Miles Routledge

Some Lesser Known Facts About Miles Routledge

• Miles Routledge was conceived through in vitro fertilization (IVF).

  

• From 2014 to 2018, he worked part-time as a hairdresser while studying.

  

• In his second year, Miles Routledge started studying banking and finance and founded the Loughborough Investment Banking Society at his university.

• He left the university and his course after the university raised problems about his plans to publish a book based on his experience in Afghanistan. They fined him and asked him to undergo diversity training for alleged anti-Semitic views.

• Later, Miles Routledge was homeless in Birmingham for a few months.

• In 2019, after his Christmas exams, during his first term at Loughborough University, a friend invited him to visit Chornobyl, a city in Ukraine, during the winter break.

• In 2021, Miles Routledge reportedly searched on Google for the “most dangerous countries to visit” and chose Afghanistan during the 2021 Taliban offensive.

• In March 2021, he started planning a trip to Afghanistan, saying he wanted to see what life was like there and how it was different, stating that the country had been in the news since 2001. He also claimed that he wanted to do some charity work and visit historical Christian sites.

• The visa and flight to Afghanistan cost him about £1,000.

• His preparations included a GPS-enabled SOS button, which regularly updated his online friends about his location. He set up an automatic Facebook post (a “dead man’s switch”) in case he did not return.

• Miles Routledge became known as ‘Lord Miles’ after he shared on social media that he had bought a £15 lordship certificate online. He used this certificate to get the title ‘Lord’ inked on a credit card.

• As he was not the part of British nobility, he managed to obtain the lordship certificate by convincing the bank. Routledge claimed that he thought the Taliban might see the title and consider him valuable enough to negotiate an exchange.

• On 13 August 2021, Miles Routledge arrived in Kabul from Turkey with a return flight planned for 19 August. Due to the ongoing Taliban’s activities, the FCDO advised against all travel to Afghanistan and told British nationals to leave immediately.

• On 14 August 2021, he and his Afghan tour guide planned a charity day. They spent about $30 to buy food for local children and dogs.

• On the same day, Miles Routledge posted on ‘4chan,’ an anonymous English-language imageboard website, that intelligence reports announced that the Taliban might take over the capital of Afghanistan in 30 days. He also wrote,
  

  If I’m wrong and die, edit a laughing soundtrack over my posts. It’ll be funny, I think.”

• Soon after, chaotic events started happening in the area where he was staying, including a bank run and people firing guns into the air. With the help of his guide, he tried to reach the British embassy by hiding himself as a woman in a burqa.

• When they arrived at the embassy and found it empty, they went to the airport. The city was captured by the Taliban on 15 August 2021, and he got stuck there.

• After that, his posts about his experience in Afghanistan started spreading quickly on 4chan, Facebook, and Twitch.

  

• Reportedly, some 4chan users started tracking Taliban movements and shared updates with him.

• Miles Routledge once claimed in one of his social media posts that on ‘4chan’ many people who responded to his posts gave him valuable information that saved his life many times.

• Once, in an interview with a media house, he said that during his visit to Afghanistan, he was ready to die and understood the risks.

  

• Some people began collecting money to help him escape the country, but he advised them to donate the money to charity.

• On 15 August 2021, Miles Routledge shared through social media that the British embassy in Kabul had not responded to his calls or emails. He stated that he was prepared for death, believing that his trip was a test from God and that his faith would protect him.

• Soon, he found refuge in a safe house. His guide could not enter the refuge because he was not from a NATO country.

• On 16 August 2021, a spokesman for the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office said that they were aware of Routledge’s situation and were trying to reach him to offer help. That same day, Routledge mentioned that he expected to leave in an “emergency evacuation.”

• In another media conversation, he revealed that he was hearing a lot of gunfire and helicopters near the airport and thought it might take two weeks to get out of the country.

• On 17 August 2021, Miles Routledge was evacuated to Dubai on a British Army plane and had to quarantine upon returning to England due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

• On 15 November 2021, it was announced that he had signed a book deal with Antelope Hill to publish his experiences during the fall of Afghanistan.

• On 29 November 2021, he released an article titled ‘My Time in Chernobyl.’

• In April 2022, Miles Routledge decided to return to Afghanistan, now under Taliban rule.

  

• Miles Routledge left for Afghanistan on 21 April 2022, travelling through various countries to avoid being detained.

• During his trip, he gave an interview to Barya TV, an Afghan television news channel, in May 2022.

• He visited Kazakhstan, Uganda, Kenya, South Sudan, Ukraine, and Brazil. During these trips, he was falsely detained by Kenyan police, illegally crossed into Kazakhstan, was in Ukraine just before the Russian invasion, and visited Snake Island in Brazil.

  

• On 2 December 2022, Miles Routledge published a book titled ‘Lord Miles in Afghanistan.’

  

• In February 2023, he went on a third trip to Afghanistan and was detained by the Taliban’s General Directorate of Intelligence on 2 March 2023.

• Miles Routledge was released from Taliban custody in October 2023.

• He described his imprisonment as a “holiday” and “living the lap of luxury.” He stayed in a lavish guest house with several Taliban servants, was well-treated, bought an Xbox, and enjoyed food like pizza and kebabs.

  

• After his release, Miles Routledge visited his friends in Afghanistan and planned to open businesses there, including a gold mine.

• After that, he planned to visit North Sentinel Island, which is home to one of the last isolated Indigenous tribes known for attacking outsiders.

• He is an animal lover and has a pet dog. He often shares pictures of his pet on social media.

  

• Miles Routledge is often spotted smoking cigars on various occasions.