Ben Macintyre

In this extract from his history of the SAS, BEN MACINTYRE tells how its first chief charmed Churchill into backing his ragtag unit ... only to meet his match in a tubby German dentist.

By the spring of 1945, the SAS was an established covert force. Official historian Ben Macintyre reveals the unimaginable horror that members of the regiment encountered in the last days of the war.

Augmented reality and interactive exhibits will give visitors new insight into the former POW camp, where the rules of war were respected even as inmates mounted scores of daring escape attempts

The Italian artist would make Johnny Depp blush when it comes to celebrity hell-raising but mystery surrounds his demise at 38

The deciphering of a charred scroll found in the ruins of Herculaneum marks a scientific breakthrough capable of bringing much more of ancient Greece to life

The real winner of the election was anger and Keir Starmer should be prepared to find that, sometimes, things can only get worse

Russia’s move to create a maritime ‘Silk Road’ with China recalls the doomed expedition of Sir Hugh Willoughby in 1553

In Guy Ritchie’s new Second World War drama, the Germans are uniformly evil while the English smoke cigars and play cricket. The novelist Ben Macintyre sorts fact from fiction

This week’s exchange of innocent people for spies and a killer bears only a passing resemblance to Cold War trades

On May 5, 1980, live TV captured the dramatic moment when the SAS began their rescue attempt. Yet what happened inside the building was even more breathtaking, Ben Macintyre reveals in his explosive new book