Useless Trivia Factoid: Part Deux

The most famous literary character to ever wear a deer-stalker cap was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s beloved sleuth, Sherlock Holmes.





The second most famous literary character to do this is probably Holden Caulfield. But we’re not talking about him.

Okay…here’s the interesting useless trivia factoid part. Conan Doyle never made reference to his Holmes wearing this style of headwear.

Not once!

So why is the deer stalker cap so synonymous with Holmes?

Like many Victorian era authors, Doyle first sold his stories to a magazine, which serialized them for publication. The magazine that carried the Holmes stories was Strand Magazine. An illustrator named Sidney Paget was hired to provide pictures for the stories and it was he who immortalized Holmes wearing the deer stalker cap.

The first picture that depicts this momentous moment of haberdashery is found in the story The Boscombe Valley Mystery.

And there you go!

Another interesting thing about Conan Doyle is that he became obsessed with spiritualism and the supernatural after his son was killed in WWI. He was so adamant that spirits and spirit mediums were the real deal, that he had a very public falling out with a close friend who disagreed with him: Harry Houdini.

And, since we’re on the subject of Victorian Era authors, I’ll hit you with one more useless trivia freebie.

Charles Dickens’ son served in the Canadian Northwest Mounted Police.


Jim Out