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{{Short description|British mercenary leader (1919–2020)}}
{{for|field hockey player|Michael Hoare (field hockey)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}
{{Infobox military person
| name = Mad Mike Hoare
| image = File:Mike Hoare 2018.jpg
| caption = Mike Hoare, June 2018
| birth_name = Thomas Michael Hoare
| birth_date = {{birth date|1919|3|17|df=y}}
| death_date = {{death date and age|2020|2|2|1919|3|17|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Kolkata|Calcutta]], [[British Raj|British India]]
| death_place = [[Durban]], [[South Africa]]
| placeofburial =
| allegiance = {{flagcountry|UK|size=22px}} (Second World War-era)
| branch_label = Branch
| branch = [[British Army]]
| rank = [[Colonel]]
| unit = [[London Irish Rifles]]
| battles_label = Wars
| battles = {{ubl|[[World War II|Second World War]]}}
* [[Burma Campaign]]
| spouse = {{Plainlist|
* {{marriage|Elizabeth Stott|1945|1961|end=div}}
* {{marriage|Phyllis Sims|1961}}
}}
| children = 5
| module = {{Infobox military person|embed=yes
| embed_title = Mercenary career
| nickname = "Mad Mike"
| allegiance = {{ubl
| {{flagcountry|United Kingdom|size=22px}}
| {{flagcountry|Katanga|size=22px}}
| {{flagcountry|Congo-Léopoldville|1963|size=22px}}
| {{flagcountry|RSA|1928|size=22px}}}}
| battles_label = Battles
| battles =
* {{ubl|[[Congo Crisis]]}}
* [[State of Katanga|Katanga secession]]
* [[Simba rebellion]]
* {{ubl|[[1981 Seychelles coup d'état attempt|Operation Angela]]}}
}}}}

'''Thomas Michael Hoare''' (17 March 1919 – 2 February 2020),<ref name="auto2">{{Cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2020/02/02/mad-mike-hoare-mercenary-leader-obituary/|title='Mad Mike' Hoare, mercenary leader – obituary|first=Telegraph|last=Obituaries|date=2 February 2020|work=The Daily Telegraph}}</ref> known as '''Mad Mike Hoare''', was a [[British people|British]] [[mercenary]] soldier who operated during the [[Simba rebellion]], and attempted to conduct [[1981 Seychelles coup d'état attempt|a coup d'état]] in the [[Seychelles]].<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://www.sofmag.com/eeben-barlow-formerly-of-executive-outcomes-on-mad-mike-hoare-the-legends-death/|title=Eeben Barlow, Formerly of Executive Outcomes, on Mad Mike Hoare, the Legend's Death}}</ref>

==Early life and military career==
Hoare was born on [[Saint Patrick's Day]] in [[Kolkata|Calcutta]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://guardsmagazine.com/bookreviews/2019Summer/02%20Mad%20Mike.html|website=Guards Magazine|title=Mad Mike Hoare 'The Legend'. A Biography By Chris Hoare}}</ref> to [[Irish people|Irish]] parents. His father was a river pilot. At the age of eight he was sent to school in [[England]] to Margate College and then commenced training in [[accountancy]]<ref>{{Cite AV media|publisher=CNNAfrica|medium=Youtube video|title='Mad Mike" Hoare: The Legend' a biography by Chris Hoare|people=Jill de Villeirs, Chris Hoare|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkj3lUw4Owc |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/pkj3lUw4Owc| archive-date=2021-12-12 |url-status=live}}{{cbignore}}</ref> and, as he was not able to go to [[Royal Military Academy Sandhurst|Sandhurst]], he joined the [[Army Reserve (United Kingdom)|Territorial Army]]. Hoare's childhood hero was Sir Francis Drake.<ref name="LiveDangerous">{{cite news |title=Living Dangerously |url=https://www.economist.com/obituary/2020/02/22/mad-mike-hoare-died-on-february-2nd |access-date=26 April 2020 |work=The Economist|date=22 February 2020}}</ref> Aged 20 he joined the [[London Irish Rifles]] at the outbreak of the [[Second World War]], later he then joined the [[Bolton Rifles|2nd Reconnaissance Regiment]] of the [[Royal Armoured Corps]] as a 2nd lieutenant and fought in the [[Arakan Campaign 1942–43|Arakan Campaign]] in [[Burma]] and at the [[Battle of Kohima]] in [[India]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://samilitaryhistory.org/18/d18sepne.html|website=South African military history society|title='Mad Mike' Hoare: The Legend}}</ref> He was promoted to the rank of [[major]]. In 1945, he married Elizabeth Stott in New Delhi, by whom he had three children.<ref name="Irish Times">{{cite news |title='Mad Mike' Hoare obituary: African mercenary of Irish extraction |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/mad-mike-hoare-obituary-african-mercenary-of-irish-extraction-1.4170500 |work=The Irish Times|date=15 February 2020}}</ref> A short man, Hoare was described by those who knew him as "dapper" and "charming".<ref name="Irish Times"/>

