Educated at Cheltenham College and the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, McNeile entered military service with the Royal Engineers in 1907. During the First World War he saw action in France and took part in the battles at Ypres. He received the Military Cross for bravery and rose to the rank of lieutenant-colonel before his retirement in 1919. He began contributing short stories to the Strand and the Daily Mail under the pseudonym of Sapper during the War and his work proved very popular. After retiring from the army, he embarked on a literary career that was extremely successful and made him one of the most popular writers of the interwar period. In 1920, he published The Adventures of a Demobilized Officer Who Found Peace Dull introducing the character of Bulldog Drummond, which subsequently replaced the rather extended title. The Drummond character was very popular and was made into films in the 1930'3 and 1940's. Sapper produced ten Bulldog Drummond works in all and countless short stories. These works include The Lieutenant and Others (1915), No Man's Land (1917), The Man in Ratcatcher (1921), The Dinner Club (1923), Out of the Blue (1925), The Final Count (1927), The Female of the Species (1928), The Finger of Fate (1930), The Island of Terror (1931), The Return of Bull-Dog Drummond (1932), When Caruthers Laughed (1934) and Challenge (1937). |
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