John Buchan was born on August 26, 1875 in Perth, Scotland, the son of a minister. At age 17, he was awarded a scholarship to the University of Glasgow, where he studied literature and became an author, later attending Brasenose College, Oxford. After a very brief legal career, he served as a secretary to the colonial administrator of South Africa. At the same time, he served as an editor of a magazine. In 1907, he married Susan Charlotte Grosvenor, cousin of the Duke of Westminster. They had four children. In 1910, he wrote "Prestor John," his first novel and ran for political office. During World War I, he wrote for the British War Propaganda Bureau and worked as a war correspondent in France. In 1915, he wrote "The Thirty-Nine Steps," a spy thriller, which became his most famous work. He wrote the sequel, "Greenmantle," a year later, and joined the British army as a lieutenant. After the war, he continued writing as well as becoming president of the Scottish Historical Society. In 1935, Alfred Hitchcock made "The 39 Steps" into a motion picture and King George V made Buchan, Baron Tweedsmuir. This was in preparation of making him Governor General of Canada in 1935. John became the commander-in-chief of the Canadian armed forces as World War II broke out, but in February 1940, he suffered a stroke, falling and striking his head. He died on February 11, 1940, at the age of 64, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He was cremated, his ashes buried on his family estate in Oxfordshire, England. During his career, he wrote 30 novels, seven short story collections and several biographies, more than 100 works in all.