Alex Bescoby | |
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| Born | England |
| Awards | Fellow Royal Geographic Society |
Alex Bescoby is an English documentary filmmaker, author and television presenter. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Alex Bescoby | |
|---|---|
| | |
| Born | England |
| Awards | Fellow Royal Geographic Society |
Alex Bescoby is an English documentary filmmaker, author and television presenter. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Born in Manchester, Bescoby attended Altrincham Grammar School for Boys in Greater Manchester from 1999 to 2006. In 2010, he graduated from Sidney Sussex College at Cambridge University, where he specialised in the history of Myanmar (Burma).
In 2013, he moved to Myanmar to work with the Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business headed by former British Ambassador Vicky Bowman, and to research a book on Myanmar's colonial experience. One episode that gripped his imagination was the last few days of the reign of King Thibaw, the last King of Burma, whose rule was ended in 1885 by the British annexation of Burma. [6]
He tracked down Thibaw's living descendants still living in Myanmar - Prince Taw Phaya, Princess Hteik Su Phaya Gyi, U Soe Win and Daw Devi Thant Cin - and their story became his first documentary: We Were Kings. [7] [8] [9] [10] At the 2016 Sheffield DocFest, the film won the Whicker's World Foundation's inaugural TV Funding Award in 2016, [11] [12] a documentary grant funded from the estate of the British journalist and broadcaster Alan Whicker. It later premiered at the British Library in 2017, and was broadcast internationally the same year on History. In 2017, alongside U Soe Win - the heir to Thibaw's throne - he made a short film for BBC News - Who Stole Burma's Royal Ruby? It tells the story of what happened to Thibaw's famed Nga Mauk ruby the night he was taken into exile.
In 2017, while still living in Myanmar, Bescoby began work on his second documentary, Forgotten Allies. [13] It told the story of a small British charity - Help for Forgotten Allies - and their efforts to locate the last surviving Myanmar veterans of the Second World War who had volunteered to fight for Britain and its allies against the Imperial Japanese. [14] The film was supported by Dame Joanna Lumley, Dame Vera Lynn, Griff Rhys Jones, the Royal British Legion, Help for Heroes and the Burma Star Association, and premiered in 2019 at the National Army Museum in London. [15] [16]
In 2019, Bescoby began work on his first Channel 4 (UK) documentary series - The Last Overland: Singapore to London. [17] [18] It tells the story of his recreation of the 1955 Oxford & Cambridge Far Eastern Expedition in the same Series One Land Rover, alongside original crew member Tim Slessor. [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] In 2022, Bescoby released his book about the expedition - also called The Last Overland [24] [25] [26] - which was later shortlisted for the 2023 Edward Stanford Travel Writing Award [27] and the 2023 Royal Automobile Club Book of the Year. [28]
The Ledo Road was an overland connection between British India and China, built during World War II to enable the Western Allies to deliver supplies to China and aid the war effort against Japan. After the Japanese cut off the Burma Road in 1942 an alternative was required, hence the construction of the Ledo Road. It was renamed the Stilwell Road, after General Joseph Stilwell of the U.S. Army, in early 1945 at the suggestion of Chiang Kai-shek. It passes through the Burmese towns of Shingbwiyang, Myitkyina and Bhamo in Kachin state. Of the 1,726 kilometres (1,072 mi) long road, 1,033 kilometres (642 mi) are in Burma and 632 kilometres (393 mi) in China with the remainder 61 km was in India. The road had the Ledo-Pangsau Pass-Tanai (Danai)-Myitkyina--Bhamo-Mansi-Namhkam-Kunming route.
The Konbaung dynasty, also known as the Third Burmese Empire (တတိယမြန်မာနိုင်ငံတော်), was the last dynasty that ruled Burma from 1752 to 1885. It created the second-largest empire in Burmese history and continued the administrative reforms begun by the Toungoo dynasty, laying the foundations of the modern state of Burma. The reforms, however, proved insufficient to stem the advance of the British Empire, who defeated the Burmese in all three Anglo-Burmese Wars over a six-decade span (1824–1885) and ended the millennium-old Burmese monarchy in 1885. Pretenders to the dynasty claim descent from Myat Phaya Lat, one of Thibaw's daughters.
Thibaw Min, also Thebaw, was the last king of the Konbaung dynasty of Burma (Myanmar) and also the last Burmese monarch in the country's history. His reign ended when the Royal Burmese armed forces were defeated by the forces of the British Empire in the Third Anglo-Burmese War, on 29 November 1885, prior to its official annexation on 1 January 1886.
Pyin Oo Lwin or Pyin U Lwin, formerly and colloquially referred to as Maymyo, is a scenic hill town in the Mandalay Region, Myanmar, some 67 kilometers (42 mi) east of Mandalay, and at an elevation of 1,070 metres (3,510 ft). The town was estimated to have a population of around 255,000 in 2014.
