Forum for former BBC staff

Forum for former BBC staff
http://www.ex-bbc.net/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl >> Notices, obituaries and tributes >> Tom Heaton http://www.ex-bbc.net/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?num=1092691401 Message started by Forum Admin on Aug 16^th, 2004, 9:24pm

Title: Tom Heaton
Post by Forum Admin on Aug 16^th, 2004, 9:24pm

Tom Heaton, who worked for BBC Monitoring in Kenya for many years, has died. He was in his 70s.
He was Deputy Head of Monitoring's East Africa Bureau when, in his 50s, he suddenly decided to give it up "to make life more exciting".
He chose to recreate an epic, 19th journey of a Hungarian nobleman and explorer, Count Teleki. The Count had trekked from the Indian Ocean deep into the heart of Africa, becoming the first European to see Lake Turkana.
Whereas Teleki had an immense retinue of porters and tons of supplies, Tom made the journey alone, on a bicycle.
He told the story of his hilarious and sometimes perilous trip in a book, "In Teleki's Footsteps".
Later Tom returned to work at Monitoring's offices in Karen, where he remained a source of continuity and wise support for all the other staff.
Tom had a great love for Kenya and a profound detestation of corruption. He had a detailed grasp of the intricacies of Kenyan national and tribal politics and frequently worked for The Economist intelligence unit, supplying material for their Country reports.
Many newspaper and broadcasting correspondents in Nairobi turned to Tom for background and guidance with their reports.
He lived near the Monitoring offices, in Ngong and later Karen. He was a familiar sight, walking in the Ngong Hills with his prize Rhodesian Ridgeback dogs.

Title: Re: Tom Heaton
Post by Forum Admin on Sep 9^th, 2004, 8:43am

Peter Deakin wrote this tribute to Tom in Ariel:

For many years the spare and scrubbed – if sartorially challenged – person of Tom Heaton was the first point of reference for newcomers, particularly expatriate editors at the BBC’s East Africa unit in Nairobi. Aside from his professional skills, Tom had a unique gift for engaging others in his own enthusiasms. You might resist for a while, but sooner or later most were won over, and found they had made a friend (and assiduous correspondent) for life.

Born in Germany in 1928, Thomas Peter Starke was the son of a dentist and botanist who entered the service of the Shah of Iran. In the language of his nursery years – he always regarded Persian as his mother tongue – Tom came to know of a world very different from his own comfortable existence. Ever after, he said, he was troubled by the ‘obscenity’ of extremes of wealth and poverty.

Following his father’s death and mother’s remarriage to a British expatriate, Tom Heaton arrived in Britain at the age of 16. After graduating in Persian and Arabic, and a brief spell at BBC monitoring in Caversham, he joined the colonial service as an education officer, and was posted to Aden. He later described with relish how he had to sleep with a revolver under his pillow for fear of an attempt on his life.

In 1968, Tom went to work as a teacher in Kabarnet, northern Kenya. It was a happy time for him and his new wife Jackie.

Tom rejoined the monitoring service in 1970. By 1976 he was back in Kenya as assistant head of EAU, taking up his duties with characteristic energy. He brought to his work in particular a genuine absorption in regional affairs and a detailed local knowledge which he was ever eager to impart to his colleagues.

After taking early retirement, he set off in 1982 on the first stage of a journey that would take him from Pangani on the Tanzanian coast to the shores of Lake Rudolf in northern Kenya.

The story of his adventures was eventually published by Macmillan in 1989. In Teleki’s Footsteps, humane, candid, humorous and packed with incident, deserves to be better known.

His journey done, Tom returned to the BBC in Nairobi as, so he put it, a ‘dudu’ (insect), making himself useful as Arabic monitor, editor, trainer and of course adviser to all. He built a house in the nearby town of Ngong, with enough land for the purposes of his latest enthusiasm – Rhodesian ridgeback dogs. These formidable animals he exercised amid the beautiful Ngong Hills, accompanied, as often as not, by the latest visiting editor from Caversham.

Tom finally left BBC monitoring in 2002, and went to work for the UN in Nairobi. At the time of his death he was contemplating taking a translating job in Entebbe, where he had bought a house. What he never seems to have thought of doing is giving up work altogether.

Title: Re: Tom Heaton
Post by tisne1978 on Oct 28^th, 2005, 5:03pm

I am a friend of Tom's from Nairobi, now living in London. We met in 2000/2001 when he was working for IRIN, the UN news service. I had been trying to contact him for a long time and have only just discovered the very sad news of his death. I do not know his friends or family, though I use to hear a lot about Jackie. I would be most grateful if someone could send me her address, or put me in touch with someone who might know it. Thank you. Martin Tisne

Title: Re: Tom Heaton
Post by Forum Admin on Oct 30^th, 2005, 8:26am

Mick Atkin has made a splendid web site in tribute to Tom. It contains contact details as well as many good photographs:
Click here to go to the site.

Title: Re: Tom Heaton
Post by tisne1978 on Oct 31^st, 2005, 6:48pm

Thanks very much. It's a real pleasure to see photos of Tom. I have none myself.

Martin