Sherlock Holmes

He is the most famous detective in fiction

He appeared for the first time in 1887

The author of Sherlock Holmes was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Conan Doyle was a doctor and he based Holmes on Dr Joseph Bell, his senior at the Edinburgh Royal Infimary

His address in the stories is 221B Baker Street, London

Dr Bell often helped the police to solve crimes

Like Dr Bell, Holmes uses his amazing powers of observation to solve difficult cases

Sherlock Holmes was so popular that Conan Doyle had to revive him after he’d killed him off in one of his stories

Holmes describes himself as “Bohemian”, because he seems quite disorganised and eccentric, he generally gets up late and in order to get the truth he sometimes break the laws

Conan Doyle wrote 4 novels and 56 short stories featuring Holmes

Dr Watson, Holmes’s friend, is a key figure in the stories and is the narrator in the most of them

Today this house is now a Sherlock Holmes museum

According to the Guinness Book of Records, Sherlock Holmes is “the most portrayed movie character”, with over 70 actors playing the part in over 200 films

James Bond

He is a secret agent working for British Secret Service

His code name is 007. The “00” prefix signifies that he has a licence to kill

James Bond is a highly romanticised version of a true spy

Bond appeared for the first time in 1953

The creator of of James Bond is Ian Fleming

Fleming based on William Stephenson

Stephenson was a spymaster in World War II

Bond also has many of Fleming’s own characteristics:

  • they both liked fast cars and beautiful women
  • they were similar in height, hairstyle and eye colour
  • they liked the same food “scrambled eggs and coffee

James Bond is a household name

All the Bond novels have been made into films

6 actors have played James Bond so far. The first was Sean Connery and the most recent was Daniel Craig.

There are also video games, comic strips, models of cars and other gadgets based on the Bond films

Harry Potter

He is a magician

The main focus of the Harry Potter stories is Harry’s battle with the evil wizard Lord Voldemort

Harry has a strong sense of right and wrong. He is brave and determined. But he makes mistakes and he sometimes loses his temper

The first book of Harry Potter came out in 1997 and the last appeared in 2007

The author of Harry Potter is Joanne Kathleen

Her publishers were worried that boys wouldn’t read books written by a woman, so they asked her to use the initials “JK”

In an interviewer in 2001 JK explained that Harry was her favourite male name, and also speak of a boy called Ian Potter

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The book have appeared in 67 languages

The first print run of Harry Potter and the Deathly
Hallows, the last book in the series, was 12 milion copies in the USA alone

There are Harry Potter films, video games and Harry Potter-themed merchandise