Best-selling author Ben Macintyre delivered a personal account of his World War II book Operation Mincemeat at the former Kilberry Church on the evening of October 27.
Then the South Knapdale audience watched the recent film of the book starring Colin Firth and Penelope Wilton.
Operation Mincemeat is billed as “the true spy story that changed the course of World War II.”
The film was shown on a 14-feet inflatable screen via a laser projector lent by the Oban
Phoenix Cinema.
The special community event was the first for Kilberry 1821 Charitable Trust, which recently acquired Kilberry Church for the purpose of making available the building for community benefit.
The trust aims to encourage the community to hold regular events to pay for the upkeep of the building.
Trustee Agnes Wilkie, who introduced the author, said: “This was a terrific coup for both the trust and the residents; we were so lucky getting Ben, ‘a true national treasure’, to speak to us all.”
The author said: “It’s a great privilege being a trustee of this important new charity, Kilberry 1821, and I hope this delightful event will encourage others to make full use
of this wonderful place.”
Kilberry 1821 Charitable Trust was established in October 2021 and in February 2023 acquired the former Kilberry Church from the Church of Scotland with the specific aim of preserving the future of the building for community benefit.
In June, 2023, the National Lottery awarded the trust a grant to help it get started with running costs.
Author Ben Macintyre is a columnist and associate editor on the London-based newspaper The Times. He has worked as the paper’s correspondent in New York, Paris and Washington.
He is the author of Agent Zigzag, shortlisted for the Costa Biography Award and the Galaxy British Book Award for Biography of the Year 2008, and wrote the bestsellers A Spy Among Friends, Operation Mincemeat, Double Cross and SAS: Rogue Heroes.
In 2019, his book The Spy and the Traitor, which tells the story of double KGB agent Oleg Gordiesvsky, was a No. 1 Sunday Times Bestseller and was also shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize and National Book Awards.
In 2020, his book Agent Sonya: Lover, Mother, Soldier, Spy told the story of Ursula Kuczynski – codename Sonya – “the greatest female spy of the 20th Century.”
Ben’s book Colditz: Prisoners of the Castle tells the true story of the infamous prison and it became the biggest selling history book of 2022 and a N0.1 Sunday Times Bestseller.