Who was the real Sherlock Holmes? Who is Sherlock Holmes? Who are Sherlock Holmes children

Sherlock Holmes Mishanenkova Ekaterina Aleksandrovna

Sherlock Holmes - writer

Sherlock Holmes - writer

Some of the works written by Holmes have already been mentioned, but of course this activity is worth dwelling on in more detail. Of course, he was not a professional writer like Dr. Watson; all his works were of a scientific and/or practical nature. Yes, and he blamed Watson: “It is logic, and not crime, that you should focus on. And your course of serious lectures has turned into a collection of entertaining stories.”

So what did Holmes himself write? Apparently, he loved to put his thoughts on paper, because he wrote at least several monographs and articles, as well as two stories about his own investigations - “The Lion's Mane” and “The Man with the White Face.”

Already in “A Study in Scarlet,” an article he wrote, “The Book of Life,” is mentioned, in which he argued “how much a person can learn by systematically and in detail observing everything that passes before his eyes.” True, Watson did not appreciate his ideas at the time and called the article “an amazing mixture of reasonable and delusional thoughts. If there was some logic and even persuasiveness in the reasoning, then the conclusions seemed to me completely deliberate and, as they say, pulled out of thin air.” But he can be forgiven - by that time he and Holmes had only recently known each other, and he had not yet had the opportunity to see the practical application of the deductive method.

This is the very case when you can easily amaze the imagination of your interlocutor by losing sight of some small circumstance, on which, however, the entire course of reasoning is based. The same, my dear Watson, can be said about your stories, which intrigue the reader only because you deliberately keep silent about some details.

Holmes also mentions his work on footprints, the influence of professions on the shape of the hand and, of course, tobacco ash. “Or here’s another work on footprints, it talks about the use of plaster to preserve the print...” he says to Watson, showing a letter from a detective he knows, translating his works into French. - One small study is devoted to the influence of professions on the shape of the hand, it gives lithographs of the hands of a roofer, a sailor, a cork maker, a composer, a weaver and a diamond grinder. This research is of great practical interest for a detective who treats his profession as a science. It is especially useful when it comes to identifying a corpse or determining the occupation of a criminal.”

But Holmes also wrote at least two books that had nothing to do with detective work. This is the monograph “Polyphonic Motets of Lassus,” composed by him during his passion for medieval music, and “A Practical Guide to Keeping Bees,” which Holmes wrote on a farm in Sussex, where he retired, parting with the profession of a detective. These two works are important because they demonstrate how deeply Holmes immersed himself in any business he began. Taking this into account, it can be assumed that somewhere there still exists a practical guide for spies written by him. This is just a guess, but why not? There is a lot of speculation surrounding Holmes.

Behold the fruits of nights of thought and days of toil, when I hunted down the industrious bees, just as I once hunted down criminals in London.

This text is an introductory fragment.

Our friend Sherlock Holmes Dr. Joseph Bell, chief surgeon of the royal hospital in the city of Edinburgh, was famous as a master of diagnosis. Diagnosis - an accurate determination of the nature of the patients' illnesses - is still not infallible today, although the doctor carefully interviews the patient and

Our friend Sherlock Holmes Dr. Joseph Bell, the chief surgeon of the royal hospital in the city of Edinburgh, was famous as a master of diagnosis. Diagnosis - an accurate determination of the nature of the patients' illnesses - is still not infallible today, although the doctor carefully interviews the patient and

CHAPTER 6 SHERLOCK HOLMES The writer, whose fictional characters were better known to the average Englishman than any other except Shakespeare's, lived for some time in Devonshire Terrace, and it was there that the first stories appeared in which Sherlock Holmes won world fame, for Holmes

Sherlock Holmes and philosophy According to Dr. Watson, Holmes also had no knowledge of philosophy. And again the doctor was wrong. Holmes may not have been particularly keen on philosophical theories, but given his deep knowledge of linguistics, history, religion and music

Sherlock Holmes and religion Of course, Holmes, like Conan Doyle, was a man of his time, so he combined rational thinking with faith in God. Without fanaticism, naturally, but also without the slightest signs of atheism. Conan Doyle was an ardent opponent of scientific materialism

Sherlock Holmes and politics It is difficult to say how interested Holmes was in politics, but one thing is certain - with a brother like Mycroft, he was aware of various nuances of governing the British Empire, which most ordinary people had never heard of. It can rather be said that

Sherlock Holmes and music In the tenth point of his list, Dr. Watson was not mistaken; Holmes really played the violin well. Moreover, he could play both for others - to perform something known, and for himself - to improvise, being immersed in his thoughts about