After the war, he completed his training as a [[chartered accountant]], qualifying in 1948.<ref name=accountancy>{{cite journal|title= Cautionary Tales: Soldier of Fortune|journal=Accountancy |date=January 2012|volume= 148|issue= 1421|page= 113|publisher= ICAEW|issn= 0001-4664}}</ref> Hoare found life in London boring and decided to move to South Africa.<ref name="Irish Times"/> He subsequently emigrated to [[Durban]], [[Natal Province]] in the [[Union of South Africa]] where he later ran [[safari]]s and became a soldier-for-hire in various African countries.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mercenary-wars.net/biography/mike-hoare.html|title=A brief biography of Mike Hoare, listing some of his involvements around the world|website=mercenary-wars.net|access-date=2 February 2020|archive-date=2 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200202233010/https://www.mercenary-wars.net/biography/mike-hoare.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> In Durban, Hoare was restless and sought adventures by marathon walking, riding a motorcycle from Cape Town to Cairo and seeking the rumoured [[Lost City of the Kalahari]] in the Kalahari desert.<ref name="LiveDangerous"/> By the early 1960s, Hoare was extremely bored with his life as an accountant, and yearned to return to the life of a soldier, leading to his interest in becoming a mercenary.<ref name="LiveDangerous"/>  

== Congo Crisis (1961–65) ==
Hoare led two separate mercenary groups during the [[Congo Crisis]].<ref name="auto1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/non-fiction/last-gentleman-mercenaries-incredible-life-wild-geese-leader/|title=Last of the gentleman mercenaries: the incredible life of Wild Geese leader 'Mad Mike' Hoare|first=Jake|last=Kerridge|date=15 March 2019|work=The Daily Telegraph}}</ref>

=== Katanga ===
Hoare's first mercenary action was in 1961 in [[State of Katanga|Katanga]], a [[province]] trying to break away from the newly independent [[Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville)|Republic of the Congo]]. His unit was called "4 Commando".<ref name="auto1"/> Hoare relished the macho camaraderie and the chaos of war, telling one journalist "you can't win a war with choirboys".{{sfn|Burke|2018|p=46}}

During this time he married Phyllis Sims, an airline stewardess.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/people_hoare.html|title=Mike Hoare (Congo Mercenary)|website=historyofwar.org}}</ref>

=== Simba rebellion ===
In 1964, Congolese Prime Minister [[Moïse Tshombe]], his employer in Katanga, hired Hoare to lead a military unit called 5 Commando, [[Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo#History|''Armée Nationale Congolaise'']] [[5 Commando (Congo)|5 Commando]] (later led by John Peters;<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://army.gov.au/Our-future/DARA/Our-publications/~/media/Files/Our%20future/DARA%20Publications/WP/wp138.ashx|date=29 March 2013|access-date=17 September 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130329233942/http://army.gov.au/Our-future/DARA/Our-publications/~/media/Files/Our%20future/DARA%20Publications/WP/wp138.ashx|title=Land Warfare Studies Centre {{!}} Working Paper No. 138 PRIVATE MILITARY COMPANIES AND MILITARY OPERATIONS by Lieutenant Colonel Ian Wing, Ph.D October 2010|archive-date=29 March 2013}}</ref> not to be confused with [[No. 5 Commando|No.5 Commando]], the British Second World War commando force) made up of about 300 men, most of whom were from South Africa. His second-in-command was a fellow ex-British Army officer, Commandant Alistair Wicks. The unit's mission was to fight a revolt known as the [[Simba rebellion]].<ref name="auto3">{{Cite web|url=https://www.historynet.com/mad-mike-and-his-wild-geese.htm|title=Mad Mike and His Wild Geese|first=Don Hollway|last=March 2019|date=8 February 2019|website=HistoryNet}}</ref> Tshombe distrusted General [[Mobutu Sese Seko|Joseph-Désiré Mobutu]], the commander of the ''Armée Nationale Congolaise'' who had already carried two coups, and preferred to keep the Congolese Army weak even in the face of the Simba rebellion.{{sfn|Venter|2006|p=249-250}} Hence, Tshombe turned to mercenaries who already fought for him in Katanga to provide a professional military force.{{sfn|Venter|2006|p=249-250}}

