Ben Macintyre Explained

Ben Macintyre
Birth Name:Benedict Richard Pierce MacIntyre
Birth Place:Oxford, Oxfordshire, England
Occupation:Columnist, author
Nationality:British
Spouse:Kate Muir (div.)
Children:3

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.

Early life

Macintyre was born on 25 December 1963, in Oxford, the elder son[2] of Angus Donald Macintyre (d. 1994), a fellow and tutor in Modern History at Magdalen College, Oxford, who was elected principal of Hertford College, Oxford before his death in a car accident, author of the first scholarly work on the Irish nationalist Daniel O'Connell, general editor of the Oxford Historical Monographs series from 1971 to 1979, editor of The English Historical Review from 1978 to 1986, and Chairman of the Governors of Magdalen College School from 1987 to 1990, and Joanna, daughter of Sir Richard Musgrave Harvey, 2nd Baronet and a descendant of Berkeley Paget.[3] [4] His paternal grandmother was a descendant of James Netterville, 7th Viscount Netterville.[5]

Macintyre was educated at Abingdon School and St John's College, Cambridge, where he graduated with a degree in history in 1985.[6]

Career

Macintyre is the author of a book on the gentleman criminal Adam 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.

His book on Eddie Chapman, a double agent of Germany and Britain during the World War II, Agent Zigzag: The True Wartime Story of Eddie Chapman: Lover, Betrayer, Hero, Spy.

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]

Macintyre's 2020 book Agent Sonya: Moscow's Most Daring Wartime Spy, a biography of Soviet agent Ursula Kuczynski, was featured on BBC Radio 4 as a Book of the Week.[10]

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]

In 2024 it was announced Viking will publish Macintyre's The Siege about the Iranian Embassy in London siege in 1980.[12]

Personal life

Macintyre has three children and is divorced from the writer and documentary maker Kate Muir.

Documentaries

Five of Macintyre's books have been made into documentaries for the BBC:

Rogue Warriors (2017).[17]

Adaptations

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 and released on 30 October 2022.[18] [19]

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.[20]

In April 2023 it was announced that the team behind A Spy Among Friends (actor Damian Lewis and director Alexander Cary) is developing further television dramas based on Macintyre books.[21]

In 2007, Tom Hanks bought the rights to Macintyre's Agent Zigzag.[22] The film has been in various stages of development since.[23]

Awards and honours

Works

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: The New York Times. 12 October 1997. Gaslight. Ben. Macintyre.
  2. 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
  3. Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 107th edition, vol. 2, ed. Charles Mosley, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 2003, p. 1812
  4. Web site: OBITUARIES : Angus Macintyre. Independent.co.uk. 22 October 2011.
  5. Burke's Irish Family Records, ed. Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 1976, p. 358
  6. 'Cambridge University Tripos Results', The Guardian, 5 July 1985.
  7. Macintyre, Ben; Josiah the Great: The True Story of the Man who Would be King; HarperCollins; 2004, 350pp;
  8. Macintyre, Ben, Imperial War Museum;For Your Eyes Only, Ian Fleming and James Bond; Bloomsbury Publishing; London; 2008; 224pp;
  9. Imperial War Museum catalogue number LBY 08 / 802
  10. Web site: Agent Sonya by Ben Macintyre. BBC RADIO 4. BBC. 30 September 2021.
  11. Web site: Colditz: Prisoners of the Castle . 7 March 2023.
  12. Web site: Viking announces the ‘definitive’ history of the London Iranian embassy siege from Ben Macintyre . 2024-07-26 . The Bookseller . En.
  13. http://walkergeorgefilms.co.uk/filmography/documentaries/operation-mincemeat-2010 Walker George Films: Operation Mincemeat
  14. http://walkergeorgefilms.co.uk/filmography/documentaries/double-agent Walker George Films: DOUBLE AGENT: The Eddie Chapman Story
  15. http://walkergeorgefilms.co.uk/filmography/documentaries/double-cross-the-true-story-of-the-d-day-spies Walker George Films: Double Cross – The True Story of the D Day Spies
  16. Web site: Kim Philby - His Most Intimate Betrayal. BBC TWO. BBC. 30 September 2021.
  17. Web site: SAS: Rogue Warriors. BBC TWO. BBC. 30 September 2021.
  18. Web site: Beevor . Antony . Antony Beevor . 22 September 2022 . 'This is rock-star history!' – Antony Beevor on the gung-ho brilliance of SAS Rogue Heroes . The Guardian . London . 22 September 2022.
  19. Book: Macintyre, Ben . Ben Macintyre . 2017 . SAS: Rogue Heroes . London . Penguin . 978-0-241-18686-2 . Paperback.
  20. Web site: A Spy Among Friends review – don't take your eyes off this star-packed espionage thriller. BBC TWO. The Guardian. 11 December 2022.
  21. Web site: White . Peter . 2023-04-16 . Damian Lewis & Alexander Cary Adapting More Ben Macintryre Books For TV After ‘A Spy Among Friends’ . 2024-07-09 . Deadline . en-US.
  22. News: Kit . Borys . 20 September 2007 . Tom Hanks, studio double up on spy saga . live . 9 July 2024 . Reuters.
  23. Web site: 2009-03-20 . Bomback writing 'Agent Zigzag' for Hanks . 2024-07-09 . Digital Spy . en-GB.
  24. Web site: The Baillie Gifford Prize 2018 announces shortlist . Baillie Gifford Prize . 2 October 2018 . 3 October 2018.
  25. See Nueva Germania and Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche.
  26. News: THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING: The First American in Afghanistan by Ben Macintyre . 10 December 2022 . publishersweekly.com.
  27. News: Harding, Luke. Review of The Spy and the Traitor by Ben Macintyre. The Guardian. 19 September 2018.
  28. News: Feigel, Lara. Review of Agent Sonya by Ben Macintyre. The Guardian. 30 September 2020.

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