37-653: Official Secrets may refer to: Official Secrets (film) , a docudrama about a whistleblower leaking that the United States blackmailed the United Nations into supporting the Iraq War "Official Secrets" ( Yes, Prime Minister ) , the tenth episode of the TV series See also [ edit ] Official Secrets Act , a statute in several Commonwealth countries Topics referred to by
74-527: A Royal Television Society (RTS) Award for a film about Ireland. In 1986, he joined The Guardian as a reporter, later Rome correspondent covering the Mafia and Southern Europe. From there, he covered the Balkan wars , revealing a gulag of concentration camps. In August 1992, Vulliamy and British television reporter Penny Marshall managed to gain access to the notorious Omarska and Trnopolje camps, operated by
111-441: A CD box set of solo records by Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin and in 2017, contributed an essay to the book which accompanied the 50th anniversary edition, remixed by George Martin's son Giles, of The Beatles 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band', for Apple Records. In 2018 he published a memoir through music, When Words Fail: A Life with Music, War and Peace , also for Granta, published in the United States as 'Louder Than Bombs' by
148-407: A familiar structure and an obvious if worthy message, but rises on the strength of Keira Knightley's powerful performance." On Metacritic , the film holds 63 out of a 100 based on 28 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". In an article about the film and Katharine Gun , Sam Husseini wrote that "having followed this story from the start, I find this film to be, by Hollywood standards,
185-571: A filming start in May was announced, with Harrison Ford , Anthony Hopkins , Paul Bettany , Natalie Dormer and Martin Freeman cast. Tahar Rahim and Gillian Anderson were cast during the 2016 Berlin International Film Festival . However by June 2017, filming had yet to begin, and cast member Anderson stated she had not heard anything about the project since being cast. By January 2018,
222-524: A memo detailing a joint United States and British operation to spy on diplomats from several non–permanent United Nations Security Council member states ( Cameroon , Chile , Bulgaria and Guinea ), to "dig dirt" on them. This was to influence the Security Council into passing a resolution supporting an invasion of Iraq . Angered that the UK is being led into a war on false pretences, Katharine leaks
259-486: A remarkably accurate account of what has happened to date—'to date' because the wider story still isn't really over". Ed Vulliamy Edward Sebastian Vulliamy (born 1 August 1954) is a British-born, Irish-Welsh journalist and writer. Vulliamy was born and raised in Notting Hill , London. His mother was the children's author and illustrator Shirley Hughes , his father was the architect John Sebastian Vulliamy, of
296-581: A resolution regarding the 2003 invasion of Iraq . Keira Knightley stars as Gun, alongside Matt Smith , Matthew Goode , Adam Bakri , Indira Varma and Ralph Fiennes . The film had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on 28 January 2019 and was released in the United States on 30 August 2019, by IFC Films , and in the United Kingdom on 18 October 2019, by Entertainment One . In early 2003, GCHQ analyst Katharine Gun obtains
333-416: A spellchecker. However, Martin is able to produce the original memo, confirming its authenticity. Katharine's actions prompt GCHQ to launch an internal investigation. Seeking to prevent an invasion of Iraq and to protect her colleagues from suspicion, Katharine confesses to leaking the memo. She is arrested and detained, before being released on bail . Following the outbreak of the Iraq War, Katharine seeks
370-583: A standing ovation. Vulliamy sings in an occasional blues/rock band, "Age Against the Machine". In 2019, Vulliamy was by played the actor Rhys Ifans in Gavin Hood 's acclaimed Hollywood film Official Secrets about the case of Katharine Gun , a GCHQ agent who blew the whistle on illegal bugging of UN diplomats during the lead-up to the Iraq invasion of 2003, with Keira Knightley in the lead role. Vulliamy features in
407-491: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Official Secrets (film) Official Secrets is a 2019 British drama film directed by Gavin Hood , based on the case of whistleblower Katharine Gun who exposed an illegal spying operation by American and British intelligence services to gauge sentiment of and potentially blackmail United Nations diplomats tasked to vote on
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#1732852649231444-639: The Bosnian Serbs for mainly Bosnian Muslim and Croat Catholic inmates. Their graphic accounts of the conditions of the prisoners were recorded for the documentary Omarska's survivors: Bosnia 1992 . Discovery of the camps was credited with contributing to the establishment of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague. He remained in Bosnia for the bulk of
481-640: The Bush Administration . Despite the odds against them, Katharine refuses to plead guilty in exchange for a reduced charge. At the trial, the Crown prosecutor drops all charges against Katharine. Ben suggests to the court that this is because prosecuting her would have shown that the Blair government led the UK into war on false pretences. The film then mentions the human toll of the Iraq War and that Lord Goldsmith's advice on
