NEW YORK, 1 Jan. /Offset. TASS Kirill Volkov/. Famous British actor Benedict Cumberbatch, performing a major role in the popular television series “Sherlock” (Sherlock, 2010 – present), have a distant relative of the writer Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930), who came up with the image of the famous detective Sherlock Holmes. To such conclusion experts of one of the largest American companies involved in the drawing up of family trees – Ancestry, told the Agency on Saturday the Associated Press (AP).
According to Ancestry, based in the city of Lehi (Utah) and wielding the same Internet site, the common ancestor of the writer and actor is John of Gaunt (1340-1399) Duke of Lancaster and one of the sons of the king of England, Edward III (1312-1377). Gaunt founded the house of Lancaster, which belonged to the English kings Henry IV (1366-1413), Henry V (1387-1422) and Henry VI (1421-1471).
“the Identification of relationships like solving mysterious puzzles, which would be of interest even for the Sherlock Holmes,” said an employee of the Ancestry of Liza Elsie. The company stressed that they have not yet announced Cumberbatch about his relationship with the famous British writer.
Ancestry also noted that neither the 40-year-old actor nor his representatives had not contacted the company with a request to make a family tree of Cumberbatch. As told by the researchers, they decided to do it on their own out of love for the actor and the TV series “Sherlock”.
Born in London in 1976 Cumberbatch in addition to his role in “Sherlock” is also known for the films “StarTrek: Retribution” (Star Trek Into Darkness, 2013), “the Fifth power” (The Fifth Estate, 2013), “Doctor strange” (Doctor Strange, 2016). For his work in the film “playing the imitation” (The Imitation Game, 2014), he was nominated for the award “Oscar” in the category “Best actor”.