Holmes and the elementary offers of marriage

Published on Wednesday 22 October 2008 22:29

SHERLOCK Holmes received marriage proposals from women convinced he was a real person, it has emerged.

In an archive recording of his only radio interview, Holmes' creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, talks about his huge popularity.

The Edinburgh-born writer said some ladies had grown a little too attached to his creation, who will appear on the silver screen next year in a Hollywood blockbuster starring Robert Downey Jr.

He said: "For many, (Holmes] seemed like a real person and I even received letters addressed to him which included proposals of marriage."

The rare recording has been released by the British Library as part of a collection of CDs of some of Britain and America's greatest authors.

It will be the first time Sir Arthur has been heard since he sat in front of the BBC radio microphone on 14 May, 1930.

Also featured in the recordings are Virginia Woolf, Raymond Candler, Tennesse Williams and Scottish authors Muriel Spark and Rebecca West.

Richard Fairman, from the British Library Sound Archive, said the CDs will offer a rare insight into some of the greatest authors to be caught on tape. He said: "We have opened up a real treasure trove.

"The reason people love hearing the CDs is because we read these authors and we feel we know them through reading their work.

"However, when we hear them speak, it's like meeting them in person."