Writing Magazine

The style & technique of BEN MACINTYRE

‘If you’re looking for a good spy thriller, I definitely recommend this,’ said a review in the Daily Express. The book was not an invented spy yarn, but a true story – Agent Zigzag. Fact can be stranger than fiction.

Ben Macintyre, historian and Times journalist, has written ten meticulously researched books about adventurers and eccentrics from the world of crime and espionage. They are gripping pageturners by an author who combines the disciplines and techniques of journalism with the flair of a natural storyteller.

How he began

As a child, he was a voracious reader of Enid Blyton, Ronald Welch, Marryat’s and the children’s histories of RJ Unstead. Educated at Abingdon School and St John’s College, Oxford, he graduated in 1985 with a degree in history. He has a high regard for (Herman Melville) and (Scott Fitzgerald), and favourite authors include PG Wodehouse, Evelyn Waugh, William Boyd, Robert Harris, Zadie Smith, Charles Cumming and (surprise, surprise)

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