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Teacher’s notes LEVEL 3
The Thirty-nine Steps
John Buchan
Summary
London, May 1914. Europe is close to the First World
War. Richard Hannay, a Scotsman raised in Rhodesia
(now Zimbabwe) is living in London, and finds American
Franklin Scudder at his door. Scudder is a photographer
and free-lance spy and has information about a plot by
the German spy ring, the Black Stone, to steal the British
plans for war. Hannay later finds Scudder dead in his flat
and decides he must carry on Scudder’s work. With both
German spies and the police after, Hannay must solve the
riddle of the thirty-nine steps alone.
Chapter 1: Scudder is chased by German spies so he stops
at Hannay’s flat and asks him for help, since he needs
to a place to hide. Scudder tells Hannay that these spies
are running after him because he knows about their plot
to murder Primer Minister Karolides, who is coming to
London on June 15th. Hannay lets Scudder hide in his
flat for several days and Scudder warns him about two
dangerous German spies, Julia and an old man. Scudder
asks Hannay to continue the fight if something happens to
him. The following day, Hannay finds Scudder dead.
Chapter 2: Hannay decides to continue Scudder’s work,
but he needs to run away to Scotland before Scudder’s
enemies, the German spies catch him. So he leaves his
flat dressed up as a milkman. He then gets on a train to
Galloway taking with him Scudder’s little book.
Chapter 3: While Hannay travels by train to Galloway, he
reads Scudder’s notes and discovers that he used a special
code. The next day, on a train to Dumfries, he reads the
newspaper and finds out that the London police have
discovered Scudder’s body and that they were looking
for him, so he decides to get off the train. Hannay runs
towards the river and up the hills and sees a plane flying
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around the place. He realises that the German spies are
after him. He walks until he reaches an inn. The young
innkeeper is a writer, so Hannay decides to tell him his
story but asks him not to do anything before June 15th.
The German spies come to the inn looking for Hannay,
but he manages to escape.
Chapter 4: Hannay drives away in a stolen car. Now
that he has learnt how to read Scudder’s code, he knows
that the Germans are planning to kill Karolides to have
an excuse to start the war. The words “thirty-nine steps”
are everywhere in Scudder’s notebook but he does not
understand what they mean. He realises that the local
police and the German plane are chasing him so he jumps
out of the car and lets it fall into a river. Hannay is lucky
to be helped by a young man, Sir Harry, who happens to
be the nephew of the Foreign Office Secretary, so Hannay
tells him his story. Sir Harry decides to help Hannay by
sending a letter to his uncle to schedule a meeting with
him before June 15th.
Chapter 5: Hannay is chased by the German plane, so he
hides for the night. He meets a roadman, Turnbull, and
takes his place after changing clothes with him. Hannay
takes over Turnbull’s work. The three German spies who
previously followed him to the young man’s inn see him
and interrogate him but they do not notice who he is.
Then Hannay runs into Jopley, a man he knew, and they
both escape in Jopley’s car.
Chapter 6: Hannay, still disguised as Turnbull, finds that
several policemen are searching for him, so he decides
to escape across the countryside. Hannay reaches an old
man’s house and the man tells him to hide inside. Soon
Hannay realises the old man is Scudder’s worst enemy.
The old man knows who Hannay really is and he ignores
Hannay’s lies and stories. Hannay is locked up in a room
where he finds dynamite. He blows up the room and
manages to run out of the house and hide on a bird-house
roof.
Chapter 7: Hannay walks to Turnbull’s cottage to
look for Scudder’s notebook. He takes a train back to
London but gets off to meet the Foreign Office Secretary,
Sir Walter. Hannay tells Sir Walter about the German plot,
Scudder’s secret code and his own story. Sir Walter tells
Hannay that he knows who he really is and that the police
are not looking for him any more. Hannay and Sir Walter
work on Scudder’s code and they are shocked to hear that
Karolides has been killed.
