John Suckling (10 February, 1609 – sometime after May, 1641) was a prominent nobleman, minor English poet, and dramatist.

Mark McGarrity was an American writer who wrote mysteries under the pen name Bartholomew Gill. Most of Mr. McGarrity’s novels featured detective Peter McGarr.

Francis Bacon (22 January, 1561 – 9 April, 1626*+), 1st Viscount St Alban, Kt PC QC, also known as Lord Verulam, best known for promotion of the scientific method, was an English philosopher and statesman serving during his lifetime as Attorney General and as Lord Chancellor of England.

George Herbert (3 April, 1593 – 1 March, 1633) was an English priest, orator, and poet. His poems are associated with the writings of metaphysical poets.

William Congreve (24 January, 1670 – 19 January, 1729) was a playwright and poet from England, who wrote clever, satirical comedies.

William Trevor (24 May, 1928 – 20 November, 2016) was a playwright and novelist from Ireland. Books by William Trevor* Born in Mitchelstown, County Cork, as William Trevor Cox to a middle class family, Mr. Trevor graduated from Trinity College, Dublin with a history degree. He worked as a sculptor under the name Trevor Cox and to make extra money he worked as a teacher. In 1954 Mr. Trevor and his wife of two years, Jane Ryan, immigrated to England. In England Mr. Trevor worked as a copywriter and art teacher. Mr. Trevor won the Whitbread Prize three times, the Hawthornden Prize for Literature, and is a five time nominee for the Booker Prize. He won the prestigious Hawthornden Prize for his second novel, The Old Boys, published in 1964 During the 1970s, Mr. Trevor had great success in television and the theater. During 1973 alone he saw three of his plays performed in London theaters and three of his dramas were produced for television. Mr. Trevor was awarded an honorary Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in 1977 for “services to literature”, became a Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (KBE) in 2002. In…

Jonathan Swift was an English satirist, essayist, poet, and pamphleteer. Mr. Swift is remembered for his prose and satire in works like Gulliver’s Travels.

Laurence Binyon (10 August, 1869 – 10 March, 1943) was a poet, dramatist and art scholar from England, winner of the Newdigate Prize for poetry

I found the plot to be a bit too convenient, information happens to fall into Sam’s lap just at the right time, I did enjoy the Russian/British interaction