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Limited edition postcards have now gone on sale, detailing the only photograph Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has labelled: "Sherlock Holmes".

“You may marry him, murder him, or do anything you like to him.“ Such was Arthur Conan Doyle’s reply to a cable he received one day in 1899. The cable was from the American actor-playwright, William Gillette. Gillette was rewriting a play about Sherlock Holmes.

On 4 August, 1914, Conan Doyle organised a meeting in his local town of Crowborough in Sussex. Conan Doyle proposed setting up a local civilian volunteer reserve.

A whaling ship named the Hope left the Scottish port of Peterhead on 28 February, 1880. It was bound for the Arctic Ocean on a seven month long voyage. On board was a 20 year old medical student named Arthur Conan Doyle.

The idea of an undersea link between Britain and France dates back to 1802. However, there were powerful and persistent arguments against it. But among those who were in favour of a tunnel was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

“Matilda Briggs was not the name of a young woman, Watson, “ said Holmes in a reminiscent voice, “It was a ship which is associated with the giant rat of Sumatra, a story for which the world is not yet prepared.“

The Parasite must surely be one of the strangest stories that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle ever wrote.

The Adventure of The Blue Carbuncle is unique in the Sherlock Holmes Canon in that it is the only story that is set during Christmas.

Take a memorable villain. Then add an unusual method of murder, and a midnight vigil at an isolated old Manor House. Finally combine with Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson. These are the ingredients for the classic story, The Adventure of The Speckled Band.

Sherlock Holmes and Count Dracula are fictional immortals. Both characters have outlived their creators and seem to have taken on a life of their own.