To recruit his force, Hoare placed newspaper ads in Johannesburg and Salisbury (modern Harare, Zimbabwe) calling upon physically fit white men capable of marching 20 miles per day who were fond of combat and were "tremendous romantics" to join 5 Commando.<ref name="LiveDangerous"/> The moniker Mad Mike which was given to him by the British press suggested a "wildman" leader, but in fact Hoare was a very strict leader who insisted the men of 5 Commando always be clean-shaven, keep their hair cut short, never swear and attend church services every Sunday.<ref name="LiveDangerous"/> The men of 5 Commando were entirely white and consisted of a "ragbag of misfits" upon whom he imposed stern discipline.<ref name="LiveDangerous"/> 5 Commando was a mixture of South Africans, Rhodesians, British, Belgians, and Germans, of which the latter were mostly Second World War veterans who arrived in the Congo wearing Iron Crosses.<ref name="LiveDangerous"/> Racist views towards blacks were very common in 5 Commando, but in press interviews, Hoare denied allegations of atrocities against the Congolese.<ref name="LiveDangerous"/>  

To the press, Hoare insisted that the 5 Commando were not mercenaries, but rather "volunteers" who were waging an idealistic struggle against Communism in the Congo.<ref name="LiveDangerous"/> Tshombe paid the men of 5 Commando a sum of money equal to $1,100 U.S dollars per month.<ref name="LiveDangerous"/> Hoare always argued that he was a "romantic" who was fighting in the Congo for martial "glory", and insisted that for him the money was irrelevant.<ref name="LiveDangerous"/> Whatever may have been Hoare's motivation, his men showed rapacious greed in the Congo, being noted for their looting and a tendency to steal equipment from the United Nations forces in the Congo.<ref name="LiveDangerous"/> Reflecting his pride in his Irish heritage, Hoare adopted a flying goose as the symbol of 5 Commando and called his men the [[Flight of the Wild Geese|Wild Geese]] after the famous Irish soldiers who fought for the Stuarts in exile in the 17th and 18th centuries.<ref name="LiveDangerous"/> Hoare was known for coolness and courage under fire as he believed that the best way to inspire his men, some of whom wilted under fire, was to lead from the front.<ref name="LiveDangerous"/> He crushed a mutiny in his commando by pistol-whipping the leader of the mutiny.<ref name="LiveDangerous"/>

Hoare led his men south and then turned north in a swiftly moving offensive, supported with aircraft flown by Cuban emigres.{{sfn|Venter|2006|p=250}} A particular specialty for Hoare was hijacking boats to take up the Congo river as he set about rescuing hostages from the Simbas.<ref name="LiveDangerous"/> The Simbas were badly disciplined, poorly trained, and often not armed with modern weapons, and for all these reasons, the well-armed, -trained, and -disciplined 5 Commando had a shattering impact on the Simba rebellion.{{sfn|Venter|2006|p=250}} The British journalist A.J. Venter who covered the Congo crisis wrote as Hoare advanced, "the fighting grew progressively more brutal" with few prisoners taken.{{sfn|Venter|2006|p=250}} Hoare's advance was aided by the fact that the roads in the Congo left over from Belgian colonial rule were still usable in 1964-65.{{sfn|Venter|2006|p=275}} Hoare's men tended to collect the heads of Simbas and stick them to the sides of their jeeps.<ref name="LiveDangerous"/>   

