Leslie R. "Les" Mitchell (Hammersmith, England 9 December 1923 – 6 October 2014 Bingley, West Yorkshire, England),[1][2] 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.

[9] 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.

[citation needed] Mitchell tried for several years after the war to interest Scouts in amateur radio, without success until the 9th World Scout Jamboree at Sutton Park in 1957, when the first amateur radio station was established in the Jamboree area,[11][12] under the call sign GB3SP.

Having gained the necessary permission from the radio licensing authority and The Scout Association and having drawn up a set of simple rules which are still in use today,[14] the first Jamboree-on-the-Air followed in May 1958,[15] and thereafter annually in October.

[13] As JOTA grew year-on-year, Mitchell was gratified by the increasing number of qualified operators within the Scout Movement.