Date
Saturday 27 September
3pm – 11pm
Tickets
Talk: complimentary
Dinner: £75
For those under 30:
Dinner: £60
Guests
Johnians are welcome to bring a guest to this event.
Accommodation
There is a limited supply of accommodation available in College. To book, please use the booking code in your invitation to access the rooms.
https://www.speedybooker.com/en-GB/eventcode
Dress
Smart casual dress for talk and tea.
Black tie or equivalent for dinner.
Parking
Limited parking will be available at the Queen’s Road Playing Fields over the weekend. Please note that vehicles are left at the owner’s risk.
Booking deadline
Wednesday 17 September
Accessibility
Please contact us at development@joh.cam.ac.uk when booking with details of any access requirements.
Terms and Conditions
Please review our event booking terms and conditions here.
General information
For further information or if you have any enquiries, please contact the Development Office on 01223 338700 or at development@joh.cam.ac.uk.
Johnian Society Day 2025
The Johnian Society warmly invites you to Johnian Society Day on Saturday 27 September 2025 in College. The event brings together alumni of all generations to foster friendships and connections with one another.
This year, we are delighted to be joined by bestselling author Ben Macintyre (1982). Join us as Ben shares insights from his distinguished career chronicling espionage, war, and the hidden lives of history’s most intriguing figures. From Agent Zigzag to The Spy and the Traitor, his books have captivated readers around the world. In this exclusive event, Ben will also offer an insight into his forthcoming book and the stories that inspired it.
The talk will be followed by a book-signing in Central Hall of the Old Divinity School, where copies of Ben’s new book, The Siege, will be available for you to purchase. Read more about Ben and his latest release below.
Programme
3pm: Tea in Central Hall, Old Divinity School.
3.30pm: Talk with Ben Macintyre in Main Lecture Theatre, Old Divinity School.
4.30pm: Book-signing in Central Hall, Old Divinity School.
7.15pm: Drinks reception in Central Hall, Old Divinity School.
7.45pm: Dinner in Hall.
Midnight: Bar closes.
Ben Macintyre (1982)
Ben Macintyre is the multimillion-copy bestselling author of books including Colditz, Agent Sonya, SAS: Rogue Heroes, The Spy and the Traitor, Agent Zigzag, Operation Mincemeat and A Spy Among Friends. He is a columnist and Associate Editor at The Times, and has worked as the newspaper’s correspondent in New York, Paris, and Washington. Several of his books have been made into films and television series, including Operation Mincemeat, A Spy Among Friends and SAS: Rogue Heroes.
The Siege: The Remarkable Story of the Greatest SAS Hostage Drama
On April 30, 1980, six heavily armed gunmen burst into the Iranian embassy on Princes Gate, overlooking Hyde Park in London. There they took 26 hostages, including embassy staff, visitors, and four 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 – hitherto an organisation shrouded in secrecy – laid plans for a daring rescue mission: Operation Nimrod.
Drawing on unpublished source material, exclusive interviews with the SAS, and testimony from witnesses including hostages, negotiators, intelligence officers, and the on-site psychiatrist, bestselling historian Ben Macintyre takes readers in his inimitably cinematic style from the years and weeks of build-up on both sides, to the gripping minute-by-minute account of the siege and rescue.
Featuring individuals from Margaret Thatcher to Abu Nidal, The Siege recreates the dramatic conversations between negotiators and hostages, the cutting-edge intelligence work happening behind-the-scenes, and the media frenzy around this moment of international significance. This is the fast-paced story of what really happened on those fateful six days, and the first full account of a moment that forever changed the way the nation thought about the SAS – and itself.
Ben Macintyre has established himself as the pre-eminent historian of the secret world, his work opening doors most of us didn’t know were there. His books have set the gold standard for accurate historical reporting, but read like heart-pounding thrillers. — Mick Herron – Author
Macintyre writes with the diligence and insight of a journalist, and the panache of a born storyteller. — John Banville – The Guardian
The definitive account of what happened . . . so gripping that I literally could not put the book down. — Jack Straw – Independent
Unforgettable — Robert McCrum – Independent
