Quiz on Sherlock Holmes

Who created the character of Sherlock Holmes?

• Agatha Christie
• Arthur Conan Doyle ✓ (Correct answer)
• Edgar Allan Poe
• Wilkie Collins

Source: Doyle grew so tired of Holmes that he once tried to kill him off to write 'serious' novels.

On which London street does Sherlock Holmes famously live?

• Oxford Street
• Fleet Street
• Downing Street
• Baker Street ✓ (Correct answer)

Source: 221B Baker Street now houses a museum, even though the address didn't exist when Doyle wrote the stories.

What is the profession of Holmes's loyal companion?

• Lawyer
• Journalist
• Doctor ✓ (Correct answer)
• Police inspector

Source: Dr Watson was an army surgeon wounded in Afghanistan before he ever met Holmes.

Which instrument does Sherlock Holmes play to relax?

• Piano
• Violin ✓ (Correct answer)
• Cello
• Flute

Source: Holmes owned a Stradivarius he claimed to have bought for a pittance from a pawnbroker.

Which ghostly hound terrorises a family on the Devon moors?

• The Hound of Dartmoor
• The Hound of the Baskervilles ✓ (Correct answer)
• The Beast of Bodmin
• The Black Shuck

Source: The glowing hound was an ordinary dog painted with phosphorus to fake a supernatural curse.

Who is Holmes's brilliant criminal nemesis?

• Dr. Grimesby Roylott
• Professor Moriarty ✓ (Correct answer)
• Jefferson Hope
• Charles Milverton

Source: Moriarty appears in only two stories yet became the template for the supervillain mastermind.

Who runs the lodging house where Holmes and Watson stay?

• Mrs Watson
• Mrs Turner
• Mrs Hudson ✓ (Correct answer)
• Mrs Forrester

Source: The long-suffering Mrs Hudson tolerated indoor pistol practice and chemistry experiments.

Which woman is famously remembered by Holmes as 'the woman'?

• Mary Morstan
• Helen Stoner
• Irene Adler ✓ (Correct answer)
• Violet Hunter

Source: Irene Adler outwitted Holmes, and he kept her photograph as a reminder of his rare defeat.

Which novel marks the very first appearance of Sherlock Holmes?

• The Sign of Four
• The Final Problem
• The Valley of Fear
• A Study in Scarlet ✓ (Correct answer)

Source: A Study in Scarlet introduced Holmes in 1887 but barely sold until later stories made him a sensation.

Which Scotland Yard detective frequently turns to Holmes for help?

• Gregson
• Bradstreet
• Hopkins
• Lestrade ✓ (Correct answer)

Source: Lestrade is the recurring Yard man, though Holmes considered Gregson and him 'the pick of a bad lot'.

What is the name of Sherlock's even smarter older brother?

• Sherrinford
• Mycroft ✓ (Correct answer)
• Bartholomew
• Thaddeus

Source: Mycroft was so lazy he co-founded the Diogenes Club, where talking to members was forbidden.

At which waterfall does Holmes seemingly plunge to his death with Moriarty?

• Niagara Falls
• Reichenbach Falls ✓ (Correct answer)
• Victoria Falls
• Rhine Falls

Source: Public outrage at Holmes's 'death' was so fierce that Doyle was forced to bring him back years later.

Which famous Holmes cipher uses little stick-figure men as its symbols?

• The Stick Figures
• The Dancing Men ✓ (Correct answer)
• The Jumping Jacks
• The Crooked Men

Source: The childish stick-figure drawings were actually a substitution code spelling out deadly threats.

In which country was Doctor Watson wounded before meeting Holmes?

• India
• South Africa
• Sudan
• Afghanistan ✓ (Correct answer)

Source: Watson's old war wound famously migrates between his shoulder and his leg across the stories.

What does Holmes call his network of street-children informants?

• The Street Arabs
• The London Urchins
• The Baker Street Irregulars ✓ (Correct answer)
• The Yard Boys

Source: These ragged children could 'go everywhere and hear everything' without arousing suspicion.

What occupation did Holmes adopt while in disguise during his fake death?

• Italian priest
• Tibetan monk
• French tutor
• Norwegian explorer ✓ (Correct answer)

Source: Holmes claimed to spend his 'dead' years travelling Tibet under the name Sigerson, the Norwegian explorer.

Which secret society drives the plot of 'The Five Orange Pips'?

• The Freemasons
• The Carbonari
• The Ku Klux Klan ✓ (Correct answer)
• The Mafia

Source: Doyle used the real-life Klan as the menace sending its deadly warning of orange pips.

Which real Edinburgh surgeon inspired Holmes's deductive method?

• Joseph Lister
• Joseph Bell ✓ (Correct answer)
• James Young Simpson
• Robert Christison

Source: Doyle's teacher Joseph Bell could diagnose a stranger's job and history from a single glance.

Which collection's stories were the last Doyle wrote about Holmes?

• His Last Bow
• The Return of Sherlock Holmes
• The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes ✓ (Correct answer)
• The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes

Source: The Case-Book closed the canon in 1927, with Holmes by then keeping bees in retirement.

Who was the colonel serving as Moriarty's right-hand assassin?

• Jonathan Small
• John Clay
• Sebastian Moran ✓ (Correct answer)
• James Windibank

Source: Crack marksman Moran hunted Holmes with a silent air-gun built to fire revolver bullets.