John Patrick McCarthy | |
---|---|
Born | 27 November 1956 |
Nationality | British |
Education | Lochinver House School Haileybury and Imperial Service College |
Alma mater | University of Hull |
Occupation(s) | Journalist, writer, broadcaster |
Known for | Kidnapped for over five years in the Lebanon hostage crisis |
Notable work | Some Other Rainbow (1993) |
Spouse | Anna Ottewill (m. 1999) |
Partner | Jill Morrell (former) |
Children | 1 |
John Patrick McCarthy CBE (born 27 November 1956) is a British journalist, writer and broadcaster, and one of the hostages in the Lebanon hostage crisis. McCarthy was the United Kingdom's longest-held hostage in Lebanon, where he was a prisoner for more than five years.
He attended Lochinver House School, then Haileybury and Imperial Service College, Hertfordshire, and read American Studies at the University of Hull.
McCarthy was a journalist working for United Press International Television News at the time of his kidnap by Islamic Jihad terrorists in Lebanon. He had recently arrived in Beirut when on 17 April 1986, two days after USAF airstrikes on Libya, WTN ordered him to leave. He was being escorted to the airport when a group of gunmen intercepted his car. [1] He was held in captivity until release on 8 August 1991. He shared a cell with the Irish hostage Brian Keenan for several years. While a prisoner, he learned that his girlfriend, Jill Morrell, was actively campaigning for his release, launching a group called "Friends of John McCarthy". [2]
By the time of McCarthy's release, his mother Sheila had died of cancer, unaware of his fate. [3] Following his release, he co-wrote, with Morrell, a memoir of his years in captivity, entitled Some Other Rainbow . Their relationship ended four years later, and he married Anna Ottewill, a photographer, on 16 April 1999. [4] They have a daughter. [5]
In 1995 John McCarthy sailed around the coast of Britain with Sandi Toksvig, making a BBC documentary TV series, Island Race, and a book of the experience. McCarthy had attended university with Toksvig's brother, Nick. He co-presented the BBC Radio 4 programme Excess Baggage , also with Sandi Toksvig. On 29 March 2014, McCarthy hosted the ceremony for the "I Do To Equal Marriage" event which celebrated the introduction of same-sex marriage in England and Wales. Toksvig renewed her vows to her civil partner at the event. [6]
McCarthy is a Patron of Freedom from Torture (formerly the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture), and has been awarded an honorary D.Litt. from his alma mater, the University of Hull, where a students' union bar (now an ice cream parlour) is named after him. [7]
Sir Terence Hardy Waite is an English humanitarian and author.
The News Quiz is a British topical panel game broadcast on BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in 1977. The show, created by John Lloyd from an idea by Nicholas Parsons, has seen several hosts, including Barry Norman, Barry Took, Simon Hoggart, Sandi Toksvig, and Miles Jupp. Andy Zaltzman was announced as the permanent host after series 103. The show involves four panellists, often comedians or journalists, who answer questions about events of the previous week, often leading to humorous and satirical exchanges. The show was adapted for television in 1981 and has also inspired other shows.
William Francis Buckley was a United States Army officer in the United States Army Special Forces, and a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) station chief in Beirut from 1984 until 1985. His cover was as a political officer at the U.S. Embassy. He was kidnapped by the group Hezbollah in March 1984. He was held hostage and tortured by psychiatrist Aziz al-Abub. Hezbollah later claimed they executed him in October 1985, but another American hostage disputed that, believing that he died five months prior, in June. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery and is commemorated with a star on the Memorial Wall at the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia.
Sandra Birgitte Toksvig is a Danish-British writer, comedian and broadcaster on British radio, stage and television. She is also a political activist, having co-founded the Women's Equality Party in 2015. She has written plays, novels and books for children. In 1994, she came out as a lesbian.
Terry A. Anderson is an American journalist. He reported for the Associated Press. In 1985, he was taken hostage by Shia Hezbollah militants of the Islamic Jihad Organization in Lebanon and held until 1991. In 2004, he ran unsuccessfully for the Ohio State Senate.
