#Richard Hannay

[mametupa]

[dickensianenglishbulldog]

I feel that Lord Peter and Sir Percy would get on well.

Also Sam Vimes and Richard Hannay

[hellyescharlesedwards]

Throwback Thursday: Charles Edwards as Richard Hannay in The 39 Steps at the Tricycle Theatre (2006).

(📷: Alastair Muir)

[shmit1]

Some Lean Times

[kwebtv]

Hannay - ITV - January 6, 1988 - March 14, 1989

Drama (13 episodes)

Running Time: 60 minutes

Stars:

Robert Powell as Richard Hannay

Gavin Richards as Count Von Schwabing

Christopher Scoular as Reggie Armitage

Jill Meager as Eleanor Armitage

[pinewood-to-hollywood]

Robert Donat as Richard Hannay in The 39 Steps (1935).

[pers-books]

Christopher Eccleston, Nicola Walker and more join Doctor Who audio story

The Ninth Doctor star paid tribute to the late David Warner.

By David Craig

Published: Friday, 25 August 2023 at 4:00 pm

Christopher Eccleston, Nicola Walker and the late David Warner are among the Doctor Who icons set to star in the next episode of Big Finish's Once and Future storyline.

The 60th anniversary event finds The Doctor in a Time Lord field hospital during the catastrophic Time War, where his body glows with a powerful energy – but it's no regeneration.

Instead, The Doctor's past faces begin to haphazardly appear with no clear pattern, prompting him to go on a journey to uncover who or what could have caused this overwhelming degeneration.

The next chapter – titled Time Lord Immemorial – is written by Lisa McMullin and has the following synopsis:

"Slipping between bodies, the Ninth Doctor finds his TARDIS caught between universes as the cosmos starts to break down. A Doctor from another reality arrives and they join forces with Liv Chenka and the Lumiat to find the cause.

"Someone has desecrated the mythical Hall of the Time Lord Immemorial, where the sands of time from the multiverse are held. And those sands are running out…"

Legendary actor David Warner, who passed away in July 2022, gives his final Big Finish performance as the Unbound Doctor in this episode, with co-star Eccleston hailing his incredible talent.

"It was quite emotional for me to work with David Warner, an actor I grew up as a child watching and admiring," he said. "To share the Doctor with him was special. If ever there was an actor who should have played the Doctor, it was David Warner."

Producer David Richardson added: "Bringing the Ninth Doctor and the Unbound Doctor together was inspired by the friendship between Chris and David.

"They have known each other well for some years and it was a treat to bring them together in the studio. To benefit from these two greats acting opposite each other was irresistible."

Robert Powell, who features as the eponymous Time Lord Immemorial, also paid tribute to Warner.

He said: "David Warner and I first met in 1978 when we did The 39 Steps, when I was playing Richard Hannay and he was playing the villain. It was great fun.

"A few years later, I played Frankenstein [for Showtime in the USA] and he played the creature. We haven't worked together since. It was really nice to catch up with him."

Eccleston's former Our Friends in the North co-star Gina McKee also features in Time Lord Immemorial as The Lumiat; an exciting new addition to the Doctor Who universe.

Script editor Matt Fitton explained: "The Lumiat is writer Lisa McMullin’s creation who is, in a way, the Master’s version of the Valeyard - in that she’s the opposite of everything the Master stands for. The Lumiat is an insufferably good version of the Master or Missy!"

[scotianostra]

January 11th 1940, John Buchan, diplomat, soldier, barrister, journalist, historian, politician, publisher, poet and novelist passed away.

Born in Perth the eldest son of a Free Church of Scotland minister, he spent time in the Borders as a child before the family moved to the Gorbals in Glasgow, he went on to have a truly extraordinary life from humble beginnings.

Educated at Hutchesons Grammar School Buchan graduated from Glasgow University then gained a scholarship to Brasenose College, Oxford. During his time there – ‘spent peacefully in an enclave like a monastery’ – he wrote two historical novels.

