Born at Perth, Scotland, the oldest son of a Presbyterian minister (Free Church), he spent his youth in Fife near Kirkcaldy. In his teen years his father was called to a parish in a tenement section of Glasgow known as Gorbals. He entered Glasgow University at age 17 by which time he was already writing articles for periodicals to pay his way; as the son of a minister, he couldn't expect financial support from his family. During that period he persuaded a publisher to allow him to edit the essays of Francis Lord Bacon for which he wrote a substantial introduction. At age 20, he entered Oxford University with a scholarship and published his first biography of fourteen he would write over his career. The next year his first collection of essays appeared -- the first of twelve. Two years later he published his first novel of twenty eight and first history of eighteen. The year after that his first of six collections of short stories appeared. By the time he left Oxford at age 24 he had a impressive literary record.

The remarkable thing is that he didn't seek a career as a writer; he always considered himself an amateur and devoted his talents to other pursuits -- the bar, publishing and public service. He wrote only to earn money to support his education and later on to supplement his earnings to support the lifestyle he enjoyed. His public service activities included several years as a staff assistant to Lord Milner who was in charge of South African reconstruction after the Boer War, serving as an intelligence officer at GHQ in France during World War I and directing the British government's Office of Information under Lloyd George. Later on he was a Member of Parliament, High Commissioner to the General Assembly for the Church of Scotland and during his last five years, Governor General of Canada. His publishing career included sewing as an active partner in Edinburgh publishing firm of T. Nelson and Son, and a director and deputy chairman of the Reuters news service. His law practice specialized in tax matters. What is truly amazing is that he achieved all this in spite of having suffered from poor health throughout his career, first from a skull fracture as a youth and later from debilitating duodenal ulcers.

But Buchan's health problems didn't deter him from enjoying the outdoor life -- throughout his career he enthusiastic participated in mountain climbing, stalking and fishing. He was also intensely interested in exploration of the remaining unknown areas of the world and wrote about all of these in both his fictional and nonfictional works. His love of the outdoors was fostered as a result of spending his youthful summer holidays in upper Tweedsdale area where his matemal grandparents lived. The title he choose when he was made a peer before going to Canada was clearly a result of his identification with this area.

AIthough he complained about the time wasted in 'going out', he didn't neglect the social side of things and, in particular, he enjoyed the clubs of London, country-house weekends and Highland hunting lodges, all of which feature in his writings. At age thirty-two he married Susan Grosvenor whose father Norman was rich and well connected. Their marriage was an especially happy one and they raised three sons and a daughter. After WW I, they bought Elsfield Manor, an estate outside Oxford in the Cotswold country and this became the source of another enthusiasm and the need for more writing to pay for it.