THE JOHN BUCHAN STORY
Peebles, Scottish Borders
Events and Video Presentations
John Buchan on YouTube!
In view of the restricted opening times, we have decided to provide a “virtual” experience on YouTube of visiting the
museum. So by clicking on the link below, you will have access to a number of presentations on the life of John
Buchan. Currently, we have:
•
John Buchan - The Man and the Museum
•
The Battle of Arras 1917
•
The Royal Visit to Canada 1939
•
John Buchan’s Inspirational Holidays
•
John Buchan and Propaganda in the Great War
•
Three Illustrious Men
•
Deborah Stewartby’s Six Favourite Museum Artefacts
•
John Buchan and the First Nations of Canada
•
Ursula Buchan’s Favourite Artefacts
More will be added in due course! To view these videos please go to YouTube and search for johnbuchanstory or just
click on this link.
King congratulates the John Buchan Story museum
Peeblesshire News 15 July 2023
SOUNDS of merriment and tinkling glasses could be heard at the Park Hotel in Peebles this week.
The John Buchan Story was marking the visit, in 2013, of Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth ll.
A wonderful cake, made by Nikki Cakes of Peebles was cut with John Buchan’s sword by his granddaughter, Laura
Crackanthorpe.
Alexander Buchan, JB’s grandson, read out a letter of congratulation from the King and one from His Excellency David
Johnson who, as Governor-General of Canada, was Patron of the museum when it opened in Peebles.
Guests included Peeblesshire MSP Christine Grahame, councillor Robin Tatler, members of the Buchan family, local
supporters and volunteers, past and present, including two guests from Broughton who were volunteers when the
Museum opened there in the old Free Church in Broughton forty years ago.
The Scotsman 15 September 2023 - Scott Reid passions: Stepping
into a world of adventure in pretty Peebles
The author of The Thirty Nine Steps is celebrated in the Borders town
By Scott Reid
The John Buchan Story Museum highlights The Thirty-Nine Steps novel and films and is a top attraction in the Borders town of Peebles.
Perfect Peebles. It’s the title I would choose if I was in the business of marketing this pretty little Borders town.
Okay, it’s maybe not entirely perfect. I’m sure critical locals will be quick to highlight its shortcomings and areas
in need of improvement. But, as a reasonably regular visitor to the place, I would single it out as being more
perfect than most. There may be one or two empty units on and around its High Street/Eastgate main drag but, in
contrast to many of Scotland’s crestfallen towns and cities, Peebles positively bustles.
And among its many attractions, slap bang on the main shopping street, sits the John Buchan Story Museum, a
fascinating wee place devoted to the famed Scottish novelist, historian and former governor general of Canada.
Inevitably, a fair chunk of his story and many of the artefacts on display relate to his classic spy adventure novel
The Thirty-Nine Steps.
Published in 1915 and initially serialised, it marked the first in a series of novels featuring its heroic main character
Richard Hannay - a sort of early 20th century mix of James Bond and Indiana Jones. Like many youngsters, I was
enthralled by Buchan’s most famous creation. However, I suspect most people’s first encounter with The Thirty-
Nine Steps will have been watching one of several film adaptations.
The first two of those, Hitchcock’s 1935 black and white classic The 39 Steps and the 1959 colour remake starring
Kenneth More, both stray pretty widely from the book, with the poetic licence extending, in both movies, to
memorable escape sequences filmed on the Forth Bridge. The Thirty Nine Steps (dropping the hyphen, for
whatever reason), released in 1978, sticks much closer to the author’s original story, and is set just before the First
World War. The Scottish bridge escape in this one is a little less dramatic and was, in actual fact, filmed on a
viaduct on the Severn Valley Railway.
I will let the reader decide which film wins the day (there have been others) but if in Peebles do drag yourself away
from the myriad specialist stores and coffee shops to visit a splendid shrine to one of Scotland’s greatest novelists.
Scott Reid is a business journalist at The Scotsman
