To the hill once again

The clarion call has sounded and it is time to set your sights on the ultimate modern sporting challenge

When John Buchan wrote John Macnab in 1925 (his second most popular novel after The 39 Steps), the three protagonists – Sir Edward Leithen, John Palliser-Yeates and Lord Lamancha – were stricken with ennui. As they slump disconsolately in their London Club an idea takes shape. Something with just enough dash and derring-do. An adventure to raise the spirits and drag them from the doldrums. The plot is laid. A letter will be written to three Highlands estates purporting to be from one ‘John Macnab’, who makes it known that he intends to take a salmon or a stag from under their noses within 48 hours and deliver it to their door. Failure is not an option; reputation and club memberships are at stake.

REAL-LIFE CHARACTER

A letter written to The Field in 1951 revealed how Buchan’s excellent book had taken inspiration from a real character, Captain James Brander Dunbar. A season with too few shooting invitations had led him to boast that he could kill a beast in any forest in Scotland. The challenge was met by Lord Abinger, and Brander Dunbar headed north where after a couple of blank days he took a six-pointer at Inverlochy without detection, until he presented himself at the castle in the afternoon. His sporting vigour was the perfect foundation for Buchan’s story with its perennial appeal, which comes from the author’s deep understanding of the natural and sporting world, his knack for adventure and sharp social insight.