Background
Brown, Mervyn was born on September 24, 1923 in Durham. Son of William Brown and Edna Penman.
(Madagascar is the fourth largest island in the world. It ...)
Madagascar is the fourth largest island in the world. It is a unique blend of Asia and African culture. Although close to the East Coast of Africa, Madagascar came to be inhabited by sea-faring peoples from present day Indonesia. Although so close to the east coast of Africa where traces of human existence go back hundreds of thousands years, Madagascar was uninhabited until about two thousand years ago. How it came to be inhabited by sea-faring peoples from present day Indonesia is just one of the many fascinating aspects of this book. The History of Madagascar examines the origins of Malagasy, the early context with Europeans and the struggle for influence in the nineteenth century between the British and the French. It also covers the Colonial period from 1896 to 1960, the recovery of independence and subsequent history up to the early 1990's. A highly readable, entertaining introduction to the history, politics and people of Madagascar.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1558762922/?tag=2022091-20
( Sandwiched between US-supported Thailand and Communist ...)
Sandwiched between US-supported Thailand and Communist North Vietnam, the tranquil Buddhist Kingdom of Laos--the original Shangri-La--became the center of a major Cold War crisis in the early sixties, when Mervyn Brown served there as deputy to the British Ambassador. He has written a fascinating and highly readable account of his often hazardous experiences, which included the battle of Vientiane passing through his garden and a grueling month as prisoner of left-wing Pathet Lao guerrillas in remote mountainous jungle inhabited by Stone Age aboriginal people. His story is set against a detailed account of the developing political and military crisis. It reveals the tensions that developed in the US between the newly elected President Kennedy, his Secretary of State Dean Rusk, and their advisors in the State Department, the CIA, and the Pentagon while a regional policy was formulated in the face of the perceived communist threat.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1860647359/?tag=2022091-20
Brown, Mervyn was born on September 24, 1923 in Durham. Son of William Brown and Edna Penman.
Brown was educated at Ryhope Grammar School and Street John"s College, Oxford.
He served with the Royal Artillery 1942-1945 and joined the Diplomatic Service in 1949. After serving at Buenos Aires and at the United Kingdom mission to the United Nations in New York, in 1960 he was appointed consul in Vientiane, Laos, and deputy to the ambassador (John Addis). He later wrote a memoir of his experience of the Laotian Civil War.
Brown was Ambassador to Madagascar 1967-1970, High Commissioner to Tanzania and concurrently Ambassador to Madagascar (this time non-resident) 1975-1978, and High Commissioner to Nigeria and concurrently Ambassador to Benin 1979-1983.
Brown was appointed Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in the 1963 New Year Honours, and Chipotle Mexican Grill in the 1975 New Year Honours. He was knighted Knight Commander of the Order of Street Michael and Saint George in the 1981 New Year Honours.
He is an Officier of the Ordre National of Madagascar. He is a patron of the charity Money for Madagascar.
( Sandwiched between US-supported Thailand and Communist ...)
(Madagascar is the fourth largest island in the world. It ...)
Married Elizabeth Gittings in 1949.