Wynford Vaughan-Thomas

Lewis John Wynford Vaughan-Thomas (né Thomas) CBE (15 August 1908 – 4 February 1987) was a Welsh newspaper journalist and radio and television broadcaster. In later life he took the name Vaughan-Thomas after his father.

Wynford Vaughan-Thomas

CBE
Born
Lewis John Wynford Thomas

(1908-08-15)15 August 1908
Swansea, Glamorgan, Wales
Died4 February 1987(1987-02-04) (aged 78)
Fishguard, Pembrokeshire, Wales
NationalityWelsh
EducationBishop Gore School
Alma materExeter College, Oxford
OccupationBroadcaster, journalist and writer
EmployerBBC, HTV
Spouse(s)
Charlotte Rowlands
​
(m. 1946)​

Early life and education

Thomas was born in Swansea, in South Wales, the second son of Dr. David Vaughan Thomas, a Professor of Music, and Morfydd Lewis, the daughter of Daniel Lewis who was one of the leaders of the Rebecca Riots in Pontarddulais.[1]

He attended the Bishop Gore School, Swansea, where the English master was the father of Dylan Thomas, who was just entering the school at the time that Vaughan-Thomas was leaving for Exeter College, Oxford. At Oxford he read Modern History and gained a second class academic degree.

Career

BBC

In the mid 1930s Vaughan-Thomas joined the BBC, and in 1937 gave the Welsh-language commentary on the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. This was the precursor to several English-language commentaries on state occasions he was to give after the Second World War. During the war he established his name and reputation as one of the BBC's most distinguished war correspondents of the Second World War. His most memorable report was from an RAF Lancaster bomber during a real bombing raid over Nazi Berlin. Other notable reports were from Anzio, the Burgundy vineyards, Lord Haw-Haw's broadcasting studio and the Belsen concentration camp.

In 1953 he was one of a team of BBC commentators on the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. He commentated on the funeral of his fellow wartime BBC correspondent Richard Dimbleby in 1965.

Harlech Televison

In 1967, after leaving the BBC, Vaughan-Thomas was one of the founders of Harlech Television (HTV, now ITV Wales), being appointed Director of Programmes. As a frequent TV broadcaster himself throughout his early career with the BBC, he had adopted the required BBC accent of the time, but employed his more natural native Welsh accent to even better effect in his later career.

Writing

Vaughan-Thomas wrote numerous books, many on Wales and a favourite subject of his, the Welsh countryside.

His wartime overview and experiences, and his successful broadcasting career later, enabled him to view life and its vagaries with what he called 'pointless optimism' — a perspective that served him.

His 1961 book Anzio was adapted as the 1968 Italian-American film Anzio, about the Battle of Anzio, the Allied seaborne assault on the Italian port of Anzio south of Rome during the Second World War.

Heritage

In May 1970, when President of the Council for the Protection of Rural Wales, Vaughan-Thomas officially opened the Pembrokeshire Coast Path in the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park at its southern end, at Amroth.

Private life

In 1946 Thomas married Charlotte Rowlands.[2]

Honours

He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1974 Birthday Honours for services to Wales,[3] and promoted Commander (CBE) in the 1986 Birthday Honours for services to Welsh culture.[4]

He died in Fishguard, Pembrokeshire, on 4 February 1987, aged 78.

Memorial
Memorial toposcope, Vaughan-Thomas pointing towards Snowdon

A memorial was constructed after his death, completed and unveiled in 1990 at 'Cadair viewpoint', near Aberhosan (at 52.5489°N 3.7183°W / 52.5489; -3.7183 (Vaughan-Williams memorial toposcope)), in the form of a toposcope looking out over the rolling hills and mountains of Wales, with a depiction of Vaughan-Thomas pointing towards Snowdon, Wales' highest peak, which is just visible on a clear day.[5]

Works
  • Anzio (1961)
  • Madly in All Directions (1967)
  • The Shell Guide to Wales (1969, with Alun Llewellyn)
  • Portrait of Gower (1976)
  • Great Little Trains Of Wales (1976)
  • Trust to Talk (1980)
  • Wynford Vaughan-Thomas's Wales (1981)
  • Princes of Wales (1982)
  • The Countryside Companion (1983)
  • Dalgety (1984)
  • Wales: a History (1985)
  • How I Liberated Burgundy: And Other Vinous Adventures (1985)

References
  1. John, D; Thomas, DN (Autumn 2010), "From Fountain to River: Dylan Thomas and the Bont", Cambria.
  2. "Vaughan-Thomas, (Lewis John) Wynford, (15 Aug. 1908–4 Feb. 1987), radio and television commentator since 1937; author, journalist; Director, Harlech Television Ltd". Who Was Who. 2007. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U170001.
  3. "No. 46310". The London Gazette (Supplement). 7 June 1974. p. 6804.
  4. "No. 50551". The London Gazette (Supplement). 13 June 1986. p. 8.
  5. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 6 August 2009. Retrieved 2008-04-16.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) Across the hills towards Yr Wyddfa and the Snowdonia National Park
  • Dictionary of National Biography 1986-1990, ISBN 019865212

Further reading
  • Vaughan-Thomas, Wynford (1980). Trust to talk. London: Hutchinson. ISBN 9780091438708. – autobiography
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