Lt. Colonel Airey Middleton Sheffield Neave, OBE, DSO, MC, TD (23 January 1916 – 30 March 1979) was a British army officer, barrister, politician, and author.
During World War II, Neave was the first British officer to successfully escape from the German prisoner-of-war camp Oflag IV-C at Colditz Castle. For his wartime service, in 1948 the United States conferred the Bronze Star Medal upon him. He later became Conservative Member of Parliament for Abingdon.
Neave was assassinated in 1979 in a car-bomb attack at the House of Commons. The Irish National Liberation Army (INLA), a spin-off of the IRA, claimed responsibility.
Books in order of publication:
They Have Their Exits: The Best-Selling Escape Memoir of World War Two – 1955
Saturday at M.I.9: The Classic Account of the WW2 Allied Escape Organisation – 1969
The Escape Room – 1969
Flames of Calais: A Soldier’s Battle 1940 – 1972
Nuremberg – 1978
Heroic War Stories – 1983
Little Cyclone – 2013