Andrew Mango


Andrew James Alexander Mango was a British author who was born in Turkey as one of three sons of a prosperous Anglo-Russian family. He was the brother of the distinguished Oxford historian and Byzantinist Professor Cyril Mango. Mango's early years were passed in Istanbul; in the mid-1940s, he left for Ankara and obtained a job as a press officer in the British Embassy. He moved to the United Kingdom in 1947 and lived in London until his death. He held degrees from the University of London, including a doctorate on Persian literature. He joined the BBC's Turkish section while still a student and, spent his entire career in the External Services, rising to be Turkish Programme Organiser and then Head of the South European Service. He retired in 1986. Mango died at the age of 88 on 6 July 2014. His death was announced by Richard Moore, the British Ambassador to Turkey.

Writings on Turkey and Atatürk

His background in Persian and Arabic studies allowed him to master Ottoman Turkish. He wrote his PhD thesis at the SOAS on Alexander the Great. Where he later throughout his career would also guest lecture and advise on modern Turkish studies.
Mango wrote his first book named Turkey in 1968 when he was working for the BBC. After his retirement from the BBC his productivity increased. His book on Atatürk which he wrote in 1999 was what established him internationally as a leading authority on modern Turkey and its origins.
Mango spent five years working on the biography of Atatürk, using Turkish printed sources though not archival material.