# > True Stories Behind The Hype ## Pages - [Home](https://mydiplomaticlife.com/home/): Think Different. Make Different. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Sed proin eget eu sit nec risus. Sed... - [Iraq](https://mydiplomaticlife.com/iraq/) - [My Diplomatic Life - True Stories Behind The Hype](https://mydiplomaticlife.com/): My diplomatic life true revealing stories behind the hype is a story that takes the sheen off the perception of... - [Blog](https://mydiplomaticlife.com/blog-3/): [the-post-grid id=”1498″ title=”My Grid”] ## Posts - [How To Play Golf In North Korea](https://mydiplomaticlife.com/how-to-play-golf-in-north-korea/): How To Play Golf In North Korea, really? This is a story that not many people would believe. In a... - [Albania My First Posting A Bloodstained Surprise](https://mydiplomaticlife.com/albania-my-first-posting-a-bloodstained-surprise/): Albania My First Posting A Bloodstained Surprise. How did this come about? So it was on a cold and windy... - [Lifestyle From RAF Russian Linguist To British Diplomat](https://mydiplomaticlife.com/lifestyle-from-raf-russian-linguist-to-british-diplomat/): How An RAF Russian Linguist Became A Diplomat - [Albania British Diplomats Shot Conclusion](https://mydiplomaticlife.com/albania-british-diplomats-shot-conclusion/): Albania British Diplomats Shot relates to the aftermath of an ambush and shooting of 2 British diplomats on an Albanian... - [Iran Royal Navy Hostages What Really Happened In 2007](https://mydiplomaticlife.com/iran-royal-navy-hostages-what-really-happened-in-2007/): As HM Consul to Iran over the period of this incident, it proved to be a hopelessly frustrating and humiliating... - [North Korea Military Plan Cruel Deception](https://mydiplomaticlife.com/north-korea-military-plan-cruel-deception/): North Korea, what began as a rare case of bilateral cooperation recovering remains of an RAF pilot ended up as... - [North Korea Military Work With British Diplomat](https://mydiplomaticlife.com/north-korea-military-work-with-british-diplomat/): North Korea military works closely with British diplomat is a unique story of the bilateral efforts to recover remains of... - [Albania British Diplomats Ambushed And Shot](https://mydiplomaticlife.com/albania-british-diplomats-ambushed-and-shot/): Albania British Diplomats Ambushed And Shot is Part 1 of a story that occurred in 1998. It was a volatile... - [Albania WW2 RAF Pilots Secret Grave Found](https://mydiplomaticlife.com/albania-ww2-raf-pilots-secret-grave-found/): A small Albanian village kept a deadly secret for nearly 50 years that had it leaked out would have led... - [Albania Bloodshed Avoided At Queens Party](https://mydiplomaticlife.com/albania-bloodshed-avoided-at-queens-party/): Albania Bloodshed Avoided At Queens Party is a story from Tirana, Albania that came about thus. Sitting out and enduring... - [Exclusive: How SAS Rescued Trapped British Diplomats in Albania](https://mydiplomaticlife.com/exclusive-how-sas-rescued-trapped-british-diplomats-in-albania/): Exclusive: How SAS Rescued Trapped British Diplomats in Albania is a story of how the Special Air Service (SAS Motto... - [Libya Arab Spring Rescuing Oil Workers](https://mydiplomaticlife.com/libya-arab-spring-rescuing-oil-workers/): Learn about the daring mission to evacuate British and EU oil workers from Libya amidst the Arab Spring turmoil. Ensuring... # # Detailed Content ## Pages - Published: 2026-09-21 - Modified: 2026-09-21 - URL: https://mydiplomaticlife.com/home/ Think Different. Make Different. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Sed proin eget eu sit nec risus. Sed ut quam integer a nisl amet. Ed ut quam integer a nisl amet Get Started Ideas Research Pixel Perfect SEO Friendly Design Support Zakra Invites You To Build Your Next Site Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. At in proin lacus, sed morbi pulvinar malesuada duis. Viverra pellentesque enim mattis cursus lorem cras est augue. Sit lectus nisl velit rutrum. In quis quis vitae vitae. Sollicitudin rhoncus sit sed odio tristique id. Nisl turpis sed fames sed egestas et. Massa, id platea elit diam scelerisque. Our Awesome Portfolio Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Sapien, sit sed accumsan, viverra sociis ullamcorper aenean fermentum. Plan & Pricing Aorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Sapien, sit sed accumsan, viverra