Mark Arnold-Forster,DSO,DSC (16 April 1920 – 25 December 1981) was anEnglish journalist and author. He is best remembered for his bookThe World at War, which accompanied the1973 television series of the same name.

Mark Arnold-Forster
Arnold-Forster c.1940
Born	16 April 1920 Swindon,Wiltshire, England
Died	25 December 1981 (1981-12-26) (aged 61) London, England
Resting place	West London Crematorium
Education	Gordonstoun
Occupation(s)	Journalist ·Author
Employer	The Guardian newspaper
Known for	The World at War (book and TV series)
Spouse	Valentine Mitchison
Children	5
Parent(s)	William Edward Arnold-Forster Katherine Cox
Relatives	Matthew Arnold Naomi Mitchison Hugh Oakeley Arnold-Forster R. B. Haldane

He was the only son ofWilliam Edward Arnold-Forster (b. 1886, d. 1951), painter, publicist, and gardener, and his wifeKatharine "Ka" Laird,née Cox (b. 1887, d. 1938) and grandson ofHugh Oakeley Arnold-Forster. His parents' families included leading politicians and writers, among themMatthew Arnold, and his mother had been close toRupert Brooke and his group as well as toVirginia Woolf. Shortly after his birth, his parents went to live in a picturesque Cornish house,Eagle's Nest, inZennor,Cornwall. They placed Mark at the age of seven in a boarding school in the French-speaking part ofSwitzerland, and at nine inKurt Hahn'sSchule Schloss Salem atSalem inGermany. WhenHitler came to power in 1933, Hahn was driven into exile, and Arnold-Forster followed him to a new school,Gordonstoun inScotland, where he stayed until he left school in 1937. This upbringing made him fluent inFrench andGerman. Arnold-Forster won a place to study mechanical engineering atTrinity Hall,Cambridge, but he never took this up. Instead, after a year's apprenticeship during 1938–39 with theBlue Funnel Line, involving a voyage toManchuria, Arnold-Forster went on to join theRoyal Navy.

Mark Arnold-Forster served throughout theSecond World War, first as a merchant seaman and then in theRoyal Navy Volunteer Reserve. He served on a destroyer on theMurmansk convoy and then (1942–1944) onmotor torpedo boats in theEnglish Channel. Eventually he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant in command of a flotilla atDover, despite looking quite young for his age. His tasks included engaging theScharnhorst,Gneisenau, andPrinz Eugen in battle and torpedoing a tanker. He limped home from a battle with a broken-down engine after being nearly rammed by a German destroyer. He also laidmines under fire off the French coast and worked for naval intelligence. He was awarded theDSO andDSC, was three timesmentioned in despatches, and was demobilized as a reserve Lieutenant in 1946.

In 1946, Arnold-Forster joined the editorial staff ofThe Manchester Guardian. He worked first inManchester and then inGermany, where he wrote about the immediate post-war period and theBerlin Blockade in 1948. In 1949 he became labour correspondent, a key job he carried out for eight years. He then joinedThe Observer as a political correspondent, but in 1963 he had a falling out withThe Observer over an issue related to an editorial change to one of his articles. He resigned in disgust and returned toThe Guardian as chief editorial writer. He later moved toITN, as deputy to editorSir Geoffrey Cox, making the switch to television without any difficulty. In the 1970s, he wrote the seriesThe World at War, with narration byLaurence Olivier andJeremy Isaacs as the producer. He continued to write regular leaders forThe Guardian until his death in 1981.

On 12 January 1955, he married Valentine Harriet Isobel Dione Mitchison (1930–2023), also a journalist, daughter of the Labour politicianDick Mitchison and the novelistNaomi Mitchison.^[1] Both were related to successive secretaries of state for war,Hugh Oakeley Arnold-Forster andR. B. Haldane. They had three sons and two daughters.

Mark Arnold-Forster suffered from persistent ill health in his fifties, in particular a series of minor strokes. In 1979, he developed cancer of the uppercolon and died at his home, 50Clarendon Road,Notting Hill, London, onChristmas Day, 1981. He was cremated at West London crematorium on 5 January 1982.

• Mark Arnold-Forster,The World at War, Publ: Pimlico, Revised Edition, 2001, (ISBN 0712667822).
• Mark Arnold-Forster,The Siege of Berlin, Publ: Collins, 1979, (ISBN 0002167395).
• Mark Arnold-Forster,The Future of the Labour Party: A Stock-Taking, Publ: Manchester Guardian and Evening News, 1955, ASIN: B0007JWQE2.

• Mark Arnold-Forster, "The East German parliament,"Parliamentary Affairs,V(2), pp. 274–280.pdf

• BBC Archive with reference to Arnold-Forster
• About Arnold-Forster's TV series
• Arnold-Forster's article on East Germany
• Reference to Arnold-Forster's house
• Arnold-Forster anecdotes
• Arnold-Forster's Royal Naval Volunteer (RNVR) record