David Hunt (diplomat) on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
Sir David Hunt (25 September 1913 – 30 July 1998) was a British diplomat, perhaps best remembered as winner of the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
's ''
Mastermind
Mastermind, Master Mind or The Mastermind may refer to:
Fictional characters
* Mastermind (Jason Wyngarde), a fictional supervillain in Marvel Comics, a title also held by his daughters:
** Martinique Jason, the first daughter and successor of th ...
'' television quiz in 1977.
Life and career
Hunt was born in
Durham Durham most commonly refers to:
*Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham
*County Durham, an English county
* Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States
*Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...
, and studied at
Wadham College, Oxford
Wadham College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is located in the centre of Oxford, at the intersection of Broad Street and Parks Road.
Wadham College was founded in 1610 by Dorothy W ...
. He served with distinction in
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, and entered the diplomatic service in 1947. He served as Private Secretary to prime ministers
Clement Attlee and
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...
, and was knighted in 1963. From 1965 to 1967 he was the
British High Commissioner to
Cyprus
Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...
.
From 1967 to 1969, he served as
High Commissioner to Nigeria
Countries belonging to the Commonwealth of Nations typically exchange High Commissioners, rather than ambassadors. Though there are a few technical differences, they are in practice one and the same office. The following persons have served as ...
.
Frederick Forsyth
Frederick McCarthy Forsyth (born 25 August 1938) is an English novelist and journalist. He is best known for thrillers such as ''The Day of the Jackal'', ''The Odessa File'', '' The Fourth Protocol'', '' The Dogs of War'', ''The Devil's Alter ...
, then a journalist in Nigeria and later a successful novelist, described Hunt as "a snob and a racist"
representing the diplomatic corps whose "blithering incompetence" failed to appreciate or deal with the tensions that erupted into the
Nigerian Civil War
The Nigerian Civil War (6 July 1967 – 15 January 1970), also known as the Nigerian–Biafran War or the Biafran War, was a civil war fought between Nigeria and the Republic of Biafra, a secessionist state which had declared its independence ...
.
[Forsyth, Frederick (2015). The Outsider: My Life in Intrigue. NY, Putnams] Forsyth claimed that Hunt was responsible for Britain's complete misreading of the war, contributing to the deaths of millions of
Biafra
Biafra, officially the Republic of Biafra, was a partially recognised secessionist state in West Africa that declared independence from Nigeria and existed from 1967 until 1970. Its territory consisted of the predominantly Igbo-populated form ...
ns, particularly starving children.
Subsequently, beginning in 1969, Hunt was
British Ambassador to Brazil
The Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Brazil is the United Kingdom's foremost diplomatic representative in Brazil and the head of the UK's diplomatic mission in Brazil. The official title is ''His Britannic Majesty's Ambassador to the Federa ...
, retiring in 1973.
Hunt won the ''Mastermind'' title in 1977 and was runner-up in the ''Mastermind International'' of 1979.
In 1982, a ''Champion of Champions'' tournament among the first ten ''Mastermind'' champions was televised. Hunt won the overall title.
Publications
Hunt had a number of books published:
*
*
* A revised edition of the two books ''A Don at war'' and ''On the spot: an ambassador remembers''.
*. Co-authored with J.N. Coldstream
Sources
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hunt, David
1913 births
1998 deaths
Military personnel from County Durham
British Army officers
Alumni of Wadham College, Oxford
British Army personnel of World War II
Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Brazil
Contestants on British game shows
High Commissioners of the United Kingdom to Cyprus
High Commissioners of the United Kingdom to Nigeria
Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George
Officers of the Order of the British Empire