His initial teaching post was at Monmouth Grammar School, but encouraged by his fiancée, he applied to the British Diplomatic Service and was accepted in 1949. In 1950 Brown was posted in Buenos Aires as a third secretary. After a tour in New York with the British UN delegation, he returned in 1956 to London in the Africa Department of the Foreign Office. In 1959 he was posted to Singapore and witnessed Lee Kuan Yew win power for the first time.
In 1960, Brown was appointed consul in Vientiane, Laos. He went on a dangerous mission to free two British doctors captured by the Pathet Lao, was held for weeks in the Laotian jungle and eventually brought the hostages back safely. The Queen read Brown’s dispatch at the end of his ordeal “with great interest” and Brown was awarded the OBE in a subsequent honours list.
As Ambassador to Madagascar (1967-1970 in Antananarivo and non-resident in 1975-78) Brown learned Malagasy and developed a great love for this troubled country which continued for the rest of his life. During the 1970s he was High Commissioner (equivalent of Ambassador in a British Commonwealth country) in Tanzania, a challenging post given the acute problems Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) experienced at the time. In 1979-83 Brown was High Commissioner in Nigeria and concurrently Ambassador to Benin.
British diplomats are retired early at age 60, so in 1984 Brown began the second part of his life, captaining British veterans’ tennis teams all over the world, using his musical impresario skills to raise funds for charity and writing books. He continued to be Honorary President of the Anglo-Malagasy Society until his 100th birthday.
Click on each cover for details about each eBook:
