Patrick Marnham
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Patrick Marnham is an English writer, journalist and biographer. He was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society Literature in 1988. He is primarily known for his travel writing and for his biographies, where he has covered subjects as diverse as
Diego Rivera Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y Rodríguez, known as Diego Rivera (; December 8, 1886 – November 24, 1957), was a prominent Mexican painter. His large frescoes helped establish the ...
,
Georges Simenon Georges Joseph Christian Simenon (; 13 February 1903 – 4 September 1989) was a Belgian writer. He published nearly 500 novels and numerous short works, and was the creator of the fictional detective Jules Maigret. Early life and education ...
,
Jean Moulin Jean Pierre Moulin (; 20 June 1899 – 8 July 1943) was a French civil servant and resistant who served as the first President of the National Council of the Resistance during World War II from 27 May 1943 until his death less than two months l ...
and
Mary Wesley Mary Wesley was the pen name of Mary Aline Siepmann CBE (24 June 191230 December 2002), an English novelist. During her career, she was one of Britain's most successful novelists, selling three million copies of her books, including ten bestsell ...
. His most recent book, published in September 2020 is ''War in the Shadows: Resistance, Deception and Betrayal in Occupied France,'' an investigation into the betrayal of a British resistance network in the summer of 1943.


Early life

Born in Jerusalem, Marnham is of English and Irish descent. He is the elder son of Ralph Marnham, who was appointed Surgeon to the Queen and knighted in 1953, and of his wife, Helena Mary Daly, who, as an Irish citizen, had volunteered on the outbreak of war for active service in the Middle East with 'the QA's', Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps. Marnham was educated at St Philip's, a Catholic day school in Kensington, then by the Benedictines of Downside and at
Corpus Christi College, Oxford Corpus Christi College (formally, Corpus Christi College in the University of Oxford; informally abbreviated as Corpus or CCC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1517, it is the 12th ...
where he read Jurisprudence. He edited the university newspaper, '' Cherwell'', and was awarded a half-blue for skiing. He was called to the Bar by the Benchers of
Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and Wale ...
in 1966 but instead of embarking on a legal career become a reporter for ''
Private Eye ''Private Eye'' is a British fortnightly satire, satirical and current affairs (news format), current affairs news magazine, founded in 1961. It is published in London and has been edited by Ian Hislop since 1986. The publication is widely r ...
'' where he shared an office with both Paul Foot and
Auberon Waugh Auberon Alexander Waugh (17 November 1939 – 16 January 2001) was an English journalist and novelist, and eldest son of the novelist Evelyn Waugh. He was widely known by his nickname "Bron". After a traditional classical education at Downside ...
. As a script writer for the BBC TV satire programme, ''At The Eleventh Hour'' his colleagues included
Roger McGough Roger Joseph McGough (; born 9 November 1937) is an English poet, performance poet, broadcaster, children's author and playwright. He presents the BBC Radio 4 programme ''Poetry Please'', as well as performing his own poetry. McGough was one o ...
,
Miriam Margolyes Miriam ( he, מִרְיָם ''Mīryām'', lit. 'Rebellion') is described in the Hebrew Bible as the daughter of Amram and Jochebed, and the older sister of Moses and Aaron. She was a prophetess and first appears in the Book of Exodus. The Tora ...
, Richard Neville,
Leonard Rossiter Leonard Rossiter (21 October 1926 – 5 October 1984) was an English actor. He had a long career in the theatre but achieved his highest profile for his television comedy roles starring as Rupert Rigsby in the ITV series ''Rising Damp'' from ...
,
Esther Rantzen Dame Esther Louise Rantzen (born 22 June 1940) is an English journalist and television presenter, who presented the BBC television series ''That's Life!'' for 21 years, from 1973 until 1994. She works with various charitable causes, and foun ...
and
Stephen Frears Stephen Arthur Frears (born 20 June 1941) is an English director and producer of film and television often depicting real life stories as well as projects that explore social class through sharply drawn characters. He's received numerous accola ...
, among others. The programme was directed by Tony Smith. Marnham later wrote and presented ''The Messengers,'' a Granada TV programme on Film.


