Paul Jennings (UK author)
| Paul Jennings | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
20 June 1918 Leamington Spa, United Kingdom |
| Died | 26 December 1989 (aged 71) |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Humourist |
| Spouse(s) | Celia Jennings |
Paul Francis Jennings (20 June 1918 – 26 December 1989) was an English humourist. For many years he wrote a column, Oddly Enough, in The Observer. Many collections were published, including The Jenguin Pennings, (a spoonerism) by Penguin Books in 1963.
Paul Francis Jennings was born on 20 June 1918 in Leamington Spa.
Jennings served in the Royal Signals during the Second World War. In 1943 his piece "Moses was a Sanitary Officer" was published in Lilliput magazine. Freelance work for Punch and The Spectator soon followed. Leaving the army with the rank of Lieutenant, he briefly worked as a scriptwriter for the Central Office of Information and then spent two years as an advertising copywriter; throughout this period his freelance work continued to be published.
In 1949 he joined The Observer, contributing a fortnightly column entitled "Oddly Enough" until 1966 when he was succeded by Michael Frayn, who was an admirer of his work. After leaving The Observer, he continued to write until his death, mainly seeing print in Punch, The Times and the Telegraph magazine.
His columns constitute several hundred 700-word essays. In general his pieces take the form of whimsical ponderings; some are based in real life incidents, often involving his friend Harblow.
For instance, one of his pieces, "How to Spiel Halma", concerns their attempts to establish the rules of halma from the instructions in a German set using their extremely limited knowledge of the language.
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