In one of the last of the "engines" episodes it mentioned Conan Doyle's having been
a practising physician. I found a comparatively short biography that told me a great
deal about him that I had not known before. He had a successful practice, but amazingly
preferred the agonzing drudgery of writing. He was knighted for service as military surgeon
in the Boer War. On a previous thread someone said his spiritualism was reaction to loss of
a son in WWI. It apparently predated this by many years. I still find it hard to reconcile with his
outstanding intelligence and scientific training.
Here's the URL:http://www.sherlockholmesonline.org/Biography/index.htm

It might make an interesting thread to have a list of physicians who became successful
authors. I remember Somerset Maugham, Michael Crichton. How many can you add to the list?