Lewis John Wynford Vaughan-Thomas (néThomas) 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.
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.
In 1985, Vaughan-Thomas notably presented the 13-part series The Dragon Has Two Tongues with Gwyn Alf Williams. The series saw lengthy and often passionate discussions on Welsh history, with the two presenters representing opposing points of view, Williams being a Marxist historian and Vaughan-Thomas being described by Geraint H. Jenkins as his "affable Whiggish co-presenter".[3][4]
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.
^"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.
^"Wynford Vaughan Thomas". Archived from the original on 6 August 2009. Retrieved 10 January 2022. Across the hills towards Yr Wyddfa and the Snowdonia National Park
Nicholls, Christine Stephanie (December 2018). The Dictionary of National Biography, Vol. 12: 1986-1990. Forgotten Books. ISBN9780266613534.