Benedict Richard Pierce Macintyre (born 25 December 1963) is a British author, reviewer and columnist for ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

'' newspaper. His columns range from current affairs to historical controversies.

Early life

Macintyre is the elder son of Angus Donald Macintyre (d. 1994), Fellow and Tutor in Modern History at Magdalen College, Oxford (elected Principal of

Hertford College, Oxford Hertford College ( ), previously known as Magdalen Hall, is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It is located on Catte Street in the centre of Oxford, directly opposite the main gate to the Bodleian Library. The col ...

before his death in a car accident), author of the first scholarly work on the Irish nationalist

Daniel O'Connell Daniel O'Connell (I) ( ga, Dónall Ó Conaill; 6 August 1775 – 15 May 1847), hailed in his time as The Liberator, was the acknowledged political leader of Ireland's Roman Catholic majority in the first half of the 19th century. His mobilizat ...

, general editor of the Oxford Historical Monographs series from 1971 to 1979, editor of ''

The English Historical Review ''The English Historical Review'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed academic journal that was established in 1886 and published by Oxford University Press (formerly Longman). It publishes articles on all aspects of history – British, European, and ...

'' 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. His paternal grandmother was a descendant of James Netterville, 7th

Viscount Netterville Viscount Netterville was a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1622 for Nicholas Netterville, 1st Viscount Netterville (1581–1654), eldest son of John Netterville of Dowth, County Meath and Eleanor Gernon, daughter of Sir James Ge ...

. Macintyre was educated at Abingdon School and St John's College, Cambridge, graduating with a degree in history in 1985.

Writing

Macintyre is the author of a book on the gentleman criminal

Adam Worth Adam Worth (18448 January 1902) was a crime boss and fraudster. His career in crime, stretching from the United States to Europe and South Africa, included the infamous theft of Gainsborough's celebrated Portrait of Georgiana, Duchess of Devo ...

, ''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 Josiah Harlan, Prince of Ghor (June 12, 1799 – October 1871) was an American adventurer who travelled to Afghanistan and Punjab with the intention of making himself a king. During his travels, he became involved in local politics and facti ...

). This was also published as ''Josiah the Great: The True Story of the Man who Would be King''. Harlan is one of the candidates presumed to be the basis for

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. ...

's short story ''

The Man Who Would Be King "The Man Who Would Be King" (1888) is a story by Rudyard Kipling about two British adventurers in British India who become kings of Kafiristan, a remote part of Afghanistan. The story was first published in '' The Phantom Rickshaw and other E ...

''. His book on

Eddie Chapman Edward Arnold Chapman (16 November 1914 – 11 December 1997) was an English criminal and wartime spy. During the Second World War he offered his services to Nazi Germany as a spy and subsequently became a British double agent. His British Se ...

, a

double agent In the field of counterintelligence, a double agent is an employee of a secret intelligence service for one country, whose primary purpose is to spy on a target organization of another country, but who is now spying on their own country's organ ...

of Germany and Britain during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, was titled ''Agent Zigzag: The True Wartime Story of Eddie Chapman: Lover, Betrayer, Hero, Spy''. In 2008, Macintyre wrote an illustrated account of

Ian Fleming Ian Lancaster Fleming (28 May 1908 – 12 August 1964) was a British writer who is best known for his postwar ''James Bond'' series of spy novels. Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., a ...

, creator of the fictional spy

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...

, to accompany the ''For Your Eyes Only, Ian Fleming and James Bond'' exhibition at London's

Imperial War Museum Imperial War Museums (IWM) is a British national museum organisation with branches at five locations in England, three of which are in London. Founded as the Imperial War Museum in 1917, the museum was intended to record the civil and military ...

, which was part of the Fleming Centenary celebrations. Macintyre's 2020 book ''Agent Sonya: Moscow's Most Daring Wartime Spy'', a biography of Soviet agent

Ursula Kuczynski Ursula Kuczynski (15 May 1907 – 7 July 2000), also known as Ruth Werner, Ursula Beurton and Ursula Hamburger, was a German Communist activist who spied for the Soviet Union during the 1930s and 1940s, most famously as the handler of nuclear sc ...

, was featured on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

as a

Book of the Week ''Book of the Week'' is a BBC Radio 4 series that is broadcast daily on week days. Each week, extracts from the selected book, usually a non-fiction work, are read over five episodes; each fifteen-minute episode is broadcast in the morning (9:45a ...

. In 2021,

Operation Mincemeat Operation Mincemeat was a successful British deception operation of the Second World War to disguise the 1943 Allied invasion of Sicily. Two members of British intelligence obtained the body of Glyndwr Michael, a tramp who died from eating ...

, a cinematic adaptation of Macintyre's 2010's homonymous book, subtitled ''The True Spy Story that Changed the Course of World War II'', premiered in Australia's British Film Festival, and was released to the public in 2022.

Personal life

He has three children and is divorced from the writer and documentary maker

Kate Muir Kate Muir is a Scottish writer and documentary maker. Her book, ''Everything You Need to Know About the Menopause (But Were Too Afraid to Ask)'' was published in 2022, and she is the creator and producer of two documentaries on the menopause incl ...

Documentaries

Five of his books have been made into documentaries for the BBC: * ''

'' (2010), * ''Double Agent: The

Story'' (2011), * '' Double Cross – The True Story of the D Day Spies'' (2012) * ''

Kim Philby Harold Adrian Russell "Kim" Philby (1 January 191211 May 1988) was a British intelligence officer and a double agent for the Soviet Union. In 1963 he was revealed to be a member of the Cambridge Five, a spy ring which had divulged British secr ...

