John Edward Costello (1943- 26 August 1995) was a British military historian, who wrote about World War I, World War II and the Cold War. He was born in

Greenock Greenock (; sco, Greenock; gd, Grianaig, ) is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council areas of Scotland, council area in Scotland, United Kingdom and a former burgh of barony, burgh within the Counties of Scotland, historic ...

near Glasgow and graduated from

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

in law and Soviet economic history. At Cambridge he was secretary of the Union and chairman of the Conservative Association. He then worked as a director and scriptwriter for the BBC before writing on military history. He died unexpectedly at the age of 52 while on a flight from London to

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

, having gone to Britain for research. He was living in Miami and Manhattan.

Published works

* ''The Battle for Concorde'' (UK) (1971) with Terry Hughes , or ''The Concorde Conspiracy'' (US) (1976) *''D-Day'' (1974) with

Warren Tute Warren Tute (1914-1989) was an English sailor, author and television executive. He was born in 1914 in West Hartlepool, County Durham in the north of England and joined the Royal Navy in 1932, at one time serving on . During the Second World War ...

& Terry Hughes *''Jutland 1916'' (1976) with Terry Hughes * ''The Battle of the Atlantic'' (1977) with Terry Hughes * ''The Pacific War'' (1981) * ''Virtue under Fire: How World War II Changed Our Social and Sexual Attitudes'' (US) (1985) , or ''Love, Sex and War: Changing Values 1939–45'' (UK) (1985) * ''"And I was There": Pearl Harbor and Midway – Breaking the Secrets'' (1985) with Rear Admiral

Edwin Layton Edwin Thomas Layton (April 7, 1903 – April 12, 1984) was a rear admiral in the United States Navy. Layton is most noted for his work as an intelligence officer before and during World War II. He was also the father of the historian Edwin ...

(his story) & Captain Roger Pineau * ''Mask of Treachery'' (1988) about

Anthony Blunt Anthony Frederick Blunt (26 September 1907 – 26 March 1983), styled Sir Anthony Blunt KCVO from 1956 to November 1979, was a leading British art historian and Soviet spy. Blunt was professor of art history at the University of London, dire ...

* ''Ten Days to Destiny'' (US) or ''Ten Days that Saved the West'' (UK) (1991), about

Rudolf Hess Rudolf Walter Richard Hess (Heß in German; 26 April 1894 – 17 August 1987) was a German politician and a leading member of the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. Appointed Deputy Führer to Adolf Hitler in 1933, Hess held that position unt ...

* ''Deadly Illusions'' (1993) with Oleg Tsarev, about

Aleksandr Mikhailovich Orlov Alexander Mikhailovich Orlov ( be, Аляксандар Мікалаевіч Арлоў, born Leiba Lazarevich Feldbin, later Lev Lazarevich Nikolsky, and in the US assuming the name of Igor Konstantinovich Berg; 21 August 1895 – 25 March 1 ...

* ''Days of Infamy: MacArthur, Roosevelt, Churchill – the Shocking Truth Revealed'' (1994) about the defeats at

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Re ...

and

the Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

References

Historians of World War I Historians of World War II Cold War historians 1943 births 1995 deaths British military historians 20th-century British historians Alumni of the University of Cambridge People from Greenock 20th-century Scottish writers Scottish military historians {{UK-historian-stub