Mark Urban

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For the biologist, see Mark C. Urban.

Mark Urban
Mark Urban at Chatham House in 2011
Born
Mark Lee Urban

(1961-01-26) 26 January 1961 (age 63)
Marylebone, London, England
NationalityBritish
EducationRokeby Preparatory School
King's College School
Alma materLondon School of Economics
Occupation(s)BBC correspondent, military historian

Mark Lee Urban (born 26 January 1961)[1] is a British journalist, historian, and broadcaster, and is currently the Diplomatic Editor and occasional presenter for BBC Two's Newsnight.

His older brother is the film-maker Stuart Urban.[citation needed] He is the second cousin of Australian country singer Keith Urban.

Education and early career

Urban's father came from Poland,[2] but Mark was born in England. Educated at the independent day schools Rokeby School and King's College School in Wimbledon, South London, he continued his education at the London School of Economics.[citation needed]

After graduation, he served in the

Territorial Army.[citation needed
]

Correspondent career

Urban joined the BBC in 1983 as an assistant producer, working on several BBC news programmes. From 1986 to 1990 he was the defence correspondent of

embedded reporter, first with British and then U.S. troops.[citation needed
]

In his years on Newsnight, he has reported on the

War in Iraq.[5]

After the 2018 Amesbury poisonings Urban reported that he was working with Sergei Skripal up to a year before the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury.[6]

Military historian

In 1992, Urban published Big Boys' Rules: The SAS and the secret struggle against the IRA on killings by British Army and

D-Notice Committee, was described by John Stalker as "deep and meticulous delving into a secret war".[7]

In 2001, he published The Man Who Broke Napoleon's Codes: The Story of George Scovell, using narrative and first-hand accounts of the war. His second narrative history, Rifles: Six Years with Wellington's Legendary Sharpshooters, published in 2003, continues the story of the Iberian campaign, through the history of the

95th Rifles. His study of the Royal Welch Fusiliers also combined narrative with first-hand accounts.[citation needed
]

In 2010, he published Task Force Black: The Explosive True Story of the SAS and the Secret War in Iraq, described as a "ground-breaking investigation" and which required months of negotiations with the Ministry of Defence who had tried to prevent publication.[8][9]

Books

References

  1. ^ Date information sourced from Library of Congress Authorities data, via corresponding WorldCat Identities linked authority file (LAF).
  2. ^ Urban, Mark (2018). The Skripal Files. Macmillan. p. 209.
  3. ^ BBC News 2. Mark Urban bio. BBC Two. Accessed 13 February 2010.
  4. ^ Mark Urban Archived 27 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Debrett's People of Today
  5. ^ Mark Urban on Newsnight's coverage of peace and war, 2 February 2005.
  6. ^ Mark Urban: Salisbury poisoning: Skripals 'were under Russian surveillance, BBC, 4 July 2018
  7. ^ a b Stalker, John (31 May 1992). "No surrender". The Sunday Times. p. 7 [Books].
  8. ^ Grey, Stephen (28 February 2010). "In the line of fire; Taking the fight to the enemy; A ground-breaking, often chilling account draws on unprecedented access at the highest level to investigate the SAS's operations in Iraq". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 23 January 2021 – via Stephen Grey.
  9. ^ Evans, Michael; Coghlan, Tom (8 February 2010). "Special Forces chief battles to stop book revealing details of operations in Iraq". The Times. Retrieved 23 January 2021.

External links

Media offices
Preceded by
Unknown
 Diplomatic Editor: Newsnight
1995–present 		Incumbent
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