Sherlock Holmes and children More precisely - Sherlock Holmes and street children, because in Conan Doyle’s books he hardly communicates with other children. In the stories “The Sign of Four” and “A Study in Scarlet”, as well as in the story “The Hunchback”, a company works for Holmes London street kids

Sherlock Holmes and women Most often, for some reason, Holmes is considered a misogynist. This opinion is probably based primarily on his statement that “women can never be completely trusted, even the best of them” and on two famous phrases of Watson: “All the feelings, and

Sherlock Holmes and the police Among Holmes' fans, for some reason, there is a widespread belief that he hid the evidence he found from the police in order to always be ahead of them. Perhaps the film adaptations are to blame for this, in some of which he does exactly that. But in the works of Conan Doyle

What did Sherlock Holmes smoke? Holmes was a heavy smoker, there is no doubt about it. At the first meeting, agreeing with Watson about living together, he asks: “I hope you don’t mind the smell of strong tobacco?” And in the future he smokes in almost every

Sherlock Holmes and the press As you know, Holmes did not strive to be written about in the newspapers. However, he was very interested in the newspapers themselves. In those days, print media were the only media; they were the ones who disseminated information and shaped public opinion. Newspapers

Sherlock Holmes and emotions It is generally accepted that Holmes was a person of little emotion. This reputation was, of course, created for him by Watson, who wrote in A Scandal in Bohemia: “In my opinion, he was the most perfect thinking and observing machine the world has ever seen.” To break

“The Puzzled Sherlock Holmes” This was the title of the first famous film about Holmes. It was filmed in 1900 in the USA, directed by Arthur Marvin, and among other things, it is also the first detective film in history. At the same time, it lasts... thirty seconds. The plot of the picture

Sherlock Holmes Between you and me, why don't people think? Doesn't that bother you? Why don't they just think? Taxi driver What would Sherlock Holmes be like if he was born at the end of the 20th century? Most likely, he would go to school, know how to use a smartphone and fight smoking, because in

They recently showed it here again, and I once again enjoyed a wonderful Soviet series based on the equally wonderful book by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson.”
Every time I watch it with great pleasure, although I already know who will do or say what when. :)
An ageless masterpiece, perfect performance from absolutely all actors :) It’s not for nothing that our series is recognized as the best film adaptation in the world.
I read books as a child.

I'm sure you love this movie too :)

Old joke:

Sherlock Holmes, thoughtfully puffing on his pipe, asks:
- Dear Watson, answer me, why do you have such a strange name - Doctor?

By the way, Holmes's full name is William Sherlock Scott Holmes.
Do you know what Dr. Watson's real name was?


Answer

In Conan Doyle, Watson is called by name twice. “A Study in Scarlet” has the subtitle “From the Memoirs of a Doctor Jonah G. Watson, retired military medical officer." In "The Man with the Cut Lip", his wife calls him " James».
Thus, the character's full name is John Hamish Watson (Watson). ("Hamish" is a Scottish variant of "James")
Moreover, in the case of double names, it is the second name that is used in everyday life. Thus, his name was “John Hamish” (or “John James”), and his name was James, after his middle name.

Bonus

People's Artist of Russia Vasily Livanov, awarded by Elizabeth II the Order of the British Empire for the best embodiment of the image of the legendary Sherlock Holmes, during the unveiling of the monument to Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson (sculptor Andrei Orlov) in front of the British Embassy on Smolenskaya Embankment. In 2007, it was exactly 120 years since the publication of Conan Doyle’s story about the adventures of the great detective, “A Study in Scarlet.”

Sherlock Holmes Museum in London.

Did you know that Holmes was a cocaine and morphine addict, and it was Dr. Watson who turned him on? I read and laughed at Lurkomorye, I recommend it - http://lurkmore.ru/%D0%A8%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%BA_%D0%A5%D0%BE%D0 %BB%D0%BC%D1%81_%D0%B8_%D0%B4%D0%BE%D0%BA%D1%82%D0%BE%D1%80_%D0%92%D0%B0%D1%82 %D1%81%D0%BE%D0%BD

This collection of coins was released in New Zealand - http://www.newzealandmint.com/dsales/dshop.mv?screen=product&cat=4&product=fc1177cc

Biography of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson.
This table includes a list of the most important events in the lives of Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson and Arthur Conan Doyle. The table also contains the most significant British, European and world events of that time.
http://www.doyle.msfit.ru/holmes/chronology/

And finally - the enchanting article “Why didn’t Toktor Watson have children?” The family in Victorian society, attitudes towards sex (+ topics related to sexual life) at that time are described in detail - http://svetozarchernov.221b.ru/books/childbearing.pdf
Not for the faint of heart. :)

It must be said that a character such as Sherlock Holmes enjoys unprecedented popularity all over the world. There are very few people who have never heard of him and don’t know who Sherlock Holmes is. But, still, not everyone knows for sure how this hero appeared and who wrote Sherlock Holmes, because he is a literary character, and what his story is.

