It's elementary my dear Watson - Sherlock Holmes Day is on May 22

Need a few more hints? He plays the violin; his nemesis is Professor Moriarty and he came back from the dead after falling over the Reichenbach Falls with Moriarty.

It is elementary, my dear reader. It is Sherlock Holmes, the character created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle – and who popular demand meant he could not be killed off.

Sherlock Holmes Day is on May 22 – Sir Arhtur’s birthday.

On the case

1 Holmes was inspired by Dr Joseph Bell – a lecturer at the University of Edinburgh, who could diagnose patients on sight, and Doyle based Sherlock’s skills of perception on him.

2 A Study in Scarlet was the first Sherlock Holmes novel published in Beeton’s Christmas Annual on December 1, 1887

3 The four full-length Holmes novels: A Study in Scarlet; The Hound of the Baskervilles; The Sign of Four and The Valley of Fear.

4 He is one of the most popular human characters on film. He’s been in 226 films while Dracula has been in 239.

6. The first version was the 1990 silent movie Sherlock Holmes Baffled.

7 He has been played by Basil Rathbone, Peter Cushing, Jeremy Brett, Robert Downey Jr, David Thewlis and Peter Cook.

8 Queen Victoria was a Sherlock fan.

9 The Speckled Band is the most popular Holmes story. It was Conan Doyle’s favourite and often tops reader polls.