Retracing Buchan's 39 Steps in Letchworth Garden City

Discover some intriguing theories into renowned novelist of ‘The Thirty-Nine Steps’, and one time Governor General of Canada, John Buchan’s alleged time spent ‘undercover’ in Letchworth between 1915-16, acknowledging that fictional Garden City of Biggleswick from Buchan’s 1918 novel ‘Mr Standfast’, was based on Letchworth Garden City.

This online exhibition, originally a talk for the John Buchan Society which visited and toured Letchworth GC on Saturday 27 March 2010, was researched and delivered by long standing resident and historian, Peter Harkness.

With the help of our archive, Peter researched the Garden City of 1915 that Buchan would have experienced. Peter’s findings in extracts of old local press, revealed many local traditions of Letchworth which were mirrored with those experiences of fictional spy Cornelius Brand, whilst he investigated suspected espionage in the local community.