THE AUTHOR OF “BEAU GESTE.”

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3514, 22 July 1926, Page 1

THE AUTHOR OF “BEAU GESTE.”

Some personal notes which answer the questions which are puzzling his many thousands o£ admirers :

Few people who have read the stories of the French Foreign Legion, written by P. C .Wren, can have failed to remark their intense reality and to wonder whence came the passionate sincerity which animates the children of his imagination and quickens the interest in their lives. Many people have instinctively como to the right conclusion; for Major Wjren has himself lived the life depicted in his books. Since leaving Oxford he has travelled into many parts of the world in search of experience and adventure. He has seen life from the angle of a sailor, navvy, tramp, schoolmaster, journalist, farm-labourer, explorer, hunter, and slum dwelling coster-mon-ger, and he has seen service in three armies. Most readers will not be surprised to learn that he has served as a Legionary in the French Foreign Legion, but in addition, he has been a Trooper in the crack British Cavalry Regiment, and a. Major in the Indian Army, and fought in East Africa during the Great War.

Major Wren is descended from a near relative of the great Sir Christopher Wren, Matthew Wren, who fell at the batte of Edgehill in the Civil War between Charles I. and Parliament. He was well-known as a writer in India, when an Assistant Director in the Indian Educational Service, before he gained world-wide fame noth that thrilling adventure story, “Beau Geste” which followed “The Wages of Virtue,” a book of high merit and stirring days. Now on July 28th (the publishing (Tate to be observed throughout Britain, the Empire, and America) the new book “Beau Sabreur” will appear. Extract from “Who’s Who. : Wren, Capt. Pereival Christopher, laic Indian Educational Service and Indian Army Reserve of Officers. Educ: Oxford. Served in British, French, and Indian Armies; active service in East and North Africa; retired 1017. Publications: Dew and Mildew; Father Gregory; Snake and Swordj Driftwood Spars; The Wages of Virtue; Beau Geste, and now Beau Sabreur; The Young Pretenders, etc. Clubs: Byctilia, Bombay; Club of Western India. Poona.