Vaughan-Thomas, Wynford, 1908-1987

Person

Vaughan-Thomas, Wynford, 1908-1987

Wynford Vaughan-Thomas, CBE (1908-1987) (full name Lewis John Wynford Vaughan-Thomas), from Swansea, Glamorgan, was a broadcaster and author. His father was the composer David Vaughan Thomas (1873-1934). He was educated in Swansea and at Exeter College Oxford. He joined the BBC in London in 1937, and became a war correspondent, covering the Anzio landings in North Italy, 1943, and campaigns in France and Germany in 1944-1945. In 1944, he reported the discovery of Botticelli's 'Primavera' in Castello Montegufoni, Italy, and after the capture of Hamburg, he collected papers belonging to William Joyce ('Lord Haw Haw') from the radio station there. After the War, he worked as a radio and television broadcaster, acting as BBC correspondent covering Royal tours to South Africa, 1947, and the Commonwealth, 1954, and also reporting on Indian independence, 1947, the Middle East, 1956, Europe and Africa, 1956-1964, and as a radio commentator on state occasions, 1950-1956. In 1958, he was one of the founders of the TWW commercial television company; he later worked as Director of Programmes at HTV, TWW's successor. He was a keen traveller, bon viveur, journalist and author, writing on his war experiences and the history and landscape of Wales, and also writing radio and TV scripts. His published works include Anzio (1962), Madly in all directions (1967), (with Alun Llewellyn) Shell Guide to Wales (1969), Portrait of Gower (1975), and an autobiography, Trust to talk (1980). He was also a literary executor of the estate of Dylan Thomas, President of the Council for the Preservation of Rural Wales, and a governor of the British Film Institute, and a member of the Saintsbury Club. In 1946, he married Charlotte, née Rowlands; they lived in Fishguard, Pembrokeshire. He was awarded the OBE in 1974 and the CBE in 1986; he died in 1987.

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