Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1984, May-December (Creation)
Level of description
File
Extent and medium
1 cm.
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
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.
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
The file includes correspondence with and references to many prominent writers, 1984, including Wynford Vaughan-Thomas, Kenneth Morgan and Gwyn Williams, who is made an honorary life member of the Academi.
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Script of material
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Allied materials area
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Related units of description
Notes area
Note
Preferred citation: EAR1/39
Alternative identifier(s)
Virtua system control number
GEAC system control number
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
- Morgan, Kenneth O (Subject)
- Williams, Gwyn, 1904-1990 (Subject)