John Carlin (born 12 May 1956)Official site of John Carlin
Curriculum Vitae is a British journalist and author, who deals with both sports and politics. His book ''Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game that Made a Nation'', about former South African president

Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (; ; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African anti-apartheid activist who served as the first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country's first black head of state and the ...

, is the basis for the 2009 film ''Invictus''.

Personal life

Carlin was born to a Scottish father and Spanish mother. He spent the first three years of his life in North London, before moving to

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

, Argentina, due to his father's posting to the British Embassy.Official site of John Carlin
My Story After returning to England, he was educated at St. George's College, Weybridge, and went on to earn an MA in English Language and Literature from

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

. He has one child.

Career

Carlin began his journalism career at the '' Buenos Aires Herald'' in 1981, writing about film, football and politics. In 1982, he began a six-year stint in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...

and Central America working for, among others, ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...

'' and ''

Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, w ...

,'' the ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and par ...

,'' BBC, CBC, and ABC (US) before joining the staff of ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

'' at the newspaper's launch in 1986. Carlin was ''

's'' South Africa bureau chief from 1989–1995. In 1993, Carlin wrote and presented a BBC documentary on the South African Third Force, his first television work.Official site of John Carlin
TV From 1995–1998 he was the United States bureau chief for ''

The Independent on Sunday ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was published ...

''. In 1997, Carlin wrote an article titled "A Farewell to Arms" for ''

Wired ''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered in San ...

''magazine about cyberwarfare. This was originally intended to form the basis of a 1999 film, ''WW3.com''.Fox eyes 'WW3.com' as tentpole for 1999
Variety.com, 27 January 1998 When this project stalled, its script was rewritten into the 2007 film, '' Live Free or Die Hard'' (Die Hard 4.0).The 'Die Hard' is cast for scribe Richardson
Variety.com, 26 July 2004 In 1998, Carlin joined ''

El País ''El País'' (; ) is a Spanish-language daily newspaper in Spain. ''El País'' is based in the capital city of Madrid and it is owned by the Spanish media conglomerate PRISA. It is the second most circulated daily newspaper in Spain . ''El Pa ...

'', the world's leading Spanish-language newspaper, where he worked as a senior international writer until being sacked in October 2017 after an article highly critical of the Spanish government and King regarding the Catalonian independence referendum. He has since written regularly for ''

La Vanguardia ' (; , Spanish for "The Vanguard") is a Spanish daily newspaper, founded in 1881. It is printed in Spanish and, since 3 May 2011, also in Catalan (Spanish copy is automatically translated into Catalan). It has its headquarters in Barcelona and i ...

''. He also writes regularly for Argentine newspaper '' Clarín''. Carlin was writer and interviewer for the 1999 episode "The Long Walk of Nelson Mandela" of the American PBS series ''

Frontline Front line refers to the forward-most forces on a battlefield. Front line, front lines or variants may also refer to: Books and publications * ''Front Lines'' (novel), young adult historical novel by American author Michael Grant * ''Frontlines ...

''. It was also broadcast as "The First Accused" in South Africa by the

SABC The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is the public broadcaster in South Africa, and provides 19 radio stations ( AM/ FM) as well as six television broadcasts to the general public. It is one of the largest of South Africa's stat ...

Awards

Carlin won the 2000 Spanish Ortega y Gasset Award for journalism, for an article in Spanish newspaper ''

''. In 2004 he won the

British Press Awards The Press Awards, formerly the British Press Awards, is an annual ceremony that celebrates the best of British journalism. History Established in 1962 by '' The People'' and '' World's Press News'', the first award ceremony for the then-named ...

"Food and Drink Writer of the Year" prize. He has won numerous other awards for his writing in Spain and Italy.

Nelson Mandela

Much of Carlin's career has dealt with the politics of South Africa. In a 1998 interview, Mandela said of Carlin's journalism: "What you wrote and the way in which you carried out your task in this country was absolutely magnificent…it was absolutely inspiring. You have been very courageous, saying things which many journalists would never say."Official site of John Carlin
, Review Extracts, Playing the Enemy Mandela wrote the foreword to Carlin's 2004 Spanish language book, ''Heroica Tierra Cruel'', about Africa. In August 2008, Carlin published the book ''Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game that Made a Nation'', about how Mandela used the 1995 Rugby World Cup to reconcile a nation driven by centuries of racial animosity.When Nelson had a ball
The Guardian, 31 August 2008 The book became the basis for

Clint Eastwood Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western TV series '' Rawhide'', he rose to international fame with his role as the " Man with No Name" in Sergio Leone's "'' Do ...

's 2009 film, ''Invictus'', starring

Morgan Freeman Morgan Freeman (born June 1, 1937) is an American actor, director, and narrator. He is known for his distinctive deep voice and various roles in a wide variety of film genres. Throughout his career spanning over five decades, he has received ...

as Mandela. Carlin has written for, among others, ''

'', the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...

'', the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', ''

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'', ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...

'', ''

the Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'', the ''

New Statesman The ''New Statesman'' is a British political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney and Beatrice Webb and other leading members ...

'', ''Wired'' and '' New Republic''.

Other works

In August 2011, Carlin collaborated with tennis superstar

Rafael Nadal Rafael Nadal Parera (, ; born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He is currently ranked world No. 2 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). He has been ranked world No. 1 for 209 weeks, and has finish ...

on the latter's autobiography ''Rafa'' ( Hyperion, 2012, ).

Filmography

*'' War on Peace'' (Documentary, BBC) (1993) (Writer/Interviewer) *'' The Long Walk of Nelson Mandela'' (Documentary) ''

PBS Frontline ''Frontline'' (stylized as FRONTLINE) is an investigative documentary program distributed by the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the United States. Episodes are produced at WGBH in Boston, Massachusetts. The series has covered a variet ...

'' (1999) (Writer/Cast) *'' Live Free or Die Hard'' (2007) (Script/Article) *''

Invictus "Invictus" is a short poem by the Victorian era British poet William Ernest Henley (1849–1903). It was written in 1875 and published in 1888 in his first volume of poems, ''Book of Verses'', in the section ''Life and Death (Echoes)''. Backgr ...

'' (2009) (Book) *'' The 16th Man (Documentary, ESPN) '' (2010) (Writer/Producer)

Bibliography

* ''Chase Your Shadow: The Trials of Oscar Pistorius'',

Atlantic Books Atlantic Books is an independent British publishing house, with its headquarters in Ormond House in Bloomsbury, in the London Borough of Camden. It is perhaps best known for publishing Aravind Adiga's debut novel '' The White Tiger'', which rec ...

(UK), , 2014 * ''Rafa'', Hyperion (US), and

Little Brown Little, Brown and Company is an American publishing company founded in 1837 by Charles Coffin Little and James Brown in Boston. For close to two centuries it has published fiction and nonfiction by American authors. Early lists featured Emily ...

(UK), , August 2011 * ''Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game that Made a Nation'', , Penguin, August 2008 *
Heroica Tierra Cruel
' , September 2004 * ''White Angels: Beckham, Real Madrid and the New Football'', ,

Bloomsbury Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural, intellectual, and educational institutions. Bloomsbury is home of the British Museum, the largest ...

, September 2004

Comics

* ''Mandela and the General'', Plough Publishing House (US), , November 2018 (Writer, with art by Oriol Malet)

References

External links

*
John Carlin
at Journalisted.com *
The Long Walk of Nelson Mandela
PBS.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Carlin, John 1956 births British people of Spanish descent British expatriates in Argentina British journalists British writers Living people Alumni of Lincoln College, Oxford