Alistair Horne facts for kids

Sir Alistair Allan Horne (born November 9, 1925 – died May 25, 2017) was a famous British writer. He was a journalist, a biographer (someone who writes about other people's lives), and a historian. He focused on the history of Europe, especially France in the 1800s and 1900s. Sir Alistair wrote more than 20 books about travel, history, and biographies.

Alistair Horne's Early Life and Education

Alistair Horne was born in London, England, on November 9, 1925. He was the only son of Sir Allan Horne.

School Days and Wartime Travel

He went to schools like Eastacre and Ludgrove School. He didn't enjoy Ludgrove, finding it a tough place. During World War II, when he was a boy, he moved to the United States. There, he attended Millbrook School and became good friends with William F. Buckley Jr. They stayed friends for life.

Military Service and University

After school, Horne served in the Royal Air Force (RAF) from 1943 to 1944. Then, he became an officer in the Coldstream Guards, a famous British Army regiment, from 1944 to 1947. Later, he went to Jesus College, Cambridge, a well-known university. He earned a Master of Arts (MA) degree. In 1993, he received a Doctor of Letters (LittD) degree from the University of Cambridge.

Alistair Horne's Personal Life

In 1953, Alistair Horne married Renira Hawkins. They had three daughters together. Their marriage ended in 1982. In 1987, he married Sheelin Lorraine Ryan, who is an artist. They lived in a place called Turville in Buckinghamshire, England.

Alistair Horne's Career as a Writer

Alistair Horne had an exciting career. He worked as a foreign correspondent for The Daily Telegraph newspaper from 1952 to 1955. This meant he reported news from other countries.

Writing About Important People and Events

He became the official biographer for Harold Macmillan, who was a British Prime Minister. His biography of Macmillan was published in two parts in 1988. Horne was also an Honorary Fellow at St Antony's College, Oxford, which is part of the University of Oxford. He loved cricket too!

Award-Winning History Books

Two of his most famous books won important awards:

• The Price of Glory: Verdun 1916 won the Hawthornden Prize in 1963. This book is about a very long and difficult battle during World War I.
• A Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954–1962 won the Wolfson History Prize in 1978. This book tells the story of the war for independence in Algeria.

Influence on Leaders

After the 2003 conflict in Iraq, his book A Savage War of Peace became very popular with American military leaders. Henry Kissinger, a former U.S. Secretary of State, even recommended it to George W. Bush, who was the U.S. President at the time. Horne was invited to talk about the Iraq conflict on a TV show called Charlie Rose Show. He also met with President Bush in 2007 to discuss his insights.

Later Works

In 2004, Alistair Horne was asked to write the official biography of Henry Kissinger. However, he decided it would be too much work because of his age. Instead, he wrote a book about just one important year in Kissinger's life, called Kissinger: 1973, The Crucial Year, which came out in 2009.

Selected Works by Alistair Horne

Here are some of the many books Alistair Horne wrote:

• Return to Power: A Report on the New Germany (1956)
• The Land is Bright (1958)
• Canada and the Canadians (1961)
• The Price of Glory: Verdun 1916 (1962)
• The Fall of Paris: The Siege and the Commune, 1870–1871 (1965)
• To Lose a Battle: France 1940 (1969)
• Death of a Generation Neuve Chapelle to Verdun and the Somme (1970)
• The Terrible Year: The Paris Commune, 1871 (1971)
• Small Earthquake in Chile: A Visit to Allende's South America (1972)
• A Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954–1962 (1977)
• Napoleon, Master of Europe 1805–1807 (1979)
• The French Army and Politics, 1870–1970 (1984)
• Harold Macmillan (Official biography, 1988)
  • Volume I: 1894-1956
  • Volume II: 1957-1986
• A Bundle from Britain (1993)
• Monty: The Lonely Leader, 1944–1945 (co-authored with David Montgomery, 1994)
• How Far from Austerlitz? Napoleon, 1805–1815 (1996)
• Telling Lives: From W.B. Yeats to Bruce Chatwin (editor, 2000)
• Seven Ages of Paris (2002)
• The Age of Napoleon (2004)
• Friend or Foe: An Anglo-Saxon History of France (2004)
• La Belle France: A Short History (2005)
• The French Revolution (2009)
• Kissinger: 1973, The Crucial Year (2009)
• But What Do You Actually Do?: A Literary Vagabondage (2011)
• Hubris: The Tragedy of War in the Twentieth Century (2015)

Honours and Awards

Sir Alistair Horne received several important honours and awards for his work:

• He was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1992. This is a special award given by the British monarch.
• He was given the title of Knight Bachelor in 2003, which means he could be called "Sir."
• He became a Chevalier (Knight) of the Legion of Honour (Ordre de la Légion d'honneur) in 1993. This is France's highest award.
• He was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature starting in 1968.