Career

In the 1970s, as a contributor to ''Private Eye'' with a fortnightly column he described a dispute among the gambling fraternity of the Clermont Club, following the 'Lucan murder' case. The crime caused a bitter quarrel between
Lord Lucan Richard John Bingham, 7th Earl of Lucan (born 18 December 1934 – disappeared 8 November 1974, declared death in absentia, declared dead 3 February 2016), commonly known as Lord Lucan, was a British Peerages in the United Kingdom, peer who di ...
's friends that led to the suicide of the impecunious artist and ''flaneur'' Dominic Elwes. Marnham's article provoked the financier
James Goldsmith Sir James Michael Goldsmith (26 February 1933 – 18 July 1997) was a French-British financier, tycoon''Billionaire: The Life and Times of Sir James Goldsmith'' by Ivan Fallon and politician who was a member of the Goldsmith family. His contr ...
to prosecute ''Private Eye'' for criminal libel. Marnham and the editor Richard Ingrams were committed for trial at the Old Bailey and had to appear in the dock of No. 1 Court before Goldsmith decided to drop the case. Marnham described the legal battle in ''Trail of Havoc: In the Steps of Lord Lucan.'' Marnham and James Comyn QC, the ''Eyes barrister, became firm friends and Comyn, by then a High Court judge, proposed that they should embark on a new study of the miracles at Lourdes - to be published anonymously 'by two barristers'. Nothing came of this suggestion but following the Goldsmith prosecution Marnham was asked to write the first history of ''Private Eye''. His account was bitterly resented by the paper's first editor
Christopher Booker Christopher John Penrice Booker (7 October 1937 – 3 July 2019) was an English journalist and author. He was a founder and first editor of the satirical magazine '' Private Eye'' in 1961. From 1990 onward he was a columnist for ''The Sunday T ...
who tried to prevent its appearance. The book was eventually published in 1982. A brief appearance in the ''Sunday Times Best Sellers'' list was terminated when the management of the magazine declined to order a reprint. In 1968 Marnham had left ''Private Eye'' to become assistant features editor of the ''Daily Telegraph Magazine'' and a special correspondent for the ''Daily Telegraph,'' reporting from Africa and the Middle East''.'' His first book, ''Road to Katmandu'', described an overland journey to Nepal, hitchhiking along 'the hippy trail'. Marnham's early writing career was devoted to travel and In the 1970s he journeyed extensively in Africa where he was nearly killed by a rhinoceros, an episode described in his second book, ''Fantastic Invasion.'' The book painted a scathing picture of imperial legacies and neocolonial interference in African politics. It was praised by
Graham Greene Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading English novelists of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquir ...
and by
Doris Lessing Doris May Lessing (; 22 October 1919 – 17 November 2013) was a British-Zimbabwean novelist. She was born to British parents in Iran, where she lived until 1925. Her family then moved to Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), where she remain ...
, who described it as "an exhilarating Swiftian excursion into human folly". But Edward Hoagland in ''The New Republic'' found it too pessimistic, a view echoed by Joseph Lelyveld in the ''New York Times Book Review''. ''Fantastic Invasion'' had included a chapter that was critical of the policy of USAID in Africa. In 1977 Marnham had been asked to write a report for the
Minority Rights Group Minority Rights Group International (MRG) is an international human rights organisation founded with the objective of working to secure rights for ethnic, national, religious, linguistic minorities and indigenous peoples around the world. Their ...
on the 'Nomads of the Sahel'. The report argued that a widely publicised famine in West Africa had not in fact taken place. Instead a serious drought had been skilfully transformed by a consortium of development experts in USAID, FAO and various British NGO's to undermine the West African economy and increase their own influence in the region. The effect of this intervention on nomadic life in the Sahel was disastrous. In 1980 he was appointed Literary Editor of ''
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 ...
'' under
Alexander Chancellor Alexander Surtees Chancellor, CBE (4 January 1940 – 28 January 2017) was a British journalist. Chancellor was educated at Eton College and Trinity Hall, Cambridge. He was the editor of the conservative '' Spectator'' magazine from 1975 ...
. At that time he led a campaign with Richard West and Auberon Waugh for the installation of a British monument to honour those repatriated to Soviet concentration camps as a result of the
Yalta Conference The Yalta Conference (codenamed Argonaut), also known as the Crimea Conference, held 4–11 February 1945, was the World War II meeting of the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union to discuss the post ...
. Despite fierce resistance from the Foreign Office and the Soviet Embassy a prominent memorial was eventually erected in South Kensington in 1986. He left ''The Spectator'' to travel in Mexico and through the war zones of Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua, an experience which he described in ''So Far from God: A Journey to Central America.'' Marnham's travel writing was described in the ''