In 1901 he became a barrister of the Middle Temple and a private secretary to the High Commissioner for South Africa. In 1907 he married Susan Charlotte Grosvenor; they had three sons and a daughter. After spells as a war correspondent, Lloyd George’s Director of Information and MP, Buchan – now Sir John Buchan, Baron Tweedsmuir of Elsfield - moved to Canada in 1935 where he had been appointed Governor-General.] Despite poor health throughout his life, Buchan’s literary output was remarkable – thirty novels, over sixty non-fiction books, including biographies of Sir Walter Scott and Oliver Cromwell, and seven collections of short stories. In 1928 he won the prestigious James Tait Black Memorial Prize, Britain’s oldest literary prize for his biography of the Marquis of Montrose. Buchan’s distinctive thrillers – ‘shockers’ as he called them – were characterised by suspenseful atmosphere, conspiracy theories and romantic heroes, notably Richard Hannay (based on the real-life military spy William Ironside) and Sir Edward Leithen. 

Buchan was a favourite writer of Alfred Hitchcock, whose screen adaptation of The Thirty-Nine Steps was phenomenally successful, the pair can be seen together in the second photo.

John Buchan served as Governor-General of Canada until his death on this day in 1940, the year his autobiography Memory Hold-the-door was published. His last novel Sick Heart River was published posthumously in 1941.

From The Pentlands Looking North And South is a poem by John Buchan I can relate to, The Pentlands was part of my playground when growing up on the outskirts of Edinburgh.

Around my feet the clouds are drawn In the cold mystery of the dawn; No breezes cheer, no guests intrude My mossy, mist-clad solitude; When sudden down the steeps of sky Flames a long, lightening wind. On high The steel-blue arch shines clear, and far, In the low lands where cattle are, Towns smoke. And swift, a haze, a gleam,-- The Firth lies like a frozen stream, Reddening with morn. Tall spires of ships, Like thorns about the harbour's lips, Now shake faint canvas, now, asleep, Their salt, uneasy slumbers keep; While golden-grey, o'er kirk and wall, Day wakes in the ancient capital. Before me lie the lists of strife, The caravanserai of life, Whence from the gates the merchants go On the world's highways; to and fro Sail laiden ships; and in the street The lone foot-traveller shakes his feet, And in some corner by the fire Tells the old tale of heart's desire. Thither from alien seas and skies Comes the far-questioned merchandise:-- Wrought silks of Broussa, Mocha's ware Brown-tinted, fragrant, and the rare Thin perfumes that the rose's breath Has sought, immortal in her death: Gold, gems, and spice, and haply still The red rough largess of the hill Which takes the sun and bears the vines Among the haunted Apennines. And he who treads the cobbled street To-day in the cold North may meet, Come month, come year, the dusky East, And share the Caliph's secret feast; Or in the toil of wind and sun Bear pilgrim-staff, forlorn, fordone, Till o'er the steppe, athwart the sand Gleam the far gates of Samarkand. The ringing quay, the weathered face Fair skies, dusk hands, the ocean race The palm-girt isle, the frosty shore, Gales and hot suns the wide world o'er Grey North, red South, and burnished West The goals of the old tireless quest, Leap in the smoke, immortal, free, Where shines yon morning fringe of sea I turn, and lo! the moorlands high Lie still and frigid to the sky. The film of morn is silver-grey On the young heather, and away, Dim, distant, set in ribs of hill, Green glens are shining, stream and mill, Clachan and kirk and garden-ground, All silent in the hush profound Which haunts alone the hills' recess, The antique home of quietness. Nor to the folk can piper play The tune of "Hills and Far Away," For they are with them. Morn can fire No peaks of weary heart's desire, Nor the red sunset flame behind Some ancient ridge of longing mind. For Arcady is here, around, In lilt of stream, in the clear sound Of lark and moorbird, in the bold Gay glamour of the evening gold, And so the wheel of seasons moves To kirk and market, to mild loves And modest hates, and still the sight Of brown kind faces, and when night Draws dark around with age and fear Theirs is the simple hope to cheer.-- A land of peace where lost romance And ghostly shine of helm and lance Still dwell by castled scarp and lea, And the last homes of chivalry, And the good fairy folk, my dear, Who speak for cunning souls to hear, In crook of glen and bower of hill Sing of the Happy Ages still. O Thou to whom man's heart is known, Grant me my morning orison. Grant me the rover's path--to see The dawn arise, the daylight flee, In the far wastes of sand and sun! Grant me with venturous heart to run On the old highway, where in pain And ecstasy man strives amain, Conquers his fellows, or, too weak, Finds the great rest that wanderers seek! Grant me the joy of wind and brine, The zest of food, the taste of wine, The fighter's strength, the echoing strife The high tumultuous lists of life-- May I ne'er lag, nor hapless fall, Nor weary at the battle-call!... But when the even brings surcease, Grant me the happy moorland peace; That in my heart's depth ever lie That ancient land of heath and sky, Where the old rhymes and stories fall In kindly, soothing pastoral. There in the hills grave silence lies, And Death himself wears friendly guise There be my lot, my twilight stage, Dear city of my pilgrimage.