sociis ullamcorper aenean fermentum. Silver $39 per month 1 User 3 Projects Download Prototypes 1 Year Repair Coverage Monthly Reports 7/24 Support Get Started Gold $49 per month 3 User 10 Projects Download Prototypes 3 Year Repair Coverage Weekly Reports 7/24 Support Get Started Platinum $59 per month Unlimited User Unlimited Projects Download Prototypes 5 Repair Coverage Daily Reports 7/24 Support Get Started Meet Our Team Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Sapien, sit sed accumsan, viverra sociis ullamcorper aenean fermentum. Desirae Dias CEO Madelyn Torff Marketing Head Tiana Gouse Project Manager Livia Passaquin Director Client Reviews Pirem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.... - Published: 2020-07-11 - Modified: 2023-10-11 - URL: https://mydiplomaticlife.com/ My diplomatic life true revealing stories behind the hype is a story that takes the sheen off the perception of a glamorous and privileged lifestyle. If you thought the life of a diplomat was all glamour, high profile and high powered mixing with the great and the good shaping world events, this site should go some way in dispelling some of the more widely held perceptions of a diplomatic life. There are many autobiographies out there penned beautifully by ex-Ambassadors (and their wives! ) detailing what they got up to at their diplomatic level. But what about those mid-level diplomats further down the diplomatic totem pole, what exactly did they do and why is not much written by those who served in the trenches in quite frankly some God awful places around the world? Well. now is the time to address this black diplomatic hole and so... ... ... This blog gives you an in-depth look, warts and all, at the varied work, I as a diplomat had to carry out in various conflict posts including the so-called "Axis of Evil" diplomatic posts around the world. I volunteered for the posts my colleagues avoided. Everyone has a story to tell and I am no exception. These are not the usual diplomatic stories, high level meetings and glamorous cocktail parties from a Washington or Paris Embassy. This blog and future posts will show the true story of what a mid-level diplomat had to deal with. The experience I had serving in... - Published: 2020-07-11 - Modified: 2020-09-15 - URL: https://mydiplomaticlife.com/blog-3/ [the-post-grid title="My Grid"] ## Posts - Published: 2021-02-19 - Modified: 2026-08-23 - URL: https://mydiplomaticlife.com/how-to-play-golf-in-north-korea/ - Categories: North Korea - Tags: golf, golf course, North Korea How To Play Golf In North Korea, really? This is a story that not many people would believe. In a culture that abhorred any form of perceived western or capitalist pastime, especially one that is seen as relatively exclusive, how was this possible? Well, the short answer was that even in North Korea it was possible. In a recent post about my time living in North Korea for 3 years, one of the questions posed was "what did you do for fun? " ife In North Korea As A Foreigner Surviving 3 Years Yanggakdo Hotel golf course I answered that we discovered a small 9-hole golf course. This was at the Yanggakdo Hotel, one of the main hotels in Pyongyang for the use of foreigners. So we started off playing quite regularly there. I had always wanted to learn how to play golf, I just didn't imagine it would be in North Korea. You could hire equipment although as time went on we all bought our own. But as usual with all forms of Foreigner/North Korea interaction such as this, it was horrendously expensive. Then again, what else did we have to spend our money on? It was a challenging little course. It came complete with lady caddies plus quite a good little bar and restaurant attached. So, many were the weekends we spent hacking our way around the course gradually improving our techniques. Then one evening at a social event at which North Korean government officials were present, someone,... - Published: 2021-01-14 - Modified: 2026-06-22 - URL: https://mydiplomaticlife.com/albania-my-first-posting-a-bloodstained-surprise/ - Categories: Albania/Kosovo - Tags: Albania, British Diplomat, British Embassy, diplomats, Tirana Dajte Mountain Albania My First Posting A Bloodstained Surprise. How did this come about? So it was on a cold and windy January morning in 1998 that I arrived at Heathrow airport to catch my early morning flight to Vienna en-route