Contents:
The authorized biography of John Steed - unfortunately only this first volume ever emerged.

Unique Selling Point:
Fills in the background on our hero - not sure how accurate it is with tallying in with various details from the show, but had input from Clemens and Macnee.

Note
From the dust wrapper:
Ever since an amazed British public was first introduced to John Steed by Independent Television in the early sixties, he has been at once one of the best known but most enigmatic figures in public life.  Now for the first time the secrets of his early years are revealed: the dreadful massacre of his parents on the North West Frontier of India while he was little more than a baby; the appalling severities of his preparatory school education; expulsion from Eton; running away to war; secret service in Occupied France; doomed marriage to a beautiful childhood sweetheart; revenge.

From this gripping account of Steed's life until his first meeting with Cathy Gale (while he was still a member of a leading monastic order), our hero emerges as an Englishman's Englishman.  He is utterly honourable, extraordinarily gallant, a crack shot, an uncompromisingly straight bat, and a devotee of roast beef, real ale and the verse of Sir Henry Newbolt.  His story is one of epic bravery and endeavour spiced with tragedy and even disaster.  Throughout it no lip could be stiffer, no jaw firmer, no gaze as unflinching.  He is the last of the Bulldog breed.

Review
A genuine oddity, this one.  Published by Weidenfeld and Nicolson in 1977, it purports to be the biography of one John Steed and, being Volume One, it covers the years 1922 to 1946.  Subsequent volumes, if they were planned, never appeared.  This covers such matters as the young Steed encountering both Patrick Macnee's real-life father, 'Shrimp' Macnee and his encounters at Eton with both the school bully, a certain James Bond, and Daniel Patrick Macnee ("Later to become a celebrated actor and television  personality under the name Patrick Macnee.  Best known for his portrayal of Steed in the TV series, The Avengers," it says in a footnote).   Very post-modern!!  As far as I know, this only appeared in hardback in the UK, and many of the copies that do turn up are ex-library copies.  This is by far one of the most difficult to find Avengers-related books, if not the most difficult to find.
Mike Noon

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