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Teacher’s notes LEVEL 3
The Thirty-nine Steps
Chapter 8: Sir Walter tells Hannay that he suspects that
there is a German spy in the Foreign Office or in the War
Office. Both men go to Scotland Yard. The police tells
Hannay he is a free man. But when Hannay leaves, he has
a bad feeling and goes back to Sir Walter’s house. There he
runs into the First Lord, a man he has never seen before
and yet looks familiar. He soon realises that the man is
part of the Black Stone disguised as Lord Alloa.
Chapter 9: Sir Walter and the other top politicians and
military men meeting in his house are shocked by the
news about the Black Stone. They now have to change
their plans since the Black Stone know everything about
them. All the men realise that they have to prevent the
German spies from leaving England by ship. Suddenly,
Hannay remembers Scudder’s notes about the tides and
the ‘thirty-nine steps’. The men discover that Scudder’s
code refers to a place in Kent and they all agree that the
search operation should be in Hannay’s hands
Chapter 10: Once in Kent, Hannay and his men go to
the place known as the Ruff and find the house they were
looking for, Trafalgar Lodge. Hannay sees three men in
the house who look like British men but, he suspects, are
in fact the three German spies. Hannay enters the house
ready to arrest the men but they pretend not to be the
spies. The three men try to escape but Hannay finally
manages to catch them and send them to jail.
Background and themes
John Buchan wrote his Hannay stories as entertainment
or, as he called them, ‘shockers’. He described a ‘shocker’
as an adventure where the events in the story are unlikely
and the reader is only just able to believe that they really
happened. His experience of life, however, had already
taught him that the most unlikely stories are more
believable than the real facts. In his Hannay novels,
Buchan cleverly mixes the familiar and the frightening
or the unexpected. The ingredients of the Hannay novels
are simple: the government is being threatened, Hannay’s
life is in danger, but our hero saves the situation and we
are all safe again. Some of Buchan’s later adventure stories
become more like sermons he uses a story to illustrate an
important moral point. Even in The Thirty-nine Steps,
Buchan holds up Richard Hannay as an example of an
ordinary man who puts his country’s interests before his
own safety.
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Although Hannay describes himself as ordinary, he is the
typical English gentleman hero – well educated, rich,
strong, fit and healthy, looking for fun and adventure.
Spies have always been important in time of war,
particularly in finding out advance information about the
enemy’s plans. At the time of the First World War plans
were made in great detail. It is interesting to note that by
1915 Britain had copies of the three main German code-
books which remained in use by Germany until 1917.
Three film versions of The Thirty-nine Steps have been
made, most notably in 1935 by Alfred Hitchcock.
Discussion activities
Before reading
1 Imagine: A Spy on the Run
Put students into groups and ask them the following:
This book takes place mostly in the countryside of
Scotland. The hero of the story is escaping from his
enemies. There are rivers, valleys, a few groups of trees,
and quiet houses. Imagine you are trying to cross a big
area of countryside like this. The police are following you.
Where will you hide? Where will you sleep? When will
you travel? How will you eat?
2 Discuss: What are ‘The Thirty-nine Steps’?
After reading the Introduction, discuss with your
students what they imagine ‘The Thirty-nine Steps’ are.
3 Predict:
The Thirty-nine Steps has been made into several films.
Divide the class into those who have / haven’t seen
any of them. Have each group retell or predict what
the story is about using the words below:
arrest  code  cottage  detonator  dynamite
lord  spy  politics  war  minister  telegram
tide  secret  murder  escape
Tell students to look up the words they do not know
in the Word List at the back of the book.
4 Tie in with films: What are they saying?
If you have access to video or DVD, watch the first
three to five scenes of any of the film versions of The
Thirty-nine Steps with the sound off. Have students
choose one of the scenes and imagine what the
characters say. Play the film again and check whose
guess was closest to the original.
