Hugh Thomson

The pleasures — and trials — of knowing Bruce Wannell

The wandering scholar, conversant with 11 languages, was a stimulating guest — but he’d soon take over your life, his friends recall

Bruce Wannell in Herat, Afghanistan in 2007 
issue 15 August 2020

Bruce Wannell was by some way one of the most charismatic travellers I have ever met. Despite his almost complete penury, he would dress in perfectly tailored cashmere and, with a shawl swept over his shoulder, fix his attentive listeners with a glittering eye and a voice that could sweep dangerously low when he was about to cast aspersions on someone else’s cooking or scholarship.

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