– His Most Intimate Betrayal'' (2014). *'' SAS: Rogue Warriors'' (2017).

Adaptations

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. A six part series titled: ''

A Spy Among Friends ''A Spy Among Friends'' is a British espionage thriller television series, starring Guy Pearce and Damian Lewis. It is based on the book of the same name by Ben Macintyre, adapted by Alex Cary and directed by Nick Murphy. It was available to ...

'', premiered on the streaming service

ITVX ITVX (formerly ITV Hub) is a British online video-on-demand service operated by ITV plc, ITV. The service offers predominantly features content from ITV1, as well as ITV Digital Channels, ITV Digital channels and some licensed content. The serv ...

on 8 December 2022. Its the adaptation of Macintyre's book: ''A Spy Among Friends:

and the Great Betrayal''.

Awards and honours

*1998

Edgar Award The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America, based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards honor the bes ...

shortlist for ''The Napoleon of Crime'' *1998

Macavity Award The Macavity Awards are a literary award for mystery writers. Nominated and voted upon annually by the members of the Mystery Readers International, the award is named for the " mystery cat" of T. S. Eliot's ''Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats'' ...

shortlist for ''The Napoleon of Crime'' *2007

Costa Book Awards The Costa Book Awards were a set of annual literary awards recognising English-language books by writers based in UK and Ireland. Originally named the Whitbread Book Awards from 1971 to 2005 after its first sponsor, the Whitbread company, then ...

, biography, shortlist for ''Agent Zigzag'' *2008

Galaxy British Book Awards The British Book Awards or Nibbies are literary awards for the best UK writers and their works, administered by ''The Bookseller''. The awards have had several previous names, owners and sponsors since being launched in 1990, including the National ...

, biography, shortlist for ''Agent Zigzag'' *2010

, Popular Non-fiction, shortlist for ''Operation Mincemeat'' *2011

Duke of Westminster's Medal for Military Literature The Duke of Westminster's Medal for Military Literature was awarded by the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies, (the RUSI), Whitehall, London. Awarded annually from 1997 to 2016, the Medal was given to honour a living au ...

, shortlist for ''Operation Mincemeat'' *2012

Agatha Award The Agatha Awards, named for Agatha Christie, are literary awards for mystery and crime writers who write in the traditional mystery subgenre: "books typified by the works of Agatha Christie . . . loosely defined as mysteries that contain no expli ...

, Non-fiction, shortlist for ''A Spy Among Friends'' *2013

shortlist for ''Double Cross'' *2014

Spear's Book Award ''Spear's'' (formerly known as ''Spear's WMS'' or ''Spear's Wealth Management Survey''), founded in 2006 by William Cash, is a bimonthly British magazine for high-net-worth individuals and those in the financial service industries. It has been ca ...

, winner for ''A Spy Among Friends'' *2018

Baillie Gifford Prize The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, formerly the Samuel Johnson Prize, is an annual British book prize for the best non-fiction writing in the English language. It was founded in 1999 following the demise of the NCR Book Award. With its m ...

, shortlist for ''The Spy and the Traitor''

Works

* ''Forgotten Fatherland: The Search for

Elisabeth Nietzsche Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to: People * Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name) * Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist Ships * HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships * ''Elisabeth'' (sc ...

''. New York 1992. * ''The Napoleon of Crime: The Life and Times of

, Master Thief''. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1997. . * ''A Foreign Field''.

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News Cor ...

, 2001. . (American edition: ''The Englishman's Daughter: A True Story of Love and Betrayal in World War One''. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2002. .) * ''The Man Who Would Be King: The First American in Afghanistan (

)''. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2004. . * ''Agent Zigzag: The True Wartime Story of

: Lover, Betrayer, Hero, Spy''. London:

Bloomsbury Publishing Bloomsbury Publishing plc is a British worldwide publishing house of fiction and non-fiction. It is a constituent of the FTSE SmallCap Index. Bloomsbury's head office is located in Bloomsbury, an area of the London Borough of Camden. It has a U ...

, 2007. . * ''For Your Eyes Only:

and

''. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2008. . * ''The Last Word: Tales from the Tip of the Mother Tongue''. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2009. . * ''

: The True Spy Story that Changed the Course of World War II''. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2010. . * ''Double Cross: The True Story of the D-Day Spies''. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2012. . * ''A Spy Among Friends:

and the Great Betrayal''. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2014. . :* Includes review of ''A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal''. :* 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; * ''The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War (

Oleg Gordievsky Oleg Antonovich Gordievsky, CMG (; born 10 October 1938) is a former colonel of the KGB who became KGB resident-designate (''rezident'') and bureau chief in London, and was a double agent, providing information to the British Secret Intelli ...

)''; Viking, 2018, 352pp; * ''Agent Sonya: Lover, Mother, Soldier, Spy''; Viking, 2020, 384pp; * ''Colditz: Prisoners of the Castle''; Viking, 2022, 384pp;

References

External links

Official website

List of articles by Macintyre

"Ben Macintyre, columnist"
is Macintyre's op-ed page at ''The Times''. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Macintyre, Ben 1963 births Living people The Times people British columnists British historians of espionage Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature People educated at Abingdon School Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge People from Oxford Historians of World War II British military historians