).
            2002 saw a new version of The Hound of the Baskervilles featuring Richard Roxburgh. Ian Hart played Dr. Watson then and also in the 2004 BBC airing of Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Silk Stocking, alternatively billed as The Return of Sherlock Holmes. An original screenplay "based on the character created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle", this film takes place in 1902, with Dr. Watson "saving a dear friend from narcotics and boredom", this friend being an opium-addicted and increasingly weak Sherlock Holmes. Rupert Everett plays the Great Detective.
            2002 also saw the made for television cable movie, Case of Evil, about a 20-something Sherlock Holmes (James D'Arcy) and a Doctor Watson who worked as an early practitioner of autopsies, on the trail of Holmes' archenemy, Professor Moriarty (Vincent D'Onofrio).

            Information from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adaptations_of_Sherlock_Holmes
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