Peter George James Jenkins (11 May 1934 – 27 May 1992) was a British journalist and Associate Editor of ''
The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...
''. During his career he wrote regular columns for ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', ''
The Sunday Times
''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, w ...
'' as well as ''The Independent''.
Biography
Jenkins grew up in
Suffolk and was the son of a pharmaceutical chemist.
['Peter Jenkins', ''The Times'' (28 May 1992), p. 17.] He was educated at
Culford School
Culford School is a co-educational independent day and boarding school for pupils age 1-18 in the village of Culford, miles north of Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk, England. The headmaster is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Con ...
and
Trinity Hall, Cambridge
Trinity Hall (formally The College or Hall of the Holy Trinity in the University of Cambridge) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge.
It is the fifth-oldest surviving college of the university, having been founded in 1350 by ...
, where he took a BA in History. He later attended the
University of Wisconsin–Madison
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United Stat ...
, where he was a socialist activist.
He performed his National Service in the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...
in the Mediterranean fleet.
He began his career as a journalist with the ''
Financial Times
The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Ni ...
'' (1958–60) and progressed to ''The Guardian'' where he was variously their Labour Correspondent (1963–67), Washington Correspondent (1972–74), and Political Commentator and Policy Editor (1974–85). He was a political columnist for ''The Sunday Times'' from 1985 to 1987 and Associate Editor of ''The Independent'' from 1987 until his death.
During his tenure at ''The Guardian'' Jenkins became, according to ''The Times'', the "leading chronicler of the Labour governments of the 1960s and 1970s, notably of their internecine warfare".
He was committed to a vision of a European Britain, anti-communist but more socially inclusive than the American model of society. He belonged to a group of "Königswinter journalists", who during meetings with politicians and civil servants in
Königswinter
Königswinter ( ksh, Köningkswinte; Low Franconian: ) is a town and summer resort in the Rhein-Sieg district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
Geography
Königswinter is situated on the right bank of the Rhine, opposite Bad Godesberg, at t ...
near
Bonn
The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ru ...
, the
West German
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
capital, attempted to build a pan-European group of opinion-formers, leaving behind the enmities of the past and looking forward to European community.
Jenkins was also theatre critic for ''
The Spectator
''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world.
It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The ...
'' from 1978 to 1981 and his first stage play, ''Illuminations'', was performed at the
Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, in 1980. He also wrote the comedy series ''Struggle'', broadcast on
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...
(1983–84), a satire on the Conservative–Labour battles in local government at the time.
Peter Jenkins was a visiting Fellow of
Nuffield College, Oxford
Nuffield College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is a graduate college and specialises in the social sciences, particularly economics, politics and sociology. Nuffield is one of Oxford's newer c ...
. His awards included '
Granada TV
ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire but only on weekdays as ABC Weekend Television was its ...
Journalist of the Year' for 1978.
Amy Jenkins, author of the 1990s TV serial ''
This Life
This may refer to:
* ''This'', the singular proximal demonstrative pronoun
Places
* This, or ''Thinis'', an ancient city in Upper Egypt
* This, Ardennes, a commune in France
People with the surname
* Hervé This, French culinary chemist Arts, e ...
'', is his daughter. Jenkins was married twice: his first wife, Charlotte Strachey, died from
leukemia
Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ...
. He later married
Polly Toynbee in 1970, and they remained married until his death.
Jenkins, a longtime smoker who stopped in the final years of his life, died from respiratory failure, caused by
idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis
Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), or (formerly) fibrosing alveolitis, is a rare, progressive illness of the respiratory system, characterized by the thickening and stiffening of lung tissue, associated with the formation of scar tissue. It is ...
, at
University College Hospital
University College Hospital (UCH) is a teaching hospital in the Fitzrovia area of the London Borough of Camden, England. The hospital, which was founded as the North London Hospital in 1834, is closely associated with University College Lond ...
in London on 27 May 1992, aged 58.
[ Numerous political figures paid tribute, including ]Neil Kinnock
Neil Gordon Kinnock, Baron Kinnock (born 28 March 1942) is a British former politician. As a member of the Labour Party, he served as a Member of Parliament from 1970 until 1995, first for Bedwellty and then for Islwyn. He was the Leader of ...
. John Major called Jenkins a "gregarious man of lively wit and great charm, and an undisputed master of his profession",[Sheila Gunn, 'Peter Jenkins dies of kidney failure', ''The Times'' (28 May 1992), p. 2.] and David Owen said he was "an exceptional journalist with a deep understanding of the Labour movement".
John Birt, then director-general of the BBC, wrote in ''The Times'':He was a superb political journalist who understood what motivated the personalities and the players on the political stage; who had a profound and detailed understanding of all the key policy issues at home and abroad; and who had a sharp grasp of how these played into the political process. He cared about the issues; and he routinely produced a rounded, beautifully literate and astute commentary on our political times. He was its chief chronicler; and he will be greatly missed.[John Birt, 'Peter Jenkins', ''The Times'' (8 June 1992), p. 17.]
Works
*
*
*
Moreover some of his work has been collected in an edited book:
*
References
Bibliography
* Marr, Andrew. ''My trade. A short history of British journalism.'' London: Pan Macmillan, 2005. (p. 354 ff.)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jenkins, Peter
1934 births
1992 deaths
20th-century British journalists
20th-century British male writers
20th-century British non-fiction writers
Alumni of Trinity Hall, Cambridge
British male journalists
Deaths from pulmonary fibrosis
English columnists
People educated at Culford School
The Guardian journalists
The Independent people
Harkness Fellows
Toynbee family