Later Hoare and his mercenaries worked in concert with Belgian [[paratrooper]]s, [[Cuban exile]] pilots, and CIA-hired mercenaries who attempted to save 1,600 civilians (mostly Europeans and [[missionary|missionaries]]) in Stanleyville (modern [[Kisangani]], Congo) from the Simba rebels in [[Operation Dragon Rouge]]. This operation saved many lives.<ref>{{cite news | title = Changing Guard | work = Time| date = 19 December 1965 | url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,834782,00.html?promoid=googlep| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070930081709/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,834782,00.html?promoid=googlep| url-status = dead| archive-date = 30 September 2007| access-date=6 June 2007}}</ref> Hoare and the 5 Commando are estimated to have saved the lives of 2,000 Europeans taken hostage by the Simbas, which made him famous around the world.<ref name="LiveDangerous"/> Many of the hostages had been so badly treated as to barely resemble humans, which added to the fame of Hoare, who was presented in the Western press as a hero.<ref name="LiveDangerous"/> He wrote about Stanleyville under the Simbas: "The mayor of Stanleyville, Sylvere Bondekwe, a greatly respected and powerful man, was forced to stand naked before a frenzied crowd of Simbas while one of them cut out his liver."<ref name="Williamson">{{cite news |last1=Williamson |first1=Marcus |title='Mad' Mike Hoare: Mercenary and inspiration for The Wild Geese |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/mad-mike-hoare-death-mercenary-wild-geese-africa-congo-seychelles-age-cause-a9327641.html |access-date=27 April 2020 |work=The Independent|date=25 February 2020}}</ref> About Operation Dragon Rouge, he wrote: "Taking Stanleyville was the greatest achievement of the Wild Geese. There is only so much 300 men can do, but here we were, part of a very big push and clearing the rebels out of Stan was a major victory for our side."<ref name="Williamson"/> Hoare did not stop his men from sacking Stanleyville as the 5 Commando blew up the vaults of every bank and cleared out the alcohol in every bar in the city.<ref name="LiveDangerous"/>

Hoare was later promoted to lieutenant-colonel in the ''Armée Nationale Congolaise'' and 5 Commando expanded into a two-battalion force. Hoare commanded 5 Commando from July 1964 to November 1965.<ref>Anthony Mockler, ''The New Mercenaries'', Corgi, 1986, 111</ref> After completing his service, he told the media that he estimated that 5 Commando had killed between 5,000-10,000 Simbas.<ref name="LiveDangerous"/> The Simbas had been advised by Cuban officers, and one of them was the Argentine Communist revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara, which led to Hoare to claim he was the first man to have defeated Che Guevara.<ref name="LiveDangerous"/>   

Speaking on the conflict, he said, "I had wanted nothing so much as to have 5 Commando known as an integral part of the ANC, a 5 Commando destined to strike a blow to rid the Congo of the greatest cancer the world has ever known—the creeping, insidious disease of communism".<ref>[http://www.historynet.com/mad-mike-and-his-wild-geese.htm Mad Mike and his Wild Geese], Don Hollway, March 2019</ref>

Later, Hoare wrote his own account of 5 Commando's role in the 1960s Congo mercenary war, originally titled ''Congo Mercenary''<ref>{{Cite book|edition = 1st|title = Congo Mercenary|publisher = Robert Hale Ltd|date = 1 July 1967|location = London|isbn = 9780709100966|first = Michael|last = Hoare}}</ref> and much later repeatedly republished in paperback simply as ''Mercenary'' (subtitled "The Classic Account of Mercenary Warfare").{{citation needed|date=February 2020}} The exploits of Hoare and 5 Commando in the Congo were much celebrated for decades afterward and helped contribute significantly to the glorification of the mercenary lifestyle in magazines such as ''[[Soldier of Fortune (magazine)|Soldier of Fortune]]'' together with countless pulp novels that featured heroes clearly modeled after Hoare. The popular image of mercenaries fighting in Africa in the 1960s to the present is that of a macho adventurers defiantly living life on their own terms together with much drinking and womanizing mixed in with hair-raising adventures.{{sfn|Burke|2018|p=110}}

==''The Wild Geese''==
In the mid-1970s, Hoare was hired as technical adviser for the film ''[[The Wild Geese]]'',<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://antonyearnshaw.wordpress.com/journalism/the-wild-geese/|title=The Wild Geese|date=8 May 2014}}</ref> the fictional story of a group of mercenary soldiers hired to rescue a deposed African president who resembled Tshombe while the central African nation the story was set in resembled the Congo.{{sfn|Burke|2018|p=110}} The character "Colonel Alan Faulkner" (played by [[Richard Burton]]) was modelled on Hoare. At least one of the actors in the film, [[Ian Yule]], had been a mercenary under Hoare's command, before which he had served in the British [[Parachute Regiment (United Kingdom)|Parachute Regiment]] and [[Special Air Service]] (SAS).<ref>{{Cite web|title = Help! Identify Toshs shorty FN from Wild Geese |url = http://www.arrse.co.uk/community/threads/help-identify-toshs-shorty-fn-from-wild-geese.132752/ |publisher = Army Rumour Service|access-date = 24 November 2015}}</ref> Of the actors playing mercenaries, four were born in Africa, two were former POWs, and most had received military training.{{citation needed|date=February 2020}}