Dictionary of Literary Biography The ''Dictionary of Literary Biography'' is a specialist biographical dictionary dedicated to literature. Published by Gale, the 375-volume setRogers, 106. covers a wide variety of literary topics, periods, and genres, with a focus on American an ...
'' as covering "complex cultural histories" and tackling "substantial questions about belief, skepticism, communal responsibility and individual freedom... In the tradition of such anatomizers of late British imperialism as Graham Greene,
Malcolm Lowry Clarence Malcolm Lowry (; 28 July 1909 – 26 June 1957) was an English poet and novelist who is best known for his 1947 novel ''Under the Volcano'', which was voted No. 11 in the Modern Library 100 Best Novels list.
and
Evelyn Waugh Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh (; 28 October 1903 – 10 April 1966) was an English writer of novels, biographies, and travel books; he was also a prolific journalist and book reviewer. His most famous works include the early satires ''Decli ...
, Marnham documents with tragic irony and self-deprecating wit the fate of parts of the world that were once administered - and are still in many ways controlled - by Europe and the United States... He uses common sense and Orwellian honesty to puncture political illusions and cultural misconceptions about the Third World". In 1986 Marnham became the first Paris correspondent of the newly-launched broadsheet newspaper, ''
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 publis ...
''. With his travelling curtailed he switched to biography in the 1990s, choosing as his first three subjects a Belgian novelist, a Mexican muralist and a French national hero.
Muriel Spark Dame Muriel Sarah Spark (née Camberg; 1 February 1918 – 13 April 2006). was a Scottish novelist, short story writer, poet and essayist. Life Muriel Camberg was born in the Bruntsfield area of Edinburgh, the daughter of Bernard Camberg, an ...
wrote that his portrait of Georges Simenon "adds to our understanding not only of Simenon's art but the art of the novel itself".
JG Ballard James Graham Ballard (15 November 193019 April 2009) was an English novelist, short story writer, satirist, and essayist known for provocative works of fiction which explored the relations between human psychology, technology, sex, and mass medi ...
described ''The Death of Jean Moulin'' as "a brilliant mix of political thriller and wartime history". In 1992, following Richard Ingrams's decision to resign from ''Private Eye,'' Marnham joined a small group of journalists - including Alexander Chancellor, Auberon Waugh, Stephen Glover and John McEwan - who banded together to launch''The Oldie'' magazine with Ingrams as editor. The venture was largely bankrolled by the Palestinian publisher
Naim Attallah Naim Ibrahim Attallah ( ar, نعيم إبراهيم عطالله, 1 May 1931 – 2 February 2021) was a Christian Palestinian-British businessman and writer. He was the publisher of Quartet Books and the owner of The Women's Press. The Palest ...
, although most of those originally involved in it lost money. In 2008 Marnham started to work with the Belgian film director Manu Riche and the British screenwriter and historian Steve Hawes on ''The Man Who Wasn't Maigret,'' a feature film for the French channel ''Antenne 2'' that was partly inspired by Marnham's biography of Georges Simenon. This venture was followed by a more ambitious project - a film and a book covering the same subject. ''Snake Dance: Journeys Beneath a Nuclear Sky'', was published in 2013. It marked a return to travel writing and described journeys to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, New Mexico and Japan, tracing the story of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It was accompanied by a prize-winning film with the same title, directed by Manu Riche and written and narrated by Marnham. In 2019 Marnham was asked to write the Introduction to the
Everyman Library Everyman's Library is a series of reprints of classic literature, primarily from the Western canon. It is currently published in hardback by Random House. It was originally an imprint of J. M. Dent (itself later a division of Weidenfeld & Ni ...
's edition of
VS Naipaul VS, Vs or vs may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * Vs (film), ''Vs'' (film), or All Superheroes Must Die'', a 2011 horror film * Vs. (game show), ''Vs.'' (game show), 1999 * "VS.", List of Prison Break episodes, an ep ...
's '' A Bend in the River.'' Marnham's most recent book is ''War in the Shadows: Resistance, Deception and Betrayal in Occupied France'' (2020)'','' a controversial investigation into the betrayal of PROSPER, an SOE resistance network active in France in the summer of 1943. He served for 5 years as a judge of the Duff Cooper Prize and was a trustee of the charity CRY, Cardiac Risk in the Young, from 2008 to 2018. His work has been translated into 12 languages. His books have won the
Thomas Cook Travel Book Award The Thomas Cook Travel Book Award originated as an initiative of Thomas Cook AG in 1980, with the aim of encouraging and rewarding the art of literary travel writing. The awards stopped in 2005 (2004 being the last year an award was given). As of 2 ...
and the
Marsh Biography Award {{Use dmy dates, date=April 2022 The Marsh Biography Award was a British literary award, given to the author of the best biography written in the previous two years by a British author. It was established in 1987 and was presented biennially until ...
."List of winners of the Marsh Biography Award"
Marsh Christian Trust website, retrieved October 29, 2010


