John Patrick McCarthy (born 27 November 1956) is a British journalist, writer and broadcaster, and one of the hostages in the

Lebanon hostage crisis The Lebanon hostage crisis was the kidnapping in Lebanon of 104 foreign hostages between 1982 and 1992, when the Lebanese Civil War was at its height. The hostages were mostly US, Americans and Western Europeans, but 21 national origins were repr ...

. McCarthy was the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

's longest-held hostage in

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

, where he was a prisoner for more than five years.

Career

He attended Lochinver House School, then Haileybury and Imperial Service College, Hertfordshire, and read

American Studies American studies or American civilization is an interdisciplinarity, interdisciplinary field of scholarship that examines American literature, History of the United States, history, Society of the United States, society, and Culture of the Unit ...

at the

University of Hull The University of Hull is a public research university in Kingston upon Hull, a city in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It was founded in 1927 as University College Hull. The main university campus is located in Hull and is home to the Hu ...

. McCarthy was a journalist working for United Press International Television News at the time of his kidnap by Islamic Jihad terrorists in Lebanon. He had recently arrived in Beirut when on 17 April 1986, two days after

USAF The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

airstrikes on

Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...

, WTN ordered him to leave. He was being escorted to the airport when a group of gunmen intercepted his car. He was held in captivity until release on 8 August 1991. He shared a cell with the Irish hostage Brian Keenan for several years. While a prisoner, he learned that his girlfriend, Jill Morrell, was actively campaigning for his release, launching a group called "Friends of John McCarthy". By the time of McCarthy's release, his mother Sheila had died of cancer, unaware of his fate. Following his release, he co-wrote, with Morrell, a memoir of his years in captivity, entitled '' Some Other Rainbow''. Their relationship ended four years later, and he married Anna Ottewill, a photographer, on 16 April 1999. They have a daughter. In 1995 John McCarthy sailed around the coast of Britain with

Sandi Toksvig Sandra Birgitte Toksvig (; ; born 3 May 1958) is a Danish-British broadcaster, comedian, presenter and writer on British radio, stage and television. She is also a political activist, having co-founded the Women's Equality Party in 2015. She ha ...

, making a

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

documentary TV series, ''Island Race'', and a book of the experience. McCarthy had attended university with Toksvig's brother, Nick. He co-presented the

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

programme '' Excess Baggage'', also with Sandi Toksvig. On 29 March 2014, McCarthy hosted the ceremony for the "I Do To Equal Marriage" event which celebrated the introduction of

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same legal Legal sex and gender, sex. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 38 countries, with a total population of 1.5 ...

in England and Wales. Toksvig renewed her vows to her

civil partner Civil partnership in the United Kingdom is a form of civil union between couples open to both same-sex couples and opposite-sex couples. It was introduced via the ''Civil Partnership Act 2004'' by the Labour government. The Act initially per ...

at the event.

Honours and affiliations

McCarthy is a Patron of Freedom from Torture (formerly the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture), and has been awarded an honorary D.Litt. from his ''alma mater'', the

, where a

students' union A students' union or student union, is a student organization present in many colleges, universities, and high schools. In higher education, the students' union is often accorded its own building on the campus, dedicated to social, organizat ...

bar (now an ice cream parlour) is named after him. He was awarded a CBE in the 1992 New Year Honours List.

Media references

*The set of Series 1 of ''Drop the Dead Donkey'', first aired in 1990, included a copy of a "Wanted" poster with McCarthy's photograph released during the campaign on his behalf. It is displayed on the wall in the news room and is frequently in shot, but not mentioned in the programme. *The 1993

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

film ''Hostages'', starring

Colin Firth Colin Andrew Firth (born 10 September 1960) is an English actor and producer. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Colin Firth, several accolades, including an Academy Award, two British Academy Film Awards, BAFTA Aw ...

as McCarthy, was a fictionalised account of the

. *A film version of his and Keenan's kidnapping and incarceration was made in 2003. Titled '' Blind Flight'', the British film was directed by John Furse starring Ian Hart as Keenan and

Linus Roache Linus William Roache (born 1 February 1964) is a British actor. He played Executive ADA List of Law & Order characters#Michael Cutter, Michael Cutter in the NBC dramas ''Law & Order'' (2008–2010) and ''Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'' (2011 ...

as McCarthy. *In 2006 McCarthy collaborated with the composer Adam Gorb and the librettist Ben Kaye to create ''Thoughts Scribbled on a Blank Wall'', an exploration of the mental torture he underwent during his long incarceration. Commissioned by JAM (John Armitage Memorial), the work premiered in Fleet Street to critical acclaim in 2007 and was described by BBC Radio 3's Sean Rafferty as "Powerful stuff. A protest Cantata, the first of a genre." ''Thoughts Scribbled on a Blank Wall'' was scheduled for CD release in 2011. *The

Stiff Little Fingers Stiff Little Fingers are a Northern Irish punk rock band from Belfast. They formed in 1977 at the height of the Troubles, which informed much of their songwriting. They started out as a schoolboy band called Highway Star (named after the Deep P ...

song ''Beirut Moon'' was inspired by McCarthy's ordeal. It criticized the government for not acting to free him and was subsequently withdrawn from sale.VH1.com
/ref> *A major Sky Arts series, ''Art of Faith'', presented by McCarthy, was broadcast in 2008. The series, produced by Illuminations, was an exploration of the art and architecture of Islam, Christianity and

Judaism Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...

. In 2009, production of a follow-up series of ''Art of Faith'' began, featuring

Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...

and religions of the Tao.

Books

* * * *

Books about McCarthy

*'' An Evil Cradling''; by Brian Keenan (McCarthy is a main character) Penguin Books

References

External links

BBC: Beirut hostage John McCarthy freed

John McCarthy Official Website
Corporate Speaking

{{DEFAULTSORT:McCarthy, John 1956 births 1980s missing person cases Alumni of the University of Hull BBC World Service presenters British male journalists British people taken hostage Commanders of the Order of the British Empire English male non-fiction writers Foreign hostages in Lebanon Formerly missing British people Journalists from Kingston upon Hull Kidnappings by Islamists Living people Missing person cases in Lebanon People educated at Haileybury and Imperial Service College People educated at Lochinver House School People from Hertfordshire Place of birth missing (living people)