Sherlock Holmes fans have been playing something they call “The Great Game” since the 19th century. They pretend that Holmes and Watson were real people; that the stories really were written by Watson, and Arthur Conan Doyle was Watson’s literary agent.
In reality, the stories originally appeared episodically in a magazine, and Doyle wrote them for a paycheck on a tight deadline. He considered them throwaway work, something he was doing to support himself while he pursued his more literary aspirations. Consequently, the Holmes stories are full of inconsistencies and plot holes. For someone playing the Great Game, though, there have to be explanations for all of those “seeming” inconsistencies. The fun of the game is finding clever solutions.
For instance:
From where do we know that Dr. Watson’s first name is John? From a story A Study in Scarlet,” Where it says, “Being a reprint from the Reminiscences of JOHN H. WATSON, M.D.” The Sherlokian raises a contradiction to this conclusion based on a story "The Man with the Twisted Lip." The story says his wife Mary Watson calls him “James.” How could Mary call him James if his name is John? Sherlokian said: Come and hear a solution to this dilemma. Dr. Watson’s full name is John H. Watson. Some say that the “H” must stand for Hamish, which is the Scottish equivalent of James.
