John Horace Ragnar Colvin
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John Colvin, born Tokyo, Japan June 18, 1922, died London, October 4, 2003.
John Horace Ragnar Colvin, CMG, was the son of Admiral Sir Ragnar Colvin, KBE, CB, the architect of the Royal Australian Navy. He was educated at the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, and passed into the Royal Navy in the early part of the Second World War.
During the War he served mostly in the Far East. Among other exploits, he survived the sinking of HMS Repulse off Singapore and joined combined operations in Columbo, serving behind Japanese lines in Vietnam.
After the war, Colvin completed a degree at the School of Slavonic Languages in London and joined the Secret Intelligence Service. He was posted to a number of Cold War hotspots including Oslo, Vienna and Kuala Lumpur. His most high-profile postings, however, were Consul-General in Hanoir from 1966-67 at the height of the American Bombing campaign, HM Ambassador to Mongolia from 1971-74 and Head of SIS in Washington 1977-1980. He was appointed CMG in 1968 following his return from Hanoi.
On retirement from SIS, Colvin advised John Rockerfeller for eight years in Hong Kong. He finally retired to London in 1988 and wrote several well-regarded books of mostly military history. His best-selling works were 'Not Ordinary Men' which examined the battle of Kohima and 'Decisive Battles', which looked at 20 crucial battles throughout history. He also published memoirs of his time in Hanoi and Ulan Bator called 'Twice Around the World.'
Colvin married twice. First, Elizabeth Manifold in 1948. Secondly, Moranna Cazenove in 1967. Both marriages produced a daughter and a son.
He was a member of Brooks's Club and the Beefsteak_Club.