Chapters 1–2
While Reading
5 Discuss: A good decision?
Have students discuss these questions in pairs after
reading the first three pages in the story: Why is
Hannay interested in Scudder’s story? Is Hannay’s
decision to hide Scudder good? What can happen to both
of them?
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Teacher’s notes LEVEL 3
The Thirty-nine Steps
6 Role play: Different clothes, different results
Have students work in groups of three and get ready
to dramatise this scene after reading page 7. You can
use the following instructions: Imagine that, instead
of changing clothes with the milkman, Hannay goes to
the police when he finds Scudder’s body. One of you is
Hannay. The others are the police. Hannay tells his story.
The police ask questions. They probably don’t believe
him.
7 Write: The Secret Notebook
Get students to write out what Scudder has written in
his notebook: Imagine you open Scudder’s secret book.
Write what the first page says.
After reading
8 Guess. Tell students to work in pairs and to imagine
they are either Hannay, Scudder, the milkman or
Karolides: Work with another student. Take turns to
describe what you are like, what you do and how you
feel. Can the other guess who you are?
9 Research: First World War
Give your students the following instructions:
In groups look up information in your library or on
theInternet about what happened in the months before
the First World War between England and Germany.
Chapters 3 – 4
While Reading
10 Write: The mysterious spy
Tell students to imagine they are the young innkeeper
in Chapter 3: Hannay has told you his secret and you
have seen the spies following him. Write how you would
start his story in your first mystery book.
11 Pair work: A letter asking for help
Students work in pairs on the letter in Chapter 4.
Read the letter on page 24 again and imagine you are
Sir Harry. Add more information that your uncle should
know about the mysterious Mr Hannay.
After reading
12 Discuss: A good spy?
Tell your students to discuss Hannay as a spy and to
make a list of his strong and weak points.
13 Write: A secret code
Ask students to work in pairs. They make a code with
letters, numbers or pictures standing for letters: Work
with another student. Write a message using your code
and give a key word, giving the real letters and the code
version. Give your message to another pair. Who can
understand the message first?
For more information on codes, see Secret
Codes, Penguin Active Readers level 4, at
www.penguinreaders.com.
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Chapters 5–6
While reading
14 Discuss: A different man?
Ask students to tell you how Hannay turns himself
into Turnbull (see page 28). What does he do to his
clothes, and his hands? What does he borrow from
Turnbull? What advice does he remember from his old
friend in Rhodesia?
After reading
15 Pair work: A new Hannay
Ask students to work in pairs. They choose a person
for Hannay to turn into – not somebody from the
story. Each pair tells the class about their new
Hannay: With another student, decide how Hannay
changes his face, his clothes, his hair, his voice and the
way he acts. Who does he look like? What’s his new job?
16 Predict: Hannay’s next steps?
Ask students to work in small groups and imagine
what will happen to Hannay from now on: Will the
spies follow him or think him dead? Where will he go?
Who will he ask for help? Where will he hide?
Chapters 7–8
While reading
17 Write: A terrible item of news
Tell students to re-read page 50: In pairs, imagine that
Sir Walter receives the news about Karolides‘s murder in
a telegram. Write down what it says.
After reading
18 Discuss: a true story or a lie?
Tell students to work in small groups and discuss the
following: In Chapter 7, Hannay visits Sir Walter and
tells him his story. How true is it? How does Hannay
change his own story? How many times has Hannay
changed his story when different people are listening to
it?
19 Group work: Get students to retell part of the story
changing the point of view: You are one – or some – of
the members of the Black Stone. You’ve followed Hannay
everywhere. Tell what happened in Chapters 7 and 8
from your own point of view.
Chapters 9–10
While reading
20 Discuss: What did they do wrong?
Tell students to discuss this: What mistakes did the
Germans make? Why did Hannay discover them?
21 Write: A different ending?
Tell students to work in groups on the following:
Change the end of the story. Decide what things in
Chapters 9 and 10 need to change.
Vocabulary activities
For the Word List and vocabulary activities, go to
www.penguinreaders.com.
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