Additional information

Britain’s best-selling historian Ben Macintyre tells the extraordinary story of the SAS storming of the Iranian embassy in London – joined live on stage by the people who were actually there.

On April 30, 1980, six heavily armed gunmen burst into the Iranian embassy in London. They took 26 hostages, including embassy staff, visitors, and three British citizens. A tense six-day siege ensued as millions gathered around screens across the country to witness the longest news flash in British television history, in which police negotiators and psychiatrists sought a bloodless end to the standoff, while the SAS laid plans for a daring rescue mission: Operation Nimrod.

Now Britain’s bestselling historian, Times columnist and SAS expert Ben Macintyre joins us to tell the definitive story of the embassy siege, accompanied on stage by former hostage Sim Harris, whose leap from the balcony of a burning room was broadcast live across the nation and remains the most iconic image of the siege, and Faten Karkouti, the widow of foreign correspondent Mustapha Karkouti, who as an Arab speaking hostage inside the embassy translated between the police and hostage-takers.

Drawing on unpublished source material, exclusive SAS interviews, and the testimony of the key actors, this is a chance to hear a thrilling minute-by-minute account of one of the major historical events of our time from the people who were actually there.