So, first of all, it should be noted that Sherlock Holmes, as a literary character, was created by the popular English writer Arthur Conan Doyle, who was born in Great Britain in 1859. Conan Doyle managed to create Sherlock Holmes in bright colors and subtle details, bring him to life on the pages of his books and receive countless enthusiastic responses from readers from different countries.

We found out who wrote Sherlock Holmes, or rather, the stories about the adventures of this man. But who is Sherlock Holmes, who was he and what did he do? It seems that almost everyone knows the answer to this question. In short, Sherlock Holmes is a famous brilliant private detective from London, a great detective. In fact, the stories about Sherlock Holmes have become classics of the detective genre.

How did Sherlock Holmes appear?

The topic of how Sherlock Holmes appeared is still debated by some. But the generally accepted view is that writer Arthur Conan Doyle had close contact with Dr. Joseph Bell, who was his colleague. This doctor acted as the prototype of Sherlock Holmes, since he was famous for some brilliant abilities, for example, Joseph Bell could see the smallest details, remember them and, after analyzing, guess a person’s character and his past.

But speaking about who Sherlock Holmes is, it is necessary not only to say that he was an intelligent detective with extensive experience. He was a brilliant detective who noticed what others did not see. And this attention to detail and ability to compose an accurate analysis glorified Sherlock Holmes, made him inimitable and set him apart from everyone else.

Once you know who Sherlock Holmes is and who wrote Sherlock Holmes, you can read the stories about him for yourself. This can be done by visiting the Books section of our website. There, find this or that story about Sherlock Holmes and download the book.

Conan Doyle's attitude towards Sherlock Holmes

Conan Doyle's famous detective appears in dozens of works, namely: there are 56 short stories and 4 novellas with the participation of Sherlock Holmes. Holmes's best friend Dr. Watson narrates the events mainly.

Interestingly, when readers realized who Sherlock Holmes was and got a taste of the stories about Sherlock Holmes, they could not contain their delight, constantly sending letters of gratitude to Doyle, the one who wrote Sherlock Holmes. Conan Doyle himself was somewhat irritated by this reaction, since he believed that these stories were just “light reading” and attention should be paid to his completely different works.

Finally, Arthur Conan Doyle ended his story about the detective, describing his last battle with Professor Moriarty, in which Holmes died. However, readers did not like this outcome at all; many began to be indignant and complain, and some of Sherlock’s fans were even representatives of the royal family. Conan Doyle had to bring Sherlock back, “revitalizing” him in the next story.

We hope you enjoyed the article about who Sherlock Holmes is, where he came from and what impact he had on world literature, especially when it comes to the detective genre. To make it easier to remember who wrote Sherlock Holmes, we advise you to read

More than a hundred years have passed since the first appearance of the great detective, but even now his image is widely known throughout the world. There is no such person who has not heard of him. But few people know that many of the detective’s distinctive features were not present in the original stories by Arthur Conan Doyle.

In total, the hero appears in 56 short stories and 4 novellas, most often narrated on behalf of Dr. John Watson. Doyle's works are a real field for creativity and reinterpretation. But something is still considered eternal...

Even some of the detective's household items have become indispensable classics: a coat with a cape, a hunting hat and a pipe. Not to mention his faithful friend Dr. Watson, the villain Moriarty and dear old lady Mrs. Hudson. All this, including his famous method and the phrase “Elementary, my dear Watson,” are part of the famous image.

However, if you study the primary sources a little deeper, you can find many interesting details that Conan Doyle mentioned in passing or did not write at all.

For example, deduction is not Holmes's only method for catching criminals. He thinks a lot, sometimes he even guesses. And, which is hard to believe, he can draw the wrong conclusions.

In terms of terminology, Holmes rather used the “inductive method” (a general judgment is made on the basis of particulars: cigarette butt-weapon-motive-personality, therefore Mr. X is a criminal. - Author's note) And in deduction, the investigation would dance from Mr. X.

From one drop of water, a person who knows how to think logically can conclude about the possibility of the existence of the Atlantic Ocean or Niagara Falls, even if he has never seen or heard of either one. Every life is a huge chain of causes and effects, and we can understand its nature one by one.

