Tony Geraghty
Tony Geraghty(born 13 January 1932) is a British-Irish writer and journalist. He served in theParachute Regiment,and was awarded theJoint Service Commendation Medalfor his work as a military liaison officer with U.S. forces during theGulf War.He has been a journalist forThe Boston Globeand was theSunday TimesDefence Correspondent in the 1970s.[1]
Life and career
[edit]Geraghty was born inLiverpoolon 13 January 1932,[2]to anIrish Catholicfamily. He was educated at theLondon Oratory.[3]
During theFalls Curfewin July 1970, while on assignment for theSunday Times,Geraghty was arrested by a soldier and charged with impeding theArmyby being on the street against military orders, which carried an automatic prison sentence on conviction. In September 1970, a magistrate ruled he had no case to answer, and acquitted him.[4]
His 1998 bookThe Irish War: The Hidden Conflict Between the IRA and British Intelligencewas written following research which included interviews with members ofMI5,British security forces and theProvisional Irish Republican Army.It describes the various tactics, both military and political, used by both sides inthe TroublesinNorthern Ireland.[5]
Publishers Weeklycalled the book "highly opinionated" but praised "its attention to detail and its direct, potent writing."Library Journalsaid "[t]he role of British Intelligence in Ulster has never been so deeply explored".[6]
On 3 December 1998 Geraghty's house was searched and he was interviewed by theMinistry of Defence Policeand in May 1999, he was charged with breaching section 5[7]of theOfficial Secrets Act 1989on the basis that he quoted from classified Army documents in the book. The Army was concerned that in mentioning theirCaister/Cruciblecomputer intelligence databases for tracking the Northern Irish populeation, and theVengeful-Gluttonnumber plate recognition and vehicle tracking system, he might have been in possession of copies of the documents.[8]
The case was dropped in November 2000.[7][9][10][11]
He has written several books on theSpecial Air Service.The Bullet Catchersis a history of close protectionbodyguards.
He is thegodfatherof magician’s assistantDebbie McGee.
Books
[edit]- Who Dares Wins: The Story of the Special Air Service, 1950–1980,1980, (ISBN085368457X)
- March or Die: A New History of the French Foreign Legion,1987, (ISBN0816017948)
- The Bullet Catchers,1989, (ISBN0586206221)
- BRIXMIS:The Untold Exploits of Britain's Most Daring Cold War Spy Mission,1997, (ISBN0006386733)
- The Irish War: The Hidden Conflict Between the IRA and British Intelligence,1998, (ISBN0801864569)
- Guns for Hire: The Inside Story of Freelance Soldiering,2007, (ISBN978-0-7499-2873-5)
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^"Who Dares Wins – Little, Brown Book Group".Littlebrown.co.uk.Retrieved28 September2011.
- ^"Tony Geraghty homepage".tony-geraghty.
- ^Geraghty, Tony (2000).The Irish War: The Hidden Conflict Between the IRA and British Intelligence.HarperCollins.pp. xx–xxi.ISBN978-0-00-638674-2.
- ^The Irish War: The Hidden Conflict Between the IRA and British Intelligence,pp. 33–39
- ^Geraghty, Tony (11 November 2000).The Irish War: The Hidden Conflict Between the IRA and British Intelligence.ISBN9780801871177.Retrieved28 September2011.
- ^"Tony Geraghty".Intellit.muskingum.edu.Retrieved28 September2011.
- ^abMaguire, Kevin (16 October 2000)."Writers: guilty until found innocent".New Statesman.Retrieved3 September2022.
- ^Duncan Campbell (2 November 2000)."Duncan Campbell, The Guardian, 2 November 2000".The Guardian.London.Retrieved28 September2011.
- ^"The Queen v. Wylde: The camera in the grocery shop".The Guardian.Retrieved5 October2015.
- ^"British Journalism Review Vol. 10, No. 2, 1999 – The sub-secret underworld of the D-Notice business".Bjr.org.uk.Retrieved28 September2011.
- ^Norton-Taylor, Richard (23 June 1999)."Secrets breach denied".The Guardian.London.Retrieved25 May2010.
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- 1932 births
- Living people
- 20th-century English writers
- 20th-century British Army personnel
- English male journalists
- English people of Irish descent
- British Parachute Regiment soldiers
- British Army personnel of the Gulf War
- Journalists from Liverpool
- People educated at London Oratory School
- Military personnel from Liverpool