Here is a list of all the real-world events that are mentioned/featured in The Hallmarked Man.
Arsenal vs Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League, 23 November 2016.
On his 42nd birthday, Strike initially has plans to watch this Arsenal match (being an Arsenal supporter) that evening, but he instead goes to Robin’s flat to get information from Ryan Murphy about the silver vault case (Chapter 11).
Theresa May’s Brexit Speech (Chapter 57)
Strike bumps into Fergus Robertson on the sleeper to Glasgow. Fergus tells Strike he is travelling to Scotland hoping to get Nicola Sturgeon’s reaction to Theresa May’s Brexit speech the following day, 17 January 2017.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-38642213?app-referrer=deep-link
Battle of Mirbat, Oman (1977)
“Sometimes. He told me,’ she said, with sudden animation, ‘aboot a battle on mah birthday, nineteenth July, an’ they wouldnae give this big guy who got killed, who was, like, really fuckin’ brave, an’ he wasnae from Britain, he wiz from Fuji or somewhere, Ah dunnaw where, an’ they never give him a proper medal ’cause nobody was s’posed tae know they were there, so that’s the kind of fuckin’ shit they get up tae in the army.’
‘Talaiasi Labalaba,’ said Strike. ‘Battle of Mirbat.’
‘How d’ye know that?’ asked Rena, half-excited, half-unnerved.
‘There’s a statue of him at the SAS base in Hereford,’ said Strike.” (Ch 115)
At 6am on the 19th July 1972, a British Army Training Team (BATT) consisting of nine Special Air Service (SAS) soldiers, several British Military Intelligence and Omani Intelligence personnel were attacked at a house near the Port of Mirbat in Oman by a communist guerilla group called the Popular Front for the Liberation of the Occupied Arab Gulf (PFLOAG).
The PFLOAG were part of a revolution that began in 1963 against the Sultanate of Muscat and Oman, and by extension the British Government which heavily supported the Sultanate and sent SAS teams to train Omani soldiers and fight the PFLOAG.
The Battle of Mirbat is of historic military importance due to the extraordinary efforts of Fijian soldier Sergeant Talaiasi Labalaba, who, in order to buy time before reinforcements came to aid the BATT, ran, under fire, 800 metres to an Ordnance QF 25-pounder.
The most used field artillery weapon in the Second World War, it normally requires four to six soldiers to operate it, Sgt Labalaba was on his own, firing one round per minute holding off the AK47 assault rifle and mortar bomb toting PFLOAG guerillas from the BATT, who were only armed with self loading rifles.
Wounded to the face, Sgt Labalaba was eventually aided by Trooper Sekonaia Takavesi, the two of them making for a more secure emplacement with the PFLOAG soldiers close at their heels. Then Sgt Labalaba succumbed to a shot to his neck and Trooper Takavesi mortally wounded to his stomach.
The PFLOAG were eventually strafed by the Omani Air Force, and, once ground reinforcements arrived, withdrew at 12.30pm and the besieged BATT were evacuated.
The bodies of the dead PFLOAG guerillas were collected and put on public display as a warning to further resistance.
Sgt Talaiasi Labalaba (1942-1972) was repatriated and is buried in the SAS churchyard at St Martin’s church in Hereford. He received a Mention in Dispatches posthumously, though his comrades campaigned for him to be awarded a Victoria Cross.
In 2009 his statue was installed at SAS Headquarters at Stirling Lines, Herefordshire. The Ordnance QF 25-pounder wielded by Sgt Labalaba can be seen at the museum of the Royal Artillery at Greenwich.
Storm Doris (Chapter 88)
The storm struck the UK on 23rd February 2017. It caused widespread disruption, flight cancellations and power outages.
Strike and Robin are on Sark in the Channel Islands the morning of the storm. Strike tells Robin they may be lucky to get a flight back to Gatwick that day because of flight cancellations.
Though their flight is delayed, they still manage to board the plane back to Gatwick.
