Having met a many authors, I can reveal many are just like you and I. But Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle, born 150 years ago today, could never be described as ordinary and there’s a lot more to this writer besides Sherlock Holmes. (For instance, did you know he wrote a book about the existence of fairies?)

Inventing Holmes and helping to shape the whole crime writing genre are just a couple of his more high profile achievements. He was also a doctor (who luckily had time for writing books between his appointments), a useful goalkeeper, a pretty good golfer, a handy cricketer who played 10 first-class matches for the Marylebone Cricket Club (that’s the most famous cricket club in the world), a failed ophthalmologist in Vienna, a vocal supporter of the Boer War in South Africa, a failed parliamentary candidate, a keen advocate of judicial law who investigated two apparent miscarriages of justice, and a believer in spiritualism and fairies.

Discover how there’s much more to Conan Doyle than Sherlock Holmles – read on.