Leslie R. Mitchell

Leslie R. Mitchell
Les Mitchell operating his radio.
Born	(1923-12-09)December 9, 1923 Hammersmith, England
Died	October 6, 2014(2014-10-06) (aged 90) Bingley, West Yorkshire, England
Nationality	English
Other names	Known as G3BHK on the air
Occupation	Civil servant
Known for	Founder Jamboree on the Air
Notable work	CQ Jamboree, 50 years of Scouting's Jamboree-on-the-Air

Leslie R. "Les" Mitchell (Hammersmith, England 9 December 1923 - 6 October 2014 Bingley, West Yorkshire, England), a Scouter and a radio amateur with the callsign G3BHK, was the founder of Jamboree-on-the-Air (JOTA), now considered the largest event scheduled by the World Organization of the Scout Movement annually.

Mitchell was born in Hammersmith, the son and only child of Horace Richard Mitchell, a civil servant, and his wife Amy Lily Staple. In his youth, his father's job - managing labour exchanges - meant that he was moved round the country, with the family eventually settling in Reading, where Mitchell joined the Sea Scouts. He joined the Royal Navy during WWII, serving as a Navy radio mechanic posted in the United States and Australia; in both of these postings he volunteered as a Scout leader. where he remained active in Scouting. Upon returning to England at the end of World War II, he used the radio skills learned during the war to apply for an amateur transmitting license. In 1961, he married Eileen Phillippa Hawkins, the daughter of a Welsh-born doctor; their only child, daughter Rosemary, was born in 1967. Mitchell's Scouting work was voluntary; after the War, he had joined the civil service, and he worked for many years at government science research facilities at Winfrith in Dorset and Datchet in Berkshire, managing transport arrangements.