Derek Boorman

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Sir Derek Boorman

Born(1930-09-13)13 September 1930
Died25 April 2025(2025-04-25) (aged 94)
Allegiance United Kingdom
BranchFile:Flag of the British Army.svg British Army
Service years1950−1988
RankLieutenant-General
Service number411897
UnitNorth Staffordshire Regiment
Commands51st Brigade
Commander of British Forces in Hong Kong
AwardsKnight Commander of the Order of the Bath

Lieutenant-General Sir Derek Boorman KCB (13 September 1930 – 25 April 2025) was a British Army officer.

Military career

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Educated at Wolstanton Grammar School and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst,[1] Boorman was commissioned into the North Staffordshire Regiment in 1950.[2] He was Deputy Assistant Adjutant and Quartermaster General at Headquarters 48th Gurkha Infantry Brigade and subsequently Commander of 51st Brigade in Hong Kong.[3]

He was appointed Director of Military Operations at the Ministry of Defence in 1980[4] and Commander of British Forces in Hong Kong in 1982.[5] He went on to be Chief of Defence Intelligence in 1985:[6] in that capacity he took the view that Mikhail Gorbachev's proposals for internal reform and deep cuts in missile stocks were genuine.[7] He retired from the British Army in 1988.[8]

He was also Colonel of the 6th Queen Elizabeth's Own Gurkha Rifles from 1983 to 1988[9] and Colonel of the Staffordshire Regiment from 1985 to 1990.[10]

Retirement and death

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In October 1992 he was appointed a Member of the Government's Security Commission[11] and in 1996 he accused Government Ministers of being untruthful in their evidence to the Arms to Iraq Inquiry.[12] He retired from the Security Commission in 1998.[13]

In 1994 he became Chairman of the Royal Hospitals Trust – a post he held until 1998.[14] Then in 2000 he became a Deputy Pro-Chancellor of the University of Kent.[15]

Boorman died on 25 April 2025, at the age of 94.[16]

References

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  1. ^ Debrett's People of Today 1994
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  7. ^ Obituary: Sir Antony Duff The Guardian, 18 August 2000
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  12. ^ Intelligence chief accuses ministers over Scott report The Independent, 10 February 1996
  13. ^ Butlerslossed
  14. ^ Bats, the General and the Fat Controller British Medical Journal, 1995
  15. ^ University of Kent
  16. ^ Boorman The Telegraph