Alex Bescoby

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

Early life and career

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 wht 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]

References

1. @NatGeoUK (30 November 2022). "Meet the Adventurer: Alex Bescoby on the trials and triumphs of overlanding". National Geographic. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
2. Thaitrakulpanich, Asaree; Reporter, Staff (2 September 2019). "10% There: Singapore–London Last Overland Journey Makes Pitstop in Bangkok". Khaosod. Retrieved 6 March 2020.
3. Alex, Michael (8 December 2018). "Asian Odyssey: We Were Kings Scottish film premiere to take place at DCA following 'amazing' adventure". The Courier.
4. "Meet The Adventurous Historian Searching For Hidden Stories". Wolsey. 8 February 2019.
5. MeanderApparel. "Alex Bescoby: The Last Overland – Land Rover Adventure from Singapore to London". MeanderApparel. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
6. "Alex Bescoby: Burma's lost royals". Prospect Burma.
7. "Myanmar's living royals reclaim their past". Nikkei Asian Review. 2 December 2017.
8. "Documentary About Forgotten Myanmar Royalty Premieres in Mandalay". The Irrawaddy. 6 November 2017.
9. Bescoby, Alex (22 December 2017), We Were Kings (Burma's Lost Royals) (Documentary), Alex Bescoby, Grammar Productions, retrieved 1 November 2023
10. "Myanmar's lost royals". BBC News. 24 December 2016. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
11. "Hale man who "only picked up a camera two years ago" wins £80,000 documentary prize". Altrincham Today. 15 June 2016.
12. Slow, Oliver (17 June 2016). "Filmmaker wins award for Myanmar royalty documentary". Frontier Myanmar.
13. Bescoby, Alex; Jones, Maxwell (27 September 2019), Forgotten Allies: The Search for Burma's Lost Heroes (History), Sally Mclean, Peter Mitchell, Duncan Gilmour, Grammar Productions, retrieved 1 November 2023
14. "Searching for Burma's forgotten World War Two heroes". BBC News. 24 June 2018. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
15. "Forgotten Allies | National Army Museum". www.nam.ac.uk. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
16. Bridge, Mark (1 November 2023). "Salute to Britain's Burmese soldiers". ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
17. "Watch The Last Overland | Stream free on Channel 4". www.channel4.com. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
18. 2022-03-24T13:15:00+00:00. "The Last Overland". Broadcast. Retrieved 1 November 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
19. Barker, Christian. "Historic Overland Journey From 1955 Gets Resurrected". Forbes. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
20. 87-year-old to drive overland from Singapore to London, retrieved 1 November 2023
21. Cundy, Antonia (14 June 2019). "An epic overland expedition — at the age of 87". Financial Times. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
22. Bescoby, Alex (14 February 2020). "Retracing an epic 1955 road trip from London to Singapore". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
23. Bescoby, Alex (28 September 2022). "It took one Land Rover and 13,000 miles for me to prove David Attenborough wrong". Metro. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
24. "Michael O'Mara takes to the road in Land Rover expedition with Bescoby". The Bookseller. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
25. "The Last Overland: Singapore to London: The Return Jour…". Goodreads. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
26. Noble, Barnes &. "The Last Overland: Singapore to London: The Return Journey of the Iconic Land Rover Expedition (with a foreword by Tim Slessor)|Paperback". Barnes & Noble. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
27. World, Travel Writing (9 December 2022). "Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards 2023". Travel Writing World. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
28. "Motoring Book of the Year Awards". Royal Automobile Club. Retrieved 1 November 2023.