"A study in Scarlet"

Mrs. Hudson is also rarely mentioned in Conan Doyle's stories. Moriarty is not far removed from the detective's housekeeper, appearing in only two stories. Watson most of the time lives separately from his friend and a phrase about the elementary nature of any crime has never been uttered to him.

As mentioned above, the detective’s appearance is also “overgrown” with inventions. Thus, the famous cloak with a cape was invented by Sidney Paget, who was the first illustrator of Conan Doyle's stories. And actor William Gillett brought a large curved smoking pipe into the image. He felt that with such an accessory it would help viewers see him better.

And the catchphrase “Elementary, my dear Watson” was invented by the humorist author Pelham Grenville Woodhouse, known for his works about Jeeves and Wooster.

“I think,” said Psmith, “this is one of those moments when I should unleash my Sherlock Holmesian method.” Namely. If the rent collector had already been here, then, it seems to me, Comrade Spaghetti, or whatever you called him, would not have appeared here again. In other words, if the tax collector had come here and had not found the cash, Comrade Spaghetti would now be wandering in the cold darkness of the night and would not have appeared under his recently native roof. Are you following my line of reasoning, Comrade Maloney?
- Right! - said Billy Windsor. - Of course.
“Elementary, my dear Watson, elementary,” Psmith muttered.

"Psmith the Journalist"

So who is Sherlock Holmes really? What is he like? Where can we find him?

People in the know will say that the real Holmes is Arthur Conan Doyne's university mentor, Professor Joseph Bell. It was this man who served as the prototype for Sherlock Holmes.

And some are free to think that Holmes-Bell has faded under tons of interpretations, losing the features that Doyle put into the character.

However, this is still not a very satisfying answer. I guess we can find something a little more exciting.

And for this you need to reflect on all those interpretations of the detective. Since the first story, thousands of adaptations of Sherlock have been produced, making him the most used character of all time.

It all started with stage productions back in the Victorian era, the process accelerated with the advent of cinema. In terms of the number of film adaptations, the story of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson was included in the Guinness Book of Records. At the moment, there are about 210 films featuring the detective.

Let's look at the most significant and frequently mentioned works to date.

The first part of the Soviet television film about Sherlock Holmes with Vasily Livanov and Vitaly Solomin was released in 1979. At that time, our Holmes was compared to Jeremy Brett's Sherlock, the series with which had been running for several years in Britain.

Even Queen Elizabeth II herself gave preference to Vasily Livanov. He became famous outside his native country, and in 2006 received the Order of the British Empire.

For many viewers, Livanov is still the ideal embodiment of Conan Doyle's hero.

And of the sixteen films related to Holmes in one way or another, shot from the early 2000s to the present day, the most famous were two films by Guy Ritchie starring Robert Downey Jr. The films are typical examples of Hollywood filmmaking, but still, behind the pathos and a series of unimaginable fights, the typical Sherlock Holmes for all of us is still visible.

Of the series about the brilliant detective, two can be distinguished. The first is, of course, “Sherlock” from the BBC, which appeared in 2010 and has long won its army of fans. The fourth season was released at the beginning of this year and became famous due to the leak of the last episode online.

Creating such a series initially carried great risks, but the BBC became interested in the project, and, after several drafts of the script and development of all the small details, the pilot episode was born. And then the whole season follows.

Each episode is worked out to the smallest detail, this will be immediately noticeable if you scroll through the source material and just look at the photographs that the directors took.

This version can be called very similar, the heroes have only been transported to a new time. But as Holmes said through the mouth of Benedict Cumberbatch: “I have always known that I am a man out of time.”

And the second series that deserves attention is the American project “Elementary” starring Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu.

The action of the series, filmed by CBS, was moved to New York, and Holmes here is a closed neurasthenic, a drug addict who has just left the hospital.

This Sherlock takes on more human traits, he becomes like us. He also makes mistakes, as happened in Doyle’s stories, and successfully copes with his affairs and drug addiction.

He has experienced more than all the other Holmeses and therefore, perhaps, he is the most vulnerable and melancholy of them. And also the most tattooed.

Rather, this is the brainchild of big fans of the great detective, because many find him too radical in changing the characters. But this does not mean that this Holmes turned out worse than any other.

Doyle's character has appeared in hundreds of print publications, on television, on stage, and on radio. All this shows the popularity of Holmes, as well as his “plasticity”.

The plasticity of the character, caused by a large number of reinterpretations, turned the hero into a kind of palimpsest (a text on top of which another is written. - Author's note.). Now Sherlock is not just a hero, he is a real cultural phenomenon.

