Falklands Islands Archives - Commonwealth Oral History Project

Interview with Keith Somerville

by rcraggs | Oct 26, 2013 | Angola, Apartheid, Botswana, Cold War, Diplomacy, European Economic Community, Falklands Islands, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, India, Media, Namibia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Rhodesia (see also Zimbabwe), Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Uncategorized, Zambia, Zimbabwe (see also Rhodesia)

Download Interview Transcript. Biography: Somerville, Keith. British Broadcasting Company News, journalist 1980-2008; British Broadcasting Company World Service, journalist, 1985-2008; Legal Online (online course), 2005-2006; Executive Producer, Sources, Scoops, and...

Definitioner

Senate House

The Senate House, University of London, is home to the University’s Central Academic Bodies, the Vice-Chancellor’s Offices, and the various research institutes of the School of Advanced Study. The Institute of Commonwealth Studies has been based in Senate House since 2009.

Margaret Ling

Margaret Ling joined the Anti-Apartheid Movement in the UK as a student in 1972. From 1975 to 1984 she worked in the Information Department of the International Defence and Aid Fund, and edited the AAM’s monthly newspaper Anti-Apartheid News throughout the 1980s.

ZAPU

Zimbabwe African People’s Union. A militant political organisation founded in 1961 that fought against white minority rule in Rhodesia. Merged with ZANU in 1987 to form ZANU-PF.

ZANU

Zimbabwe African National Union. A militant political organisation founded in 1963 to campaign against white minority rule in Rhodesia. It won power in 1980, and in 1987 merged with ZAPU to form ZANU-PF.

Yes Minister

British situation comedy, made between 1980 and 1988, that satirised the workings of the British government.

World Service Trust

A British charity, with international development goals, attached to, but independent of, the BBC. Founded in 1999, and known as BBC Media Action since 2011.

Sandy Woodward

Sandy Woodward (1932-2013). British admiral commanded the British task force during the 1982 Falklands War.

Whitehall

London street. Site of many government buildings, the term ‘Whitehall’ is often used to refer to the bureaucracy of the British government.

Mark Tully

Mark Tully (b. 1935). British journalist, he worked for the BBC for thirty years 1964-1994), and was a long-serving Chief of Bureau in Delhi.

The Thick of It

‘In the Thick of It’. A television comedy, made between 2005 and 2012, that satirised the workings of the British government.

Mike Terry

Mike Terry (1947-2008). British anti-apartheid campaigner.

SWB

BBC Summary of World Broadcasts. Reports published by the BBC providing a sample of monitored world broadcasts. Produced from 1939 to 1997.

SWAPO

South West Africa People’s Organisation. A Namibian political party founded in 1960 to campaign for independence; it has governed Namibia since 1990.

soft power

A concept used to explain an emphasis on a attracting and co-opting power as opposed to coercive or forceful power.

Jon Snow

Jon Snow (b.1947). British journalist, presenter of Channel 4 news (1989-).

Philip Short

Philip Short (b. 1945). British journalist and author. His book Banda was published in 1974 (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul).

Nathan Shamuyarira

Nathan Shamuyarira (b. 1928). Zimbabwean politician, served in various ministerial positions in the government of Robert Mugabe, including Information Minister (1980-1987).

Selous Street

London street that housed the headquarters of the Anti-Apartheid Movement. The street was named after a relative of Frederick Selous (1851-1917), a big game hunter and friend of Cecil Rhodes, and was re-named Mandela Street.

SACP

South African Communist party, founded in 1921.

RTLM

Radio Television Libre des Mille Collines. A Rwandan radio station that broadcast from 1993 to 1994, playing a role in inciting the genocide of 1994.

Rhodesian Broadcasting Corporation

Rhodesian state broadcaster, founded in 1963 and renamed Voice of Zimbabwe Rhodesia in 1979.

Rhodesia Front

Rhodesian political party, formed in 1962, that opposed black majority rule. It was renamed the Republican front in 1981.

Sonny Ramphal (Shridath Ramphal)

Shridath Surendranath 'Sonny' Ramphal (b. 1928). Guyanese politician, second Commonwealth Secretary-General (1975-1990).

Radio RSA

South African radio network aimed at international audiences, founded in 1966 and renamed Channel Africa in 1992.

Radio Spice Islands

Spice Islands Radio. A radio station broadcasting to Grenada, operation by the US military during the 1983 invasion.

Radio Marty

Radio Marti. A radio station financed by the US government that broadcasts propaganda to Cuba.

Radio Liberty

An Argentinean radio station that broadcast propaganda to British forces during the 1982 Falklands War.

