SHERLOCK HOLMES 2

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherlock_Holmes

Explicit details WITHABOUTFORWHEN Sherlock Holmes's life outside of the adventures recorded by Dr. Watson are few and far AMONGFORBETWEENUNDER in Conan Doyle's original stories; nevertheless, incidental details about his early life and extended families portray a LOSTLOSELOOSELOOSEN biographical picture of the detective. An estimate of Holmes's age in the story "His Last Bow" WRITESFORMSPLACESDESCRIBES his birth in 1854; the story is set in August 1914 and he is described ASBEOLDLIKE being 60 years of age. Commonly, the date is cited as 6 January. HOWEVERAS WELL ASANDMORE, an argument for a later birthdate is posited by author Laurie R. King, ANDFOUNDEDBASEDPLACED on two of Conan Doyle's stories: A Study in Scarlet and "The Gloria Scott" Adventure. Certain details in "The Gloria Scott" Adventure INDICATEINFLUENCEENQUIREINSIST Holmes finished his second and final year at university in NEITHEREITHERWHETHERWEATHER 1880 or 1885. Watson's own account of his wounding in the Second Afghan War and subsequent return TOFORWITHININ England in A Study in Scarlet place his moving in with Holmes in either early 1881 or 1882. Together, these suggest Holmes LEAVELEFTSTARTEDDECIDED university in 1880; if he began university at the age of 17, his birth year would LIKEUNLIKELYLIKELYLIKEABLE be 1861. Holmes states that he first developed his methods of deduction USINGBELOWFORWHILE an undergraduate. The author Dorothy L. Sayers suggested that, GIVENGAVEWRITTENREAD details in two of the Adventures, Holmes must HAVEHADHAVINGHAS been at Cambridge rather THENFROMTHANAND Oxford and that "of all the Cambridge colleges, Sidney Sussex (College) perhaps offered the greatest number of advantages to a man in Holmes's ABSENCEWORKINGJOBPOSITION and, in default of more exact information, we may tentatively place HERMEUSHIM there". His earliest cases, which he PURSUEDHAUNTEDDESCRIBESEMULATES as an amateur, came from fellow university students. According to Holmes, it was ATWOANTHESE encounter with the father of one of his classmates that led him to take WITHUPADOWN detection as a profession, and he spent the six years following university WORKINGWRITEJOBLESSWHILE as a consulting detective, before financial difficulties led him to take Watson as a roommate, at WITCHWHICHWHATAND point the narrative of the stories begins. From 1881, Holmes was described as HAVEBUILDHAVINGONE lodgings at 221B, Baker Street, London, from where he runs his consulting detective SERVICEMANMAGAZINESTORY. 221B is an apartment up 17 steps, stated in an early manuscript to be at the "upper end" of the road. WHENUNTILNEVERTHELESSHOWEVER the arrival of Dr. Watson, Holmes worked alone, only occasionally employing agents from the city's underclass, EMANATINGINCLUDINGELUDINGINDUCING a host of informants and a group of street children he calls "the Baker Street Irregulars". The Irregulars ACTPERFORMAPPEARTAKE PLACE in three stories: "A Study in Scarlet," "The Sign of the Four," ANDENDWITHINSO "The Adventure of the Crooked Man".