By chance, it happened during prime time. After six days of urgent negotiations and rising tension, everything came to a sudden boil. The BBC interrupted a tense snooker final that had attracted some 14 million viewers to show it. Explosions, smoke, fire. A raid by masked, black-clad men on a handsome address a stone’s throw from Hyde Park and the Royal Albert Hall in London. All broadcast live.
It was 1980, and more than 3,000 miles away, 52 American hostages weren’t even halfway through their own ordeal at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. But for six days, it was the Iranian Embassy on Princes Gate in London that riveted the world. Drawing on “secret, pseudonymous, unpublished, or privately owned” materials, Ben Macintyre’s new book, “The Siege,” is a gripping retelling of what happened. In addition to having the highest of stakes for the 26 hostages, it was also “a turning point in the relationship between breaking news and the viewing public,” Macintyre argues, and a pivotal moment in the public history of Britain’s secretive Special Air Service (SAS). It was also an early test for the fledgling government of Margaret Thatcher, whose response to the crisis would validate the aptness of her “Iron Lady” sobriquet.
For the review in full, visit The Washington Post.
Comments