108-428: " The Final Problem " is a short story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle featuring his detective character Sherlock Holmes . It was first published in The Strand Magazine in the United Kingdom, and McClure's in the United States, under the title "The Adventure of the Final Problem" in December 1893. It appears in book form as part of the collection The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes . The story, set in 1891, introduces
216-514: A 1938 Mercury Theatre on the Air radio adaptation titled The Immortal Sherlock Holmes , starring Orson Welles as Holmes, were based on the play. However, in none of these retellings does Holmes die (and indeed in the two film versions he marries). In 1975, DC Comics published Sherlock Holmes #1, a comic book which adapted both "The Final Problem" and "The Adventure of the Empty House". It
324-571: A 1967 BBC Light Programme adaptation of the story which was adapted by Michael Hardwick . "The Final Problem" was dramatized for BBC Radio 4 in 1992 by Bert Coules as part of the 1989–1998 radio series starring Clive Merrison as Holmes and Michael Williams as Watson. It featured Michael Pennington as Professor Moriarty, Frederick Treves as Colonel Moran, Sean Arnold as Inspector Patterson, Terence Edmond as Steiler, Richard Pearce as Jenkinson, and Norman Jones as Sir George. An episode of The Classic Adventures of Sherlock Holmes ,
432-581: A Poison" in the British Medical Journal , a study which The Daily Telegraph regarded as potentially useful in a 21st-century murder investigation. Doyle was the doctor on the Greenland whaler Hope of Peterhead in 1880. On 11 July 1880, John Gray's Hope and David Gray's Eclipse met up with the Eira and Leigh Smith . The photographer W. J. A. Grant took a photograph aboard
540-578: A book on the war, The Great Boer War , as well as a short work titled The War in South Africa: Its Cause and Conduct , in which he responded to critics of the United Kingdom's role in that war, and argued that its role was justified. The latter work was widely translated, and Doyle believed it was the reason he was knighted (given the rank of Knight Bachelor ) by King Edward VII in the 1902 Coronation Honours . He received
648-406: A booklet Is Spiritualism Based on Fraud? , in which he laid out evidence refuting Doyle's arguments and claimed that Doyle had been duped into believing in spiritualism through deliberate mediumship trickery. The Strand Magazine The Strand Magazine was a monthly British magazine founded by George Newnes , composed of short fiction and general interest articles. It was published in
756-517: A contemporaneous report by the Sunday Express quoted Doyle as saying "I should have to see it again before passing a definite opinion on it" and "I have my doubts about the whole thing". In 1920, Doyle and the noted sceptic Joseph McCabe held a public debate at Queen's Hall in London, with Doyle taking the position that the claims of spiritualism were true. After the debate, McCabe published
864-670: A goalkeeper for Portsmouth Association Football Club , an amateur side, under the pseudonym A. C. Smith. Doyle was a keen cricketer, and between 1899 and 1907 he played 10 first-class matches for the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). He also played for the amateur cricket teams the Allahakbarries and the Authors XI alongside fellow writers J. M. Barrie , P. G. Wodehouse and A. A. Milne . His highest score, in 1902 against London County ,
972-509: A level intended to discourage them, but found they were willing to pay even the large sums he asked. As a result, he became one of the best-paid authors of his time. In December 1893, to dedicate more of his time to his historical novels, Doyle had Holmes and Professor Moriarty plunge to their deaths together down the Reichenbach Falls in the story " The Final Problem ". Public outcry, however, led him to feature Holmes in 1901 in
1080-668: A man", and in his 1924 autobiography, he remarked, "It is no wonder that after the study of such a character [viz., Bell] I used and amplified his methods when in later life I tried to build up a scientific detective who solved cases on his own merits and not through the folly of the criminal." Robert Louis Stevenson was able to recognise the strong similarity between Joseph Bell and Sherlock Holmes: "My compliments on your very ingenious and very interesting adventures of Sherlock Holmes. ... can this be my old friend Joe Bell?" Other authors sometimes suggest additional influences—for instance, Edgar Allan Poe 's character C. Auguste Dupin , who
1188-531: A medical practice at 1 Bush Villas in Elm Grove, Southsea . The practice was not successful. While waiting for patients, Doyle returned to writing fiction. Doyle was a staunch supporter of compulsory vaccination and wrote several articles advocating the practice and denouncing the views of anti-vaccinators . In early 1891, Doyle embarked on the study of ophthalmology in Vienna. He had previously studied at
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#17328025263381296-518: A member of the Portsmouth Literary and Philosophical Society, Doyle began a series of investigations into the possibility of psychic phenomena and attended about 20 seances, experiments in telepathy, and sittings with mediums. Writing to spiritualist journal Light that year, he declared himself to be a spiritualist, describing one particular event that had convinced him psychic phenomena were real. Also in 1887 (on 26 January), he
1404-572: A message from the London Police that most of Moriarty's gang have been arrested in England, but Moriarty has escaped and is in pursuit of Holmes in Europe. He urges Watson to return to England as he considers himself a very dangerous companion for Watson. Watson, however, decides to stay with his friend. Holmes and Watson continue to Meiringen , Switzerland and visit the Reichenbach Falls . At
1512-454: A note from Holmes explaining that he knew about the hoax but chose to fight Moriarty himself. Holmes and Moriarty have both fallen to their deaths down the gorge and their bodies cannot be recovered. A saddened Dr Watson returns to England. The Moriarty gang are all convicted on the strength of evidence secured by Holmes. Watson ends his narrative by saying that Sherlock Holmes was the best and the wisest man he had ever known. "The Final Problem"