Supayalat, also spelt Suphayalat, was the last queen of Burma who reigned in Mandalay (1878–1885), born to King Mindon Min and Queen of Alenandaw. The British corruption of her name was "Soup Plate". She was married to her half-brother, Thibaw, who became the last king of the Konbaung dynasty in 1878, upon Mindon Min's death. She is best known for engineering a massacre of 80 to 100 royal family members, to prevent potential rivals from usurping Thibaw's power, although she had always denied any knowledge of the plot, which may have been hatched by her mother together with some of the ministers, including the chancellor Kinwon Min Gyi U Kaung.
The Glass Palace is a 2000 historical novel by Indian writer Amitav Ghosh. The novel is set in Burma, Bengal, India, and Malaya, spans a century from the Third Anglo-Burmese War and the consequent fall of the Konbaung Dynasty in Mandalay, through the Second World War to late 20th century. Through the stories of a small number of privileged families, it illuminates the struggles that have shaped Burma, India and Malaya into the places they are today. It explores the various facets of the colonial period, including the economic fall of Burma, the rise of timber and rubber plantations, the moral dilemmas faced by Indians in the British Indian Army, and the devastating effects of World War II. Focusing mainly on the early 20th Century, it explores a broad range of issues ranging from the changing economic landscape of Burma and India, to pertinent questions about what constitutes a nation and how these change as society is swept along by the tide of modernity.
The Third Anglo-Burmese War, also known as the Third Burma War, took place during 7–29 November 1885, with sporadic resistance continuing into 1887. It was the final of three wars fought in the 19th century between the Burmese and the British. The war saw the loss of sovereignty of an independent Burma under the Konbaung dynasty, whose rule had already been reduced to the territory known as Upper Burma, the region of Lower Burma having been annexed by the British in 1853, following the Second Anglo-Burmese War.
The 1955-56 Oxford and Cambridge Far Eastern Expedition was a publicity effort by the Rover Company as manufacturer of the Land Rover Series I 86" Station Wagons. The station wagons were very different from the previous Tickford model, being built with bolt-together aluminium panels. The journey was undertaken by six Oxford & Cambridge university students from London to Singapore.
Prince Edward Taw Phaya was the Pretender to the Throne of Burma. He was the second son of Princess Myat Phaya Galay, the fourth daughter of King Thibaw and Queen Supayalat. Upon the death of his aunt Myat Phaya Lat in 1956, he became the Head of the Royal House of Konbaung.
Antony Barrington Brown FRPS was a British designer, photographer, and explorer. He was known to many colleagues as BB.
Princess Hteik Su Phaya Gyi, also known as Su Su Khin or Pwar May or Princess Tessie, was a Burmese princess and the final surviving royal of the Konbaung dynasty. Daughter of Princess Myat Phaya Galay, she was a senior member of the Royal House of Konbaung.
Princess Myat Phaya Galay was a Burmese royal princess and senior member of the Royal House of Konbaung. She was the fourth daughter of the last ruling king of Burma, King Thibaw, and his queen Supayalat.
Devi Thant Sin is a Burmese environmentalist, writer, and senior member of the Royal House of Konbaung. She is the leader of the environmental movement in Myanmar and has been called a "green princess". She was seriously opposed to the Myitsone Dam project slated for construction at the confluence of two rivers that gives rise to the Irrawaddy River.
Prince George Taw Phaya Gyi was a Burmese prince and heir to the defunct throne of Burma. He was the eldest son of Princess Myat Phaya Galay and the grandson of King Thibaw and Queen Supayalat. During the Japanese occupation, the Japanese government sought to set up Burma as a puppet kingdom within its empire with him as its puppet ruler.
Maha Chandra KumaraSoe Win is a retired Burmese diplomat, prince and senior male member of the Royal House of Konbaung as the Pretender to the Throne of Burma since 2019. He is the eldest son of Prince Taw Phaya Gyi and great-grandson of King Thibaw and Chief Queen Supayalat.
Tim Slessor is a British filmmaker, presenter, traveller and author. He is best known as the scribe and assistant cameraman for the 1955-1956 Oxford and Cambridge Far Eastern Expedition from London to Singapore. Graduating from Cambridge University with a degree in Geography, he joined the BBC in 1957 and for more than 30 years worked with the BBC making documentaries all over the world, receiving a Peabody award.
Princess Margret Hteik Su Phaya Htwe was a pioneer Burmese athlete, bodybuilder, swimmer and a former beauty queen. She was the youngest daughter of Princess Myat Phaya Galay, the fourth daughter of the last king of Burma Thibaw Min and Supayalat.
Princess Myat Phaya Gyi was a Burmese royal princess and most senior member of the Royal House of Konbaung. She was the eldest daughter of the last ruling king of Burma, King Thibaw, and his queen Supayalat.
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