Peter Hellyer

Peter A. Hellyer (9 November 1947 – 2 July 2023) was a British-Emirati film-maker, journalist, historian and archaeologist. He was instrumental in building the United Arab Emirates' national press agency, WAM, and in cataloguing, celebrating and co-ordinating academic research on the archaeology and natural history of the Emirates.

Early years Peter Hellyer was born in London to Arthur and Grace Hellyer, a horticultural journalist and a teacher. He was educated at Oundle School in Northamptonshire and then graduated from the University of Sussex' School of African and Asian Studies in 1968 with a bachelor's degree in International Relations.

A committed activist from a young age, Hellyer joined the executive of the Anti-Apartheid Movement and, at 21, helped create the 1969 Stop the Seventy Tour campaign, launched to boycott all-white South African sporting teams attempting to visit the UK.

Hellyer first travelled to the Middle East in 1969 and subsequently accepted an assignment from film company UPITN (a joint venture between press agency United Press International and British broadcaster ITN), to film the official foreign visits of the founding father of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al Nahyan. The first such visit by Zayed was to France in July 1975 and Hellyer subsequently accompanied Zayed on trips to Iran, Egypt, Yemen, and Sri Lanka.

Media roles The UAE Ministry of Information and Culture approached Hellyer to establish the foreign language service of Abu Dhabi Radio, as well as the domestic English language Capitol Radio. By 1979 he was working to launch the English language service of the Emirates Press Agency, in Arabic Wakalat Anba'a al Emarat or WAM, working with the Agency's Palestinian-born director, Ibrahim Al Abed. This began a lifelong friendship between the two men. He returned to London in 1982 but continued to work with officials in Abu Dhabi. A life-long Liberal and ad advisor to Liberal leader David Steel,

Hellyer was an Advisor for Media, Environment and Heritage for the UAE Ministry of Information and Culture from 1999 to 2004, at which time he became Advisor for External Communications at the UAE National Media Council. In 2021 he transferred to act as an advisor to the UAE Ministry of Culture and Youth.

Natural history An enthusiastic amateur naturalist and a keen bird watcher, Hellyer chaired the Emirates Natural History Group from 1989 to 1992, launching its journal, Tribulus

Hellyer wrote and edited a number of books on the archaeology, social and natural history of the Emirates and from 1991 to 2019 edited the journal of the Emirates Natural History Group, Tribulus. From 2008 until 2022 he was a regular columnist for Abu Dhabi-based English language daily The National.

He was granted Emirati citizenship in 2010 by Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan. He was awarded Abu Dhabi's highest civilian honour, the Abu Dhabi Medal, in 2013.

His papers, including reports, correspondence, publications, news clippings, and audiovisual materials, are held as an archive at the New York University, Abu Dhabi.

Filling in the blanks: Recent archaeological discoveries in Abu Dhabi (1998)

Early Days in Abu Dhabi: The Origins of ADCO 1936-1971 (2001)

Archaeology of the United Arab Emirates: Proceedings of the First International Conference on the Archaeology of the UAE (ed. Potts, Daniel; Al Naboodah, Hasan; Hellyer, Peter)(2003).

Jebel Hafit, A Natural History (2004)

The Emirates - A Natural History (2005)

Fifty Years of Emirates Archaeology: Proceedings of the Second International Conference on the Archaeology of the UAE (ed. Potts, Daniel; Hellyer, Peter)(2012)

United Arab Emirates - A New Perspective (ed. Al Abed, Ibrahim; Hellyer, Peter) First published in 1997

His last work, The Natural History of Fujairah, was published posthumously.

Tribulus - the Journal of the Emirates Natural History Group - 1991-2019

Personal life Hellyer converted to Islam in the early 1970s. He was widely mourned both in his adopted country and his second home, Jersey. On his death, WAM - the news agency he helped found - noted, "Hellyer's incredible devotion to the nation he loved will be remembered with great affection."