to my final destination Tirana the capital city of Albania. With all the background briefs on the country I had read up on, I was setting off on this, my first overseas posting with a lot of excitement and more than just a little bit of apprehension and trepidation, determined to do a good job come what may. Having changed planes in Vienna, I boarded the small Austrian Airlines BAe146 for the final leg of my flight to Tirana. Because of the ongoing unstable situation that still prevailed in Albania at that time, very few regular airlines were still flying into the country. Austrian was one of them and despite the relatively small size of the BAe146, it was virtually empty with the crew very nearly outnumbering passengers. As the plane descended steeply, coming out of the fog enshrouded mountains to land at Tirana airport, there was a thick blanket of snow on the ground with a strong, stiff wind blowing which made for a very bumpy landing. Disembarking from the aircraft we boarded a lorry (no bus here) for the short trip from the aircraft to the single-storied airport terminal. After passing through immigration control and collecting my bags, I stepped outside the unheated terminal into the freezing... - Published: 2021-01-13 - Modified: 2026-07-31 - URL: https://mydiplomaticlife.com/lifestyle-from-raf-russian-linguist-to-british-diplomat/ - Categories: About Me - Tags: berlin, British Diplomat, Diplomat, germany, RAF How An RAF Russian Linguist Became A Diplomat Lifestyle From RAF Russian Linguist To British Diplomat. How An RAF Russian Linguist Became A Diplomat. What was the journey from the RAF to the Diplomatic Service? Did my military service and qualifications help with the process? All reasonable questions, so here is a brief description of the journey. The Diplomatic Service was in effect my second career. Prior to joining, my first was serving as a Russian/German dual linguist with the Royal Air Force (RAF). On joining the RAF, I took the language aptitude exam and was fortunate enough to pass and be offered the opportunity to become a linguist. So, after intensive Russian language training at the RAF School of Languages at RAF North Luffenham near Stamford, I was posted to West Berlin . Although based/housed at RAF Gatow on the far western fringes of the city, my place of work was Teufelsberg, which was a joint US/UK facility. It dominated the Berlin skyline, being built on top of a man-made mountain (from WW2 rubble). To say the work there was interesting would be an understatement! Some years later, I returned to the RAF School of Language Training in the UK to qualify as a dual linguist, my second language being German. On completion of the course, I returned back to Berlin and back to Teufelsberg. The bulk of my RAF career was spent in West Berlin but I also had postings in the UK, to GCHQ in Cheltenham, RAF Digby and RAF Wyton. Read more - Published: 2020-08-01 - Modified: 2023-11-03 - URL: https://mydiplomaticlife.com/albania-british-diplomats-shot-conclusion/ - Categories: Albania/Kosovo - Tags: Albania, ambush, diplomats, gunmen, police, Tirana Albania British Diplomats Shot relates to the aftermath of an ambush and shooting of 2 British diplomats on an Albanian mountainside on the outskirts of Tirana Albania British Diplomats Shot Conclusion, details the aftermath of the incident where myself and two colleagues from the British Embassy were ambushed on Dajte mountain on the outskirts of Tirana in Albania in 1998 and my two colleagues shot. Albania British Diplomats Ambushed And Shot The story continues: So we set off. There was a small convoy of police cars plus our vehicle that slowly snaked back up the mountain. Finally we reached the spot. It was not hard to identify as there was broken glass on the road as well as the long tyre marks we had left behind as we burned rubber taking off making our escape. Police convoy enroute to ambush spot The convoy stopped and the police got out of their vehicles and I joined them. Some started to cordon off the road while a number with automatic weapons spread out around the scene in some sort of haphazard search pattern looking for clues or traces of the culprits. After about half an hour just standing around, I asked my Embassy driver, Benny to ask the police if I could leave for the hospital to visit my colleagues. The senior policeman on the scene agreed but said he wanted me to