Bull-Dog Drummond's Third Round

Introduction

Introduction“Sapper” was the pseudonym of British author Herman Cyril McNeile (1888–1937), commonly known as Cyril McNeile. He also published under the name H. C. McNeile.

McNeile was a British soldier and author. Drawing on his experiences in the trenches during the First World War, he started writing short stories for publication in the Daily Mail. As serving officers in the British Army were not permitted to publish under their own names, he was given the pen name “Sapper” by Lord Northcliffe, the owner of the Daily Mail. This nickname was based on that of his corps, the Royal Engineers.

After the war, McNeile left the army and continued writing, although he changed from war stories to thrillers. In 1920 he published Bulldog Drummond to great acclaim. Drummond, based in part on McNeile himself and in part on his friend Gerard Fairlie, became his best-known creation. In all, McNeile wrote ten Bulldog Drummond novels, as well as three plays and a screenplay.

The character of Bull-Dog Drummond (often now simplified to “Bulldog Drummond”) transcended the book series to appear in movies, television, and radio. I particularly recommend the seven films starring John Howard and Drummond—they are in the public domain and easily found. There were also numerous pastiches and parodies, including the 1983 film Bullshot (based on the Ron House’s 1974 play Bullshot Crummond).

McNeile interspersed his Drummond work with other novels and story collections. Two characters from the Bull-Dog Drummond series, Jim Maitland and Ronald Standish, even appeared as protagonists in their own works.

McNeile was one of the most successful British authors of his day. He died from throat cancer, which has been attributed to damage sustained from a gas attack in the war.

After McNeile’s death, the public’s insatiable demand for new stories featuring Bull-Dog Drummond led to Gerard Fairlie continuing the series with an additional seven books. Later, in the 1960s, Henry Reymond contributed two more titles, though these were novelizations of movie scripts.

—John Betancourt

Rockville, Maryland