He's free! A test match is halted, Tube passengers burst into tears, and 15,000 fans at a Radio 1 show go wild. A gripping account of the euphoric day, 30 years ago this week, that Beirut hostage John McCarthy's harrowing five-year ordeal finally ended
In 1986 journalist John McCarthy was taken hostage by Islamic jihadists in Beirut and held in brutal captivity.
On Saturday, Jonathan Mayo told of the powerful bond he forged with fellow prisoner, Brian Keenan, and how John’s girlfriend, Jill Morrell, campaigned tirelessly to ensure his plight was not forgotten back home.
In this concluding part, four years have passed and the two men are moved to their 17th secret location with no prospect of release.
But back home their loved ones dare to hope the end is in sight...
In 1986 journalist John McCarthy was taken hostage by Islamic jihadists in Beirut and held in brutal captivity - here he steps out of a plane at RAF Lyneham after his release in 1991
1990
May
At John’s old university, the Hull University Friends Of John McCarthy have persuaded the Students’ Union to name their bar The John McCarthy Bar. It’s opened by John’s father Pat and his old friend Chris Pearson. Chris says that he and John had closed many bars, but opening one was a first.
June
Conditions in the apartment have improved. John and Brian have access to a television to watch the 1990 World Cup. It takes John a while to realise that Lineker isn’t Arabic for ‘goal’. When their chains are removed so they can exercise, the two captives play their own game using a football made out of a pair of pants and an old mask.
A few weeks later they hear sounds from the other side of the wall. They translate the tapping: ‘My name is Terry Waite, I have been alone for over three years.’ John taps out his name but Terry is so excited to have made contact that he fails to catch Brian’s name.
August 23
Guards unchain Brian and lead him away saying: ‘You go home, family, Dublin.’ He insists on going back to say goodbye to John, but they ignore him. Brian is bundled into the back of a Mercedes, and after a short journey with his head on the lap of one of the guards, he is handed over to the Syrians.
On his release Brian speaks publicly of his friend as ‘a rare, unique and beautiful creation’. John misses Brian keenly, but is glad that he’ll be able to take news of him to his family and friends.
He later recalled how good they were for each other, playing off each other’s strengths. ‘God knows, without Brian I could not have made it through’, he said. ‘I love the man.’
American hostages Terry Anderson and Tom Sutherland are brought into John’s cell. They have a radio so are able to update him on world events — the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Poll Tax, the death of Ayatollah Khomeini. John asks for news about his family.
After a long pause Terry Anderson reaches over, holds his hand and says: ‘John, I don’t know how to tell you, your mother died a year ago’.
September 3
In Britain, support for John’s release continues to spread. The Body Shop and Our Price give away yellow ribbons, Radio One DJ Simon Mayo starts a new feature in which every month Jill will come on to his Breakfast Show to give updates on the hostages.
A Friends Of John McCarthy poster appears on the set of the newsroom TV comedy Drop The Dead Donkey.
November 3
The apartment fills with guards and John is bound, gagged and thrown into a car boot once again. Then the heavy bulk of a second man is put on top of him and a deep voice says: ‘This is a very large boot.’
Brian Keenan, Terry Waite and John McCarthy at a book launch at the Geographical Society in London in 1993
John says: ‘It was, until you got in!’ Terry Waite has had no contact with anyone other than a guard nor any news of the outside world for four and a half years. In that time he was given the occasional book, including one called ‘Great Escapes’.
Christmas Day
It is John’s fifth Christmas in captivity. He is in a room with Tom Sutherland, Terry Waite and Terry Anderson. They play a game of Scrabble made out of a cardboard box and listen to the BBC World Service.
To their delight, in her Christmas message the Queen refers to their plight: ‘We must remember those still held hostage. Some of them have spent years in captivity, and Christmas must, for them, be especially hard to bear. My heart goes out to them and to their families.’
1991
May
John, Tom and the two Terrys have been moved to a new building. Their conditions continue to improve — when air conditioning is installed, the hostages spend the morning under sheets so the engineer doesn’t know who they are. ‘He probably guessed’, John said.
Even more valuable to John are glimpses of the sun and the moon and the thought that it’s the same light shining down on England. Sometimes after waking John is overwhelmed by panic at his five lost years.
August 6
Early afternoon
A guard enters the room and kneels beside John, undoes his chain and says: ‘Come.’ John hugs Terry Waite and says a quick ‘Goodbye’.
One of the guards begs John not to think badly of him and asks what he will tell the world about them. John smiles. ‘We’ll just have to wait and see.’ John is bound and gagged and put into a boot of a car.
Unbeknownst to him, a UN diplomat called Giandomenico Picco, working on behalf of UN Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar, has brokered the deal that secured his release. Giandomenico will help a total of 11 hostages find freedom.