518-554: The Ilizarov apparatus , an external frame that stretches the leg. As a result of the accident, he left the staff of The Guardian and The Observer newspapers in October 2016, after 31 years, to become a full-time author, journalist and film-researcher – but continues to work regularly as a reporter for The Guardian , The Observer and Guardian Films on narco-traffic, the US-Mexico border and
555-529: The Sundance Film Festival on 28 January 2019. Shortly after, IFC Films acquired US distribution rights to the film for "just under $ 2 million". It was released in the United States on 30 August 2019. It was previously scheduled to be released on 23 August 2019. and in the United Kingdom on 18 October 2019. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , the film holds an approval rating of 82% based on 166 reviews, with an average rating of 6.9/10. The website's critics consensus reads, " Official Secrets has
592-720: The Vulliamy family , and his grandfathers were the Liverpool store owner Thomas Hughes and the author C. E. Vulliamy . He was educated at the independent University College School and at Hertford College , Oxford , where he won an Open Scholarship, wrote a thesis on the Northern Ireland " Troubles " and graduated in Politics and Philosophy. In 1979, he joined Granada Television 's current affairs programme World in Action , and in 1985 won
629-470: The dissident movement and from Nicaragua . Vulliamy covered the lead-up to the invasion of, and war in, Iraq from 2002 onwards. He clashed with his newspaper, The Observer , over its support for the invasion, often unable to place his stories about false intelligence and non-existence of weapons of mass destruction in the paper (see Official Secrets film below, 2019). He reported from Iraq several times from early 2003 to 2005, on civilian casualties of
666-571: The "regional targets" section of the NSA . Despite the Observer 's pro-war stance, Peter convinces the chief editor Roger Alton that the leaked memo is worth publishing. The leaked memo's publication in March 2003 generates public and media interest. The Drudge Report attempts to discredit the document as a fake, as staffer Nicole Mowbray had inadvertently changed the text from American to British English with
703-599: The University of Chicago Press. The book explores music and conflict, and features the last interview with B.B. King . In September 2022, the RTÉ Concert Orchestra - conducted by Ciarán Crilly with soloists and choir - premiered a Cantata about the Irish Civil War, 'Who'd Ever Think It Would Come To This?', for which Vulliamy wrote the libretto. The performance, with music composed by Anne-Marie O'Farrell, sold out to
740-688: The aftermath of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait , in Iraq, revealing atrocities by Saddam Hussein 's troops in the Shiite South . In 1994–95, and again from 1997 to 2003, Vulliamy was based in Washington and later New York as U.S. Correspondent for The Guardian ' s sister paper, The Observer . In the United States , he covered the Oklahoma City bombing of 1995, and in its wake, investigated deep within
777-514: The cast the next day. Filming had moved to Manchester by 19 March, serving as a stand-in for London . Filming was undertaken in April 2018 in Liverpool's St George's Hall . The beach scenes for the character played by Ralph Fiennes is at Thurstaston beach on the Dee Estuary of Wirral peninsula and prominently shows the cottage known locally as Sally's Cottage. The film had its world premiere at
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#1732852649231814-513: The far-right militia movement. He covered US politics, society, culture and sports across the union, the transition from the presidency of Bill Clinton to George W. Bush . Later, he reported on the lynching of James Byrd in Jasper, Texas , and on its slipstream, penetrated the white supremacist backstory behind the killer's world, in jail and among fringe religious compounds. He was living in New York at
851-551: The film furious at censorship by his own paper of a story he filed during October–December 2002 from an inside CIA source, Mel Goodman , affirming that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction, while intelligence was being 'cooked' by a special office in the Pentagon – and then locating the NSA secret agent, Frank Koza , who ordered the illegal bugging. Vulliamy has called Ifans' performance "my Alter Idem, more me than I am!". In 2020, Vulliamy
888-480: The first reporters to reveal the laundering of proceeds of narco-traffic by mainstream high-street banks ( Wachovia and HSBC ) on a massive scale. Reviewing 'Amexica' in the New York Times, Tamara Jacoby wrote: "Vulliamy, with a mix of irony and pathos, writes like a latter-day Graham Greene — the detached foreign observer who has seen it all yet really cares". His book The War is Dead, Long Live The War about
