Arthur Conan Doyle
An ambitious author and a fearless adventurer, Conan Doyle always considered Sherlock Holmes to be one of his less interesting achievements. He was a ship's surgeon on an Arctic whaling ship at only twenty years of age; traveled to exotic regions of the world; served as a war correspondent and military historian; used his fame as an author to promote social reform, overturn unjust convictions, and run for Parliament twice; and became the world's foremost spokesman for the new religion of Spiritualism.