1620-531: A platonic relationship with her while his first wife was still alive, out of loyalty to her. Most of Doyle's family including his mother were aware of the relationship, but it appears to have remained unknown to Louisa. Jean outlived her husband and died during wartime on 27 June 1940. Doyle fathered five children. He had two with his first wife: Mary Louise (1889–1976) and Arthur Alleyne Kingsley, known as Kingsley (1892–1918). He had an additional three with his second wife: Denis Percy Stewart (1909–1955), who became
1728-694: A search for poltergeists in Devon. Doyle was also a member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn . Doyle and the spiritualist William Thomas Stead (who would die on the Titanic ) were led to believe that Julius and Agnes Zancig had genuine psychic powers, and they claimed publicly that the Zancigs used telepathy . However, in 1924, the Zancigs confessed that their mind reading act had been
1836-578: A series on the American radio show Imagination Theatre , combined "The Final Problem" with the events of " The Empty House ". The episode, titled "The Return of Sherlock Holmes", aired in 2009, and starred John Patrick Lowrie as Holmes and Lawrence Albert as Watson. William Gillette 's 1899 stage play Sherlock Holmes is based on several stories, among them "The Final Problem." Films released in 1916 (starring Gillette as Holmes) and 1922 (starring John Barrymore ), both titled Sherlock Holmes , and
1944-501: A trick; they published the secret code and all other details of the trick method they had used under the title "Our Secrets!!" in a London newspaper. Doyle also praised the psychic phenomena and spirit materialisations that he believed had been produced by Eusapia Palladino and Mina Crandon , both of whom were also later exposed as frauds. In 1916, at the height of the First World War, Doyle's belief in psychic phenomena
2052-541: Is also marked by a large white star so as to be visible from the viewing platform. Fans who call themselves "pilgrims" travel to Meiringen dressed as characters, both major and minor, from the Holmes stories. There, they take part in a reenactment of the events of "The Final Problem" organized by the Sherlock Holmes Society of London. "The Final Problem" was adapted as a 1923 silent short film as part of
2160-552: Is also shown falling over the edge with Moriarty rather than simply being assumed to have fallen, being too injured to defeat Moriarty in a straight fight but knowing that Moriarty will go after Watson if he lives. While Holmes is shown to have survived, having used his brother's oxygen inhaler to survive the water at the bottom of the falls, Moriarty's fate is less certain. The Soviet television film series The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson (1979–1986) adapted "The Final Problem" as "The Deadly Fight" (and "The Adventure in
2268-449: Is later revealed in the second episode that while Holmes managed to survive the fall by grabbing a tree branch and would go on to solve many more cases (later being entombed in honey upon his death of old age, which preserved his body enough to be revitalized in the 22nd century), Moriarty had indeed perished and was buried by Holmes himself, preserved in ice in a freezing cave. Holmes, the robotic Watson and Inspector Beth Lestrade later visit
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#17328025263382376-730: Is mentioned, disparagingly, by Holmes in A Study in Scarlet . Dr. (John) Watson owes his surname, but not any other obvious characteristic, to a Portsmouth medical colleague of Doyle's, Dr. James Watson. A sequel to A Study in Scarlet was commissioned, and The Sign of the Four appeared in Lippincott's Magazine in February 1890, under agreement with the Ward Lock company. Doyle felt grievously exploited by Ward Lock as an author new to
2484-558: Is part of a compound surname rather than a middle name. However, his baptism entry in the register of St Mary's Cathedral , Edinburgh, gives "Arthur Ignatius Conan" as his given names and "Doyle" as his surname. It also names Michael Conan as his godfather. The catalogues of the British Library and the Library of Congress treat "Doyle" alone as his surname. Steven Doyle, publisher of The Baker Street Journal , wrote: "Conan
2592-518: Is seen in all three films falling from a great height to his death. The Woman in Green contains a variation on the conversation between Holmes and Moriarty in Baker Street, as well as the idea of Moriarty manipulating Watson out of the way by hoaxing an injured Englishwoman who requires his treating. The 2011 film Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is based in part on "The Final Problem". Like
2700-590: Is supposedly shot over a pier after being accused of murder, only to be alive in the second part. The orchestrator is revealed to be Dale "the Whale" Biederbeck, described as "the Genghis Khan of world finance," much like Moriarty as "the Napoleon of Crime." Episode three of the first season of BBC's Sherlock , titled The Great Game shows a variation of the part where Moriarty confronts Holmes at Baker Street in
2808-639: Is used in The Triumph of Sherlock Holmes (1935), another film in the series. In the 1939–1946 film series starring Basil Rathbone as Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Watson, a number of films borrow elements from "The Final Problem". Most noticeable of these elements are the methods of killing Moriarty off; in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939), Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon (1942) and The Woman in Green (1945), Moriarty
2916-609: The Crichton Royal , Dumfries , after many years of psychiatric illness. Beginning at an early age, throughout his life Doyle wrote letters to his mother. Many of them were preserved. Supported by wealthy uncles, Doyle was sent to England, to the Jesuit preparatory school Hodder Place , Stonyhurst in Lancashire, at the age of nine (1868–70). He went on to Stonyhurst College , which he attended until 1875. While Doyle
