Ben Macintyre

Macintyre was born on 25 December 1963, in Oxford, the elder sonHe 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 of Angus Donald Macintyre (d. 1994), a fellow and tutor in Modern History at Magdalen College, Oxford, and Joanna, daughter of Sir Richard Musgrave Harvey, 2nd Baronet and a descendant of Berkeley Paget.Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 107th edition, vol. 2, ed. Charles Mosley, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 2003, p. 1812{{Cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituaries-angus-macintyre-1390485.html|title=OBITUARIES : Angus Macintyre|website=Independent.co.uk|date=22 October 2011}} His paternal grandmother was a descendant of James Netterville, 7th Viscount Netterville.Burke's Irish Family Records, ed. Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 1976, p. 358 Angus Macintyre had been 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.

Macintyre was educated at Abingdon School and St John's College, Cambridge, where he graduated with a degree in history in 1985.'Cambridge University Tripos Results', The Guardian, 5 July 1985.

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.Macintyre, Ben; Josiah the Great: The True Story of the Man who Would be King; HarperCollins; 2004, 350pp; {{ISBN|9780007151066}} Harlan is one of the candidates presumed to be the basis for Rudyard Kipling's short story The Man Who Would Be King.

He is the author of a 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.Macintyre, Ben, Imperial War Museum;For Your Eyes Only, Ian Fleming and James Bond; Bloomsbury Publishing; London; 2008; 224pp;{{ISBN|978-1-5969-1544-2}}Imperial War Museum catalogue number LBY 08 / 802

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.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000my8h|title=Agent Sonya by Ben Macintyre|work=BBC RADIO 4|publisher=BBC|access-date=30 September 2021}}

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.{{cite web|url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60032296-colditz |title=Colditz: Prisoners of the Castle |access-date=7 March 2023}}

In 2024, Viking published Macintyre's The Siege about the Iranian Embassy siege in London in 1980.{{Cite web |title=Viking announces the 'definitive' history of the London Iranian embassy siege from Ben Macintyre |url=https://www.thebookseller.com/rights/viking-announces-the-definitive-history-of-the-london-iranian-embassy-siege-from-ben-macintyre |access-date=2024-07-26 |website=The Bookseller |language=En}}{{cite web |title=The Siege: A Six-Day Hostage Crisis and the Daring Special-Forces Operation That Shocked the World By Ben Macintyre |url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/739963/the-siege-by-ben-macintyre/ |website=Penguin Random House}} It was also announced that the book will be adapted for television by the show-runner of Slow Horses.{{Cite web |title=Ben Macintyre's The Siege to be adapted for TV by "Slow Horses" show runner |url=https://www.thebookseller.com/news/ben-macintyres-the-siege-to-be-adapted-for-tv-by-slow-horses-show-runner |access-date=2024-10-08 |website=The Bookseller |language=En}}

Macintyre has three children and is divorced from the writer and documentary maker Kate Muir.{{citation needed|date=March 2023}}

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

• Operation Mincemeat (2010),[http://walkergeorgefilms.co.uk/filmography/documentaries/operation-mincemeat-2010 Walker George Films: Operation Mincemeat]
• Double Agent: The Eddie Chapman Story (2011),[http://walkergeorgefilms.co.uk/filmography/documentaries/double-agent Walker George Films: DOUBLE AGENT: The Eddie Chapman Story]
• Double Cross – The True Story of the D Day Spies (2012)[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]
• Kim Philby: His Most Intimate Betrayal (2014).{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b040bnsl|title=Kim Philby - His Most Intimate Betrayal|work=BBC TWO|publisher=BBC|access-date=30 September 2021}}
• SAS: Rogue Warriors (2017).{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08f00r9|title=SAS: Rogue Warriors|work=BBC TWO|publisher=BBC|access-date=30 September 2021}}

In 2021, Operation Mincemeat, a cinematic adaptation of Macintyre's 2010's book of the same name, 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.{{cite web |last=Beevor |first=Antony |author-link=Antony Beevor |date=22 September 2022 |title='This is rock-star history!' – Antony Beevor on the gung-ho brilliance of SAS Rogue Heroes |url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/nov/22/sas-rogue-heroes-antony-beevor-bbc-rebels-renegades-repressed-homosexuals-cross-dressing-spy |website=The Guardian |location=London |access-date=22 September 2022}}{{cite book |last=Macintyre |first=Ben |author-link=Ben Macintyre |date=2017 |title=SAS: Rogue Heroes |location=London |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-0-241-18686-2 |edition=Paperback}}

On 8 December 2022, a six part series titled A Spy Among Friends premiered on the streaming service ITVX. It is an adaptation of Macintyre's book: A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal.{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/dec/08/a-spy-among-friends-review-dont-take-your-eyes-off-this-star-packed-espionage-thriller|title=A Spy Among Friends review – don't take your eyes off this star-packed espionage thriller|work=BBC TWO|date=8 December 2022 |publisher=The Guardian|access-date=11 December 2022 |last1=Nicholson |first1=Rebecca }}

