Owen Spencer-Thomas

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Owen Robert Spencer-Thomas MBE was born on 3 March 1940 in Braughing, Hertfordshire, England. He is perhaps best known as a television and radio news journalist over three decades, but he combined this career with that of ordained Anglican clergyman and volunteer charity fundraiser. He is married to Maggie; they have three adult children, two sons and a daughter.

Owen Spencer-Thomas

Spouse Margaret
Parents Ivor and Rosabel

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

After attending Christ Church Cathedral Choir School, Oxford, from the age of eight, he continued his education as a teenager at Ardingly College, West Sussex.[1]

He graduated in sociology at The Polytechnic, Regent Street, (now the University of Westminster) where he campaigned to establish its Students' Union and became its first elected President, a sabbatical post, in 1966. The fledgling Union caught the public eye in 1967 when Spencer-Thomas invited the notorious British criminal and escapee, Alfred Hinds, to take part in a College debate to give his controversial views on the flaws in the English legal system and speak about his notorious jail breaks from three high security prisons. After the debate Hinds was confronted by another attempt to deprive him of his liberty. During a drink in a nearby pub, he was kidnapped by six students as part of a rag week stunt and frogmarched along a couple of streets to a basement room in the College. Hinds yet again foiled his captors after securing a bunch of keys and turning the lock on them. The ensuing publicity generated considerable interest, trebling the charitable revenue from the rag week activities.[2]

During Spencer-Thomas's Presidency of the Students’ Union, the British government decided to increase fees for students from overseas by four times in 1967, which meant many overseas students would have to return home unable to complete their courses. A high proportion of students at The Polytechnic came from overseas and Spencer-Thomas was one of the leading campaigners calling on the government to reverse its controversial decision. The hard-fought student campaign backed by a nationwide petition and demonstrations won the support of many university and college principals. As a result of the protest the government gave funding to the British Council to assist those students in desperate need and make it possible for them to complete their courses in the UK.

Spencer-Thomas continued his studies at Westcott House, Cambridge and Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge. [3] Both he and his wife, Margaret, are members of the high IQ Society, British Mensa. His father, Ivor Spencer-Thomas,[4] a Hertfordshire farmer and famous inventor, held the feudal barony of Buquhollie and Freswick in Caithness, Scotland. [5]

[edit] Media

He has wide experience in the field of communications - mainly in television and radio broadcasting as a news journalist. Joining Anglia Television in 1978 as senior reporter on the regional magazine programme About Anglia, he later became news bulletin editor of Anglia News in 1992. He also presented Anglia Television’s late night religious programme Reflections. He has been a regular contributor to BBC Radio 4's You and Yours and Sunday programmes and has presented religious and ethics programmes on Thames Television [6] and Southern Television. He has reported for Independent Television News.

He devised and presented the popular Sounding Brass radio phone-in programme[7] which was later fronted by Gloria Hunniford on BBC Radio 2.[8] His radio biographies appealed to a wide audience and his portrayal in 1978 of the outspoken television personality, panellist and quizmaster, Gilbert Harding, was widely acclaimed.[9] He was one of the early pioneers of the local radio phone-in on BBC Radio London during the 1970s with his own programme Your Call.[10]

An innovative programme producer, Spencer-Thomas recorded two half-hour interview programmes with Kenneth Williams in which the comic actor, who rarely revealed his private life, spoke frankly about his early days and his feelings of loneliness, despondency and underachievement. Carry On Kenneth also featured skillfully chosen clips from the famous Carry On films, in which Williams starred, adding a gentle humour to the probing interview questions. Other famous celebrities he interviewed included comedian Eric Morecambe, pop singer Helen Shapiro, children’s presenter and campaigner Floella Benjamin, and former Prime Minister John Major.

His award-winning documentary Underneath the Arches broke tradition by enabling London’s homeless people to tell their own stories without any links from a programme presenter. Instead, short clips from catchy music hall songs were used to establish each location and, with careful editing, the interviewees related their own experiences and introduced each other. The publicity boosted funds for the Crisis at Christmas campaign and brought more volunteers to the charity which used a derelict church in Lambeth to house and feed homeless people during Christmas week each year in the 1970s.[11] The unique presentation style of the programme won the Unda award for the best UK religious radio programme in 1977.[12]

[edit] Philanthropic activities

[edit] Autism

Spencer-Thomas has been a lifetime volunteer, leading a range of community projects, supporting people in need. As father of a child with autism, he continues to give active support, pastoral care, counselling and practical help to families with autistic children.

He provided a telephone listening service from his home and visited families with newly diagnosed children. He set up regular parent meetings with a children's crêche at Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, and organised speakers and local conferences to enable isolated parents to learn more about autism and its treatment.

Organising the first conference in Cambridgeshire on the now widely acclaimed TEACCH system, he led the way to its adoption in many local schools and centres. This system, founded in 1966 by Eric Schopler at the University of North Carolina, United States, enhances the communication ability of people with autism and similar conditions.[13]

Spencer-Thomas became an advocate acting on behalf of families and negotiating with local authorities the appropriate care and education for their autistic children. He raised £53,000 for the Cambridgeshire Autistic Society.