Martin Plaut

Martin Plaut (b. 1950). British journalist and writer, who has worked for the BBC since 1984.

Official Secrets Act

British legislation, first enacted in 1889, that seeks to protect state secrets.

Nkomo (Joshua Nkomo)

Joshua Nkomo (1917-1999). Zimbabwean nationalist and leader of ZAPU.

Ngwazi

Title adopted by Hastings Banda. Literally, ‘great lion’ in Chichewa.

MPLA

People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola – Labour Party is an Angolan political party founded in 1956. It has ruled since Angola gained independence from Portugal. It fought against UNITA during the Angolan Civil War (1975-2002).

MOSOP

Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People. An organisation which campaigns for the rights of the Ogoni people of southeast Nigeria, founded in 1990.

Sean Moroney

Sean Moroney (b. 1952). South African journalist and anti-apartheid campaigner.

Abdul Minty

Abdul Minty (b. 1939). South African diplomat.

MoD

Ministry of Defence. British government ministry with responsibility for the armed forces, created in its current form in 1964, with predecessor institutions from the 1930s.

Menghistu

Mengistu Haile Mariam (b. 1937). Ethiopian revolutionary leader and Head of State from 1977 to 1991.

Don McKinnon

Sir Donald McKinnon (b. 1939) is a New Zealand politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister for the National Party (1990-96), Foreign Minister (1990-99) and Secretary General of the Commonwealth of Nations (2000-08).

Mazeru attack

A 1982 attack by the South African military on the town of Maseru in Lesotho, where African National Congress members were believed to be in hiding, that left 42 dead.

Michael Manley

Michael Manley (1924-1997). Jamaican politician, twice served as Prime Minister (1972-1980, 1989-1992). A member of the Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group on South Africa.

Witness Mangwende

Witness Mangwende (1946-2005). Zimbabwean politician, who held a number of ministerial posts in the government of Robert Mugabe, including Foreign Minister (1981-1987).

Malcolm Tuckerish

Akin to Malcolm Tucker, the foul-mouthed government press adviser in the British television comedy ‘In the Thick of It’.

Colin Legum

Colin Legum (1919-2003). South African journalist and anti-apartheid activist.

Latimer House Principles

Commonwealth principles on the relationship between the three branches of government that seek to promote good governance. Drafted in 1998 and endorsed by Commonwealth Heads of Government in 2003.

David Kelly

David Kelly (1944-2003). British civil servant. He committed suicide after it emerged that he had briefed the BBC journalist Andrew Gilligan over the British government’s controversial assessment of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction.

Kagame

Paul Kagame (b. 1957). President of Rwanda (2000-).

New International Information Order

A phrase coined in relation to debates about remaking the global media to correct imbalances of power and influence during the 1970s and 1980s.

Derek Ingram

Derek Ingram (b. 1925). British journalist and writer with a particular interest in Commonwealth issues.

IDAF

International Defence and Aid Fund for Southern Africa. International anti-apartheid charity, originally founded in 1956 and active until 1990.

Hutton Inquiry

A British judicial inquiry into the death of David Kelly, a British government weapons advisor, held in 2003.

HMG

Her Majesty’s Government. Formal name for the British government.

Hausa

A language spoken across northern Nigeria and Niger.

Harare Declaration

The Harare Commonwealth Declaration of 1991 set out the Commonwealth's principles and values, including membership criteria. Click here to read the Declaration in full.

Goebbels

Joseph Goebbels (1897-1945). German politician who was Minister of Propaganda (1933-1945) in Hitler’s government.

Francistown

City in eastern Botswana.

Grenada invasion

The United States’ 1983 invasion of Grenada. The invasion was triggered by a coup in Grenada, but was opposed by Britain and Canada, partly because Grenada was a member of the Commonwealth.

Andrew Gilligan

Andrew Gilligan (b. 1968). British journalist. His allegedly partial reporting of the causes of the Iraq war led to his resignation from the BBC in 2004.

Gilligan affair

A controversy over the reporting of BBC journalist Andrew Gilligan, that led to his resignation in 2004.

Gemini News Service

The Gemini News Service, founded in 1967 by Derek Ingram, was a pioneering independent news service specialising in the field of international and development journalism. The service prioritised 'on the ground' reportage, focusing much of its work on Commonwealth countries. The news agency closed in 2002; its records are collected in The Guardian News & Media Archive, London.

Gaddafi

Muammar Gaddafi (1942-2011). Libyan revolutionary and national leader from 1969 to 2011.

