Andrew Lycett

The SAS explode from the shadows in six days that shook Britain

The siege of the Iranian embassy in London in the spring of 1980 achieved nothing for the terrorists. But the previously reclusive elite army unit soon became the stuff of legend

Members of the SAS enter the Iranian embassy on 5 May 1980, ending the six-day siege and rescuing 19 hostages. [Alamy] 
issue 21 September 2024

Andrew Lycett has narrated this article for you to listen to.

Ben Macintyre has a knack of distilling impeccably sourced information about clandestine operations into clear, exciting narrative prose. His latest book, about the April 1980 Iranian embassy siege in London, starts as it means to go on – with a snapshot of seven Range Rovers, two Ford Transit vans and two furniture lorries pulling out of Bradbury Lines, the then headquarters of the Special Air Service (SAS) in Hereford.

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