Q 01/05

In which city was Arthur Conan Doyle born in 1859?

A) London

B) Edinburgh

C) Dublin

D) Glasgow

Answer · why

B) Edinburgh

A statue of Sherlock Holmes now stands in Picardy Place, close to the house where he was born.

Q 02/05

What was Doyle's profession before he became a full-time writer?

A) Naval officer

B) Barrister

C) Schoolmaster

D) Physician

Answer · why

D) Physician

He studied medicine at university and later completed an M.D. with a dissertation on tabes dorsalis.

Q 03/05

According to his baptism record, how was 'Conan' recorded?

A) As his mother's maiden name

B) As a given name

C) As part of a compound surname

D) As a confirmation name

Answer · why

B) As a given name

'Conan' was a given name after his godfather Michael Conan; he began using it as a sort of surname after school.

Q 04/05

Why was the Doyle family split up and housed with different families in 1864?

A) His father's growing alcoholism

B) A cholera outbreak

C) His mother's death

D) His father's bankruptcy

Answer · why

A) His father's growing alcoholism

Charles Altamont Doyle died in 1893 in the Crichton Royal asylum after years of psychiatric illness.

Q 05/05

Which Jesuit school in Lancashire did Doyle attend until 1875?

A) Stonyhurst College

B) Downside School

C) Ushaw College

D) Ampleforth College

Answer · why

A) Stonyhurst College

He remembered it as harsh and 'run on medieval principles', then spent a year at Stella Matutina in Austria.

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