In an interview, Hoare praised ''The Wild Geese'' as an authentic picture of the mercenary lifestyle in Africa saying: "In a good mercenary outfit, they're all there because they want to be. All right, the motive is probably the high money they earn, but they all want to do it. They're all volunteers".{{sfn|Burke|2018|p=110}} The film's message that Africa needed pro-Western leaders like Tshombe and that mercenaries who fought for such leaders were heroes seemed to reflect Hoare's influence.{{sfn|Burke|2018|p=110}}

== Seychelles affair (1981) and subsequent conviction ==
{{main|1981 Seychelles coup d'état attempt}}

=== Background ===
In 1978, [[Seychelles]] exiles in South Africa, acting on behalf of ex-president [[James Mancham]], discussed with South African Government officials launching a [[coup d'état]] against the new president [[France-Albert René]], who had "promoted" himself from prime minister while Mancham was out of the country. The coup was seen favorably by some in [[Washington, D.C.]], due to the [[United States]]' concerns over access to its new military base on [[Diego Garcia]] island, the necessity to move operations from the Seychelles to Diego Garcia, and the determination that René was not someone who would be in favour of the United States.<ref>Blum, William. ''Killing Hope: U.S. Military and C.I.A. Interventions since World War II''. Monroe, ME: Common Courage Press, 2004. pp. 268–269. {{ISBN|1-56751-252-6}}</ref>

=== Preparation ===
Associates of Mancham contacted Hoare, then in South Africa as a civilian resident, who eventually raised a force of about 55 men including ex-[[South African Special Forces]] (Recces), former [[Rhodesia]]n soldiers, and ex-[[Democratic Republic of the Congo|Congo]] mercenaries.<ref name="time1982">{{Cite news | title = Cooked Goose – "Mad Mike" gets ten years | work = Time| date = 8 August 1982 | url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,925646-1,00.html| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090219001614/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,925646-1,00.html| url-status = dead| archive-date = 19 February 2009}}</ref>

Now in November 1981, Hoare dubbed them "Ye [[Ancient Order of Froth Blowers]]" (AOFB) after a charitable English social club of the 1920s. In order for the plan to work, he disguised the mercenaries as a rugby club, and hid [[AK-47]]s in the bottom of their luggage, as he explained in his book ''The Seychelles Affair'':

<blockquote>We were a [[Johannesburg]] beer-drinking club. We met formally once a week in our favourite pub in [[Braamfontein]]. We played Rugby. Once a year we organised a holiday for our members. We obtained special charter rates. Last year we went to [[Mauritius]]. In the best traditions of the original AOFB we collected toys for underprivileged kids and distributed them to orphanages ... I made sure the toys were as bulky as possible and weighed little. Rugger footballs were ideal. These were packed in the special baggage above the false bottom to compensate for the weight of the weapon.<ref name=Hore>Hoare, Mike ''The Seychelles Affair'' (Transworld, London, 1986; {{ISBN|0-593-01122-8}})</ref></blockquote>

=== Fighting ===
The fighting started prematurely when one of Hoare's men accidentally got into the "something to declare" line at which the customs officer insisted on searching his bag.<ref name="auto3"/> The rifles were well-concealed in the false-bottomed kitbags; however, one rifle was found and a customs officer sounded the alarm. One of Hoare's men pulled his own, disassembled [[AK-47]] from the concealed compartment in the luggage, assembled it, loaded it and shot the escaping customs man before he could reach the other side of the building.

The plan for the coup proceeded despite this set-back with one team of Hoare's men attempting to capture a barracks. Fighting ensued at the airport and in the middle of this, an [[Air India]] jet (Flight 224) landed at the airport, damaging a [[Flap (aeronautics)|flap]] on one of the trucks strewn on the runway. Hoare managed to negotiate a ceasefire before the aircraft and passengers were caught in the crossfire. After several hours, the mercenaries found themselves in an unfavorable position where some wanted to depart on the aircraft, which needed fuel. Hoare conceded and the captain of the aircraft allowed them on board after Hoare had found fuel for the aircraft.

