Benedict Richard Pierce Macintyre (born 25 December 1963) is a British author, reviewer[1] and columnist for The Times newspaper. His columns range from current affairs to historical controversies.
Ben Macintyre
Born
Benedict Richard Pierce MacIntyre 25 December 1963 (1963-12-25) (age 60) Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, UK
Macintyre is the author of a book on the gentleman criminalAdam Worth, The Napoleon of Crime: The Life and Times of Adam Worth, Master Thief.
He also wrote The Man Who Would Be King: The First American in Afghanistan (about Josiah Harlan). This was also published as Josiah the Great: The True Story of the Man who Would be King.[7] Harlan is one of the candidates presumed to be the basis for Rudyard Kipling's short story The Man Who Would Be King.
In 2008, Macintyre wrote an illustrated account of Ian Fleming, creator of the fictional spy James Bond, to accompany the For Your Eyes Only, Ian Fleming and James Bond exhibition at London's Imperial War Museum, which was part of the Fleming Centenary celebrations.[8][9]
In 2022 his book Colditz: Prisoners of the Castle was released, a history of the German prison and its inhabitants, mostly British POWs. The book received generally favorable reviews.[11]
Personal lifeedit
Macintyre has three children and is divorced from the writer and documentary maker Kate Muir.[citation needed]
Documentariesedit
Five of Macintyre's books have been made into documentaries for the BBC:
In 2021, Operation Mincemeat, a cinematic adaptation of Macintyre's 2010's homonymous book, subtitled The True Spy Story that Changed the Course of World War II, premiered at Australia's British Film Festival, and was released to the public in 2022.
Rogue Heroes: The History of the SAS, Britain's Secret Special Forces Unit That Sabotaged the Nazis and Changed the Nature of War, was adapted in 2022 under the title SAS: Rogue Heroes and released on 30 October 2022.[17][18]
On 8 December 2022, a six part series titled A Spy Among Friends premiered on the streaming service ITVX. It's the adaptation of Macintyre's book: A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal.[19]
Awards and honoursedit
1998 Edgar Award shortlist for The Napoleon of Crime
The Napoleon of Crime: The Life and Times of Adam Worth, Master Thief. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1997. ISBN 978-0-374-21899-7.
A Foreign Field. HarperCollins, 2001. ISBN 978-0-00-257122-7. (American edition: The Englishman's Daughter: A True Story of Love and Betrayal in World War One. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2002. ISBN 978-0-374-12985-9.)
The Man Who Would Be King: The First American in Afghanistan (Josiah Harlan). New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2004. ISBN 978-0-374-20178-4.[22]
For Your Eyes Only: Ian Fleming and James Bond. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2008. .
The Last Word: Tales from the Tip of the Mother Tongue. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2009. ISBN 978-1-4088-0333-2.
Operation Mincemeat: The True Spy Story that Changed the Course of World War II. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2010. ISBN 978-0-7475-9868-8.
Double Cross: The True Story of the D-Day Spies. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2012. ISBN 978-1-4088-1990-6.
A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2014. ISBN 978-1408851722.
Gladwell, Malcolm (28 July 2014). "A Critic at Large: Trust No One". The New Yorker. Vol. 90, no. 21. pp. 70–75. Retrieved 30 September 2014. Includes review of A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal.
Rogue Heroes: The History of the SAS, Britain's Secret Special Forces Unit That Sabotaged the Nazis and Changed the Nature of War; McClelland & Stewart; 2017; 400pp; ISBN 978-0771060328
The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War (Oleg Gordievsky); Viking, 2018, 352pp; ISBN 978-0241186657[23]
^He has an elder sister, born 1962, and a younger brother, born 1971, per Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 107th edition, vol. 2, ed. Charles Mosley, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 2003, p. 1812
^Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 107th edition, vol. 2, ed. Charles Mosley, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 2003, p. 1812
^Walker George Films: DOUBLE AGENT: The Eddie Chapman Story
^Walker George Films: Double Cross – The True Story of the D Day Spies
^"Kim Philby - His Most Intimate Betrayal". BBC TWO. BBC. Retrieved 30 September 2021.
^"SAS: Rogue Warriors". BBC TWO. BBC. Retrieved 30 September 2021.
^Beevor, Antony (22 September 2022). "'This is rock-star history!' – Antony Beevor on the gung-ho brilliance of SAS Rogue Heroes". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 22 September 2022.
^Macintyre, Ben (2017). SAS: Rogue Heroes (Paperback ed.). London: Penguin. ISBN 978-0-241-18686-2.
^"A Spy Among Friends review – don't take your eyes off this star-packed espionage thriller". BBC TWO. The Guardian. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
^"The Baillie Gifford Prize 2018 announces shortlist". Baillie Gifford Prize. 2 October 2018. Retrieved 3 October 2018.