Bruce Henderson (philatelist)

Bruce Ronald Henderson, also known as Bruce Grenville and Martin Renwick (born 1950), is a New Zealand anarchist, hoaxer and producer of artistamps. He is particularly known for the creation of the fictional Sultanate of Occussi-Ambeno.

Early life

Bruce Henderson was born in Wellington, New Zealand, in 1950.[1]

Sultanate of Occussi-Ambeno

In the 1970s and 1980s he gained notoriety for a hoax involving the fabrication of the utopian Sultanate State of Occussi-Ambeno, located as an exclave on the Island of Timor at Oecusse, with himself as the self-proclaimed Sultan.[2] Stamps were produced for the "Sultanate".[1][3] The Sultanate was the subject of a documentary film made by Barry Thomas with filming done in New Zealand and Australia. Henderson wrote a 200 page history of the utopian state with its own airline "Swift Air," a fleet of blimps as there were no roads, cars or pollution.[4]

Doctor Who

In January 1999, he came to notice for the discovery of the long missing first episode of the 1965 Doctor Who story The Crusade, discovered in a garage sale in Napier.[5][6] After loaning the episode to the BBC for restoration, Henderson auctioned the film print on eBay.[7]

Selected publications

  • "Voyages to Imaginary Countries" in Artistamps Francobolli D'Artista, James Warren Felter (Ed.), AAA Edizioni, Bertiolo, Italy, 2000. ISBN 978-8886828253
  • Lloyd, Charles. "The 2005 South Kasai stamp issues and the activities of their colourful creator" (PDF). Dundee & District Philatelic Society. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 November 2022.

References

  1. 1 2 "Long Live The Sultan! The World and Stamps of Bruce R. Henderson" by Geir Sør-Reime, The Cinderella Philatelist, Vol. 56, No. 1, (Whole No. 221), January 2016, pp. 10–22, & Vol. 56, No. 2, pp. 58–64.
  2. ↑ Hayward, Philip (November 2019). "Oecusse and the Sultanate of Occussi-Ambeno: Pranksterism, misrepresentation and micronationality" (PDF). Small States & Territories. 2 (2): 183–194.
  3. ↑ "Newsdesk", Gibbons Stamp Monthly, Vol. 63, No. 8 (January 1990), p. 6.
  4. ↑ Edmond, Martin (2004). Chronicle of the unsung (1 ed.). Auckland: Auckland University Press. ISBN 1 86940 311 8.
  5. ↑ "Only Chance to See Doctor Who Episode." The Press (Christchurch), 13 April 1999.
  6. ↑ "Doctor Who auction shelved". Entertainment. UK: BBC. Archived from the original on 1 November 2002. Retrieved 2 March 2013.
  7. ↑ Scoones, Paul (July 1999). "The Lion's Tale". The Time Space Visualiser (57). Archived from the original on 7 April 2025. Retrieved 16 October 2025.

Further reading

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