Ever since its formation during World War II, the Special Air Service had operated under conditions of such secrecy that few members of the public even knew of its existence. By the evening of 5 May 1980, all this had changed drastically. On the morning of 30 April, the Iranian Embassy at No.16 Price's Gate in London was seized by six well-armed terrorists, members of the Revolutionary Movement for the Liberation of Arabistan. Nineteen Iranian nationals and four British citizens were captured. During the subsequent negotiations between the terrorists and the British police, a number of the hostages were released. When, on the fifth day of the siege, one of the hostages was shot dead and his body pushed out through the door of the Embassy, the police decided that the time for negotiation was over and asked the military to end the siege. The only men deemed to possess enough skill and daring for this dangerous task were those of the legendary Special Air Service – the SAS! In fact, convinced that they would eventually be called in to rescue the hostages, the SAS had already mapped out and practised a high-risk operation in their top-secret 'Killing House' in Hereford and in some army barracks two miles from the Embassy. On the evening of 5 May their well-rehearsed plans were put into action when twelve SAS soldiers dressed in black in wearing anti-gas respirators and NBC hoods made their courageous assault on the Embassy. Using a combination of abseiling ropes, stun grenades, sub-machine guns and 9mm high-power handguns – and in the full glare of the international media – they routed the terrorists and succeeded in rescuing the hostages. Within hours the SAS – once relatively unknown – had become the most celebrated regiment in the history of modern warfare.