Captain Sir Vyvyan Holt KBE CMG MVO (1896 – 2 July 1960) was a British soldier, diplomat, and Oriental scholar, who was held captive by North Korea for nearly three years during the Korean War.
[1] In 1930, while serving with the British Embassy in Baghdad, the tall and soldierly Holt was noticed by Freya Stark, who pinned her romantic hopes on him until he rejected her declaration of love.
[5] In June 1933, following the visit of King Faisal I of Iraq to London, Holt was made a member of the Royal Victorian Order (4th Class).
[7] The Embassy's official press release issued on his departure from Iraq in 1944 described him as, "A man of great versatility for all his retiring temperament – Captain Holt is, among other things a keen horseman and polo-player and an authority on Bernard Shaw, and Ibsen.
[11] Holt's fellow captive, Monsignor Thomas Quinlan, Prefect Apostolic of Chunchon in Korea, said on his release; Pathé News filmed their return to the United Kingdom.