It was in a British literary magazine, Beeton's Christmas Annual, for 1887, that the novel "A Study in Scarlet" first appeared, featuring a new-to-the-public detective, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, and his friend and room-mate, Dr. John Watson, M.D. As Wikipedia tells us, he was fairly popular, enough so that a second novel followed about three years later - and then, in 1891, a series of short stories in The Strand Magazine secured the permanence and continuing popularity of the world's first consulting detective.
Sherlock Holmes, of course, remains wildly popular today - even if it is no longer necessarily through the original four novels and 56 short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. But, with the arrival of December, 2012, it is worth marking the 125th anniversary of Holmes and Watson. May they continue to flourish!
Les - Happy Birthday, indeed! Hard to believe that character, who still seems so relevant in a lot of ways, is 125 years old. Quite an iconic figure.
Posted by: Margot Kinberg | December 01, 2012 at 01:35 PM
He has survived many updatings, Margot, and continues to develop through movies and television. If the new works bring another generation of potential mystery lovers to the genre that we both love and admire, then I can live with the changes!
Posted by: Les Blatt | December 01, 2012 at 01:40 PM