Richard Hannay Richard Hannay Major-General Sir Richard Hannay, KCB, OBE, DSO, Legion of Honour, is a fictional character created by Scottish novelist John Buchan and further made popular by the 1935 Alfred Hitchcock film "The 39 Steps" (and other later film adaptations), very loosely based on Buchan's 1915 novel of the same name. In his autobiography, "Memory Hold-the-Door", Buchan suggests that the character is based, in part, on Edmund Ironside, from Edinburgh, a spy during the Second Boer War. Hannay appears in several novels as a major character, including: He also appears as a minor character in: "The Thirty-One Kings" (2017), by
James Hannay James Hannay James Hannay FRSE (17 February 1827 – 9 January 1873), was a Scottish novelist, journalist and diplomat. Hannay was born at Dumfries, Scotland, on 17 February 1827. His father, David Hannay (1794-1864), a member of the Speculative Society at Edinburgh University, 1813–14, and author of "Ned Allen, or the Past Age," 1849, was engaged in business in Dumfries. The family had some reason for believing that they were descended from the Hannays of Sorble. In James Hannay, the belief was sufficiently strong to influence his studies, inclining him to study heraldry and family history. Hannay entered the navy