Owen Spencer-Thomas

Canon Dr Owen Spencer-Thomas
Born	Owen Robert Spencer-Thomas 3 March 1940 (1940-03-03) (age 71) Braughing, Hertfordshire
Education	University of London, University of Westminster, University of Cambridge
Occupation	Journalist, Clergyman, Fundraiser
Spouse(s)	Margaret (Maggie) (1976-present)
Ethnicity	English
Notable credit(s)	Member of the British Empire, D.Litt

Owen Robert Spencer-Thomas MBE is perhaps best known as a television and radio news journalist over three decades, but he has also undertaken a wide range of philanthropric work as volunteer charity fundraiser, pioneer and campaigner for people with autism and other disabilities. He has received several national acolades for his voluntary work and was made a Member of the British Empire by the Queen in 2008.

As a leading student activist, he led a nationwide campaign which successfully persuaded the Government to reverse their controversial decision to increase overseas students' fees in 1967. However, he first caught the attention of the national press when he invited the legendary British criminal and escapee, Alfie Hinds, to take part in a college debate on the British justice system. Spencer-Thomas also made the news when he successfully demanded an apology from an unrepentant tabloid newspaper that was claiming children with autism would learn good manners if they were "stuck up to their necks in warm sewage".

Few people know that he combined his career with that of ordained Anglican clergyman. He was born into a farming family on 3 March 1940 in Braughing, Hertfordshire, England. He is married to Maggie; they have three adult children, two sons and a daughter.

Biography

Early life

After attending Christ Church Cathedral Choir School, Oxford,^[1] from the age of eight, he continued his education as a teenager at Ardingly College, West Sussex.^[2] He studied at the Royal Agricultural College, 1958-1960, in Cirencester and spent several years working on his father's farm in Hertfordshire.

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.^[3] The fledgling Union caught the public eye in 1967 when Spencer-Thomas invited the notorious British criminal and escapee, Alfie 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 daring 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.^[4]

During Spencer-Thomas's Presidency of the Students’ Union,^[5] the British government decided to increase fees for overseas students by four times in 1967, thereby making it necessary for many to return home unable to complete their courses.^[6] 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.^[7] The hard-fought student campaign backed by a nationwide petition and demonstrations won the support of many university and college principals.^[8][9][10] 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.^[11][12][13]

Spencer-Thomas continued his studies at Westcott House, Cambridge and Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge.^[14] Both he and his wife, Margaret, are members of the high IQ Society, British Mensa.^[15][16] His father, Ivor Spencer-Thomas,^[17] a Hertfordshire farmer and famous inventor, held the feudal barony of Buquhollie and Freswick in Caithness, Scotland.^[18] His mother was Alice Rosabel.

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^[19] and Southern Television. He has reported for Independent Television News(ITN).

He devised and presented the popular Sounding Brass radio phone-in programme^[20] which was later fronted by Gloria Hunniford on BBC Radio 2.^[21] 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.^[22][23] 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.^[24]

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 skilfully 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, National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) President Arthur Scargill, Methodist minister and open air preacher at Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park Lord Soper and former Prime Minister John Major. He was one of the contributors to BBC's Pause for Thought and presented a series of weekend broadcasts on social issues on BBC Radio 2.^[25]

His 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, he used short clips from catchy music hall songs 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.^[26] The unique presentation of the programme won the UNDA award from the International Catholic Association for Radio and Television for the best UK religious radio programme in 1977.^[27]

However his television reporting was not all plain sailing. On 7 January 1993 he capsized a canoe which he had borrowed to film the flood stricken village of Alconbury Weston, Cambridgeshire. He and his drenched film crew were featured on ITV's It'll Be Alright on the Night.

Philanthropic activities

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,^[28] he continues to give active support, pastoral care, counselling and practical help to families with autistic children.

