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Hello and welcome to The Spectators Book Club podcast. I'm Sam Neath, the literary editor of The Spectator.

And my guest this week is the writer in biographer Andrew Leicitt,

who as well as having written a notable biography of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle,

he's followed it up with a new book, a beautifully illustrated consideration of Doyle and his wider world called

The Worlds of Sherlock Holmes, the inspirations behind the world's greatest detective.

Andrew, welcome.

Hello, that.

Yeah, I wanted to look at the worlds of Sherlock Holmes because I felt that he existed in a particular

environment.

You know, it's well known that he made his mark in the 1890s. But

I particularly wanted to draw attention to the fact that he didn't exist in a vacuum, that he was

really the product contrary to what some Sherlockians like to have it. It wasn't just the

concoction, the creation of his biographer, Dr. Watson. But there was this man who was absolutely

instrumental to them both appearing, which was the man described as the literary agent of Dr. Watson, and that is Arthur Conan Doyle, who was a fascinating character in his own right.

And I wanted to show how Conan Doyle's life had been reflected in

Sherlock Holmes. And then I wanted to talk as indeed about the worlds of Sherlock Holmes. And I wanted to

look at the different aspects that are reflected in his stories and by extension how much they also reflect Conan Doyle's.

I wanted to look at Sherlock Holmes's sense of place. I wanted to look at his sense of the world

and politics and the sort of wider world. I wanted to look at his intellectual background and particularly drawing there on Conan Doyle's

...