925-510: The illegality of the Iraq War was made public in 2010. It ends with footage of Katharine addressing the media following the dismissal of her case, and Ben shunning Ken for putting Katharine through the ordeal "to make an example of her". Sara and Gregory Bernstein had already written a script by 2008. Eventually it found itself on The Black List , a list of "most liked" screenplays that have not yet been produced, where director Debs Paterson saw it. Still, nothing came of it until January 2016, when
962-507: The invasion, and on the subsequent insurgency. From 2003 onwards, Vulliamy has worked along the US-Mexican border , reporting on organised crime, narco-traffic, cartel wars, security and migration. This work led to his book Amexica: War Along the Borderline , which in 2013 won the coveted Ryszard Kapuściński Award – named in honor of the writer, creator and master of the genre. He was among
999-490: The memo to a friend involved in the anti-war movement , who passes it to anti-war activist Yvonne Ridley . She gets it to The Observer journalist Martin Bright . The Observer foreign editor Peter Beaumont allows Martin to investigate the story. To verify the memo's authenticity, Martin enlists the help of the Observer ' s Washington correspondent Ed Vulliamy to contact the memo's author Frank Koza, Chief of Staff at
1036-499: The peace process between the Colombian government and the FARC . Vulliamy also writes about football, music and painting. In 2014, he completed a book for Granta about Diego Velázquez 's painting Las Meninas , Everything Is Happening: Journey Into A Painting , for Vulliamy's friend Michael Jacobs, who died suddenly of cancer before it was finished. In 2013, Vulliamy wrote liner notes for
1073-636: The project was redeveloped once more, with Gavin Hood now set to direct in place of Justin Chadwick , and Keira Knightley and Matt Smith cast in February, replacing the previous cast. In March, Ralph Fiennes and Matthew Goode joined the cast, with filming beginning on 12 March 2018 in Yorkshire . Filming took place in the village of Boston Spa on 14 March. Indira Varma , Conleth Hill and Tamsin Greig joined
1110-499: The relationship's authenticity. The defence strategy is that Katharine was acting out of loyalty to her country by seeking to prevent the UK from being led into an unlawful war. With the help of Martin, Ed, and former Foreign Office deputy legal adviser Elizabeth Wilmshurst , Ben discovers that the Attorney General Peter Goldsmith changed his position on the legality of the war after meeting several lawyers from
1147-649: The remainder of the war, covering ethnic cleansing from the inside, and the siege of Sarajevo . For his coverage of the war in Bosnia, Vulliamy won most major awards in British journalism and became the first journalist since the Nuremberg trials to testify at an international war crimes tribunal, the ICTY. He testified for the prosecution in ten trials at the ICTY, including those of Bosnian Serb leaders Dr. Radovan Karadžić and General Ratko Mladić . In 1991, Vulliamy also covered
Official Secrets - Misplaced Pages Continue
1184-428: The same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Official Secrets . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Official_Secrets&oldid=917114937 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
1221-561: The services of the Liberty lawyers Ben Emmerson and Shami Chakrabarti . The British Government decides to charge her with violating the Official Secrets Act , tasking Director of Public Prosecutions Ken Macdonald with the prosecution. To exert pressure, the British authorities attempt to deport her husband Yasar Gun, a Turkish Kurd . However, Katharine is able to halt the deportation by presenting their marriage certificate, proving
1258-404: The survivors of Bosnia's rape and concentration camps was shortlisted for the same Ryszard Kapuscinski prize in 2015. The book followed survivors of the concentration camps over 20 years after the war, examining the legacy of trauma, resilience and survival of genocide. Vulliamy badly broke his leg in 2013, and wrote a detailed article from the patient's viewpoint about his prolonged treatment with
1295-527: The time of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001 and covered the story and its aftermath, in the city and along the corridors of power. While based in New York, he reported from Mexico on narco-traffic , organised crime and the mass-murder of women in Ciudad Juárez ; from Haiti on the regime of Raoul Cedras and US intervention 1994 US intervention , from Jamaica on organised crime in Jamaica, from Cuba on
1332-512: The war in Bosnia and work on organised crime. Among his awards for newspaper reporting are: Granada Television's What The Papers Say Foreign Correspondent of the Year', 1992; British Press Awards International Reporter of the Year, 1992 and 1997; Amnesty International Media award 1992; and the James Cameron Award in 1994. Vulliamy has two daughters. Vulliamy has been a vegetarian since
1369-536: Was made an Honorary Fellow of Goldsmiths' College, University of London . Accepting the fellowship, he called it "one of the great honours of my life", and urged media and journalism students to "get out there and give them hell". Vulliamy is currently working in Ukraine, on resistance - military, musical and cultural - to the Russian invasion. Vulliamy was awarded several major prizes in British journalism for his coverage of
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