visit police HQ later that day to make an initial statement. After agreeing to do so and telling them that until further notice Benny would be my official interpreter for the time being, both he and I jumped in our vehicle and headed for the... - Published: 2020-07-29 - Modified: 2023-11-03 - URL: https://mydiplomaticlife.com/iran-royal-navy-hostages-what-really-happened-in-2007/ - Categories: Iran - Tags: American, Australian, hostages, Iran, Royal Navy As HM Consul to Iran over the period of this incident, it proved to be a hopelessly frustrating and humiliating experience. Iran Royal Navy Hostages What Really Happened in 2007 is an event that at the time was global news. From my perspective as Her Majesty's Consul to Iran at the time, it was a hopelessly frustrating and humiliating experience. As a proud maritime nation, it was also not exactly one of our finest moments. Now I had a saying at the time that whenever the Iranians got twitchy or felt threatened, they would take hostages. They had form for this and in this case they didn't let me down. In fact this 2007 incident was not the first time they had detained British military personnel. In June 2004, three small vessels and eight Royal Navy personnel were detained by Iranian forces after they allegedly entered Iranian waters on the Shatt al-Arab river without permission. At the time, the story was broken when the capture was announced on state-run Iranian television. British officials only stated that they had "lost contact" with the boats, before confirming their detention. On that occasion the men were later released unharmed, but only after being paraded blindfolded on Iranian TV and made to apologise for their role in the incident. The equipment was not returned. So now fast forward to Friday March 23rd 2007: Fifteen British Royal Navy and Royal Marines personnel were captured by Iranian authorities, more specifically the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) at gunpoint in the Persian Gulf just off the Iraqi coast that morning. Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps - Wikipedia The Islamic... - Published: 2020-07-27 - Modified: 2023-11-03 - URL: https://mydiplomaticlife.com/north-korea-military-plan-cruel-deception/ - Categories: North Korea - Tags: Daily Mail, grave, New York Times, North Korea, RAF Pilot North Korea, what began as a rare case of bilateral cooperation recovering remains of an RAF pilot ended up as nothing but a cruel deception North Korea Military Plan Cruel Deception is a story that once I had the full details of the aftermath several years later, quite frankly left me speechless and angry. How To Survive 3 Years In North Korea As A Foreigner In early 2004, I was contacted at the embassy in Pyongyang by David Hinton, the brother of an RAF pilot who had been shot down in 1952 over North Korea during the Korean war. He said he had been working for several years trying to garner as much information from a variety of primary sources as to the fate of his brother. This information he now had in his possession. Most of the details of the shoot down were supplied by eyewitness United States Air Force (USAF) pilots including map coordinates of the site of the crash (which he later sent to me). He then expressed a wish to be able to visit North Korea and hopefully, finally discover the fate of his brother. Could we help? The background was that the pilot, Flt Lt Desmond Hinton, who received the Distinguished Flying Cross in World War II for shooting down two Japanese fighters had bailed out of his burning F84e Thunderjet whilst carrying out a strafing mission north east of Pyongyang on 2 January 1952. At this time during the Korean war, Flt Lt Hinton was one of a number of RAF pilots who were attached to and flying with the USAF. Despite enquiries after the war and with no... - Published: 2020-07-16 - Modified: 2023-11-03 - URL: https://mydiplomaticlife.com/north-korea-military-work-with-british-diplomat/ - Categories: North Korea - Tags: British Diplomat, Military, North Korea, Pyongyang, RAF Pilot North Korea military works closely with British diplomat is a unique story of the bilateral efforts to recover remains of a missing RAF pilot North Korea Military Work With British Diplomat relates to a unique situation where a British diplomat had a close working relationship with the North Korean mlitary for a 6 month period would in itself