Sir (Albert) James Macqueen Craig GCMG (13 July 1924 – 26 September 2017[1]) was a British diplomat who was ambassador to Syria and Saudi Arabia, also an academic and writer.
In 1955 he took leave from Durham to be senior lecturer at the Middle East Centre for Arab Studies.
He was posted to Beirut 1964–67 and to Jeddah 1967–70, then took a year's sabbatical fellowship at St Antony's College, Oxford, 1970–71.
During this time, in November 1974 a British Airways aircraft was hijacked and flown to Tunis, where Craig was sent to deal with the crisis.
He then retired from the Diplomatic Service and was visiting professor in Arabic and lecturer at Pembroke College, Oxford, 1985–1991.