Sir John Keegan OBE FRSL is a British military historian, lecturer, writer and journalist. He has published many works on the nature of combat between the 14th and 21st centuries concerning land, air, maritime, and intelligence warfare, as well as the psychology of battle. John Desmond Patrick Keegan was born in Clapham, London, to a family of Irish Catholic extraction. His father served in the First World War. At the age of 13 Keegan contracted orthopaedic tuberculosis, which has subsequently affected his gait. The long-term effects of his tuberculosis rendered him unfit for military... service, and the timing of his birth made him too young for service in World War II, as mentioned in his works as an ironic observation on his profession and interest. The illness also interrupted his education during his teenage years; however, his education included a period at King's College, Taunton, and two years at Wimbledon College, which led to entry to Balliol College, Oxford in 1953. Following graduation he worked at the American Embassy in London for three years.
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