Miles Lee

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Miles Allday Lee, later Miles Ahmed Lee, FRSA (died June 1986) was a British puppeteer and radio producer. While working for Radio Uganda, he played an important role in the encouragement of East African literature. Paul Theroux recalled him in memorable terms:

Puppeteer person who manipulates a puppet in real time to create the illusion of life

A puppeteer is a person who manipulates an inanimate object that might be shaped like a human, animal or mythical creature, or another object to create the illusion that the puppet is "alive". The puppeteer may be visible to or hidden from the audience. A puppeteer can operate a puppet indirectly by the use of strings, rods, wires, electronics or directly by his or her own hands placed inside the puppet or holding it externally or any other part of the body- such as the legs. Some puppet styles require two or more puppeteers to work together to create a single puppet character.

Radio producer person who supervises the production of a radio show

A radio producer oversees the making of a radio show. The job title covers several different job descriptions:

Paul Theroux American travel writer and novelist

Paul Edward Theroux is an American travel writer and novelist, whose best-known work is The Great Railway Bazaar (1975). He has published numerous works of fiction, some of which were adapted as feature films. He was awarded the 1981 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his novel The Mosquito Coast, which was adapted for the 1986 movie of the same name.

Contents

I knew the producer, Miles Lee, an authentic Gypsy whose training for Radio Uganda consisted of working for many years as a fortuneteller at the Goose Fair in Nottingham. He too had become a Muslim, changing his middle name, Allday, to Ahmed... He was another one who said, 'Of course Muslims can drink. But not during prayers.' [1]

Nottingham Goose Fair

The Nottingham Goose Fair is an annual travelling funfair held at the Forest Recreation Ground in Nottingham, England, during the first week of October. Largely provided by travelling showmen, it is one of three established fairs in the United Kingdom to carry the name, the others being the smaller Goosey Fair in Tavistock, Devon, and the even smaller Michaelmas Goose Fayre in Colyford, East Devon.

Life

Before World War II Lee was Stage Director at the Birmingham Repertory Company. After serving in the RAF during the war, he became an Advisor to the Scottish Community Drama Association. In 1951 he founded the Belgrave Mews Puppet Theatre in Edinburgh. He was a freelance producer for the BBC and commercial television, before moving to Uganda to work for Radio Uganda. [2] In autumn 1964 Lee persuaded David Cook, a literature lecturer at Makarere University, to chair a monthly radio programme about East African writing. Lee and Cook collaborated on an anthology of East African plays in 1968, and some of the broadcasts they made together were later collected and published. [3]

World War II 1939–1945 global war

World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the world's countries—including all the great powers—eventually formed two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. A state of total war emerged, directly involving more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. The major participants threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. World War II was the deadliest conflict in human history, marked by 50 to 85 million fatalities, most of whom were civilians in the Soviet Union and China. It included massacres, the genocide of the Holocaust, strategic bombing, premeditated death from starvation and disease, and the only use of nuclear weapons in war.

Edinburgh Capital city in Scotland

Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian, it is located in Lothian on the Firth of Forth's southern shore.

Uganda republic in East Africa

Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East-Central Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The southern part of the country includes a substantial portion of Lake Victoria, shared with Kenya and Tanzania. Uganda is in the African Great Lakes region. Uganda also lies within the Nile basin, and has a varied but generally a modified equatorial climate.

Works

David Cook was a British academic, literary critic and anthologist. As a Professor of Literature at the Universities of Makerere and Ilorin, he played an important role in encouraging literature in East Africa.

African Writers Series (AWS) is a series of books by African writers that has been published by Heinemann since 1962. The series has ensured an international voice to major African writers—including Chinua Achebe, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Steve Biko, Ama Ata Aidoo, Nadine Gordimer, Buchi Emecheta, and Okot p'Bitek. The emphasis is on Anglophone Africa, although a number of volumes were translated into English from French, Portuguese, Zulu, Swahili, Acoli, Sesotho, Afrikaans, Luganda and Arabic.

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References

  1. ↑ Paul Theroux (4 August 2011). Sir Vidia's Shadow: A Friendship Across Five Continents. Penguin Books Limited. p. 32. ISBN   978-0-14-197160-5 . Retrieved 8 November 2012.
  2. ↑ David Cook; Miles Lee, ed. (1968). Short East African plays in English: ten plays in English. African Writers Series. Heinemann Educational. p. 147. Retrieved 13 November 2012.
  3. ↑ David Cook, ed., In black and white: writings from East Africa with broadcast discussions and commentary, 1976.
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