3024-507: The Eira of Doyle along with Smith, the Gray brothers, and ship's surgeon William Neale, who were members of the Smith expedition. That expedition explored Franz Josef Land , and led to the naming, on 18 August, of Cape Flora, Bell Island , Nightingale Sound, Gratton ("Uncle Joe") Island, and Mabel Island. After graduating with Bachelor of Medicine and Master of Surgery (M.B. C.M.) degrees from
3132-633: The House of Commons ). The circulation of the US edition was minimal in the early 1890s but was reported at 150,000 by 1898. The US edition was discontinued in 1916 due to logistical difficulties arising from World War I . The American edition was edited by J. Walter Smith . The magazine format changed to the smaller digest size in October 1941. The Strand Magazine ceased publication in March 1950, forced out of
3240-643: The Napoleonic Wars and features a character Gregory Brewster, written for Henry Irving ; The House of Temperley , the plot of which reflects his abiding interest in boxing; The Speckled Band , adapted from his earlier short story " The Adventure of the Speckled Band "; and an 1893 collaboration with J. M. Barrie on the libretto of Jane Annie . While living in Southsea , the seaside resort near Portsmouth , Doyle played football as
3348-706: The Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh. While studying, Doyle began writing short stories. His earliest extant fiction, "The Haunted Grange of Goresthorpe", was unsuccessfully submitted to Blackwood's Magazine . His first published piece, " The Mystery of Sasassa Valley ", a story set in South Africa, was printed in Chambers's Edinburgh Journal on 6 September 1879. On 20 September 1879, he published his first academic article, " Gelsemium as
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3456-564: The Spiritualists' National Union to accept an eighth precept – that of following the teachings and example of Jesus of Nazareth . He was a member of the renowned supernaturalist organisation The Ghost Club . In 1919, the magician P. T. Selbit staged a séance at his flat in Bloomsbury , which Doyle attended. Although some later claimed that Doyle had endorsed the apparent instances of clairvoyance at that séance as genuine,
3564-529: The Stoll film series , starring Eille Norwood as Holmes and Hubert Willis as Watson, with Percy Standing as Moriarty. The 1931 film The Sleeping Cardinal , the first film in the 1931–1937 film series starring Arthur Wontner as Holmes, is based in part on " The Adventure of the Empty House " and "The Final Problem." The scene from "The Final Problem" in which Moriarty confronts Holmes at Baker Street and attempts to persuade Holmes to stop his investigations
3672-796: The Strand , and with eleven illustrations by Harry C. Edwards in McClure's . It was included in The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes , which was published in December 1893 in the UK and February 1894 in the US. In an article published by the BBC , Jennifer Keishin Armstrong noted that "The public reaction to the death was unlike anything previously seen for fictional events." The Strand Magazine "barely survived"
3780-561: The funicular station near the falls, there is a memorial plate to "the most famous detective in the world". The actual ledge from which Moriarty fell is on the other side of the falls. It is accessible by climbing the path to the top of the falls, crossing the bridge, and following the trail down the hill. The ledge is marked by a plaque written in English, German, and French. The English inscription reads "At this fearful place, Sherlock Holmes vanquished Professor Moriarty, on 4 May 1891." It
3888-412: The 23rd Century" begins with a revised version of the climax of "The Final Problem", in which only Holmes plummets down Reichenbach Falls, but instead of falling to his doom, he falls into a natural time warp that transports him into the year 2249. The first episode of the animated television series Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century (1999–2001) begins with the climax of "The Final Problem", where it
3996-722: The American radio series The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes starring Richard Gordon as Sherlock Holmes and Leigh Lovell as Dr. Watson, including episodes titled "Murder in the Waxworks" (March 1932), "The Adventure of the Ace of Spades" (May 1932), and "Murder by Proxy" (January 1933). The story was later adapted for radio by John Kier Cross; it was broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in December 1954 and starred John Gielgud as Holmes and Ralph Richardson as Dr. Watson, with Orson Welles as Professor Moriarty. The production
4104-461: The Baskervilles (set before "The Final Problem") and reviving him in " The Adventure of the Empty House ". There were enough holes in eyewitness accounts to allow Doyle to plausibly resurrect Holmes; only the few free surviving members of Moriarty's organisation and Holmes' brother Mycroft (who appears briefly in this story) know that Sherlock Holmes is still alive, having won the struggle at
4212-525: The Empty House" as "Hunt for the Tiger"). In the television series Sherlock Holmes starring Jeremy Brett , the 1985 episode based on the story begins with the theft of the Mona Lisa , masterminded by Moriarty in order to sell prepared fakes to collectors. Holmes recovers the original painting just before Moriarty makes a sale to a "Mr. Morgan". Holmes's interference with his plans convinces Moriarty that
4320-554: The English Amateur billiards championship in 1913. While living in Switzerland, Doyle became interested in skiing, which was relatively unknown in Switzerland at the time. He wrote an article, "An Alpine Pass on 'Ski ' " for the December 1894 issue of The Strand Magazine , in which he described his experiences with skiing and the beautiful alpine scenery that could be seen in the process. The article popularised
4428-466: The Falls, a boy hands Watson a letter, saying that there is a dying Englishwoman at the hotel who seeks an English doctor. While Holmes realises it is a hoax, he allows Watson to see the patient. Watson soon realises the trick when returning to the hotel and rushes back to the Falls. He only finds two sets of footprints that lead to the end of the path, where he uncovers other signs of a violent struggle and