[percybysshes]

12 & 24 for the weirder asks please 🍂🍂🍂

🍂🍂🍂

12. What kind of day is it?

Somewhat surprisingly after the extremity of the rain yesterday, today is gloriously clear and cool and sunny and I’m going to get my kit on and go for a nice walk in the park with Richard Hannay as my companion (I’m listening to the 39 Steps as part of an August Reading Challenge - it completes the prompts ‘something exciting’ and ‘audiobook’)

24. if we were together on a rooftop, what would we be doing?

I like to think the rooftops we’d clamber up to would be the battlements of ruined castles or the bell towers of churches, either way excellent spots for conjuring up stories to tell each other

[vtgbooks]

Vintage JOHN BUCHAN The Thirty Nine Steps 1954 50s Book Richard Hannay Spy Story

[mametupa]

[valiantarcher]

Fortnight of Books: 2022

Day 11:

Book you can’t believe you waited till 2022 to read: Ides of April by Mary Ray, with the rest of the Richard Hannay series by John Buchan and Little Lord Fauntleroy by Frances Hodgson Burnett as honourable mentions.

Book you read in 2022 and are most likely to reread in 2023? Uhh. Let’s say Peace Like a River by Leif Enger.

[bookmaven]

All-Story Weekly (15 June 1915) featuring THE THIRTY-NINE STEPS by John Buchan.[According to Wiki, Blackwood’s Magazine published the first serialization in July, August, and September 1915, but that doesn’t precede All-Story. (?)]

THE THIRTY-NINE STEPS by John Buchan (Edinburgh: Blackwood & Sons, 1915) First edition.; current e-book cover.

(London: Pan, 1939) (London: Pan, 1947) (? Birlinn, 2011)

book

The Thirty-Nine Steps (1935) directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Robert Donat and Madeleine Carroll; (1939) directed by Ralph Thomas, starring Kenneth More and Taina Elg; (1978) directed by John Mills, starring Robert Powell and David Warner.

___

John Buchan was a Scottish diplomat, barrister, journalist, historian, poet and novelist. He published nearly 30 novels and seven collections of short stories. His research interests include military history from the 18th century to date, including contemporary strategic studies, but with particular interest in the First World War and in the history of the British Army.

THE THIRTY-NINE STEPS is the first of 5 books featuring Richard Hannay. It is one of the earliest man-on-the-run thrillers.

