8 marvelous facts about Sherlock Holmes – which of them are false?

FALSE!

The first movie about the famous sleuth was filmed in 1900, which means Sherlock Holmes has been on film for about 120 years! Sherlock Holmes Baffled was a short silent film that had a running time of 30 seconds

TRUE!

In the original novels and short stories, Sherlock never uses the phrase ‘Elementary, my dear Watson’. He says 'elementary’ and ‘my dear Watson’ a couple of times, but never puts the two together.

FALSE!

Conan Doyle's initial idea was Sherrinford. Most likely, he changed Holmes' name because of his favorite cricketers: Sherwin and Shacklock

FALSE!

Sherlock Holmes was actually based on a real person! The detective was inspired by Conan Doyle's university teacher, Dr. Joseph Bell. Conan Doyle was impressed by Bell's incredible ability to deduce a lot about his patients from their appearance and the way they talked.

FALSE!

A Study in Scarlet, the first Sherlock Holmes novel, wasn't an instant success. It was rejected by many publishers and attracted little public interest after its first appearance in 'Beeton's Christmas Annual'.

FALSE!

Sherlock Holmes wasn't wearing a deerstalker all the time: such an image became popular because of the illustrations to A Scandal in Bohemia published in one of the magazines. Both the story and the picture were a huge success. Sidney Paget, the illustrator, only pictured the character in a deerstalker because Sherlock was visiting the countryside in the story.

TRUE!

While Mycroft is an important character of many shows and films about Sherlock, Conan Doyle only mentioned him in two stories: The Greek Interpreter and The Bruce-Partington Plans.

TRUE!

Sherlock Holmes became the first fictional fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, a prestigious professional association in the United Kingdom. Sherlock was honored as the first detective to exploit chemical science as a means of detection.