While still a student of Douglas High School for Boys he began attending lessons taught by Leslie Quirk, who introduced Stowell to Fargher, and in turn to other members of Yn Çheshaght Ghailckagh such as Walter Clarke and Bill Radcliffe.
[11] During this period he accompanied Fargher and other members of Yn Çheshaght Ghailckagh as they recorded the remaining elderly native speakers.
"But barely a century later it was considered to be so backwards to speak the language that there were stories of Manx speakers getting stones thrown at them in the towns.
During this time, Stowell kept some of his sensitive research notes in Manx, knowing that he was the only person in the world who could understand them fully, often creating new scientific terms.
While living in Liverpool he attended Irish language classes arranged by Conradh na Gaeilge,[16] as he felt that they were "the next best thing to Manx.
"[11] Stowell ultimately became fluent in Irish and taught classes in the language in Liverpool, although not without difficulty during the Troubles:And when the troubles came in Northern Ireland it was a bit difficult because people threatened the office in Liverpool about the class in Irish and it was….well they had to laugh in the end because I said, ‘Change the name to Celtic Studies,’ and they did that and they made other threats because they thought that was the football club Celtic in Glasgow.
[10] He gained a PhD in applied physics while lecturing at Liverpool John Moores University and became head of department.
[4][18] In 1990, Stowell published Contoyrtyssyn Ealish ayns Çheer ny Yindyssyn, his translation into Manx of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
[20]He made weekly broadcasts about history and current events on long-running, bilingual Manx Radio programme Moghrey Jedoonee for over 20 years.