[agrpress-blog]

“39 scalini” di John Buchan al Palazzo della Cultura di Locri Andrà in scena domenica 17 marzo 2024 ... #39scalini #alessandrodisomma #antoniabrancati #diegomigeni #johnbuchan #locri #marcozordan #palazzodellacultura #patrickbarlow #yasermohamed https://agrpress.it/39-scalini-di-john-buchan-al-palazzo-della-cultura-di-locri/?feed_id=3933&_unique_id=65f45ecd98568

[paulrennie]

Things I Like • Heavyweight Herringbone Tweed Overcoat • Austin Reed • 1948

I just found this beautiful made-to-measure vintage tweed overcoat. The cloth is a brown heavyweight herringbone, and the coat was made by Austin Reed, of Regents Street, London. The coat is calf length, in a broad shouldered and wide lapelled style, with a single-breasted front. The inside is half-lined, and very neatly finished.

There's a label which gives the details of when it was made, and for whom.

The coat is in pristine condition and looks to never have been worn.

The general style of the coat is Robert Donat, as Richard Hannay, in Afred Hitchcock's, The Thirty-Nine Steps (1935). That's perfect, as that is one of my favourite films. I've posted about the film before, and about Alfred Hitchcock. His films were always the best-dressed, for both boys and girls.

The 39 Steps (1935) was a dramatisation of John Buchan’s famous adventure story, The Thirty-Nine Steps (1915). 

In Buchan’s story, the issue of mistaken identity is played out against a background of great-power espionage. The police and British secret-service mistakenly identify Richard Hannay as a murder suspect. Hannay flees to Scotland and uses his bush-craft skills to evade capture. Eventually, Hannay exposes a fiendish plot and saves the day. The tweed suit and bush-craft are a combination that speaks to the military and sporting traditions of the English gentleman, and his tailor. This is reflected in the personality of Hitchcock’s male leads as both dynamic and enterprising, and expressed in their clothes and style.

The main protagonists of Hitchcock films, always remain remarkably poised throughout their travails…and Hitchcock was a master of dynamic action, point-of-view, and editing. Hitchcock allows the personalities, and the clothes, to shine.

The Richard Hannay template provides for a proto James Bond OO7 style that has lasted a 100 years...through Robert Donat, and Cary Grant, to Sean Connery and Daniel Craig.

The Scottish setting of Buchan’s adventure, provides a suitable background for thorn-proof shooting tweeds. The tweeds allow him to remain hidden from both the police and his enemies. There are some dramatic images, in the chase sequences, of tailored silhouettes and action backs against the skyline of the Highland sublime…

Hitchcock returned to the themes of The Thirty-Nine Steps in his classic, North by Northwest (1959). The climax of the film plays out against the backdrop of Mount Rushmore, ND. Cary Grant looks great, as always, in his Kilgour two-piece lounge suit...probably the best suit in the history of cinema.

Austin Reed were pioneers of good quality menswear, that combined handmade quality made-to-measure and economical volume. The catered for military, city and country tastes...The made-to-measure industry developed as a consequence of the mass manufacturing of uniforms for WW1. It provided a commercial compromise between volume cutting and hand-finishing. Made-to-measure suits were a staple of the British workplace, and of the high street until the 1990s. Suits were from Burton, Austin Reed and Hector Powe etc.

My interests is vintage menswear and old posters intersect at Austin Reed. Although the firm was not as progressive as, say, Simpson's of Piccadilly, they employed Tom Purvis, Tom Eckersley and Fougasse, amongst others, to create sophisticated advertising and promotional designs.

I have a history of the firm with lots of great images. I discovered that Austin Reed had shops on the great Cunard trans Atlantic ocean liners, the Queen Mary and the Queen Elizabeth...

Hurrah for this beautiful coat, that is ten years older than me!

I was delighted, yesterday evening watching The Third Man (1949), that Joseph Cotten wears a very similar coat. Some small details are different; but the cut, cloth, style and details are very similar. The coat looks terrific in movement...

Two of my favourite old films referenced in a coat. Perfect.

PS as I get older and more eccentric, I will wear the coat around the house, and save on heating