On board, Hoare asked the captain why he had landed when he had been informed of the fighting taking place, to which the pilot responded once the aircraft had started to descend he did not have enough fuel to climb the aircraft back to cruising altitude and still make his destination. Hoare's men still had their weapons and Hoare asked the captain if he would allow the door to be opened so they could ditch the weapons over the sea before they returned to South Africa, but the captain laughed at Hoare's out-of-date knowledge on how pressurized aircraft functioned, telling him it would not be at all possible.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://apnews.com/c69f06c447869e2d7d3b495b42f983ce|title=Congo Mercenary Mike Hoare Released in South Africa|website=AP NEWS}}</ref>

=== Investigation and trial ===
Six of the mercenary soldiers stayed behind on the islands; four were convicted of treason in the Seychelles.<ref name="time1982"/>

In January 1982 an International Commission, appointed by the [[United Nations Security Council]] in [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 496|Resolution 496]], inquired into the attempted coup d'état. The UN report concluded that South African defence agencies were involved, including supplying weapons and ammunition.{{citation needed|date=February 2020}}

Being associated with the South African security services, the hijackers were initially charged with kidnapping, which carries no minimum sentence, but this was upgraded to [[Aircraft hijacking|hijacking]] after international pressure.<ref name="time1982"/>

Hoare was found guilty of aeroplane hijacking and sentenced to ten years in prison.<ref name=NYT01/> In total, 42 of the 43 alleged hijackers were convicted. One of the mercenaries, an American veteran of the [[Vietnam War]], was found not guilty of hijacking, as he had been seriously wounded in the firefight and was loaded aboard while sedated.<ref name="time1982"/> Many of the other mercenaries, including the youngest of the group, Raif St Clair, were quietly released after serving three months of their six-month terms in their own prison wing.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/06/22/Seychelles-withdraws-treason-charge-against-mercenary/9797393566400/|publisher=UPI archives|title=Seychelles withdraws treason charge against mercenary}}</ref> Hoare spent 33 months in prison until released after a Christmas Presidential amnesty.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sanationalsociety.co.za/s-a-national-society-february-meeting-mad-mike-hoare-by-chris-hoare/|publisher=South Africa national society|title="Mad Mike Hoare", by Chris Hoare}}</ref> During his 33 months in prison, Hoare consoled himself by memorising Shakespeare.<ref name="LiveDangerous"/>

=== Aftermath ===
Hoare was a chartered accountant and member of the [[Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales]]. Previously the Institute had said it could not expel him despite protests from members as he had committed no offence and paid his membership dues. His imprisonment allowed the ICAEW to expel him from membership in 1983.<ref name=accountancy/>

Hoare's account of the Seychelles operation, ''The Seychelles Affair'', was markedly critical of the South African establishment.<ref>(Transworld, London, 1986; {{ISBN|0-593-01122-8}})</ref> In 2013, he published his seventh book, a historical novel entitled ''The Last Days of the Cathars'' about the medieval persecution of the [[Catharism|Cathars]] in the south-west of France.<ref name="Williamson"/> In his last decades, Hoare had extensively studied the beliefs of the Cathars.<ref name="Williamson"/>

== Personal life ==
Hoare married Elizabeth Stott in [[New Delhi]] in 1945 and together they had three children, Chris, Tim and Geraldine.<ref name="NYT01">{{Cite news|last=McFadden|first=Robert D.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/03/obituaries/mike-hoare-dies.html|title='Mad Mike' Hoare, Irish Mercenary Leader in Africa, Dies at 100|date=3 February 2020|work=The New York Times|access-date=10 February 2020|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

He left accountancy and ran a motor car business. In 1954, he motorcycled across Africa from [[Cape Town]] to [[Cairo]]. In 1959 he set up a safari business in the [[Kalahari Desert|Kalahari]] and the [[Okavango delta]]. A keen sailor, he had a yacht in Durban, then later bought a 23-metre Baltic trader called ''Sylvia'' in which he sailed the Western Mediterranean for three years with his family and wrote a book about the travels.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sanationalsociety.co.za/s-a-national-society-february-meeting-mad-mike-hoare-by-chris-hoare/|website=SANS|title='Mad Mike Hoare', by Chris Hoare}}</ref>