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4536-577: The Holmes oeuvre, The Lost World . His historical novels include The White Company and its prequel Sir Nigel , set in the Middle Ages . He was a prolific author of short stories, including two collections set in Napoleonic times and featuring the French character Brigadier Gerard . Doyle's works for the stage include Waterloo , which centres on the reminiscences of an English veteran of
4644-600: The Irish Easter Rising , Casement was found guilty of treason against the Crown, and was sentenced to death. Doyle tried, unsuccessfully, to save him, arguing that Casement had been driven mad, and therefore should not be held responsible for his actions. As the First World War loomed, and having been caught up in a growing public swell of Germanophobia , Doyle gave a public donation of 10 shillings to
4752-559: The London Times . He also wrote The Doings of Raffles Haw . After visiting Venice and Milan , he spent a few days in Paris observing Edmund Landolt, an expert on diseases of the eye. Within three months of his departure for Vienna, Doyle returned to London. He opened a small office and consulting room at 2 Upper Wimpole Street, or 2 Devonshire Place as it was then. (There is today a Westminster City Council commemorative plaque over
4860-468: The Napoleonic soldier Brigadier Gerard , as well as plays, romances, poetry, non-fiction, and historical novels. One of Doyle's early short stories, " J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement " (1884), helped to popularise the mystery of the brigantine Mary Celeste , found drifting at sea with no crew member aboard. Doyle is often referred to as "Sir Arthur Conan Doyle" or "Conan Doyle", implying that "Conan"
4968-555: The Pole-Star" and " J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement ", both inspired by Doyle's time at sea. The latter popularised the mystery of the Mary Celeste and added fictional details such as that the ship was found in perfect condition (it had actually taken on water by the time it was discovered), and that its boats remained on board (the single boat was in fact missing). These fictional details have come to dominate popular accounts of
5076-636: The Portsmouth Eye Hospital in order to qualify to perform eye tests and prescribe glasses. Vienna had been suggested by his friend Vernon Morris as a place to spend six months and train to be an eye surgeon. But Doyle found it too difficult to understand the German medical terms being used in his classes in Vienna, and soon quit his studies there. For the rest of his two-month stay in Vienna, he pursued other activities, such as ice skating with his wife Louisa and drinking with Brinsley Richards of
5184-582: The Reichenbach Falls and sent Moriarty to his doom—though nearly meeting his own at the hands of one of Moriarty's henchmen. Inhabitants of Meiringen are still grateful to Doyle and his creation Holmes for ensuring the enduring worldwide fame of their falls and considerably promoting tourism to the town. A museum dedicated to Holmes is housed in the basement of the English Church, located in what has now been named Conan Doyle Place. At
5292-669: The Reichenbach Falls," says Jürg Musfeld, director of the Park Hotel du Sauvage, where Conan Doyle is believed to have stayed during his visit to the village. The story was published in the UK in The Strand Magazine in December 1893, and in the US in McClure's in the same month. It was also published in the US edition of The Strand Magazine in January 1894. It was published with nine illustrations by Sidney Paget in
5400-572: The Rifle Clubs Committee of the National Rifle Association . In 1901, Doyle was one of three judges for the world's first major bodybuilding competition, which was organised by the "Father of Bodybuilding", Eugen Sandow . The event was held in London's Royal Albert Hall . The other two judges were the sculptor Sir Charles Lawes-Wittewronge and Eugen Sandow himself. Doyle was an amateur boxer. In 1909, he
5508-548: The UK (some were published earlier or in the same month in US magazines). Other contributors included E. W. Hornung , Graham Greene , Rudyard Kipling , W. Somerset Maugham , E. Nesbit , Dorothy L. Sayers , Georges Simenon , Leo Tolstoy , and H. G. Wells , as well as Grant Allen , Margery Allingham , H. C. McNeile (aka Sapper), J. E. Preston Muddock , E. C. Bentley , Mary Angela Dickens , C. B. Fry , Walter Goodman , W. W. Jacobs , Arthur Morrison , Edgar Wallace , Max Beerbohm and Dornford Yates . In addition to
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#17328025263385616-502: The United Kingdom from January 1891 to March 1950, running to 711 issues, though the first issue was on sale well before Christmas 1890. Its immediate popularity is evidenced by an initial sale of nearly 300,000. Sales increased in the early months, before settling down to a circulation of almost 500,000 copies a month, which lasted well into the 1930s. It was edited by Herbert Greenhough Smith from 1891 to 1930. The popularity of Sherlock Holmes became widespread after first appearing in
5724-425: The United States in the US edition of The Strand Magazine a month after being published in the UK edition. 38 of the Sherlock Holmes stories, including The Hound of the Baskervilles , were illustrated by Sidney Paget in The Strand . Paget's illustrations helped form the popular image of Holmes. With the serialisation of Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles , sales reached their peak. Readers lined up outside
5832-605: The University of Edinburgh in 1881, he was ship's surgeon on the SS Mayumba during a voyage to the West African coast. He completed his Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) degree (an advanced degree beyond the basic medical qualification in the UK) with a dissertation on tabes dorsalis in 1885. In 1882, Doyle partnered with his former classmate George Turnavine Budd in a medical practice in Plymouth , but their relationship proved difficult, and Doyle soon left to set up an independent practice. Arriving in Portsmouth in June 1882, with less than £10 (£1300 in 2023 ) to his name, he set up
5940-412: The accolade from the King in person at Buckingham Palace on 24 October of that year. He stood for Parliament twice as a Liberal Unionist : in 1900 in Edinburgh Central , and in 1906 in the Hawick Burghs , but was not elected. He served as a Deputy-Lieutenant of Surrey beginning in 1902, and was appointed a Knight of Grace of the Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem in 1903. Doyle
6048-461: The activity and began the long association between Switzerland and skiing. In 1885 Doyle married Louisa (sometimes called "Touie") Hawkins (1857–1906). She was the youngest daughter of J. Hawkins, of Minsterworth , Gloucestershire, and the sister of one of Doyle's patients. Louisa had tuberculosis . In 1907, the year after Louisa's death, he married Jean Elizabeth Leckie (1874–1940). He had met and fallen in love with Jean in 1897, but had maintained
6156-444: The anti-immigration British Brothers' League . In 1914, Doyle was one of fifty-three leading British authors—including H. G. Wells , Rudyard Kipling and Thomas Hardy —who signed their names to the "Authors' Declaration", justifying Britain's involvement in the First World War. This manifesto declared that the German invasion of Belgium had been a brutal crime, and that Britain "could not without dishonour have refused to take part in
6264-428: The boat train pulls out of Victoria, Holmes spots Moriarty on the platform trying to stop the train. Despite extraordinary precautions, Holmes deduces that Moriarty has tracked Watson. Changing their planned route, Holmes and Watson alight at Canterbury , allowing Moriarty on board a special one-coach train to pass them as they hide behind the luggage. Having made their way to Strasbourg via Brussels , Holmes receives
6372-426: The burial site at Reichenbach Falls to confirm Moriarty's death upon news of a lookalike causing a crime spree in New London. Upon seeing a drill hole in the ice, Holmes surmises that the new Moriarty is in fact a clone with all the original's memories and skills. The two part sixth season finale of Monk, "Mr. Monk is on the Run" (2008), is loosely inspired by both "The Final Problem and "The Empty House." Adrian Monk
6480-461: The contents of the US edition were identical with those of the UK edition, though usually with a one-month time lag. As the years went on there were some differences in the contents of the two editions, reflecting fiction for which The Strand did not hold the US rights (such as The Return of Sherlock Holmes , which was commissioned by Collier's magazine) and non-fiction that would not interest most US readers (such as articles about personalities in
6588-443: The crimes orchestrated in London. As Holmes is close to snaring them all and delivering them to the police, Moriarty visits Holmes at 221B Baker Street earlier that day and warns him to withdraw from his pursuit of justice against him. Holmes admits that Moriarty could thwart his plans given his great mind that could rival his, and plans to flee to Europe while the police capture Moriarty and his gang. Watson decides to join Holmes on
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#17328025263386696-566: The criminal mastermind Professor Moriarty . It was intended to be the final Holmes story, ending with the character's death, but Conan Doyle was later persuaded to revive Holmes for additional stories and novels. Conan Doyle later ranked "The Final Problem" fourth on his personal list of the twelve best Holmes stories. An injured Holmes arrives at Watson 's residence one evening, having escaped three separate murder attempts that day. Holmes reveals to Watson he has been tracking Moriarty and his organisation for months, who are responsible for most of
6804-522: The demand for such works. He edited Perplexities from 1910 until he died in 1930. G. H. Savage became the column's editor, soon to be joined by William Thomas Williams (as W. T. Williams), who in 1935 authored the best-known cross-figure puzzle of today. The puzzle goes by many names, the original being "The Little Pigley Farm". It has also been known as "Dog's Mead", "Little Pigley", "Little Piggly Farm", "Little Pigsby", "Pilgrims' Plot", and "Dog Days". Some articles by Winston Churchill were published in
6912-425: The detective must be eliminated, and Holmes is subsequently presumed to have died in a tumble down the Reichenbach Falls. This was the last episode to star David Burke as Dr. Watson. Burke was replaced by Edward Hardwicke until the end of the show's run, starting with the adaptation of "The Empty House" which acted as the first episode of The Return of Sherlock Holmes . The BraveStarr episode "Sherlock Holmes in
7020-462: The editor until 1930. The magazine published factual articles in addition to fictional short stories and series. It was targeted at a mass market readership. The initial price of an issue was sixpence, about half the typical rate for comparable titles at the time. Initial sales were around 300,000, and circulation soon rose to half a million. The magazine also published a United States edition from February 1891 through February 1916. In its early years,
7128-502: The faith and became an agnostic . One source attributed his drift away from religion to the time he spent in the less strict Austrian school. He also later became a spiritualist mystic . From 1876 to 1881, Doyle studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh Medical School ; during this period he spent time working in Aston (then a town in Warwickshire , now part of Birmingham ), Sheffield and Ruyton-XI-Towns , Shropshire. Also during this period, he studied practical botany at
7236-458: The famous scene at the Reichenbach Falls is replaced by an analogous scene set at a fictional "Reichenbach Building" in Tokyo. The 2019 penultimate episode (Season 7 Episode 12) of the CBS adaptation of Sherlock Holmes, Elementary , was titled "Reichenbach Falls", and portrayed Sherlock's ploy to bring down a powerful serial killer billionaire, Odin Reichenbach. Holmes fakes his death on a bridge, which puts Odin Reichenbach under investigation for
7344-461: The front door.) He had no patients, according to his autobiography, and his efforts as an ophthalmologist were a failure. Doyle initially struggled to find a publisher. His first work featuring Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, A Study in Scarlet , was written in three weeks when he was 27 and was accepted for publication by Ward Lock & Co on 20 November 1886, which gave Doyle £25 (equivalent to £3,500 in 2023) in exchange for all rights to
7452-498: The incident, and Doyle's alternative spelling of the ship's name as the Marie Celeste has become more commonly used than the original spelling. Between 1888 and 1906, Doyle wrote seven historical novels, which he and many critics regarded as his best work. He also wrote nine other novels, and—later in his career (1912–29)—five narratives (three of novel or novella length) featuring the irascible scientist Professor Challenger . The Challenger stories include his best-known work after
7560-414: The magazine in 1891. The magazine's original offices were on Burleigh Street off The Strand , London. It was revived in 1998 as a quarterly magazine. The Strand Magazine was founded by George Newnes in 1890, and its first edition was dated January 1891. The magazine's original offices were located on Burleigh Street, off the Strand , London. The first editor was Herbert Greenhough Smith , who remained
7668-449: The magazine's offices, waiting to get the next installment. Doyle also wrote other stories that were published in The Strand Magazine . A number of short stories by Agatha Christie were first published in The Strand in the UK, such as the Hercule Poirot stories collected in The Labours of Hercules . Many short stories by P. G. Wodehouse , including most of Wodehouse's Jeeves short stories, were first published in The Strand in
7776-429: The magazine. Once a sketch drawn by Queen Victoria of one of her children appeared with her permission. The magazine's iconic cover, an illustration looking eastwards down London's Strand towards St Mary-le-Strand , with the title suspended on telegraph wires, was the work of Victorian artist and designer George Charles Haité . The initial cover featured a corner plaque showing the name of Burleigh Street, home to
7884-432: The many fiction pieces and illustrations, The Strand has been also known for some time as the source of ground-breaking brain teasers, under a column called "Perplexities", first written by Henry Dudeney . Dudeney introduced many new concepts to the puzzle world, including the first known crossnumber puzzle, in 1926. In that same year, Dudeney produced an article, "The Psychology of Puzzle Crazes", reflecting and analysing
7992-451: The market by declining circulation and rising costs. Its last editor was Macdonald Hastings , distinguished war correspondent and later TV reporter and contributor to the Eagle boys' comic. In 1961, the magazine was briefly revived as The New Strand under the editorship of Noni Jabavu . It was normally bound as six-monthly volumes, from January to June and July to December, but from
8100-534: The mid-1930s this varied, and the final volumes in the late 1940s ran from October to March and April to September, the final volume CXVIII (118) running from October 1949 to March 1950. The magazine was revived in 1998 in the US (see below). The Sherlock Holmes short stories by Arthur Conan Doyle were first published in The Strand in the UK. Some of the stories were previously or simultaneously published in US magazines, while several were first published in
8208-504: The murder of Sherlock Holmes and thereby exposes Reichenbach's past crimes. The 2024 Indian Television series Shekhar Home remaking the adaptation of the BBC's Sherlock in its last episode also adapts the climax of the story where the titular character Shekhar falls down the Howrah bridge with Jaimini Maurya(James Moriarty). "The Final Problem" was loosely adapted for multiple episodes of
8316-534: The mutilations continued after their suspect was jailed. Apart from helping George Edalji, Doyle's work helped establish a way to correct other miscarriages of justice, as it was partially as a result of this case that the Court of Criminal Appeal was established in 1907. The story of Doyle and Edalji was dramatised in an episode of the 1972 BBC television series, The Edwardians . In Nicholas Meyer's pastiche The West End Horror (1976), Holmes manages to help clear
8424-614: The name of a shy Parsi Indian character wronged by the English justice system. Edalji was of Parsi heritage on his father's side. The story was fictionalised in Julian Barnes 's 2005 novel Arthur and George , which was adapted into a three-part drama by ITV in 2015. The second case, that of Oscar Slater —a Jew of German origin who operated a gambling den and was convicted of bludgeoning an 82-year-old woman in Glasgow in 1908—excited Doyle's curiosity because of inconsistencies in
8532-460: The novel The Hound of the Baskervilles . Holmes's fictional connection with the Reichenbach Falls is celebrated in the nearby town of Meiringen . In 1903, Doyle published his first Holmes short story in ten years, " The Adventure of the Empty House ", in which it was explained that only Moriarty had fallen, but since Holmes had other dangerous enemies—especially Colonel Sebastian Moran —he had arranged to make it look as if he too were dead. Holmes
8640-721: The novelization copies the event almost verbatim from the graphic novel. An arc of the Japanese manga series Moriarty the Patriot , a series featuring a young Moriarty as a crime consultant, is named after the Japanese translation of the story's title. The final two episodes, "The Final Problem Act 1" and "The Final Problem Act 2", feature Sherlock and William (Moriarty) falling from Tower Bridge to River Thames, though revealed that both of them are alive and in Switzerland. Arthur Conan Doyle Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle KStJ , DL (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930)
8748-533: The pill by letting Holmes go in a blaze of glory, having him rid the world of a criminal so powerful and dangerous that any further task would be trivial in comparison; indeed, Holmes says as much in the story. In 1893, Conan Doyle and his wife toured Switzerland and discovered the village of Meiringen in the Bernese Alps. This experience fired Conan Doyle's imagination. "In 1893 he wrote in his diary, which still exists, that he wanted to kill Sherlock Holmes at
8856-512: The poor showing of British troops in the Boer War had led him to believe that the general population needed training in marksmanship. He was a champion of "miniature" rifle clubs, whose members shot small-calibre firearms on local ranges. These ranges were much cheaper and more accessible to working-class participants than large "fullbore" ranges, such as Bisley Camp , which were necessarily remote from population centres. Doyle went on to sit on
