William Buchan

Jul 7 2008 Liverpool Daily Post

IT IS perhaps sad that, in the end, his most lasting offering to the world might be the biography of his father. William Buchan, the writer and third Lord Tweedsmuir, was doomed to be judged against his father, John (1875-1940), whose rattling yarns not only thrilled boys, but were widely praised for their narrative flow and descriptive passages.

Among the most successful were Prester John, Greenmantle, Mr Standfast and, of course, The Thirty- Nine Steps, made into a film by Alfred Hitchcock in 1935. For a time, young William, unsettled and moody, worked as an assistant to Hitchcock at Gaumont-British.

But life was harder for William than other sons, living in paternal shadows, because he shared his father’s love of literature, and had a poetic nature and a sense of romance.

He lacked the somewhat humourless but driving energy which had taken John, from his own father’s Free Church in Perth to the plumed, multi- ribboned and medalled glory of the British Empire, as governor-general of Canada.

William’s education reflected the family’s rising status. John Buchan had married Susan Charlotte Grosvenor, of the Westminsters.

But, at the Dragon School, Oxford, and then at Eton, William appeared a shy and solitary figure, and this mood continued into New College, Oxford, which he left after two terms.

In 1935, John Buchan was elevated to the peerage, becoming the first Lord Tweedsmuir.

However, the qualities of gallantry and delicately refined charm, which would endear William to women, were becoming apparent.

He enlisted with the RAF as an aircraftman 2nd class on the outbreak of war, and trained as a pilot.

During the battle of the Atlantic, he flew Hurricanes, before his squadron became the sole defender of Cyprus after the fall of Crete in 1941. He saw further action in Palestine, Iraq, Ceylon and, finally, India as a squadron leader.

Although he had short stories published to some acclaim, his first novel Kumari (1955) was based on his Indian experiences. Other novels, including the Blue Pavilion (1966), and volumes of poetry followed.

The memoir of his father (1982) was regarded as his best book, but his autobiography, The Rage of Time (1990), had its admirers.

William became the third Lord Tweedsmuir on the death of his brother, Johnnie, in 1996. He had eight children from three marriages.

William Buchan, Lord Tweedsmuir; born January 10, 1916, died June 29, 2008.