Brian Stowell

Thomas Brian Stowell (6 September 193618 January 2019), also known as Brian Mac Stoyll, was a Manx radio personality, Celticist, physicist, and author. He was formerly ("The Reader") to the Parliament of the Isle of Man, Tynwald. He is considered one of the primary people behind the revival of the Manx language.

Early years and the Manx language Stowell was born in Douglas, Isle of Man on 6 September 1936 to Caroline (née Stothard) and Tommy Stowell. His mother's maternal grandparents were native Manx speakers, although they did not pass the language on to their children.

Stowell was inspired to start learning Manx after he read an article written by Doug Fargher passionately defending the Manx language in 1953. Stowell described himself as being "only dimly aware" It was a low prestige language and negative attitudes by much of the Island's population towards Manx posed significant difficulty for learners and established speakers alike:

Life in Liverpool In 1955 Stowell moved to Liverpool to study physics at the University of Liverpool. He met Pat Price, who became his first wife and mother to his two eldest children.

He later worked at the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority. During this time, Stowell kept some of his sensitive research notes in Manx, knowing that he was the only person in the world who could understand them fully, often creating new scientific terms. as he felt that they were "the next best thing to Manx." Stowell eventually used his experience learning and teaching Irish to translate the Irish language course Buntús Cainte into Manx, which became Bunneydys for the Manx language learning community.

In 1990, Stowell published Contoyrtyssyn Ealish ayns Çheer ny Yindyssyn, his translation into Manx of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Stowell's first marriage broke down in the mid-1970s and he married his second wife Julia Berney in 1982, with whom he had two girls. He made weekly broadcasts about history and current events on long-running, bilingual Manx Radio programme Moghrey Jedoonee for over 20 years.

In March 2006 Stowell's Dunveryssyn yn Tooder-Folley ("The Vampire Murders"), the first recorded full-length novel in Manx, was published despite the small numbers who could read fluently in Manx: The potential readership is very low indeed – only about 200 people can read it without much difficulty. You could rationalise why I went ahead by saying, “oh, it will be used for studying Manx.” But I never had that in mind at all. I just thought it'd be a great laugh to write a novel in Manx. Stowell died on 18 January 2019 after a period of ill health.

Legacy In 2008, Stowell was awarded Culture Vannin's Reih Bleeaney Vanannan ("Manannan's Choice of the Year") award for outstanding contributions to Manx culture. On Tynwald Day 2010, he was awarded the Tynwald Honour, the highest honour that Tynwald can award a citizen.

The ("The Brian Stowell Award") was created in memory of Stowell's achievements. It is awarded by the Manx language group, Pobble, for any piece of creative work produced in Manx.

His autobiography ("Manx and Physics: The Story of my Life") was published posthumously in 2019.

List of works 1968: Gaelg Trooid Jallooghyn: Manx Through Pictures 1973: Chronicle of The Kings of Mann and The Isles / Recortys Reeaghyn Vannin as ny hEllanyn with George Broderick 1974: Bunneydys: A Course in Spoken Manx (based on Buntús Cainte) 1986: Abbyr Shen! 1990: Contoyrtyssyn Ealish ayns Çheer ny Yindyssyn 1996: Bun-Choorse Gaelgagh 1996: A Short History of the Manx Language 1998: Y Coorse Mooar 2005: Dunveryssyn yn Tooder-Folley (a serial story) 2006: Ealish ayns Çheer ny Yindyssyn 2020: Gaelg as Fishig - Skeeal my Vea