FRELIMO

FRELIMO (Mozambique Liberation Front) was formed in 1962 as a Mozambican liberation movement. Since independence in 1975 it has been the ruling political party in Mozambique.

FBIS

Foreign Broadcast Information Service. The branch of the CIA that monitored foreign broadcasts. Originally founded in 1941, the Foreign Broadvast Information Service came under the purview of the CIA in 1947, and in 2005 it was incorporated into the Open Source Center.

Ruth First

Ruth First (1925-1982). South African anti-apartheid activist, she was assassinated by South African security forces.

Fifth Brigade

Unit of the Zimbabwean army formed in 1981 and trained by North Korean soldiers. It became notorious for atrocities committed in Matabeleland, and was abolished in 1988.

Falklands War

The 1982 war between the United Kingdom and Argentina over the disputed sovereignty of the Falkland Islands, also known as the Malvinas, situated in the South Atlantic.

Empire Service

BBC radio network for the British Empire, founded in 1932. A predecessor of the BBC World Service.

Greg Dyke

Greg Dyke (b. 1947). British journalist, Director-General of the BBC from 2000 to 2004.

Downing Street

London thoroughfare. Number ten is the official residence of the British Prime Minister.

Dominions

States that were under British sovereignty, but which became increasingly autonomous, especially from the 1930s, and are now independent nations. Former dominions include Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa.

Davos

A town in eastern Switzerland, home to the annual meetings of the World Economic Forum since 1971.

Daily Times

Malawian newspaper that has existed in various forms since 1895.

Pamela Creighton

Pamela Creighton (b. 1933). British broadcaster, worked for the BBC World Service from 1955 to 1993, from 1972 as a newsreader.

Commonwealth Journalists Association

(CJA) A group linking journalists from Commonwealth countries, founded in 1978.

Commonwealth Broadcasting Association

An organisation that brings together public service broadcasters of Commonwealth countries, founded in 1945.

Cold War

A period of ideological tension from around 1945 to 1991 between capitalist nations led by the USA and communist nations led by the USSR.

CIA

Central Intelligence Agency. A major American intelligence gathering organisation, founded in 1947.

CHOGM

Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. Every two years Commonwealth heads of government meet to discuss global and Commonwealth issues, with the aim of promoting common initiatives.

Central Asian Research Centre

British research organisation, founded in 1953.

Central African Federation

The political union between Southern Rhodesia, Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland from 1953 to 1963. Intended to become independent as a single state, the Federation broke up due difference over the political power of the white minority.

Lord Carrington (Peter Carrington)

Peter Carrington, 6th Baron Carrington (b. 1919). British politician and member of the Conservative party. He was Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (1979-82) and 6th Secretary General of NATO (1984-88). In 1979 he chaired the Lancaster House conference.

Alistair Campbell

Alistair Campbell (b. 1957). British journalist, Tony Blair’s Director of Communications and Strategy (1997-2003).

Robin Cook

Robin Cook (1946-2005). British politician, served as Foreign Secretary (1997-2001).

Cabinet Office

A department of the British government, founded in 1916. The Cabinet Office supports the work of the Prime Minister and the Cabinet, which comprises senior ministers that lead government departments.

Mark Byford

Mark Byford (b.1958). British journalist, Head of BBC Journalism from 2004 to 2011.

Bush House

London headquarters of the BBC World Service from 1941 to 2012.

Mark Brayne

Mark Brayne (b. 1950). British journalist, who worked for the BBC and BBC World Service from 1978 to 2003.

Alan Brooks

Alan Brooks (1940-2008). British anti-apartheid campaigner.

BBC World Service

The branch of the British Broadcasting Corporation dedicated to broadcasting overseas. Founded in 1932 as the Empire Service.

BBC

British Broadcasting Corporation. Broadcasting organisation semi-autonomous from the British government, originally founded in 1922.

Siad Barre

Siad Barre (1919-1995). Soldier and military ruler of Somalia from 1969 to 1991.

Problems over the Ayodha temple

A long-running dispute over a religious site in Ayodha, northern India. It emerged in the nineteenth century, saw rioting in the early 1990, and continues.

Apartheid

A system of legally enforced racial segregation implemented and upheld by the National Party in South Africa from 1948 – 1994

Anti-Apartheid News

Newsletter of the British-based Anti-Apartheid Movement.

ANC

African National Congress. A South African political party, founded in 1912, that opposed apartheid and has been South Africa’s governing party since 1994.

AAM

The Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM), originally known as the Boycott Movement, was a British activist organisation founded in 1959 to oppose white minority rule in South Africa. It continued to run until 1994, supporting economic and academic sanctions of South Africa and cooperating with other international organisations like the UN.

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