My friend and colleague, Brian Hackman, who has died aged 81, was a geologist and amateur linguist who twice narrowly escaped death on his extensive travels. As a geologist he worked for governments around the world – and as a linguist he spoke German, Russian, French, Spanish and Welsh, as well as Kiswahili, Bahasa Indonesia and Bahasa Malaysia.
He graduated in geology from the Royal School of Mines in London, and joined the Royal Engineers for his national service in Germany and Egypt, where he saw action during the Suez crisis in 1956.
It was in the British Solomon Islands Protectorate, while there as a colonial civil servant, that Brian’s twin passions for geology and languages flourished. There are over 70 distinct languages in the Solomon Islands – and as well as speaking a dialect native to a group in central Guadalcanal, he was also fluent in Solomons Pijin, a language that enables communication between groups with different mother tongues. His geological work earned him a PhD from the University of Western Australia.
In the Solomon Islands, too, he had his first almost fatal experience. Working on the island of Malaita, he was confronted by a group of men waving machetes who threatened to kill him. He was saved only by the intervention of a brave young Malaitan woman who spoke for him and softened the hearts of his attackers.
Brian spent 10 years in BSIP and chose to travel home via Ethiopia, where he was badly injured in a plane crash. He spent several months in hospital before joining the British Geological Survey. During the next 20 years, he worked on British aid projects in the Solomon Islands (yet again), St Lucia, Kenya, Malaysia and Indonesia. After the plane crash he became interested in transcendental meditation, and eventually moved to Skelmersdale, Lancashire, to join the meditation centre there.
Brian was born in Hove, East Sussex, to Leslie, a captain in the Royal Navy during the second world war who later worked at the Admiralty, and Elsie (nee Hughes). He attended Tiffin school in Kingston upon Thames.
Wherever he went, his warmth, skill as a storyteller and well-developed sense of humour touched people. One story is typical of his approach to life. On a bus travelling from Moldavia into Russia, he noticed that a young man was having difficulties with the Russian border official. Brian offered his help and established that the man was Kenyan, before proceeding to translate using his knowledge of Russian and Kiswahili. He was always ready to help those in trouble.
