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Alan Mcilwraith posing as "Captain Sir Alan Mcilwraith"

Alan Mcilwraith (born 3 March 1978) is a former call centre worker from Glasgow, Scotland who was exposed by a tabloid newspaper after passing himself off as a much-decorated British Army officer.

He convinced a number of charities and media outlets that he was "Captain Sir Alan Mcilwraith, KBE, DSO, MC". The National Children's Home charity invited him to the Woman of Influence Awards at the Barony Halls. Celebrity magazine No1 carried a picture of him which was captioned "Lady Shona [McLaughlan] and Sir Alan McIlwraith", showing him wearing the dress uniform of the Parachute Regiment with medals .

Mcilwraith created a Wikipedia article about himself on 5 October 2005, which read:

Captain Sir Alan Mcilwraith, KBE, DSO, MC (born 03 March 1978) is a British army Officer, currently serving with the Scottish TA. Capt McIlwraith is known throughout the military world as a man that can get things done and thought of as a hero that the UK and NATO can look to in times of trouble. McIlwraith's father was an engineer. Mcilwraith went to Shawlands Academy. In 1994 he went to Glasgow University. Mcilwraith was commissioned into the Parachute Regiment aged 19 finishing top in his class at Sandhurst Military Academy, specialising in the threat from the terrorism. Serving in Ireland, he spent two years commanding a parachute company in Northeren Ireland, rising to become the 2nd in command of 2 Para from March 2001 to Feb 2005. In 2000s, Mcilwraith served in the NATO chain of command as an advisor to the Supreme Allied Commander Europe, General Wesley Clark. He is best known for risking his own life to protect that of his men for this action he as awarded DSO. He was also badly injured protecting a young woman from an angry mob. Without any weapons to hand, he placed himself between the young woman and mob this act of heroism made him a hit within the political world. Made a CBE, 2002 he was upgraded to Knight Commander KBE, IN 2005. Very few photos of Capt McIlwraith are in circulation he is camera shy but a splendid soldier says General Michael "Mike" Jackson.

Mcilwraith also uploaded a photograph of himself wearing military uniform which can be seen on this page. The article was quickly identified as a hoax and nominated successfully for deletion. He attempted to recreate the deleted article on several occasions, but it was deleted again each time.

Mcilwraith's double life was exposed by the Scottish tabloid newspaper the Daily Record in an article on 11 April 2006 which described him as "Sir Walter Mitty". The newspaper contacted the British Army and Buckingham Palace during its investigation into Mcilwraith's status, but both denied any knowledge of him. An Army spokesman was quoted by the newspaper as saying, "I can confirm he is a fraud. He has never been an officer, soldier or Army cadet. May I suggest you try the space cadet organisation."

Following widespread coverage of the story in the UK media, Alan Mcilwraith failed to return to his desk at the call centre and lost his job. His fiancée also returned her engagement ring. Interviewed by the Daily Record in July 2006, he claimed that he was "driven to lie after being hit on the head with a scaffolding pole by a gang of youths in the street" but spoke of his regret at having perpetrated the hoax: "I made people look stupid, probably myself more than anybody else and I upset my family and friends."

• Wikipedia Signpost article describing how the hoax was discovered and removed
• Alan McIlwraith's Wikipedia article as of 10 October 2005
• Criticism of Wikipedia - This article looks at some of the issues raised by open content editing.

• Daily Record articles:
  • Meet the real Sir Walter Mitty,
  • McIlwraith's entry in Wikipedia,
  • Fake medals cost buttons,
  • Lies lies lies
  • I've got to leave cruise to catch London bombers
  • Shady deals at the back of B&Q
  • You shall not go to the ball, 'Sir Alan'
  • Bully hell made me a fake
• Guardian 12th April 2006 - Captain Sir Alan KBE - call-centre worker
  • Guardian 25th July 2006- My great escape from Glasgow estate: fake army hero tells story
• Daily Telegraph
• The Times
• Scotsman
• Mirror