As well as giving practical support to families with disabled children, Spencer-Thomas headed several successful major charity appeals. A keen cross country runner, he raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for mental health charities. As Founder Chairman of the East Anglian Autistic Support Trust (EAST), he established the first, and desperately needed, specialised accommodation and daycare for adults with autism in Cambridgeshire. During the ten-year 1.5 millom pound fundraising appeal, Spencer-Thomas, a sought-after public speaker, gave nearly 1,400 talks to schools, clubs and societies, on autism awareness as part of the fundraising initiative.[14] He raised a further £400,000 to assist with the provision of a day centre for adults with autism. He served on the National Autistic Society (NAS) Council from 1996 until 2002.[15]

[edit] Other voluntary work

Under the 1989 Children Act, Cambridgeshire Social Services appointed Spencer-Thomas as their first Independent Visitor - another voluntary appointment in which he gave support to disabled children and their families and monitored their statutery services.

He established an educational trust in 1996, which gives grants to gifted children and young people who need additional support for their studies. The Willow Trust has supported children in both state and private education and has also supported both graduate and undergraduate students.[16]

From 1994 until 1997 he has served on the Council of The Old Rectory School, Brettenham, Suffolk, which specialises in teaching children with dyslexia.[17] He continues to raise funds for a range of other charities.

[edit] Awards

Spencer-Thomas was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2008 New Year Honours.

In 1994 he was awarded the Whitbread Volunteer Action Award by Princess Michael of Kent for outstanding service in the community.

He won the Ian Nicol Award for Health Promotion in Cambridgeshire after leading a team which pioneered and produced The Enabling Through Information Project, an information initiative which empowered parents to access appropriate services on behalf of their disabled children.

[edit] University and Anglican Church appointments

He served his curacy at St Luke's Church, Redcliffe Square, Kensington from 1972. During this time he was a lecturer in comparative religions at the Fulham and South Kensington Institute. In 1976 he was appointed Director of the London Churches Radio Workshop and producer at BBC Radio London.[18] He was appointed as a non-stipendiary minister and later moved to Cambridge where he assisted in the Parish of the Ascension. He became Director of Communications for the Diocese of Ely in 2002. He was Chaplain of St John's College School from 1993 - 1998.[19] and Christ's College, Cambridge from 1997 - 2001 [20] and was made an Honorary Canon of Ely Cathedral in 2004.[21]

During the Lent Term 2005, he was Acting Dean of Clare College,[22] and in 2006 was Acting Dean of Trinity Hall.[23] In the summer of 2007 he undertook the chaplaincy at St Catharine's College, in the University of Cambridge.[24]

[edit] References

  1. ^ [1] Wikipedia. URL accessed June 17, 2007.
  2. ^ Alfred Hinds foils his young captors. The Times, March 3, 1967, p3.
  3. ^ [2] Diocese of Ely Official Website. URL accessed January 22, 2007.
  4. ^ [3] Braughing Community Website. URL accessed January 27, 2007.
  5. ^ [4] Wikipedia. URL accessed January 22, 2007.
  6. ^ [5] BFI Film & TV database. URL accessed January 27, 2007.
  7. ^ [6] BBC London Homepage. URL accessed June 10, 2007.
  8. ^ [7] Blurtit website. URL accessed January 2, 2008.
  9. ^ [8] Museum of Broadcast Communications website. URL accessed January 27, 2007.
  10. ^ Radio Times (London edition) October 2 - 8, 1976
  11. ^ [9] Crisis website - volunteers. Accessed September 5, 2007
  12. ^ Radio Times March 5 - 11, 1977
  13. ^ [10] University of North Carolina website. URL accessed August 15, 2007.
  14. ^ [11] Owen Spencer-Thomas Home Page. URL accessed October 4, 2007.
  15. ^ [12] National Autistic Society website. URL accessed August 15, 2007.
  16. ^ [13] Christ's College Annual Report to the Governing Body 2004, p20, Item 17 Restricted Funds. URL accessed October 14, 2007.
  17. ^ [14] Old Rectory School website. URL accessed August 26, 2007.
  18. ^ Crockfords Clerical Directory, 1978
  19. ^ Crockfords Clerical Directory, 2002-2003
  20. ^ [15] Official site of Christ’s College, Cambridge. URL accessed January 22, 2007.
  21. ^ [16] Braughing Village website. URL accessed June 7, 2007.
  22. ^ [17] Official site of Clare College, Cambridge. URL accessed January 27, 2007.
  23. ^ [18] Diocese of Ely Official Website. URL accessed January 22, 2007.
  24. ^ [19] Official site of St Catharine's College, Cambridge. URL accessed June 22, 2007.

[edit] External links

  • [20] Official homepage
  • [21] Official site of the Diocese of Ely
  • [22] Official site of Christ’s College, Cambridge
Languages