8964-485: The present war". Doyle was also a fervent advocate of justice and personally investigated two closed cases, which led to two men being exonerated of the crimes of which they were accused. The first case, in 1906, involved a shy half-British, half-Indian lawyer named George Edalji , who had allegedly penned threatening letters and mutilated animals in Great Wyrley . Police were set on Edalji's conviction, even though
9072-496: The prosecution's case and a general sense that Slater was not guilty. He ended up paying most of the costs for Slater's successful 1928 appeal. Doyle had a longstanding interest in mystical subjects and remained fascinated by the idea of paranormal phenomena, even though the strength of his belief in their reality waxed and waned periodically over the years. In 1887, in Southsea, influenced by Major-General Alfred Wilks Drayson ,
9180-666: The publishing world, and so, after this, he left them. Short stories featuring Sherlock Holmes were published in the Strand Magazine . Doyle wrote the first five Holmes short stories from his office at 2 Devonshire Place. Doyle's attitude towards his most famous creation was ambivalent. In November 1891, he wrote to his mother: "I think of slaying Holmes, ... and winding him up for good and all. He takes my mind from better things." His mother responded, "You won't! You can't! You mustn't!" In an attempt to deflect publishers' demands for more Holmes stories, he raised his price to
9288-606: The resulting rush of subscription cancellations. There were some stories that "young men throughout London wore black mourning crêpes on their hats or around their arms for the month of Holmes’ death" although these may have been exaggerations propounded by Doyle's son. Armstrong continues, "Readers typically accepted what went on in their favourite books, then moved on. Now they were beginning to take their popular culture personally, and to expect their favourite works to conform to certain expectations." Pressure from fans eventually persuaded Doyle to bring Holmes back, writing The Hound of
9396-509: The school harsh, noting that, instead of compassion and warmth, it favoured the threat of corporal punishment and ritual humiliation. From 1875 to 1876, he was educated at the Jesuit school Stella Matutina in Feldkirch , Austria. His family decided that he would spend a year there in order to perfect his German and broaden his academic horizons. He was raised Catholic but later rejected
9504-565: The second husband of Georgian Princess Nina Mdivani ; Adrian Malcolm (1910–1970); and Jean Lena Annette (1912–1997). None of Doyle's five children had children of their own, so he has no living direct descendants. Doyle served as a volunteer physician in the Langman Field Hospital at Bloemfontein between March and June 1900, during the Second Boer War in South Africa (1899–1902). Later that year, he wrote
9612-411: The story, it ends with Holmes and Moriarty plummeting into the falls, and Watson is shown writing the final sentences of "The Final Problem" on his typewriter. However, in the film, the characters are attending a European Peace Conference held near the falls which Moriarty seeks to sabotage, and the two plunge down from a balcony overlooking the falls rather than from the ledge of the original story. Holmes
9720-636: The story. The piece appeared a year later in the Beeton's Christmas Annual and received good reviews in The Scotsman and the Glasgow Herald . Holmes was partially modelled on Doyle's former university teacher Joseph Bell . In 1892, in a letter to Bell, Doyle wrote, "It is most certainly to you that I owe Sherlock Holmes ... round the centre of deduction and inference and observation which I have heard you inculcate I have tried to build up
9828-509: The story. The story is also the basis of the episode " The Reichenbach Fall "(Season 2, Episode 3), which first aired on 15 January 2012 and shows Holmes falling from the roof of St Bartholomew's Hospital in London , supposedly leading to his death. Throughout a confrontation between Sherlock and Jim Moriarty in Baker Street, Moriarty repeatedly utters the phrase "the final problem". The special episode of Sherlock , " The Abominable Bride ", which
9936-413: The trip. Holmes then gives him unusual instructions intended to hide his tracks to the boat train at Victoria station before leaving Watson's house by climbing over the back wall in the garden, paranoid that he might be followed. The next day, Watson follows Holmes's instructions and finds himself waiting in the reserved first-class coach for his friend, who is disguised as an elderly Italian priest . As
10044-433: Was E. W. Hornung , creator of the literary character Raffles ), as well as his two nephews, also died shortly after the war. His second book on spiritualism, The Vital Message , appeared in 1919. Doyle found solace in supporting spiritualism's ideas and the attempts of spiritualists to find proof of an existence beyond the grave . In particular, according to some, he favoured Christian Spiritualism and encouraged
10152-540: Was 43. He was an occasional bowler who took one first-class wicket, W. G. Grace , and wrote a poem about the achievement. His captaincy of the Authors XI lasted from 1899 to 1912, during which time his cricket scores were by far the most common entries in his diary. In 1900, Doyle founded the Undershaw Rifle Club at his home, constructing a 100-yard range and providing shooting for local men, as
10260-443: Was Arthur's middle name. Shortly after he graduated from high school he began using Conan as a sort of surname. But technically his last name is simply 'Doyle'." When knighted, he was gazetted as Doyle, not under the compound Conan Doyle. Doyle was born on 22 May 1859 at 11 Picardy Place, Edinburgh , Scotland. His father, Charles Altamont Doyle , was born in England, of Irish Catholic descent, and his mother, Mary (née Foley),