Speaking at The University of Westminster in 2010, he said: "...the great irony for me is that although communication has been central to almost all my work, our elder son has severe autism. (He) can neither speak, nor read, nor write. His understanding of the world around him is cruelly constrained and very different from yours or mine." He added: "... despite his lack of language, he is among those who taught me and in his own way encouraged me and my family to campaign for people with autism."^[29]

Spencer-Thomas 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^[28] to enable isolated parents to learn more about autism, its treatment and the care of people with autism.

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.^[30]

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 a local parent support group, The Cambridgeshire Autistic Society.

He became Founder Chairman of the East Anglian Autistic Support Trust (EAST) in 1991, campaigning widely and raising the public profile and understanding of autism at a time when there was still much ignorance about the condition.

On one occasion he publicly challenged a tabloid newspaper columnist who had argued that if some children diagnosed with autism were stuck “up to their necks in a vat full of warm sewage for 10 hours they would soon learn some manners”.^[31]

EAST and other autism charities were besieged by phone calls from distressed parents following the article by Dr Vernon Coleman, a former general practitioner who was renowned for his outspoken views in his agony uncle column ‘’Casebook’’ in the Sunday People.

Spencer-Thomas, whose elder son has severe autism, condemned Coleman’s remarks as “irresponsible, medically unsound and deeply hurtful” to families that had a child with autism.

Coleman had also claimed that diagnoses of hyperactivity and autism were “misused by middle-class, aspirational parents to excuse the behaviour of their obnoxious children.”

Spencer-Thomas challenged Coleman to spend 24 hours caring for his son in the presence of fully trained carers who understood the devastating and debilitating effects of autism. Coleman declined to take up the challenge and refused to withdraw his remarks.^[32] But Spencer-Thomas had the last word when he referred the matter to the Press Complaints Commission and the newspaper’s editor, Bridget Rowe, printed an apology.

As well as campaigning and 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. During his time with EAST, he established the first, and desperately needed, specialised accommodation and daycare for adults with autism in Cambridgeshire. During the ten-year fundraising appeal, Spencer-Thomas raised 1.5 million pounds and gave nearly 1,400 talks to schools, clubs and societies on autism awareness.^[33] 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.^[34]

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 statutary 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.^[35]

From 1994 until 1997 he has served on the Council of The Old Rectory School, Brettenham, Suffolk, which specialises in teaching children with dyslexia.^[36] He continues to raise funds for a range of other charities.

Awards

Spencer-Thomas was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2008 New Year Honours.^[37] He was invested by HM Queen Elizabeth II on 4 March at Buckingham Palace.^[38]

The University of Westminster awarded him an honorary degree, Doctor of Letters (D.Litt) in January 2010 in recognition of his services to journalism and the voluntary sector.^{[39][40][41][42]}

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.

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.^[43] In 1976 he was appointed Director of the London Churches Radio Workshop and producer at BBC Radio London.^[44] 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.^[45] and Christ's College, Cambridge from 1997 - 2001^[46] and was made an Honorary Canon of Ely Cathedral in 2004.^[47][48]

During the Lent Term 2005, he was Acting Dean of Clare College,^[49] and in 2006 was Acting Dean of Trinity Hall.^[14][50] In the summer of 2007 he undertook the chaplaincy at St Catharine's College, in the University of Cambridge for a term.^[51]

