David Stirling: SAS hero or fraud?

Special forces historian Gavin Mortimer casts a critical eye over David Stirling, who is renowned as the founder of the SAS in the Second World War. Speaking to Rob Attar, Mortimer argues that Stirling’s wartime record was far less impressive than he claimed and that his legend has obscured the achievements of those around him.

Gavin Mortimer is the author of David Stirling: The Phoney Major: The Life, Times and Truth about the Founder of the SAS (Little Brown, 2022)