David Holden
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David Holden (1924–1977) was a writer, journalist, and broadcaster, best known as the Chief Foreign Correspondent for ''
The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...
'', specialising in Middle-Eastern affairs, where he had been since 1965. He was murdered in execution style in
Cairo, Egypt Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...
. His editor,
Harold Evans Sir Harold Matthew Evans (28 June 192823 September 2020) was a British-American journalist and writer. In his career in his native Britain, he was editor of ''The Sunday Times'' from 1967 to 1981, and its sister title ''The Times'' for a year f ...
, used three of his top journalists to conduct a six-month investigation, including several trips to the Middle East and one to the United States. The murder was never solved and no political group claimed responsibility. In Evans' autobiography, ''My Paper Chase'' (2009), he covered the murder of Holden and investigation.


Early life and education

Born in
Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...
(Tyne and Wear), Northeast England, he was educated at Great Ayton Friends' School in North Yorkshire,
Emmanuel College, Cambridge Emmanuel College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1584 by Sir Walter Mildmay, Chancellor of the Exchequer to Elizabeth I. The site on which the college sits was once a priory for Dominican mon ...
, and
Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...
,
Evanston, Illinois Evanston ( ) is a city, suburb of Chicago. Located in Cook County, Illinois, United States, it is situated on the North Shore along Lake Michigan. Evanston is north of Downtown Chicago, bordered by Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, Wil ...
(USA).


Career

After a three-year stint as a schoolteacher in Scotland, Holden worked as a professional actor. He returned to North America, travelling as an odd-job man in the US and Mexico. In 1955, he was recruited as an assistant correspondent in Washington, DC by ''
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'' (fou ...
'' (London).


Journalism

The following year, Holden transferred to the Middle East to cover the political and diplomatic crisis following the 1956 joint invasion of Egypt by Israel, France, and Britain. As Middle East Correspondent for ''The Times'', he travelled throughout the Arab World during the next four years, then was named roving correspondent. In 1961 he joined ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' with the same wide brief. In 1965 he became Chief Foreign Correspondent of ''
The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...
'' and was serving in that position at the time of his death. In addition to his journalism, Holden wrote books: ''Farewell to Arabia'' (1966) and ''Greece Without Columns'' (1972). He began working on a third book, ''The House of Saud'' about the
Saudi royal family The House of Saud ( ar, آل سُعُود, ʾĀl Suʿūd ) is the ruling royal family of Saudi Arabia. It is composed of the descendants of Muhammad bin Saud, founder of the Emirate of Diriyah, known as the First Saudi state (1727–1818), an ...
, in 1976. Before he could finish it; he was killed. The book had to be completed later by two other Middle-Eastern specialists, Richard Johns and James Buchan, both then with the ''
Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...
''.


Homicide

When the peace talks were announced, Holden came off a leave to attend them. He flew into Cairo several days earlier to cover the peace talks being initiated by
Anwar Sadat Muhammad Anwar el-Sadat, (25 December 1918 – 6 October 1981) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the third president of Egypt, from 15 October 1970 until his assassination by fundamentalist army officers on 6 ...
, the Egyptian president, with Israel. Since the
Six-Day War The Six-Day War (, ; ar, النكسة, , or ) or June War, also known as the 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states (primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, S ...
in 1967 it had occupied the Egyptian province of
Sinai Sinai commonly refers to: * Sinai Peninsula, Egypt * Mount Sinai, a mountain in the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt * Biblical Mount Sinai, the site in the Bible where Moses received the Law of God Sinai may also refer to: * Sinai, South Dakota, a place ...
. Sadat was acting independently from the rest of the Arab world. Since 1971, Sadat had been reducing relations with the
USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
and had closed the cultural centres of the Soviet Union,
East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
,
Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...
and
Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...
. He called a conference to be convened at Mena House in Cairo from 14 December onward, for the meetings which would bring Israeli officials and their entourages, including security personnel, officially into an Arab country for the first time. Holden decided to pay a quick visit to Israel, which still had no diplomatic or commercial relations with any Arab country. He flew to
Amman Amman (; ar, عَمَّان, ' ; Ammonite language, Ammonite: 𐤓𐤁𐤕 𐤏𐤌𐤍 ''Rabat ʻAmān'') is the capital and largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of 4,061,150 a ...
. As ''
Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' magazine reported: "Holden told friends in Amman that he was going to make a detour to Jerusalem on his way ackto Cairo. 'Haven't been there for years,' he said. 'I guess they consider me public enemy No. 1'. After Holden failed to contact his home office as agreed from the hotel where he had booked to stay, ''The Sunday Times'' became concerned. His body was found beside a road near a building site not far from the airport, “stripped of all means of identification”, so it was taken to the Cairo morgue. Officials finally discovered and claimed it on 10 December. He was killed with a single shot, close range. Three cars were found to be associated with the crime, all white Fiats: the car in which the murder took place, one which held his briefcase, identification and luggage, and another with papers. They were found abandoned in different parts of Cairo. Police initially thought he had been killed by an illegal taxi driver. There was speculation that the killing was related to the peace talks, but no group took responsibility, which would usually be the case if it were meant as a protest or warning. At an early date, there was speculation that security forces might be involved. ''The Sunday Times'' editor,
Harold Evans Sir Harold Matthew Evans (28 June 192823 September 2020) was a British-American journalist and writer. In his career in his native Britain, he was editor of ''The Sunday Times'' from 1967 to 1981, and its sister title ''The Times'' for a year f ...
, sent three of his own reporters to investigate, and they worked on the case for six months. Based on several pieces of information, such as learning that the
CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...
had a file on Holden and about contacts of his with CIA agents, the journalists made an unconfirmed conclusion that he had been a CIA agent. They also noted that his reporting in the 1970s on CIA involvement in Cuba and Chile downplayed its role. "In 1988 the ''Sunday Times'' was told by a senior US diplomat in the Middle East that Holden had been killed on the orders of the CIA but it had been carried out by Egyptian agents."John Simkin, "Did the CIA murder a journalist working on the Sunday Times?"
Spartacus, 9 September 2009, accessed 3 January 2013
The question remains open as to why he was killed.


