Dornford Yates was the pseudonym of the British novelist Cecil William Mercer (1885-1960). His novels and short stories, some humourous and some thrillers were best-sellers in the period between the two World Wars. Mercer was called to the bar in 1909 and worked there for several years. After the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, he joined the County of London Yeomanry and was commissioned Second Lieutenant. Yates originally wrote short stories for the monthly magazines, and many of his works began as stories in the Windsor Magazine before being collected together in book form. However, his first known published work, Temporary Insanity, appeared in Punch in May 1910, and his second, Like a Tale that is Told appeared in the Red Magazine in July 1910. Amongst his other works are The Brother of Daphne (1914), The Courts of Idleness (1920), Berry and Co. (1921), The Stolen March (1926) and Blind Corner (1927).