After divorcing in 1960, he married airline stewardess Phyllis Sims in 1961 and they had two children, Michael Jeremy and Simon.<ref name=NYT01/>

Irish-South African novelist [[Bree O'Mara]] (1968–2010) was his niece. She wrote an account of Hoare's adventures as a mercenary in the Congo,<ref>Bree O'Mara's obituary ''[[The Times]]'', 14 May 2010.</ref> which remained unpublished at the time of her death on [[Afriqiyah Airways Flight 771]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://news.book.co.za/blog/2010/05/13/irish-south-african-author-bree-omara-killed-in-libya-plane-crash/|archive-url=https://archive.today/20100527043819/http://news.book.co.za/blog/2010/05/13/irish-south-african-author-bree-omara-killed-in-libya-plane-crash/|url-status=dead|archive-date=27 May 2010|title=Irish-South African Author Bree O'Mara Killed in Libya Plane Crash | …|date=27 May 2010|website=archive.ph}}</ref>

Hoare's son Chris Hoare wrote a biography on his father, titled '''Mad Mike' Hoare: The Legend.''

===Death===
Hoare died of natural causes on 2 February 2020 in a care facility in Durban at the age of 100.<ref name="auto2"/><ref name="auto"/>

== Works by Mike Hoare ==
* ''Congo Mercenary'', London: Hale (1967), {{ISBN|0-7090-4375-9}}; Boulder, CO: Paladin Press (reissue 2008, with new foreword), {{ISBN|978-1-58160-639-3}}; Durban: Partners in Publishing (2019)
* ''Congo Warriors'', London: Hale (1991), {{ISBN|0-7090-4369-4}}; Boulder, CO: Paladin Press (reissue 2008, with new foreword, Durban: Partners in Publishing (2019);
* ''The Road to Kalamata: a Congo mercenary's personal memoir'', Lexington, Mass.: Lexington Books (1989), {{ISBN|0-669-20716-0}}; Boulder, CO: Paladin Press (reissue 2008, with new foreword, {{ISBN|978-1-58160-641-6}}); Durban: Partners in Publishing (2019)
* ''The Seychelles Affair'', Bantam, {{ISBN|0-593-01122-8}}; Boulder, CO: Paladin Press (reissue 2008, with new foreword); Durban: Partners in Publishing (2019)
* ''Three Years with Sylvia'', London: Hale, {{ISBN|0-7091-6194-8}}; Boulder, CO: Paladin Press (reissue 2010, with new foreword); Durban: Partners in Publishing (2019)
* ''Mokoro – A Cry for Help!'' Durban North: Partners in Publishing (2007), {{ISBN|978-0-620-39365-2}}
* ''Mike Hoare′s Adventures in Africa'', Boulder, CO: Paladin Press (2010), {{ISBN|978-1-58160-732-1}}; Durban: Partners in Publishing (2019)
* ''The Last Days of the Cathars'', Durban: Partners in Publishing (2012 and 2019)

== See also ==
* [[Bob Denard]]
* [[Jean Schramme]]
* [[Simon Mann]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* Kyle Burke ''Revolutionaries for the Right: Anticommunist Internationalism and Paramilitary Warfare in the Cold War'', Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2018, {{ISBN|1469640740}}.
* Torsten Thomas/Gerhard Wiechmann: ''Moderne Landsknechte oder Militärspezialisten? Die "Wiedergeburt" des Söldnerwesens im 20.Jahrhundert im Kongo, 1960–1967'', in: Stig Förster/Christian Jansen/Günther Kronenbitter (Hg.): ''Rückkehr der Condottieri? Krieg und Militär zwischen staatlichem Monopol und Privatisierung: Von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart'', Paderborn u.a. 2009, pp. 265–282.
* Anthony Mockler: ''The new mercenaries'', New York 1985.
* A.J. Venter ''War Dog: Fighting Other People's Wars: The Modern Mercenary in Combat'', New Delhi: Lancer Publishers, 2006, {{ISBN|8170621747}}.
*Chris Hoare: 'Mad Mike' Hoare: The Legend, Durban: Partners in Publishing, 2018, {{ISBN|9780620798617}}

== External links ==
*{{Commonscatinline}}
*{{Official|https://www.madmikehoare.com}}

{{Congo Conflict: 1960–1968}}

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Mad Mike Hoare - Revision history

Bot at 08:17, 6 December 2022