Stewart Brooke-Wavell, or Stewart Wavell (1921–2010), was a

British Malaya The term "British Malaya" (; ) loosely describes a set of states on the Malay Peninsula and the island of Singapore that were brought under British Empire, British hegemony or control between the late 18th and the mid-20th century. Unlike the ...

n broadcaster, sound recordist and writer, and a member of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society.

Life

Born in

, Wavell became a broadcaster with Radio Malaya, presenting programmes about the course of the

Malayan Emergency The Malayan Emergency, also known as the Anti–British National Liberation War, was a guerrilla warfare, guerrilla war fought in Federation of Malaya, Malaya between communist pro-independence fighters of the Malayan National Liberation Arm ...

in 1953, establishing their Sound Library, and pioneering their phone-in broadcasting. Between 1954 and 1962 he also produced or participated in a number of programmes or segments for the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

, including coverage of the royal tour of the Commonwealth in 1954, and a profile of

Tom Harrisson Major Tom Harnett Harrisson, DSO, OBE (26 September 1911 – 16 January 1976) was a British polymath. In the course of his life he was an ornithologist, explorer, journalist, broadcaster, soldier, guerrilla, ethnologist, museum curator, archae ...

broadcast on 30 September 1960. His main interests were folklore, cultural anthropology, and exploration, and he was known for his field recordings in these areas. In 1960 he was the BBC's Burmese programme organiser, and in 1963 he accompanied a

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

expedition to locate the ancient "lost" kingdoms of

Langkasuka Langkasuka was an ancient Malay Hindu-Buddhist kingdom located in the Malay Peninsula (in modern-day Thailand). Langkasuka flourished from the 2nd century to the 15th century as the oldest kingdom in the Malay Peninsula, believed to have been esta ...

and

Tambralinga Tambralinga or Ho-ling was an Indianised Malay kingdom located on the Malay Peninsula (in modern-day Southern Thailand), existing at least from the 2nd to 13th centuries CE. It possibly was under the influence of Srivijaya for some time, but l ...

. In the late 1960s he served as director of training for the

Ceylon Broadcasting Corporation The Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) (, ''Shrī Lankā Guvan Viduli Sansthāva'', , ''Ilangkai Oliparappuk Kūṭṭuttāpaṉam'') came into existence on 5 January 1967 when Radio Ceylon became a public corporation. Dudley Senanayak ...

, and wrote a training manual for them. By 1976 he was living in

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, England, and working as head of the BBC's Far Eastern Service. He died in

Croydon Croydon is a large town in South London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London; it is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater Lond ...

on 16 September 2010. His brother was Bruce Brooke-Wavell.

Publications

* ''The Lost World of the East'' (1958) * ''The Naga King's Daughter'' (1965) * with Audrey Butt and Nina Epton, ''Trances'' (1966)Review by P. Spindler in ''

Anthropologischer Anzeiger ''Anthropologischer Anzeiger: Journal of Biological and Clinical Anthropology'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering biological and medical anthropology. It was established in 1924 by Rudolf Martin. It is published by E. Schwe ...

'', 31:1/2 (1968), p. 144. * ''The Art of Radio'' (1969) * ''A Dream of Kinabalu'' (1988) * ''Great Cobra Mountain'' (1990)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brooke-Wavell, Stewart Malaysian radio personalities British radio producers Sound recordists 20th-century travel writers 1921 births 2010 deaths Malaysian emigrants to the United Kingdom