Lawrence Martin Jenco, OSM, was an American Catholic priest famous for being held hostage in Beirut, Lebanon by Islamic radicals. He was held captive for 564 days before being released and allowed to return to the United States.
Brian Keenan is a Northern Irish writer whose work includes the book An Evil Cradling, an account of the four and a half years he spent as a hostage in Beirut, Lebanon from 11 April 1986 to 24 August 1990.
Thomas Sutherland, Dean of Agriculture at the American University of Beirut in Lebanon, was kidnapped by Islamic Jihad members near his Beirut home on June 9, 1985. He was released on November 18, 1991, at the same time as Terry Waite, having been held hostage for 2,353 days.
William Richard Higgins was a United States Marine Corps colonel who was captured in Lebanon in 1988 while serving on a United Nations (UN) peacekeeping mission. He was held hostage, tortured and eventually murdered by his captors.
Blind Flight is a 2003 British prison film directed by John Furse and starring Ian Hart and Linus Roache. It is based on the true-life story of the kidnapping and imprisonment of the Irish academic Brian Keenan and the English journalist John McCarthy, two of the hostages in the Lebanon hostage crisis. The film is based on Keenan's memoir, An Evil Cradling and Some Other Rainbow by John McCarthy who was a screenplay consultant. The film received widespread critical acclaim, being nominated for six awards, and winning a BAFTA.
Jill Morrell is a British charity worker and former journalist. She came to the public eye following the kidnapping of her boyfriend John McCarthy, in 1986. Morrell was a tireless and effective campaigner for McCarthy's release from captors who held him in Lebanon for more than 5 years.
"Wonderful Remark" is a song written by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison and first released on the soundtrack album for the 1983 film The King of Comedy. This recording later appeared on the benefit compilation Nobody's Child: Romanian Angel Appeal and on several compilations of Morrison's works. At least two earlier recordings exist, one of which appeared on Morrison's 1998 album The Philosopher's Stone, a collection of previously-unreleased tracks.
The Lebanon hostage crisis was the kidnapping in Lebanon of 104 foreign hostages between 1982 and 1992, when the Lebanese Civil War was at its height. The hostages were mostly Americans and Western Europeans, but 21 national origins were represented. At least eight hostages died in captivity; some were murdered, while others died from lack of adequate medical attention to illnesses. During the fifteen years of the Lebanese civil war an estimated 17,000 people disappeared after being abducted.
Ramzi Albert Irani born in Lebanon was a well-known Lebanese Forces (LF) student representative at Lebanese University in Beirut. He was abducted and later found dead in 2002, following a series of events marking the eighth anniversary of the imprisonment of Lebanese Forces party leader Samir Geagea.
Out of Life is a 1991 film directed by Lebanese director Maroun Bagdadi. The film tells the story of a French photographer, who is kidnapped in Beirut, Lebanon, and attempts to maintain his personal dignity in the face of torture and brainwashing. The story was inspired by the events surrounding the kidnapping of Roger Auque during the Lebanon hostage crisis. The film was produced by the French companies Galatée Films and Films A2.
Jackie Mann, was a Royal Air Force fighter pilot in the Battle of Britain, who in later life was kidnapped by Islamists in Lebanon in May 1989 and held hostage for more than two years.
Trinity Academy is a non-selective co-educational secondary school in the English Academy programme, at Thorne near Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England.
Michel Seurat was a sociologist and researcher at the CNRS, born 14 August 1947 in Tunisia and died in Beirut in 1986.
Some Other Rainbow is a joint memoir written by John McCarthy and Jill Morrell and first published by Bantam Press in 1993. It deals in separate chapters with the individual and parallel experiences of McCarthy and Morrell, during McCarthy's captivity in the Lebanon, which lasted from 17 April 1986 until 8 August 1991.
Hostages is a 1992 American drama film directed by David Wheatley and written by Bernard MacLaverty. The film stars Kathy Bates, Colin Firth, Ciarán Hinds, Natasha Richardson, Jay O. Sanders, Josef Sommer and Harry Dean Stanton. The film premiered in the United Kingdom on ITV on September 23, 1992, and in the United States on HBO on February 20, 1993.