Paul Francis Jennings (20 June 1918 – 26 December 1989) was an English humourist and author. Jennings served in the Royal Signal Corps during World War II. After leaving the army, he worked as a scriptwriter for the Central Office of Information, as an advertising copywriter and also as a freelance work for Punch and The Spectator. For many years, he wrote a column, Oddly Enough, in the British newspaper The Observer. Many collections of his work were published, including The Jenguin Pennings in 1963. He also wrote popular children's books including The Great Jelly of London, The Hopping Basket, and The Train to Yesterday. Jennings was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Early life and education
Paul Francis Jennings was born on 20 June 1918 in Leamington Spa. His parents were William Benedict and Gertrude Mary Jennings. Freelance work for Punch and The Spectator soon followed. Leaving the army with the rank of Lieutenant, he worked for a year as a scriptwriter for the Central Office of Information who was an admirer of his work. Many collections of his work were published, including The Jenguin Pennings (whose title is a spoonerism) by Penguin Books in 1963. He also wrote popular children's books including The Great Jelly of London, The Hopping Basket, and The Train to Yesterday.
After leaving The Observer, Jennings continued to write until his death, mainly seeing print in Punch, The Times and the Telegraph magazine. Jennings was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. who attended a dinner party at Jennings's house and subsequently wrote of the conversation in a 1955 New Yorker piece.
Writing style
Jennings' columns has written several hundred 700-word essays, usually involving whimsical ponderings, some based on real-life incidents. He has also written poems, sometimes in invented languages. Other articles included extended flights of fancy, such as "The Unthinkable Carrier" in which Britain floats free from the Earth's crust with the Isle of Wight kept in place by a tow chain or "Sleep for Sale", in which he imagines what might now be described as a capsule hotel. Several of his pieces touched on the invented philosophical movement of Resistentialism.
Personal life
Jennings married Celia Blom, daughter of music critic and lexicographer Eric Blom, in 1952. She provided illustrations for some of his books. The couple lived in East Bergholt, Suffolk, England, and had six children.
A keen chorister, Jennings sang with the Oriana Madrigal Society and the London Philharmonia Chorus. In later, years he was an active member of the church choir at St Thomas of Canterbury Church in Woodbridge.
Jennings died at Orford
- I Must Have Imagined It (M Joseph, 1977)
- Pun Fun (Hamlyn, 1980)
- Golden Oddlies (Methuen, 1983)
- The Paul Jennings Reader (Bloomsbury, 1990) (posthumous)
Books on British life
- The Living Village (Hodder and Stoughton, 1968)
- Just a Few Lines: Guinness Trains of Thought (London: Guinness Superlatives, 1969; ). About the Colne Valley, Scarborough–Whitby, Oxford–Fairford, and Neath–Brecon rail lines. With photographs by Graham Finlayson.
- Britain as she is Visit (M. Joseph, 1976)
- Companion to Britain (Cassell, 1981)
- East Anglia (Gordon Fraser, 1986)
Children's books
- The Hopping Basket (MacDonald & Co, 1965)
- The Great Jelly of London (Faber and Faber, 1967)
- The Train to Yesterday (Chambers, 1974)
Other
- Dunlopera: The Works and Workings of the Dunlop Rubber Company. Dunlop Rubber Co, 1961. About Dunlop; illustrated by Edward Bawden; not commercially issued. .
- And Now for Something Exactly the Same (Gollancz, 1977). A novel.
As editor
- The English Difference (Aurelia Enterprises, 1974) (co-edited with John Gorham)
- The Book of Nonsense (Macdonald, 1977)
- A Feast of Days (Macdonald, 1982)
- My Favourite Railway Stories (Lutterworth Press, 1982)