James Bentley (9 March 1937 – 26 December 2000) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

and former

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

parish priest. Bentley was born in

Bolton Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish people, Flemish weavers settled in the area i ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

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in 1937. He was educated at

Bolton School Bolton School is an independent day school in Bolton, Greater Manchester. It comprises a co-educational nursery, co-educational infant school (ages 3–7), single sex junior schools (ages 7–11) and single sex senior schools including sixth fo ...

before going up to

Merton College, Oxford Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is one of the Colleges of Oxford University, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the ...

to read History in 1956. He worked as an Anglican parish priest and a research fellow at the

University of Sussex , mottoeng = Be Still and Know , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £14.4 million (2020) , budget = £319.6 million (2019–20) , chancellor = Sanjeev Bhaskar , vice_chancellor = Sasha Roseneil , ...

before becoming a full-time freelance author and

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

in 1982. In 1961 he married Audrey Winifred Darlington; they had two daughters. He lived for many years in the Dordogne region of France, on which he became an expert, writing a guidebook and gazeteer which contained scholarly essays on the troubadours of the region, its prehistoric cave art and its cuisine. His separate book on the food of the region remains an excellent guide and the recipes he proposes are reliable. Bentley died in hospital in

Saumur Saumur () is a commune in the Maine-et-Loire department in western France. The town is located between the Loire and Thouet rivers, and is surrounded by the vineyards of Saumur itself, Chinon, Bourgueil, Coteaux du Layon, etc.. Saumur statio ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

in December 2000 after suffering extensive injuries in a collision near his home.

Works

* ''Ritualism and Politics in Victorian Britain'' * ''Martin Niemoller'' * ''Oberammergau and the Passion Play'' * ''Secrets of Mount Sinai'' * ''Restless Bones: The Story of Relics'', Constable, London, 1985 * ''A guide to the Dordogne'', Viking, London, 1985, * ''Life and Food in the Dordogne'', New Amsterdam Books, New York, 1986 * ''Albert Schweitzer: The Enigma'', HarperCollins, 1992

References

External links

Obituary Rev James Bentley - The Independent
1937 births 2000 deaths 20th-century English Anglican priests 20th-century English historians Alumni of Merton College, Oxford English biographers English male non-fiction writers 20th-century English male writers {{UK-writer-stub