Liverpool vs Arsenal match, 4 March 2017 (Chapter 99)
Ryan asks Robin to come to his flat at lunchtime to meet his parents. Ryan and his father watch the Liverpool vs Arsenal match while Robin is works on her phone at the kitchen table.
“‘Her business partner supports Arsenal,’ said Murphy, nodding towards Robin, who felt a very faint sting of animosity in this remark, and it led to a certain amount of good-humoured chaff from his father about how the office was bound to be an uncomfortable place on Monday, then, because Arsenal was about to be thoroughly trounced.”
“‘Shouldn’t have left Sánchez on the bench, should you, Wenger, you wanker?’ said Murphy. Murphy senior roared with laughter. Robin ploughed on with her research.” (Chapter 99)
Robin continues to do research on her phone.
“‘SHIT!’ bellowed Murphy, and Robin jumped again, hastily affixing a smile to her face before registering that Murphy wasn’t celebrating, and that it was Arsenal who’d scored, not Liverpool. ‘Language,’ said Mrs Murphy softly”.
After the match has finished and his parents have left, Ryan calls out Robin for not showing any interest in spending time with him and his parents. They argue, and Ryan leaves for some “fresh air”. Robin searches the house and finds a briefcase containing a cardboard bag from a high street jewelers.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39086717
Westminster Bridge terrorist attack (Chapter 114)
At twenty minutes to three o’clock on the 22nd March 2017, Khalid Masood drove a hired car at over 70 miles per hour along the pavement of the south side of Westminster Bridge, then crashed it into the railings on the north side of the Palace of Westminster. There he exited the car with a knife, ran across Parliament Square and through the Carriage Gates of the Palace, where he stabbed unarmed Police Constable Keith Palmer. An armed police close protection officer shot Masood three times and despite attempts to resuscitate him, he died.
It took Masood 82 seconds to kill five people and injure 50 others, many “catastrophically”.
Initially Masood, a British national who converted to Islam whilst in prison in the early 2000s was claimed to have been, “a soldier of the Islamic State, executing the operation in response to calls to target citizens of coalition nations” by a media propaganda outlet tied to the Islamic State. He had been risk assessed by the British Secret Service (MI5) in 2010, but was deemed to pose no threat to British security.
An investigation into his activities and behaviour prior to the attack found that he had planned the attack alone and despite claiming affiliation to Islamic terrorist groups, he was a “lone wolf” terrorist.
On this day Ryan Murphy phones Robin Ellacott, who is working from home in Walthamstow.
‘Where are you?’ said Murphy’s panicked voice.
‘At home, wh—?’
‘Thank Christ. There’s a terrorist attack on Westminster Bridge.’ ‘L
‘Oh my God, what’s—?’
‘Some bloke deliberately ploughed his car into pedestrians. I’ve got to go, I just wanted to check you were out of the way.’ Murphy hung up. A wave of cold sweat passed down Robin’s body. Strike was in Westminster, tailing the civil servant. She called him. He didn’t pick up.” (Chapter 14)
Cormoran Strike doesn’t pick up because at the time of the attack he is in St Stephen’s Tavern, a pub directly opposite the Palace of Westminster.
“Strike hoped nobody he knew would ever find out what he’d felt and done when he’d heard the screams outside St Stephen’s Tavern … Hours later, he remained mortified by the memory of his own instinctive, unthinking reaction.” Ch 115
The instinctive, unthinking reaction of the unnamed police officer who shot Massod was classed as a ‘lawful killing” at the inquest into his death, the efforts to resuscitate PC Keith Palmer by Tobias Ellwood MP were praised and rewarded with his elevation to the Privy Council and PC Palmer was posthumously awarded the George Medal.
On the five year anniversary of the attack a memorial was held and a plaque installed on Westminster Bridge, which now has security bollards to separate pedestrians and traffic. Most other London bridges now have similar barriers in place.