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Mark Lee Urban (born 26 January 1961)[1] is a British journalist, historian, and broadcaster. He is a writer and commentator for The Sunday Times, specialising in defence and foreign affairs. Until May 2024 he was Diplomatic Editor and occasional presenter for BBC Two's Newsnight.
Mark Urban | |
|---|---|
 Mark Urban at Chatham House in 2011 | |
| Born | Mark Lee Urban 26 January 1961 Marylebone, London, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Education | Rokeby Preparatory School King's College School |
| Alma mater | London School of Economics |
| Occupation(s) | BBC correspondent, military historian |
His older brother is the film-maker Stuart Urban.[citation needed] He is the second cousin of Australian country singer Keith Urban.
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 British Army, for nine months as a regular officer in the Royal Tank Regiment on a Short Service Limited Commission and for four years in the Territorial Army.[citation needed]
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 The Independent, before rejoining the BBC as a general reporter on Newsnight. From 1993 to 1994 he was Middle East correspondent for BBC News, before becoming Newsnight's diplomatic editor, a role he has held since 1995.[3][4] He has at times been an embedded reporter, first with British and then U.S. troops.[citation needed]
In his years on Newsnight, he has reported on the Gulf War, the Bosnian War, War in Kosovo, the War in Afghanistan and 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]
He left Newsnight and the BBC in May 2024 following deep budget cuts and format changes.
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In 1992, Urban published Big Boys' Rules: The SAS and the secret struggle against the IRA on killings by British Army and Royal Ulster Constabulary undercover units in Northern Ireland between 1976 and 1987.[7] The book, which was subject to censorship by the 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, which had tried to prevent publication.[8][9]
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- Soviet Land Power (1985) ISBN 9780711014428
- War in Afghanistan (1987) ISBN 9780333514771
- Big Boys' Rules: The SAS and the secret struggle against the IRA (1992) ISBN 9780571168095
- UK Eyes Alpha: Inside British Intelligence (1996) ISBN 9780571190683
- The Man Who Broke Napoleon's Codes: The Story of George Scovell (2001) ISBN 9780571205387
- Rifles: Six Years with Wellington's Legendary Sharpshooters (2003) ISBN 9780802714374
- Generals: Ten British Commanders Who Shaped the World (2005) ISBN 9780571224876
- Fusiliers: Eight Years with the Redcoats in America (2007) ISBN 9780571224883
- Task Force Black: The Explosive True Story of the Secret Special Forces War in Iraq (2011) ISBN 9780312541279
- The Tank War: The British Band of Brothers - One Tank Regiment's World War II (2014) ISBN 9781408703632
- The Edge: Is The Military Dominance Of The West Coming To An End? (2015) ISBN 9781408705834
- The Skripal Files: The Life and Near Death of a Russian Spy (2018) ISBN 9781250207739
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