In Greek mythology, Cadmus was the legendary Phoenician founder of Boeotian Thebes. He was, alongside Perseus and Bellerophon, the greatest hero and slayer of monsters before the days of Heracles. Commonly stated to be a prince of Phoenicia, the son of king Agenor and queen Telephassa of Tyre, the brother of Phoenix, Cilix and Europa, Cadmus traced his origins back to Poseidon and Libya.
The Thirty-Nine Steps is a 1915 adventure novel by the Scottish author John Buchan, first published by William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh. It was serialized in All-Story Weekly issues of 5 and 12 June 1915, and in Blackwood's Magazine between July and September 1915, before being published in book form in October of that year. It is the first of five novels featuring Richard Hannay, an all-action hero with a stiff upper lip and a knack for getting himself out of tricky situations.
Greenmantle is the second of five novels by John Buchan featuring the character Richard Hannay. It was first published in 1916 by Hodder & Stoughton, London. It is one of two Hannay novels set during the First World War, the other being Mr Standfast (1919); Hannay's first and best-known adventure, The Thirty-Nine Steps (1915), is set in the period immediately preceding the war.
Major-General Sir Richard Hannay, KCB, OBE, DSO, is a fictional character created by Scottish novelist John Buchan and further made popular by the 1935 Alfred Hitchcock film The 39 Steps, very loosely based on Buchan's 1915 novel of the same name. In his autobiography, Memory Hold-the-Door, Buchan suggests that the character is based, in part, on Edmund Ironside, from Edinburgh, a spy during the Second Boer War, and a British Army field marshal and CIGS.
Mr Standfast is the third of five Richard Hannay novels by John Buchan, first published in 1919 by Hodder & Stoughton, London.
Ettrick is a small village and civil parish in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland. It is located on the B709, around 17 miles (28 km) south-west of the town of Selkirk.
The Three Hostages is the fourth of five Richard Hannay novels by the Scottish author John Buchan, first published in July 1924 by Hodder & Stoughton, London.
The 39 Steps is a 1935 British spy thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Robert Donat and Madeleine Carroll. It is loosely based on the 1915 novel The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan. It concerns a Canadian civilian in London, Richard Hannay, who becomes caught up in preventing an organisation of spies called "The 39 Steps" from stealing British military secrets. Mistakenly accused of the murder of a counter-espionage agent, Hannay goes on the run to Scotland and becomes tangled up with an attractive woman, Pamela, while hoping to stop the spy ring and clear his name.
The Thirty Nine Steps [sic] is a British 1978 thriller film directed by Don Sharp, with screenplay by British playwright Michael Robson, based on the novel The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan. It was the third film version of the 1915 novel.
Ludovic "Sandy" Gustavus Arbuthnot, later 16th Lord Clanroyden is a fictional character who appears in various books by John Buchan in the Richard Hannay series. These books include Greenmantle, The Three Hostages, The Courts of the Morning, and The Island of Sheep, but not the first in the series, The Thirty-Nine Steps. He also appears in The League of Heroes by Xavier Mauméjean. His particular expertise is in adopting disguises which completely take in Hannay, the "friend [he] knows best in the world".
John Macnab is a 1925 adventure novel by the Scottish author John Buchan.
The Courts of the Morning is a 1929 adventure novel by John Buchan, featuring his character Sandy Arbuthnot. The prologue is narrated by Richard Hannay, so the novel is sometimes included in Buchan's Hannay series. The action is set in Olifa, a fictional country on the west coast of South America.
Arbuthnot or Arbuthnott is a Scottish surname, deriving from the village in Scotland from where members of the Arbuthnot family originated.
Peter Pienaar is a character from John Buchan's series of Richard Hannay books. He is described by Hannay as being "five foot ten, very thin and active, and as strong as a buffalo [with] pale blue eyes, a face as gentle as a girl's, and a soft sleepy voice."
John Scantlebury Blenkiron is a fictional character who appears in several books by John Buchan, including Greenmantle, Mr Standfast, The Courts of the Morning and Sick Heart River. Blenkiron comes from the United States, and has assisted Richard Hannay. When Hannay first meets Blenkiron, it is revealed that he suffers from dyspepsia and so often drinks boiled milk, eats dry toast and fish. Subsequently he has an operation where a part of his duodenum is replaced by rubber tubing and his digestion is restored.
The Three Hostages was a British television series which aired on the BBC in 1952. It was an adaptation of the 1924 novel The Three Hostages by John Buchan featuring his character Richard Hannay who is played by Patrick Barr. It consisted of six 30 minutes episodes. The BBC adapted the story again in 1977 as a film The Three Hostages with Barry Foster as Hannay. Broadcast live before telerecording was utilised in the UK, the series is missing, believed lost.
Sir Archibald Roylance was a fictional character created by John Buchan. He appeared in many Buchan novels, never as the protagonist. He was a good friend of Richard Hannay and Edward Leithen despite being younger than them.
The Half-Hearted is a 1900 novel of romance and adventure by the Scottish author John Buchan. It was Buchan's first novel in a modern setting and was written when he was 24 while working for an All-Souls fellowship and reading for the bar.
The Runagates Club is a 1928 collection of short stories by the Scottish author John Buchan. The collection consists of twelve tales presented as reminiscences of members of The Runagates Club, a London dining society. Several of the stories are recounted by recurrent characters in Buchan’s fiction, including Richard Hannay, Sandy Arbuthnot, John Palliser-Yeates, Charles Lamancha, and Edward Leithen.
