Maurice Baring OBE (27 April 1874 – 14 December 1945) was an English man of letters, known as a dramatist, poet, novelist, translator and essayist, and also as a travel writer and war correspondent, with particular knowledge of Russia.

[4] At the start of World War I he joined the Royal Flying Corps, where he served as assistant to David Henderson and Hugh Trenchard in France.

In 1925 Baring received an honorary commission as a wing commander in the Reserve of Air Force Officers.

He was cared for at Beaufort Castle in Scotland, the home of his relative Lady Laura Lovat, from August 1940 until his death.

[7] He was widely known socially, to some of the Cambridge Apostles, to The Coterie, and to the literary group associating with G. K. Chesterton and Hilaire Belloc in particular.

His friend the career diplomat Sir Ronald Storrs wrote that Baring was, "equally at home with the greatest writers of English, French, Italian, Spanish, German, Latin, and Greek; with the then almost startling additions of Danish and Russian literature.

"[9] However he tended to conceal rather than display his learning, and was staunch in his anti-intellectualism with respect to the arts, and a convinced practical joker.

Although, while "Fisher fits Baring's physical description, he is a respected member of the upper class, and he seems to know everybody and everything", the similarity ends there, Chesterton scholar Dale Ahlquist notes: "By all accounts, the real Baring was a charming, affable gentleman who knew how to laugh and had no fear of making a fool of himself", while "Horne Fisher is distinctly lacking in both the charm and humour departments.