True Stories Behind The Hype
How To Play Golf In North Korea, really? This is a story that not many people would believe. In a culture that abhorred any form of perceived western or capitalist pastime, especially one that is seen as relatively exclusive, how was this possible? Well, the short answer was that even in North Korea it was ... Read more
How to survive 3 years in North Korea as a foreigner is indeed a good question. 3 years is a long time! Some time ago, I was asked about life in North Korea. Who had I upset to have been banished to the Hermit Kingdom for 3 years. I imagine they were slightly taken aback ... Read more
Albania My First Posting A Bloodstained Surprise. How did this come about? So it was on a cold and windy January morning in 1998 that I arrived at Heathrow airport to catch my early morning flight to Vienna en-route to my final destination Tirana the capital city of Albania. With all the background briefs on ... Read more
How An RAF Russian Linguist Became A Diplomat
Albania British Diplomats Shot relates to the aftermath of an ambush and shooting of 2 British diplomats on an Albanian mountainside on the outskirts of Tirana
As HM Consul to Iran over the period of this incident, it proved to be a hopelessly frustrating and humiliating experience.
North Korea, what began as a rare case of bilateral cooperation recovering remains of an RAF pilot ended up as nothing but a cruel deception
North Korea military works closely with British diplomat is a unique story of the bilateral efforts to recover remains of a missing RAF pilot
Albania British Diplomats Ambushed And Shot is Part 1 of a story that occurred in 1998. It was a volatile year in Albania s recent history. At this time, British diplomats who were posted to a volatile or conflict region received virtually no Hostile Environment Training (HET). It was usually the case you popped into King ... Read more
A small Albanian village kept a deadly secret for nearly 50 years that had it leaked out would have led to deadly consequences
Albania Bloodshed Avoided At Queens Party is a story from Tirana, Albania that came about thus. Sitting out and enduring the lockdown , I spent a lot of time trawling through YouTube videos especially trooping the colour and the celebrations of Queen Elizabeth s birthday. I love our history and traditions and make no apologies for ... Read more
Exclusive: How SAS Rescued Trapped British Diplomats in Albania is a story of how the Special Air Service (SAS Motto Who Dares Wins ) rescued myself and two colleagues who were trapped in the British embassy in Tirana having been evacuated into the embassy on 12th September 12th 1998 as the country erupted into civil unrest ... Read more
Learn about the daring mission to evacuate British and EU oil workers from Libya amidst the Arab Spring turmoil. Ensuring their safety was our top priority.