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.{{Cite web |last=White |first=Peter |date=2023-04-16 |title=Damian Lewis & Alexander Cary Adapting More Ben Macintryre Books For TV After 'A Spy Among Friends' |url=https://deadline.com/2023/04/damian-lewis-alexander-cary-adapting-more-ben-macintryre-books-for-tv-1235327305/ |access-date=2024-07-09 |website=Deadline |language=en-US}}

In 2007, Tom Hanks bought the rights to Macintyre's Agent Zigzag.{{Cite news |last=Kit |first=Borys |date=20 September 2007 |title=Tom Hanks, studio double up on spy saga |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN20305658/ |access-date=9 July 2024 |work=Reuters}} The film has been in various stages of development since.{{Cite web |date=2009-03-20 |title=Bomback writing 'Agent Zigzag' for Hanks |url=https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a150150/bomback-writing-agent-zigzag-for-hanks/ |access-date=2024-07-09 |website=Digital Spy |language=en-GB}}

• 1998 Edgar Award shortlist for The Napoleon of Crime
• 1998 Macavity Award shortlist for The Napoleon of Crime
• 2007 Costa Book Awards, biography, shortlist for Agent Zigzag
• 2008 Galaxy British Book Awards, biography, shortlist for Agent Zigzag
• 2010 Galaxy British Book Awards, Popular Non-fiction, shortlist for Operation Mincemeat
• 2011 Duke of Westminster's Medal for Military Literature, shortlist for Operation Mincemeat
• 2012 Agatha Award, Non-fiction, shortlist for A Spy Among Friends
• 2013 Edgar Award shortlist for Double Cross
• 2014 Spear's Book Award, winner for A Spy Among Friends
• 2018 Baillie Gifford Prize, shortlist for The Spy and the Traitor{{cite web |url=https://thebailliegiffordprize.co.uk/2018-shortlist |title=The Baillie Gifford Prize 2018 announces shortlist |publisher=Baillie Gifford Prize |date=2 October 2018 |access-date=3 October 2018}}

{{Incomplete list|date=January 2017}}

• Forgotten Fatherland: The Search for Elisabeth Nietzsche. New York 1992. {{ISBN|978-0-374-15759-3}}See Nueva Germania and Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche.
• 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: A True Story of Love and Betrayal in the Great War. 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}}.{{cite news |title=THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING: The First American in Afghanistan by Ben Macintyre |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-374-20178-4 |access-date=10 December 2022 |work=publishersweekly.com}}
• Agent Zigzag: The True Wartime Story of Eddie Chapman: Lover, Traitor, Hero, Spy. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2007. {{ISBN|978-0-7475-8794-1}}.

• 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}}.

:*{{cite magazine |last=Gladwell |first=Malcolm |author-link=Malcolm Gladwell |date=28 July 2014 |title=A Critic at Large: Trust No One |magazine=The New Yorker |volume=90 |issue=21 |pages=70–75 |url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/07/28/philby |access-date=30 September 2014 }} Includes review of A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal.

:*{{cite journal |author=Fitzpatrick, Sheila |author-link=Sheila Fitzpatrick |date=September 2014 |title='One of us' : the spy who relished deception |journal=Australian Book Review |volume=364 |pages=27–28 }} Review of A Spy Among Friends.

• 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}}{{cite news|author=Harding, Luke|title=Review of The Spy and the Traitor by Ben Macintyre|newspaper=The Guardian|date=19 September 2018|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/sep/19/the-spy-and-the-traitor-by-ben-macintyre-review}}
• Agent Sonya: Lover, Mother, Soldier, Spy; Viking, 2020, 384pp; {{ISBN|978-0241408506}}{{cite news|author=Feigel, Lara|title=Review of Agent Sonya by Ben Macintyre|newspaper=The Guardian|date=30 September 2020|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/sep/30/agent-sonya-by-ben-macintyre-review-housewife-mother-and-communist-spy}}
• Colditz: Prisoners of the Castle; Viking, 2022, 384pp; {{ISBN|978-0241408520}}
• The Siege: The Remarkable Story of the Greatest SAS Hostage Drama; Viking, 2024, 384pp; {{ISBN|978-0241675670}}

• List of Old Abingdonians
• SAS: Rogue Heroes
• A Spy Among Friends

{{Reflist}}

• [http://benmacintyre.com/ Official website]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20171215221645/http://journalisted.com/ben-macintyre?allarticles=yes List of articles by Macintyre]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070225123421/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/ben_macintyre "Ben Macintyre, columnist"], is Macintyre's op-ed page at The Times.
• {{Muckrack}}

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Category:1963 births

Category:Living people

Category:The Times people

Category:British columnists

Category:British historians of espionage

Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature

Category:People educated at Abingdon School

Category:Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge

Category:Writers from Oxford

Category:British historians of World War II

Category:British military historians