raise more than a few eyebrows. Working for 3 years in North Korea was on the one hand a time of frustration and on the other a time of discovery in this fascinating yet enigmatic country. Life In North Korea As A Foreigner Surviving 3 Years Butting heads on a daily basis with the stifling North Korean bureaucracy was always a battle, but occasionally there was a glimmer of achievement and sometimes from the most unlikeliest of sources. In early 2004, I was contacted at the embassy in Pyongyang by the brother of an RAF pilot who had been shot down in 1952 over North Korea during the Korean war. He said he had full details of the shoot down supplied by eyewitness United States Air Force (USAF) pilots and map coordinates of the site of the crash (which he sent to me) and wished to visit the area to discover the fate of his brother. Pyongyang - British Embassy (shared with the Germans and Swedes) The background was that the pilot, Flt Lt Desmond Hinton, who received the Distinguished Flying Cross in World War II for shooting down two Japanese fighters had bailed out of his burning F84e Thunderjet whilst carrying out a strafing mission north east of Pyongyang on 2 January 1952. At the... - Published: 2020-07-16 - Modified: 2025-08-31 - URL: https://mydiplomaticlife.com/albania-british-diplomats-ambushed-and-shot/ - Categories: Albania/Kosovo - Tags: Albania, ambush, British Diplomat, Dajte mountain, Tirana Albania British Diplomats Ambushed And Shot is Part 1 of a story that occurred in 1998. It was a volatile year in Albania's recent history. At this time, British diplomats who were posted to a volatile or conflict region received virtually no Hostile Environment Training (HET). It was usually the case you popped into King Charles Street for a quick chat with the relevant desk officer. You would get a quick country brief, then it was off to Heathrow. There was still no HET in place before my next posting to Kosovo after an eventful year in Tirana Albania. However, thankfully the FCO had got it's act together by 2005. Then, just prior to my posting to Iraq, I received a one week HET training course. This was carried out by a private contract firm just outside Hereford. It was comprehensive and tailored to the area where I would be serving. Perhaps, if we had had this training in 1998 the event that took place below may have turned out differently. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Read more - Published: 2020-07-14 - Modified: 2023-11-14 - URL: https://mydiplomaticlife.com/albania-ww2-raf-pilots-secret-grave-found/ - Categories: Albania/Kosovo - Tags: Albania, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, RAF Pilot A small Albanian village kept a deadly secret for nearly 50 years that had it leaked out would have led to deadly consequences Albania WW2 RAF Pilots Secret Grave Found is a story about a small. isolated Albanian village which kept a deadly secret for almost 50 years during the oppressive, communist regime of Enver Hoxha. The secret they kept lay unmarked and untended in the local village graveyard. So, what was this secret that if it had leaked out could have had potentially deadly consequences for the village? The story developed thus: During the long and hot Albanian summer of 1998, the embassy was contacted by the Mayor of Saranda. Saranda was a medium-sized coastal town and popular holiday resort in the south of the country located near the Greek border and lying directly opposite the island of Corfu. The Mayor said that he had been contacted by a resident of the village of Drovian which was located in the mountains just above Saranda. Apparently, this villager, his family and the whole village had been living with a secret for decades. It transpired that during the second World War when the Italians invaded Albania, an RAF fighter plane, during the course of a dogfight, had collided with an Italian machine and the badly burned British RAF pilot had baled out. He landed just outside the village and despite the tender ministrations of the villagers, had tragically died from his wounds. The villagers then buried him in an unmarked grave in the church grounds as they did not want the Italians to find him. After the war, with the advent of the brutal... - Published: 2020-07-13 - Modified: 2023-11-03 - URL: https://mydiplomaticlife.com/albania-bloodshed-avoided-at-queens-party/ - Categories: Albania/Kosovo - Tags: Albania, Ambassador, British Embassy, Diplomat, President, The Queen, Tirana - Formats: Image Albania Bloodshed Avoided At Queens Party is a story from Tirana, Albania that came about thus. Sitting out and enduring the lockdown , I spent a lot of time trawling through YouTube videos especially trooping the colour and the celebrations of Queen Elizabeth's birthday. I love our history and traditions and make no apologies for saying so. Therefore, every year, on the occasion of the Queen's official birthday, all British embassies and Posts throughout the world organise their own Queen's birthday celebration. So, this took me back to a time and place when the apparently straightforward task of arranging an event of this magnitude can often be fraught with uncertainty and a whiff of danger, especially abroad. It was the first week in June 1998 in Tirana, where the focus then was on the upcoming Queens Birthday Party, (QBP) which I had been told I was to organise. Read more - Published: 2020-07-11 - Modified: 2025-08-31 - URL: https://mydiplomaticlife.com/exclusive-how-sas-rescued-trapped-british-diplomats-in-albania/ - Categories: Albania/Kosovo - Tags: Albania, SAS, Tirana Exclusive: How SAS Rescued Trapped British Diplomats in Albania is a story of how the Special Air Service (SAS Motto "Who Dares Wins") rescued myself and two colleagues who were trapped in the British embassy in Tirana having been evacuated into the embassy on 12th September 12th 1998 as the country erupted into civil unrest and lawlessness. The boys from Hereford did good! Exclusive: How SAS Rescued Trapped British Diplomats in Albania was a shock to say the least as this was my first diplomatic posting and during the course of my career I took part in the evacuation of British nationals (and others) in a number of locations but on this occasion, I was the one being evacuated albeit from my residence to the embassy as a place of safety. Scene Setter This was a day I was not going to forget in a hurry. I had just under four months left before my tour ended and I had spent the previous day at work trawling through future job opportunities. The Ambassador was again out of the country and the Deputy Head of Mission (DHM) was once more in charge. I should have known from previous experience and recent incidents that trouble always seemed to flare up when Ambassadors are away from post. On this day, I awoke very early to the sounds of large explosions and the rattle of gunfire that seemed to be going off in all directions. What was going on? There had been no forewarning... - Published: 2020-07-04 - Modified: 2023-11-03 - URL: https://mydiplomaticlife.com/libya-arab-spring-rescuing-oil-workers/ - Categories: Libya - Tags: Al Qaeda, Algiers, Arab Spring, Gadaffi, Libya, Oil, SAS Learn about the daring mission to evacuate British and EU oil workers from Libya amidst the Arab Spring turmoil. Ensuring their safety was our top priority. Route marker in the Sahara Background Libya Arab Spring Rescuing Oil Workers was our given objective of evacuating British and EU oil workers who were in Libya and desperately heading for the Algerian border when timing was critical. Gaddafi loyalists were in hot pursuit of them, either to kill them or more probably take them as hostages. Plan In Motion Back in Algiers we were closely monitoring the situation that was developing in Libya. On 27 February, the UK mounted a military mission involving Royal Air Force (RAF) Hercules and Special Air Service (SAS) soldiers that flew into the Libyan desert and managed to evacuate 150 oil workers. However, it was well known that a large number of foreign oil workers were still stranded in the south and west of the country. The Ambassador immediately contacted London who agreed that we should try to mount an evacuation operation. This one would be a consular led mission as opposed to a military one and we had to move fast. The latest intelligence we had on the oil workers was that they were heading for the Libyan town of Ghadames which lies on the Libyan/Algerian border. It was decided that I would lead the mission and would be accompanied by Mustapha, one of our Embassy drivers who would act as interpreter, the British Defence Attache (a Colonel) and an armed Royal Military Policeman (RMP), one of the Ambassador’s close protection team. The reason for the military presence would be their ability, using...