References

1. ^ [1] Christ Church Cathedral School website. URL accessed 17 October 2008.
2. ^ Ardingly College Wikipedia. URL accessed 17 June 2007.
3. ^ Poly Identikit No 1. West One, 13 October 1966, p. 5.
4. ^ Alfred Hinds foils his young captors. The Times, 3 March 1967, p. 3.
5. ^ [2] The Student Room website. URL retrieved 13 June 2008.
6. ^ The Times, 21 January 1967, Letters to the Editor>
7. ^ Morning Star 23 February 1967
8. ^ Daily Mail 23 February 1967
9. ^ Daily Mirror 23 February 1967
10. ^ Daily Sketch 23 February 1967
11. ^ The Guardian 15 April 1967
12. ^ Daily Express 15 April 1967
13. ^ Daily Telegraph April 1967
14. ^ ^{a b} [3] Diocese of Ely Official Website. URL accessed 22 January 2007.
15. ^ [4] Who's Who at Diocese of Ely Official Website. URL accessed 13 June 2008.
16. ^ [5] Kids IQ Test Center website. Retrieved 7 February 2010.
17. ^ [6] Braughing Community Website. URL accessed 27 January 2007.
18. ^ List of feudal baronies Wikipedia. URL accessed 22 January 2007.
19. ^ [7] BFI Film & TV database. URL accessed 27 January 2007.
20. ^ [8] BBC London Homepage. URL accessed 10 June 2007.
21. ^ [9] Blurtit website. URL accessed 2 January 2008.
22. ^ [10] Museum of Broadcast Communications website. URL accessed 27 January 2007.
23. ^ [11] The Museum of Broadcast Communications website. URL retrieved 20 June 2010.
24. ^ Radio Times (London edition) 2–8 October 1976.
25. ^ Chaplain's debut Cambridge Evening News, 21 February 2000, p. 7.
26. ^ [12] Crisis website - volunteers. Accessed 5 September 2007
27. ^ Radio Times 5–11 March 1977
28. ^ ^{a b} Expert's Autism Speech. Cambridge News, 4 June 2009, p. 9.
29. ^ [13] Doctoral Acceptance Speech. 18 January 2010. URL accessed 6 July 2011.
30. ^ [14] University of North Carolina website. URL accessed 15 August 2007.
31. ^ ‘’Casebook’’ column ‘’Sunday People’’ 25 June 1995.
32. ^ Autism ‘advice’ sparks outrage. Cambridge Evening News. 5 July 1995.
33. ^ [15] Owen Spencer-Thomas Home Page. URL accessed 14 August 2008.
34. ^ [16] National Autistic Society website. URL accessed 15 August 2007.
35. ^ [17] Christ's College Annual Report to the Governing Body 2004, p. 20, Item 17 Restricted Funds. URL accessed 14 October 2007.
36. ^ [18] Old Rectory School website. URL accessed 26 August 2007.
37. ^ [19] COI News Distribution Service. Website accessed 13 June 2008.
38. ^ [20] Wired-gov website reference for official government news. Website accessed 13 June 2008.
39. ^ Doctorate for former TV reporter Cambridge News. p. 2. 18 January 2010.
40. ^ [21] Diocese of Ely website. Meet the team. URL retrieved 29 March 2010.
41. ^ [22] Diocese of Ely website. URL retrieved 6 May 2011.
42. ^ [23] Doctoral Acceptance Speech. URL retrieved 22 April 2011.
43. ^ "The Diocese of Ely - About Us - Bishops' Press Officer - Owen Spencer-Thomas". Diocese of Ely Official Website. http://www.ely.anglican.org/about/whos_who/owen_spencer-thomas.html. Retrieved 12 June 2009. 
44. ^ Crockford's Clerical Directory, (London, Church House 1995) ISBN 0-7151-8088-6
45. ^ Crockford's Clerical Directory, (London, Church House 2002-2003)
46. ^ [24] Official site of Christ’s College, Cambridge. URL accessed 22 January 2007.
47. ^ [25] Braughing Village website. URL accessed 7 June 2007.
48. ^ [26] Ely Cathedral website. URL accessed 15 June 2009.
49. ^ [27] Official site of Clare College, Cambridge. URL accessed 27 January 2007.
50. ^ [28] Trinity Hall Newsletter Michaelmas 2006, p. 35. Website accessed 13 June 2008.
51. ^ [29] Official site of St Catharine's College, Cambridge. URL accessed 22 June 2007.

External links

• [30] Official homepage
• [31] Official site of the Diocese of Ely
• [32] Official site of Christ’s College, Cambridge

Persondata
Name	Spencer-Thomas, Owen
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	3 March 1940
Place of birth	Braughing, Hertfordshire
Date of death
Place of death