Name John Ure | Role Author | |
Education Magdalene College, Cambridge Books Shooting Leave: Spying O, Sabres on the Steppes, In search of nomads, The Cossacks, Pilgrimages: The Great Adventur | ||
Sir John Burns Ure KCMG LVO FRGS (born 5 July 1931) is a retired British diplomat, ambassador to Cuba, Brazil and Sweden, and an author.
Career
John Ure was educated at Uppingham School. After active service as a 2nd Lieutenant with the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) in Malaya, 1950–51, he read history at Magdalene College, Cambridge before joining the Foreign Service in 1956. Besides various posts at the Foreign Office he was 3rd Secretary (and private secretary to the Ambassador), Moscow, 1957–59; 2nd Secretary, Léopoldville, 1962–63; First Secretary (Commercial), Santiago, 1967–70; Counsellor, and intermittently Chargé d'Affaires, Lisbon, 1972–77; Ambassador to Cuba 1979–81; Ambassador to Brazil 1984–87 and Ambassador to Sweden 1987–91. During his career he attended the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School.
After retiring from the Diplomatic Service, Sir John was a non-executive director of companies including Thomas Cook and Sotheby's Scandinavia, and served on the council of the Royal Geographical Society of which he is a Life Fellow.
John Ure was made LVO in 1968, CMG in 1980 and knighted KCMG in 1987. In 1973 he was made a Commander in the Portuguese Military Order of Christ.
In Who's Who, John Ure gives his recreation as "Travelling uncomfortably in remote places and writing about it comfortably afterwards."