Sir Walter Bullivant

Sir Walter Bullivant is a fictional character created by the Scottish thriller writer John Buchan for his series of novels featuring the spy Richard Hannay. He plays small but significant roles in both The Thirty-Nine Steps and Greenmantle.

Sir Walter is a senior mandarin at the Foreign Office in the years leading up to the Great War. He is the archetypal spymaster — gruff, acutely conscious of his duty, yet thoughtful and kindly towards those he sends into peril.

In Greenmantle, he recruits Hannay to perform a dangerous mission in the East as the Great Game heats up. In the first chapter of the novel, the reader also learns of Bullivant's son Harry Bullivant, who lost his life while spying in the Middle East in the guise of a muleteer.

Richard Hannay novels by John Buchan
Novels
  • The Thirty-Nine Steps (1915)
  • Greenmantle (1916)
  • Mr Standfast (1919)
  • The Three Hostages (1924)
  • The Courts of the Morning (1929)
  • The Island of Sheep (1936)
Adaptations
  • The 39 Steps (1935)
  • The 39 Steps (1959)
  • The Three Hostages (1977)
  • The Thirty Nine Steps (1978)
  • Hannay (TV series)
  • The 39 Steps (play)
  • The 39 Steps (2008)

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