In Jill’s London home a friend phones to tell her that the Foreign Office say a hostage is going to be released and they’re 70 per cent certain it’s going to be John. Jill refuses to believe it’s true.
Evening
John is taken to an apartment in Beirut, placed in a cardboard crate and given food, cigarettes and blankets. The guard tells him to sleep. Through his blindfold John can see that the window isn’t locked. For the first time in four and a half years he isn’t chained.
August 7
Morning
A guard named Ayeesa is measuring John for a set of clothes and a pair of shoes. Two others give him shaving gear.
Ayeesa returns with new clothes that fit John perfectly plus a present of a watch; he says, ‘Good luck.’
In London Jill still can’t fully believe the rumours of John’s imminent release. Desperate to distract herself, she decides she has to buy a saucepan stand — right now. Her brother Brian takes her into London to shop.
Evening
One of Islamic Jihad’s leaders arrives at the apartment where John is held. Because they believe John to be ‘a gentleman’, they want him to help them write a letter and hand it to Perez de Cuellar ‘to get him to end the suffering of your friends and our friends’.
John is stunned — they have held him captive for five years and now they want his help — but he assists as best he can. They tell John he’ll be released at 10.30 the following morning.
August 8
8am London time
At St Bride’s Church in Fleet Street Rebecca Oates, the daughter of the Rector, writes ‘1943’ on a piece of paper and places it by a picture of John. It’s the number of days he has been in captivity.
In Beirut, John hasn’t slept. He’s worried about how he will get to see Perez de Cuellar and how he will find a suit and tie for the occasion. The hands on his new watch seem to be moving very slowly.
Journalist John McCarthy, pictured on his release
10:30am Beirut time
The time of his promised release has passed. John thinks that his jailers must have changed their minds. Then half an hour later a guard comes into the room. ‘Am I going home?’ John asks.
‘Yes, of course! Now you are free!’ The guard asks if he can take a photo of the blindfolded Englishman, then John is placed inside a cardboard crate and carried downstairs.
11am Beirut time
The car John is travelling in stops. A hand takes his wrist and he is led away from the car. A voice says: ‘OK, John. You can open your eyes, I am a Syrian officer.’ All the hostages released so far had gone home via the Syrians — John knows he’s going home.
Midday in Beirut/10am London time
The phone rings at the friends’ flat where Jill is staying to escape the media. Her friend Karen says: ‘Have you heard? He’s out! He’s on his way to Damascus now!’ Another friend starts taking pictures of Jill on the phone to capture the moment. Only later do they discover there’s no film in the camera.
2pm Beirut time
In a room at the Syrian Foreign Ministry in Damascus, John walks into a room full of film crews, reporters and photographers.
He says simply: ‘Oh, well hello. It’s very nice to be here after five years.’
After reading out a statement, John is reunited at the British Embassy with his father Pat and brother Terence. They weep and then congratulate each other on looking so well.
12:30pm
At St Bride’s in Fleet Street they are ringing the church bell in celebration. At Bude in Cornwall, Simon Mayo is hosting the Radio 1 Roadshow on the beach. He breaks the news to the crowd that John has been released.
Some 15,000 holidaymakers go wild. At the Oval the England v West Indies test match is interrupted by an announcement that John is free. Applause echoes round the ground.
On the London Tube, a train announcer tells commuters the news. Passengers burst into tears.
1pm
Jill is watching the BBC News with friends and they are all euphoric. She can’t believe how well John looks and gazes at all the delighted faces in the room to help her believe it is real.
John’s London flatmate Chris Martin tells reporters, ‘There are a couple of things waiting for him — his poll tax and income tax reminders. And the rent has doubled.’
9pm
John’s plane is approaching RAF Lyneham, where Jill is waiting for him. The lights in the base and in the houses around it have all been switched on to welcome him home.
As John comes down the steps of the plane, he is blinded by the lights of the television cameras. Jill waits in agony as a number of officials are getting to meet John before she does.
Finally she is ushered into the room. ‘You’re back’ she says. ‘Yes, I’m back,’ John replies.
On John’s mother’s grave, someone has left a note: ‘John is free. God bless you all.’ Today would have been Sheila’s 69th birthday.
Afterwards
John and Jill Morrell stayed together for three years before parting
Terry Waite was finally released on November 18, 1991 after 1,763 days in captivity, the first four years of which were spent in solitary confinement. Terry Anderson and Tom Sutherland were freed by the end of the year.
It took time for the former hostages to adjust to the outside world — John McCarthy found walking on uneven ground strange after years of concrete; Brian Keenan would automatically sit on the floor when he came into a room.
John and Jill Morrell stayed together for three years before parting. In 1999 John married Anna, a photographer, and continues to work as a journalist.
He refuses to say his life was ruined by his imprisonment, saying: ‘If I’m bitter, I’m still a hostage to them.’