series thanks to the saint
Great Britain , also known as Britain , is a large island in the north Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe . With an area of , Great Britain is the largest European island and the ninth - largest in the world . In 2011 the island had a population of about 61 million people , making it the world ' s third - most ___MASK49___ island after Java in Indonesia and Honshu in ___MASK10___ . The island of Ireland is situated to the west of it , and together these islands , along with over 1 , 000 smaller surrounding islands , comprise the British Isles archipelago . Thanks to the Saint is a collection of short stories by Leslie Charteris , first published in December 1957 by The ___MASK61___ Club in the United States and by Hodder and Stoughton in the United Kingdom in 1958 . Ireland , also described as the Republic of Ireland ('), is a sovereign state in north - western Europe occupying about five - sixths of the island of Ireland . The capital and largest city is Dublin , which is located on the eastern part of the island , and whose metropolitan area is home to around a third of the country ' s 4 . 75 million inhabitants . ___MASK13___ shares its only land border with Northern Ireland , a part of the United Kingdom . It is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean , with the Celtic Sea to the south , Saint George ' s Channel to the south - east , and the Irish Sea to the east . It is a unitary , parliamentary republic . The legislature , the ', consists of a lower ___MASK38___ , ', an upper ___MASK38___ , ', and an elected President (') who serves as the largely ceremonial head of state , but with some important powers and duties . The head of government is the ' ( Prime Minister , literally ' Chief ', a title not used in English ), who is elected by the Dáil and appointed by the President , and appoints other government ministers . The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland , commonly known as the United Kingdom ( UK ) or Britain , is a sovereign country in western Europe . Lying off the north - western coast of the European mainland , it includes the island of Great Britain ( the name of which is also loosely applied to the whole country ), the north - eastern part of the island of Ireland , and many smaller islands . Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK that shares a land border with another sovereign statethe Republic of Ireland . Apart from this land border , the UK is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean , with the North Sea to its east , the English Channel to its south and the Celtic Sea to its south - south - west , giving it the 12th - longest coastline in the world . The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland . With an area of , the UK is the 78th - largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th - largest in Europe . It is also the 21st - most ___MASK49___ country , with an estimated 65 . 1 million inhabitants . Together , this makes it the fourth most densely populated country in the European Union . Ireland ( Ulster - Scots : ) is an island in the North Atlantic . It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel , the Irish Sea , and St George ' s Channel . Ireland is the second - largest island of the British Isles , the third - largest in Europe , and the twentieth - largest on ___MASK63___ . The ___MASK61___ Club was an imprint of the Doubleday publishing company , which later spawned a 1946 - 47 anthology radio series . Leslie Charteris ( 12 May 1907  15 April 1993 ), born Leslie Charles Bowyer - Yin , was a British - Chinese author of adventure ___MASK17___ , as well as a screenwriter . He was best known for his many books chronicling the adventures of the charming antihero ___MASK34___ , alias " The Saint ." The Kingdom of Great Britain , officially Great Britain , was a sovereign state in western Europe from 1 May 1707 to 31 December 1800 . ___MASK13___ came into being following the Treaty of Union in 1706 , ratified by the Acts of Union 1707 , which united the kingdoms of England and Scotland to form a single kingdom encompassing the whole island of Great Britain and its outlying islands . It did not include Ireland , which remained a separate realm . The unitary state was governed by a single parliament and government that was based in Westminster . The former kingdoms had been in personal union since James VI , King of Scots , became King of England and King of Ireland in 1603 following the death of Queen Elizabeth I , bringing about a " Union of the Crowns ". Also after the accession of George I to the throne of Great Britain in 1714 , the kingdom was in a personal union with the Electorate of Hanover . The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world ' s oceans with a total area of about . It covers approximately 20 percent of the ___MASK63___ ' s surface and about 29 percent of its water surface area . It separates the " Old World " from the " New World ". ___MASK34___ is a fictional character known as The Saint . He featured in a long - running series of books by Leslie Charteris published between 1928 and 1963 . After that date , other authors collaborated with Charteris on books until 1983 ; two additional works produced without Charteris ' s participation were published in 1997 . The character has also been portrayed in motion pictures , radio dramas , comic strips , comic books and three television series .