10368-445: Was Irish Catholic. His parents married in 1855. In 1864, the family scattered because of Charles's growing alcoholism. The children were temporarily housed across Edinburgh. Arthur lodged with Mary Burton , the aunt of a friend, at Liberton Bank House on Gilmerton Road, while studying at Newington Academy. In 1867, the family came together again and lived in squalid tenement flats at 3 Sciennes Place . Doyle's father died in 1893, in
10476-449: Was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for A Study in Scarlet , the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Holmes and Dr. Watson . The Sherlock Holmes stories are milestones in the field of crime fiction. Doyle was a prolific writer. In addition to the Holmes stories, his works include fantasy and science fiction stories about Professor Challenger , and humorous stories about
10584-588: Was a supporter of the campaign for the reform of the Congo Free State that was led by the journalist E. D. Morel and diplomat Roger Casement . In 1909 he wrote The Crime of the Congo , a long pamphlet in which he denounced the horrors of that colony. He became acquainted with Morel and Casement, and it is possible that, together with Bertram Fletcher Robinson , they inspired several characters that appear in his 1912 novel The Lost World . Later, after
10692-710: Was also broadcast on NBC radio on 17 April 1955. Felix Felton adapted the story as a radio adaptation which aired on the BBC Home Service in March 1955 as part of the 1952–1969 radio series starring Carleton Hobbs as Holmes and Norman Shelley as Watson, with Ralph Truman as Moriarty. Another dramatisation of the story adapted by Felton aired on the BBC Home Service in November 1957, again starring Hobbs and Shelley, with Felton playing Moriarty. Hobbs and Shelley also starred as Holmes and Watson in
10800-825: Was broadcast on 1 January 2016, featured a re-creation of the showdown between Sherlock and Moriarty set in Victorian times, as depicted in the book. The 2017 series finale of Sherlock is named for this story, but bears little to no resemblance to the canon. The 2012 series finale of the American medical drama House —which was inspired by the Sherlock Holmes stories—sees Dr. Gregory House fake his own death, in an ode to "The Final Problem". The 2013 Russian television series Sherlock Holmes adapted "The Final Problem" as "Holmes' Last Case". The 2018 HBO Asia / Hulu Japan series Miss Sherlock loosely adapts this story for its series finale "The Dock." In this version,
10908-659: Was initiated as a Freemason at the Phoenix Lodge No. 257 in Southsea. (He resigned from the Lodge in 1889, returned to it in 1902, and resigned again in 1911.) In 1889, he became a founding member of the Hampshire Society for Psychical Research; in 1893, he joined the London-based Society for Psychical Research ; and in 1894, he collaborated with Sir Sidney Scott and Frank Podmore in
11016-421: Was intended to be an ongoing series, but future issues were canceled due to low sales. The 1999 comic series The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume One by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill briefly adapts "The Final Problem" in issue #5 and shows Holmes triumphing over Moriarty and climbing the cliff, although Moriarty survives as well. The film adaptation references these events, but does not show them;
11124-459: Was intended to be exactly what its name says. Conan Doyle meant to stop writing about his famous detective after this short story; he felt the Sherlock Holmes stories were distracting him from more serious literary efforts and that "killing" Holmes off was the only way of getting his career back on track. "I must save my mind for better things," he wrote to his mother, "even if it means I must bury my pocketbook with him." Conan Doyle sought to sweeten
11232-968: Was invited to referee the James Jeffries – Jack Johnson heavyweight championship fight in Reno, Nevada . Doyle wrote: "I was much inclined to accept ... though my friends pictured me as winding up with a revolver at one ear and a razor at the other. However, the distance and my engagements presented a final bar." Also a keen golfer, Doyle was elected captain of the Crowborough Beacon Golf Club in Sussex for 1910. He had moved to Little Windlesham house in Crowborough with Jean Leckie, his second wife, and resided there with his family from 1907 until his death in July 1930. He entered
11340-455: Was not unhappy at Stonyhurst, he said he did not have any fond memories of it because the school was run on medieval principles: the only subjects covered were rudiments, rhetoric , Euclidean geometry , algebra , and the classics. Doyle commented later in his life that this academic system could be excused only "on the plea that any exercise, however stupid in itself, forms a sort of mental dumbbell by which one can improve one's mind". He found
11448-642: Was prompted by the death of his son Kingsley, but Doyle began presenting himself publicly as a spiritualist in 1916, and Kingsley died on 28 October 1918 (from pneumonia contracted during his convalescence after being seriously wounded in the 1916 Battle of the Somme ). Nevertheless, the war-related deaths of many people who were close to him appear to have even further strengthened his long-held belief in life after death and spirit communication. Doyle's brother Brigadier-general Innes Doyle died, also from pneumonia, in February 1919. His two brothers-in-law (one of whom
11556-574: Was strengthened by what he took to be the psychic abilities of his children's nanny, Lily Loder Symonds. This and the constant drumbeat of wartime deaths inspired him with the idea that spiritualism was what he called a "New Revelation" sent by God to bring solace to the bereaved. He wrote a piece in Light magazine about his faith and began lecturing frequently on spiritualism. In 1918, he published his first spiritualist work, The New Revelation . Some have mistakenly assumed that Doyle's turn to spiritualism
11664-416: Was ultimately featured in a total of 56 short stories —the last published in 1927—and four novels by Doyle, and has since appeared in many novels and stories by other authors . Doyle's first novels were The Mystery of Cloomber , not published until 1888, and the unfinished Narrative of John Smith , published only posthumously, in 2011. He amassed a portfolio of short stories, including "The Captain of
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