Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle, author most famous for Sherlock Holmes stories but also historical fiction, born 22 May 1859 in Edinburgh; attended Edinburgh University Medical School; begain writting as a student, first Holmes story published 1886; life-long interest in Theosophy and champion of Spiritualism in the 1920s, publishing books on the subject and also 'The Coming of The Fairies' in 1922, promoting the Cottingley Fairies; died at his home in Crowborough, Sussex, 7 July 1930.