mmmerche:

Happy Birthday, John! C: Don’t worry, Sherlock will be with you soon!

Lyndsay here. *waves* Traditionally, John Watson’s birthday is often July 7th.  Why, you might ask?  Here’s a very succinct answer from Brad Keefauver’s article “Birth of a Watson, Birth of a Canon:”

“In his pamphlet, Watsoniana, Elliot Kimball placed Watson’s birthday on July 7, 1852. (Of course, he also claimed that Watson’s middle name was “Hubert.”) In his Annotated Sherlock Holmes, William S. Baring-Gould states that several commentators place Watson’s birth on July 7th, based on the fact that Watson took Beaune with lunch to celebrate.”

Hubert…???

Keefauver goes on to say that it’s a horrible day for us to contemplate celebrating, due to the fact ACD passed on this day in 1930.  With respect, I’d like to make a counter-argument…that the remembrance of Doyle’s fruitful, often tragic, but very full life should be an occasion to celebrate all that was wonderful about Sherlock Holmes and John Watson and the world they went adventuring in.  And thus, always respecting alternate theories, July 7th has always been my date of preference.

Here’s to John Watson, his birth and his many near-deaths, to his life’s work telling the world about Sherlock Holmes, and to the brilliant literary agent Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who brought Watson’s tales to the world!