Peter Hennessy, Baron Hennessy of Nympsfield

Peter Hennessy

Peter John Hennessy, Baron Hennessy of Nympsfield , FBA (born March 28, 1947 ) is a British government historian. Since 1992 he has been Professor of Contemporary British History at Queen Mary University of London .

life and career

Hennessy was the youngest son of a large Catholic family from Ireland and grew up in large houses requisitioned by the City of London , first on Allandale Avenue and later in Linhurst Gardens in Finchley . He attended the nearby Our Lady of Lourdes Primary School and on Sundays St Mary Magdalene Church where he was an altar boy. He was the subject of the first episode of the BBC Radio 4 series The House I Grew Up In , which was first broadcast on 6 August, 2007. There he talked about his childhood.

He attended St Benedict's School in Ealing , West London. After his father's job made the family move to the Cotswolds , he attended Marling School , a grammar school in Stroud .

He attended St John's College , where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1969 and a PhD in 1990 . From 1971 to 1972 he was a Kennedy Memorial Scholar at Harvard University .

Hennessy worked as a journalist for the Times Higher Education Supplement from 1972 to 1974. He wrote editorials for the Times from 1974 to 1982, for which he was also the Whitehall correspondent. In 1976 he was a correspondent for the Financial Times in Westminster and wrote for The Economist in 1982 . In 1986 he helped found the Institute of Contemporary British History . From 1987 to 1992 he regularly presented analysis on BBC Radio 4 . From 1994 to 1997 he gave public lectures as a rhetoric professor at Gresham College . From 1992 to 2000 he was Professor of Contemporary History at Queen Mary University of London . Since 2001 he has been Attlee Professor of Contemporary British History at Queen Mary College.

His analysis of post-war Britain , Never Again: Britain 1945–1951 , won the Duff Cooper Prize in 1992 and the NCR Book Award in 1993 .

On November 17, 2005 he appeared together with Richard Wilson, Baron Wilson of Dinton before the Public Administration Select Committee of the House of Commons on the subject of the publication of political memoirs . His study of Britain in the 1950s and the Rise of Harold Macmillan , Having It So Good: Britain in the 1950s , won the 2007 Orwell Prize for Political Writings.

Membership in the House of Lords

On October 5, 2010, the House of Lords Appointments Commission announced its appointment as an independent peer . He's a crossbencher . His title was announced on November 8th as Baron Hennessy of Nympsfield and he was officially inducted into the House of Lords on November 25th . He gave his inaugural address on December 2, 2010. Hennessy is regularly present on meeting days (as of 2012).

Other offices

From 1996 to 1997 he was a member of Gresham College . He is a member of the Trustee and Director of Tablet Magazine . Hennessy is on the Sub-Committee (Governing Body) of St Benet's Hall at the University of Oxford . He is President of the Friends of the National Archives and Governor of the Ditchley Foundation .

family

He is married and has two daughters.

Fonts

• with Keith Jeffery : States of emergency: British governments and strikebreaking since 1919 , Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1983
• Cabinet , Blackwell Publishers, 1986, ISBN 0-631-14968-6
• Whitehall , The Free Press, 1989, ISBN 0-02-914441-8
• Never Again: Britain 1945-51 , Random House UK, 1992, ISBN 0-679-43363-5
• The Hidden Wiring: Unearthing the British Constitution , Indigo, London 1995, ISBN 0-575-06176-6
• The Prime Minister: The Office and Its Holders since 1945 , Penguin, London 2000, ISBN 0-312-29313-5
• The Secret State: Whitehall and the Cold War , Allen Lane, London 2002, ISBN 0-713-99626-9
• Having it so good: Britain in the fifties , Allen Lane, London 2006, ISBN 0-713-99571-8
• Cabinets and the Bomb , Oxford University Press, 2007, ISBN 978-0-19-726422-5
• The Secret State: Preparing For The Worst 1945-2010 , Penguin, 2010, ISBN 978-0-141-04469-9
• Distilling the Frenzy: Writing the History of One's Own Times , Biteback, London 2012, ISBN 978-1-84954-215-9
• Establishment and Meritocracy , Haus Curiosities, London 2014, ISBN 978-1-908323-77-4
• The Kingdom to Come: Thoughts on the Union Before and After the Scottish Referendum , Haus, London 2015, ISBN 978-1-910376-06-5
• The Silent Deep: The Royal Navy Submarine Service Since 1945 , Penguin, London 2015, ISBN 978-0-241-95948-0
• Reflections: Conversations with Politicians , Haus, London 2016, ISBN 978-1-910376-48-5

Web links

• Peter Hennessy, Baron Hennessy of Nympsfield at theyworkforyou
• Peter Hennessy, Baron Hennessy of Nympsfield at The Public Whip
• Peter Hennessy, Baron Hennessy of Nympsfield Official website of the House of Lords
• The Lord Hennessy of Nympsfield - biography by Debretts

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Peter Hennessy BBC publication , accessed December 1, 2012
2. ^ ^{A b c d e} Professor Peter Hennessy, FBA entry at Queen Mary College , accessed December 1, 2012
3. ↑ Peter Hennessy ( memento of October 1, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) on the Penguin website .
4. ↑ Publication of Political Memoirs Publication on the House of Lords website , accessed December 1, 2012
5. ↑ Orwell prize winner is Having it So Good Guardian April 25, 2007 article
6. ↑ Members' expenses. House of Lords, accessed December 1, 2012 .