Biography
Fluent in French and Russian, Scarlett was educated at Epsom College and Magdalen College, Oxford where in 1969 or 1970 he received a first class degree in history. He was a contemporary of figures including Christopher Hitchens, Robert Jackson, William Waldegrave, Edwina Currie, Stephen Milligan, John Redwood, William Blair, Bill Clinton and Gyles Brandreth. Shortly afterward, he was recruited by MI6 and served in Moscow, Nairobi (1973–1976), and Paris. In 1994, after a tit-for-tat row between the UK and Russian authorities, Scarlett was expelled from Moscow where he had been MI6's "station chief". He retired from MI6 as Director of Security and Public Affairs in 2001, rejoining in 2004.
Read more about this topic: John Scarlett
Famous quotes containing the word biography:
“Had Dr. Johnson written his own life, in conformity with the opinion which he has given, that every mans life may be best written by himself; had he employed in the preservation of his own history, that clearness of narration and elegance of language in which he has embalmed so many eminent persons, the world would probably have had the most perfect example of biography that was ever exhibited.”
—James Boswell (174095)
“The death of Irving, which at any other time would have attracted universal attention, having occurred while these things were transpiring, went almost unobserved. I shall have to read of it in the biography of authors.”
—Henry David Thoreau (18171862)