David Holden

David Holden (1924–1977) was a writer, journalist, and broadcaster, best known as the Chief Foreign Correspondent for The Sunday Times, specialising in Middle-Eastern affairs, where he had been since 1965. He was murdered in execution style in Cairo, Egypt.

His editor, Harold Evans, used three of his top journalists to conduct a six-month investigation, including several trips to the Middle East and one to the United States. The murder was never solved and no political group claimed responsibility. In Evans' autobiography, My Paper Chase (2009), he covered the murder of Holden and investigation.

Born in Sunderland (Tyne and Wear), Northeast England, he was educated at Great Ayton Friends' School in North Yorkshire,Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois (USA).

After a three-year stint as a schoolteacher in Scotland, Holden worked as a professional actor. He returned to North America, travelling as an odd-job man in the US and Mexico. In 1955, he was recruited as an assistant correspondent in Washington, DC by The Times (London).

The following year, Holden transferred to the Middle East to cover the political and diplomatic crisis following the 1956 joint invasion of Egypt by Israel, France, and Britain.

As Middle East Correspondent for The Times, he travelled throughout the Arab World during the next four years, then was named roving correspondent. In 1961 he joined The Guardian with the same wide brief. In 1965 he became Chief Foreign Correspondent of The Sunday Times and was serving in that position at the time of his death.

In addition to his journalism, Holden wrote books: Farewell to Arabia (1966) and Greece Without Columns (1972).

He began working on a third book, The House of Saud about the Saudi royal family, in 1976. Before he could finish it; he was killed. The book had to be completed later by two other Middle-Eastern specialists, Richard Johns and James Buchan, both then with the Financial Times.

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