John Buchan was born at the manse in York Place, Perth, Scotland on 26 August 1875, the son of a Free Church of Scotland minister. Clan Buchan has a long history in Scotland. He was educated at Hutcheson's Grammar School and the University of Glasgow, and had already begun to write when he won a scholarship to Brasenose College, Oxford, from where he took a First in Greats in 1899. Between 1901 and 1903 Buchan worked on the High Commissioner's staff in South Africa; after returning to Britain he pursued several careers, including journalism. In 1907, he married Susan Grosvenor. It was a happy marriage resulting in one daughter and three sons. He was Member of Parliament for the Scottish Universities from 1927 to 1935, when he was appointed Governor-General of Canada. He became Baron Tweedsmuir of Elsfield in 1935 and the thirty fifth Governor General of Canada. It was in Canada that Buchan died, on 11 February 1940,
Buchan's thrillers are a variation on the same basic plot. The hero discovers a conspiracy to end civilisation and sets out single-handed to frustrate it. The pleasure of Buchan is the magnificently described wild countryside he sets his stories in (usually the Scottish Highlands or the plains of South Africa).
