Pre-Avengers

Steed was born John Wickham Gascoyne Beresford Steed sometime between 1922 and 1925 (the actor who played him, Patrick Macnee, was born 1922). A scion of a noble family, Steed attended Eton (like Macnee), where he once got into a fight with the school bully, James Bond, and was eventually expelled (like Macnee).^[4] Steed's best friend was Mark Crayford, who later followed him into British Intelligence. However Crayford was always secretly jealous of Steed and later defected to the Soviet Union and attempted to destroy Steed and his legacy.^[5]

Steed was a distinguished veteran of World War II, initially serving as a Royal Navy motor torpedo boat commander^[6](like Macnee) but at some point transferring to the Coldstream Guards^[7] and then to the Intelligence Corps. He spent the early part of his war service posted at RAF Camp 472 Hamelin, which was a jumping-off point for British spies on the continent.^[8] He received the Military Cross for single-handedly taking a German machine-gun post. Before leaving the British Army to join "The Ministry" in 1945, Steed achieved the rank of Major and in it is established he served on courts-martial towards the end of the war.^[9] He was also imprisoned by the Japanese at some point over the Christmas period.^[10]

In the New Avengers episode 'Hostage' he refers to having spent time as a cowboy when he was 21, riding point for the 'Lazy T', on a cattle drive from Arizona to the Black Hills of Dakota.

He maintained a modest mews flat in London during the 1960s (first at 5 Westminster Mews, later at 3 Stable Mews) and drove a variety of elaborate, old-fashioned cars, including a Rolls-Royce and several different models of Bentley, one of which he calls Fido. In one episode also a Vauxhall 30/98 can be seen. By The New Avengers, Steed had moved out to the country, to a manor house known as "Steed's Stud", and was no longer driving vintage cars, but contemporary Jaguars instead.

There are few details regarding his family, although he does refer to an Aunt Penelope (who sends him weighty rock cakes by post) in "Dead Man's Treasure", a 13-year-old nephew in "Legacy of Death" and teenage niece.^[11]

The Avengers

During the first season Steed's character was a more rough-and-tumble operative than the suave, sophisticated gentleman he became during the Gale and Peel eras. His most common style of dress as Dr. Keel's sidekick was a trenchcoat and suit, though the famous bowler hat and umbrella appeared as early as "The Frighteners", the 15th episode to be aired. Most of the first-season episodes are lost, but Macnee hints in his memoir that the bowler and brolly initially appeared earlier.^[12] During the show's budget-strained first season, Macnee supplemented his on-screen wardrobe with numerous items from his own wardrobe, including the bowler and umbrella. By the second season, Steed had dispensed with the trenchcoat and was found wearing the familiar three-piece suits with which he is afterward identified.

He was initially shown answering to several different superiors such as "One-Ten" and "Charles". During most of the Gale-Peel era the source of his orders was left a mystery. For the final season of the original series (the Tara King era) Steed was shown taking his orders from an obese man called "Mother" who used a wheelchair (and once from a blind woman named "Father").

In The New Avengers, Steed was shown working on his own, and it was suggested that he had moved into an administrative role in British intelligence, although that did not stop him from directly participating in missions.

Out of all his partners, he was closest to Mrs Peel; while their interaction was often laced with dry, sardonic wit on both sides, he respected her as an equal, and owed her his life on more than a few occasions. Regarding the question of whether they had a sexual relationship at any time, Macnee thought they went to bed on a very regular basis (just not in view of the camera), Rigg thought they were engaged in a very enjoyable extended flirtation that ultimately went nowhere, and Brian Clemens said he wrote them with the idea they'd had an affair before Emma's first appearance in the series.^[13]