John BUCHAN

John BUCHAN (26 August 1875 - 11 February 1940) 1st Baron Tweedsmuir, British novelist and politician. He transposed into his works much of the experience acquired through political positions in the African colonies and the activity of foreign correspondent during the Great War. Author of historical novels, thrillers, and spy stories, his most famous work “The Thirty-Nine Steps” (The Thirty-Nine Steps), published in 1915, tells of a spy plot set in the period immediately preceding the outbreak of World War I, and sees for the first time the protagonist Richard Hannay, an engineer, soldier and secret agent in spite of himself, who will appear in four other novels subsequent. Photographic portrait, circa 1910