Owen Spencer-Thomas
| Canon Dr Owen Spencer-Thomas, MBE | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Owen Robert Spencer-Thomas 3 March 1940 Braughing, Hertfordshire, England |
| Education | University of London, University of Westminster, University of Cambridge |
| Occupation | Journalist, clergyman, fundraiser |
| Notable credit(s) | MBE, D.Litt |
| Spouse(s) | Margaret (Maggie) Ely (1976-present) |
| Children | Huw, Meg and Gwyn Spencer-Thomas |
| Parent(s) | Ivor and Rosabel |
Owen Robert Spencer-Thomas MBE (born 3 March 1940) is a television and radio news journalist, philanthropist and campaigner for autism and other disabilities. Spencer-Thomas is also an ordained Anglican clergyman. In 2008 Spencer-Thomas was appointed as a Member of the Order of the British Empire.
Spencer-Thomas was born into a farming family on 3 March 1940 in Braughing, Hertfordshire, England.
After attending Christ Church Cathedral Choir School, Oxford, from the age of eight, he continued his education as a teenager at Ardingly College, Sussex. He studied at the Royal Agricultural College, 1958–1960, in Cirencester and spent several years working on his father's farm in Hertfordshire.
His father, Ivor Spencer-Thomas, farmer and famous inventor, held the feudal barony of Buquhollie and Freswick in Caithness, Scotland. His mother was Alice Rosabel. He married Margaret Ely in 1976. Both are members of the high IQ society, British Mensa.
He graduated in sociology at the Polytechnic, Regent Street, 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, 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.
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