Introduction 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 serialised in All-Story Weekly issues of 5 and 12 June 1915, and in Blackwood’s Magazine (credited to “H. de V.”) between July and September 1915, before being published in book… Read More
Introduction John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir GCMG GCVO CH PC DL (/ˈbʌxən/; 26 August 1875 – 11 February 1940) was a Scottish novelist, historian, and Unionist politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the 15th since Canadian Confederation. As a youth, Buchan began writing poetry and prose, fiction and non-fiction, publishing his first novel… Read More
Introduction William Olaf Stapledon (10 May 1886 to 06 September 1950) was a British philosopher and author of science fiction. In 2014, he was inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame. Life Stapledon was born in Seacombe, Wallasey, on the Wirral Peninsula in Cheshire, the only son of William Clibbett Stapledon and… Read More
Introduction Dr. Richard Austin Freeman MRCS LSA (11 April 1862 to 28 September 1943) was a British writer of detective stories, mostly featuring the medico-legal forensic investigator Dr. Thorndyke. Literary Contribution Freeman’s first Thorndyke story, The Red Thumb Mark, was published in 1907. He invented the inverted detective story (a crime fiction in which the… Read More
Introduction A naval arms race among Argentina, Brazil and Chile – the wealthiest and most powerful countries in South America – began in the early twentieth century when the Brazilian government ordered three dreadnoughts, formidable battleships whose capabilities far outstripped older vessels in the world’s navies. In 1904, the Brazilian legislature allocated substantial funds to… Read More
Introduction The Volunteer Training Corps was a voluntary home defence reserve force in the United Kingdom during World War I. Early Development After war had been declared in August 1914, there was a popular demand for a means of service for those men who were over military age or those with business or family commitments… Read More
Introduction A pillbox is a type of blockhouse, or concrete dug-in guard-post, often camouflaged, normally equipped with loopholes through which defenders can fire weapons. It is in effect a trench firing step, hardened to protect against small-arms fire and grenades, and raised to improve the field of fire. The modern concrete pillbox originated on the… Read More
Boot Camp & Military Fitness Institute 