And every time a new layer of changes is applied on top of the previous ones, the detective changes. He appears before us as a bearer of new trends, values ​​and ideals, which are now far from the times of Conan Doyle.

And with every new story Holmes returns. Maybe slightly changed (new face, new manners). But he's still Sherlock. Our Sherlock.

ShaftSeries Saibonova

It is well known that the idea to write a popular detective story about the detective Sherlock Holmes came to the mind of the writer Agatha Christie while she was working in a pharmacy in a military hospital. She crushed the ingredients to prepare the medicine in a mortar and came up with a plot - a mysterious murder by poisoning.

Who was the real Sherlock Holmes?

Agatha Christie came up with the appearance of the famous detective Hercule Poirot quite by accident: she copied him from a neighbor who lived not far from her house. He was a neat, clean, short man with a magnificent mustache, a connoisseur of good cuisine and a sweet tooth, preferring hot chocolate to alcohol.

Observational surgeon

But Sherlock Holmes had a real prototype. In the fall of 1911, the London magazine Hospital published an obituary, “The Death of a Great Educator,” in which it informed its readers that on October 4, at the age of 74, the chief surgeon of the Royal Edinburgh City Hospital, Professor Joseph Bell, who trained a galaxy of outstanding doctors, died. Among them was Arthur Conan Doyle.

The famous writer met him while a medical student at the University of Edinburgh. The professor was not only an excellent surgeon, but also a person with exceptionally developed powers of observation. “Most people look, but they don’t observe. If you take a closer look at a person, at first glance you can determine his nationality, his hands will tell about his profession, his gait and manners - about many other things... Even the threads stuck to his jacket can say a lot.

The real Sherlock Holmes Joseph Bell (Joseph Bell)

An attentive doctor can almost accurately say in just a minute what a talkative patient is complaining about...” Indeed, while owning it, Bell noticed the smallest details. For example, no sooner had the patient crossed the threshold of his office than the owner asked him to calm down. When the patient asked how the doctor knew that he was really very excited, the answer was: “Carefree people usually knock on the door two, rarely three times. And you knocked four...” Or, starting a conversation, Bell confidently said that his visitor came to him on foot from the suburbs and entered Edinburgh from the south side through the golf course. The professor quickly dispelled the bewilderment: “You know, in the whole city there is only red soil. When it rains, it naturally sticks to your shoes. It had just rained at night, and the ground had not yet dried out. You can tell by the marks your shoes leave on the floor that you were there.”

The infectious deduction of Sherlock Holmes

Or, for example, to the delight of students, before starting a medical examination, Bell once categorically told a patient that he had recently retired with the rank of sergeant in a mountain rifle regiment after serving in Barbados, and was now earning his living as a shoemaker, but things were going well not too good. Moreover, his sick wife had to be admitted to the hospital. That's how it was. “This man showed courtesy and politeness when entering the office, but did not remove his hat. This is a military habit. If he had retired a long time ago, he would have learned civilian manners,” Bell explained. - The patient behaves with authority, and this indicates that he was a commander.

As for Barbados, where only the mountain regiment is based, the patient is suffering from elephantism, a disease that is quite widespread among the inhabitants of the West Indies. The type of current occupation is indicated by a wide, calloused thumb, which often comes into contact with the dredge. The financial situation is really unimportant, since I had to pawn my watch - an empty watch chain hangs from my vest pocket. And from another pocket peeks out a hospital voucher for hospitalization, which means that the wife (the engagement ring on the patient’s finger) began to undergo treatment in the hospital, and as a result, the poor fellow has to make his bed himself, as evidenced by the lint on his clothes.”

After graduating from university in 1881, Arthur Conan Doyle chose the profession of a ship's doctor, and later tried to open a medical practice. But, alas, fortune turns its back on him. The doctor decided to improve his financial condition and began writing detective stories, the main character of which was a detective who could not only observe, but also draw conclusions - just as Professor Bell did.

Oliver Wendell Holmes

All that remained was to choose a name for the future hero. Everything was decided ingeniously simply: taking the name of the then famous cricket player Sherlock, the writer combined it with the name of the American doctor Oliver Wendell Holmes. And the detective’s faithful companion was named Dr. Watson, after the name of a dentist who actually lived on Baker Street.

Fate turned out to be favorable to the aspiring writer - a series of stories published by an American publisher brought success to Conan Doyle. Thus, before his death in 1930, the unlucky doctor gave fans of the adventure genre 56 short stories and 4 tales about the great detective.