Bibliography

*
Harold Evans Sir Harold Matthew Evans (28 June 192823 September 2020) was a British-American journalist and writer. In his career in his native Britain, he was editor of ''The Sunday Times'' from 1967 to 1981, and its sister title ''The Times'' for a year f ...
, ''My Paper Chase'' (2009), serialised in ''
The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...
''


References


Sources

* 1. Holden's years there were 1939–1941. Founded in 1841, the school was dissolved in 1997. See Ayton Old Scholars' Association, Annual Report 2001, "News of Old Scholars," p. 3. * 2. For basic biographical information, see Richard Johns, "Author's Preface and Acknowledgments" in David Holden, Richard Johns, and James Buchan, ''The House of Saud: The Rise and Rule of the Most Powerful Dynasty in the Arab World'', (London: Sidgwick and Jackson, 1981), pp. xi–xiii and the publisher's biographical sketch on the original dustjacket. *3. For a full and authoritative treatment of these developments as seen at first hand, see
Ismail Fahmi Ismail Fahmy ( arz, اسماعيل فهمى) (2 October 1922 – 21 November 1997) was an Egyptian diplomat and politician. He served as ambassador to Austria (1968–1971), tourism minister (1973), foreign minister (1973–1977) and deputy prim ...
, ''Negotiating for Peace in the Middle East'' (London and Canberra: Croom Helm, 1983), pp. 233–301. Fahmi, Egypt's foreign minister, had resigned on 17 November. *4. See Moustafa Ahmed, ed., ''Egypt in the 20th Century: Chronology of Major Events''. (London: MegaZette Press, 2003), pp. 304–305. *5. "Press: Murder in Cairo," ''Time'', 26 December 1977. *6. Not five or six hours later, as claimed in some reports, which apparently confused the time of death with the time of the discovery of the body and its removal to the morgue. See umphrey TrevelyanLord Trevelyan, Foreword to David Holden, Richard Johns, and James Buchan, ''The House of Saud'', p. v]. Trevelyan had known Holden since 1956, when he was ambassador to Egypt. *7. Richard Johns, op. cit, p. xi. *8. Desmond Stewart, another British journalist specialised in the Middle East, was poisoned in Cairo in 1981. Having apparently recovered there, he was then shipped off to England, where he mysteriously died. A biographer of Theodor Herzl and T. E. Lawrence, Stewart's book on the plight of the Palestinians, ''The Palestinians: Victims of Expediency'' (London, Melbourne, New York: Quartet, 1982) was published posthumously and nearly all copies have completely disappeared. *9. Similar operations on Egyptian soil have been the assassination of
Lord Moyne Walter Edward Guinness, 1st Baron Moyne, Distinguished Service Order, DSO Medal bar, & Bar, Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, PC (29 March 1880 – 6 November 1944), was an Anglo-Irish politician and businessman. He served as the Br ...
in Cairo on 6 November 1944 by members of Lehi, the so-called Stern Gang (see Bowyer Bell, ''Terror Out of Zion: Irgun Zvai Leumi, LEHI, and the Palestine underground, 1929–1949''. ew York: St Martin's Press p. 92) and the bombings of British and American facilities in Alexandria carried out ten years later as part of an officially conducted "Operation Susannah," which was at the centre of the so-called Lavon Affair. Members of the Stern Gang murdered Count
Folke Bernadotte Folke Bernadotte, Count of Wisborg (2 January 1895 – 17 September 1948) was a Swedish nobleman and diplomat. In World War II he negotiated the release of about 31,000 prisoners from German concentration camps, including 450 Danish Jews fr ...
, the UN mediator, in Jerusalem on 17 September 1948, carrying out a plan authorised by a three-man committee that included
Yitzhak Shamir Yitzhak Shamir ( he, יצחק שמיר, ; born Yitzhak Yezernitsky; October 22, 1915 – June 30, 2012) was an Israeli politician and the seventh Prime Minister of Israel, serving two terms, 1983–1984 and 1986–1992. Before the establishment ...
, a future Israeli prime minister. In 1975 the remains of the murderers of Lord Moyne were sent from Egypt to Israel, where they received a hero's burial. *10. See, for example, the Australian Associated Press-Reuters story "Cairo Inquiry into Killing," ''The Sydney Morning Herald'', Tuesday 13 December 1977. p. 4. *11. Hirst's analysis of Sadat's reign is contained in the book he wrote with fellow correspondent Irene Beeson, ''Sadat'' (London: Faber and Faber, 1981). *12. Copies of Holden's book were in fact presented as gifts to various Western individuals, agencies, and organisations by members of the Saud family. The copy used in preparing this memoir, for example, as testified by a book-plate, was a gift to the Arab-British Centre in London from Prince Turki ibn Muhammad ibn Fahd ibn 'Abd-ul-Aziz al-Saud, one of the more prominent princes, in June 1983. {{DEFAULTSORT:Holden, David 1924 births 1977 deaths 1977 murders in Egypt People from Sunderland Writers from Tyne and Wear English male journalists English biographers British people murdered abroad Deaths by firearm in Egypt Journalists killed in Egypt People murdered in Egypt Assassinated British journalists Alumni of Emmanuel College, Cambridge 20th-century biographers 20th-century English male writers Northwestern University alumni British expatriates in the United States Male biographers British expatriates in Mexico British expatriates in Egypt