Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was born in 1859 in Edinburgh, Scotland. He studied medicine at Edinburgh University, before setting up a rather unsuccessful practice in Plymouth. Whilst waiting for patients, Doyle began writing stories. Although most famous for his Sherlock Holmes detective stories, Doyle also stands alongside Jules Verne and H.G. Wells as one of the founders of the science fiction genre, with his supernatural adventure stories featuring Professor Challenger. Doyle was knighted in 1902 and died in 1930.

He is unique in simultaneously bringing down the curtain on an era and raising one on another, ushering in a genre of writing that... has never been surpassed. His own life, as footballer... eye surgeon, champion of injustice and investigator into the paranormal, is the stuff of legend. Personally, I would walk a mile in tight boots to read his letters to the milkman