Books

* ''TRAVEL BOOKS'' * ''Road to Katmandu'' (1971) * ''Fantastic Invasion: Dispatches from Contemporary Africa'' (1980) * ''Lourdes, A Modern Pilgrimage'' (1980) * ''So Far from God: A Journey to Central America'' (1985) * ''Snake Dance: Journeys Beneath a Nuclear Sky'' (2013) * ''BIOGRAPHY'' * ''The Man Who Wasn't Maigret: A Portrait of Georges Simenon'' (1993) *''Dreaming with His Eyes Open: A Life of Diego Rivera'' (1998) *''Wild Mary: The Life of Mary Wesley'' (2006) *''Darling Pol: Letters of Mary Wesley and Eric Siepmann 1944-1967'' (2017) *''CURRENT AFFAIRS'' *''The Private Eye Story: the first 21 years'' (1982) *''Trail of Havoc: In the Steps of Lord Lucan'' (1988) *''FRANCE'' *''Crime and the Académie Française: Dispatches from Paris'' (1993) *''The Death of Jean Moulin: Biography of a Ghost'' (2000) *''War in the Shadows: Resistance, Deception and Betrayal in Occupied France'' (September 2020)


Awards

* Winner of the 1985
Thomas Cook Travel Book Award The Thomas Cook Travel Book Award originated as an initiative of Thomas Cook AG in 1980, with the aim of encouraging and rewarding the art of literary travel writing. The awards stopped in 2005 (2004 being the last year an award was given). As of 2 ...
for ''So Far From God: Journey to Central America'' * Winner of the
Marsh Biography Award {{Use dmy dates, date=April 2022 The Marsh Biography Award was a British literary award, given to the author of the best biography written in the previous two years by a British author. It was established in 1987 and was presented biennially until ...
for ''The Man Who Wasn't Maigret: Portrait of Georges Simenon'' *Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (elected 1988)


References


External links

Literary Agent: Veronique Baxter at David Higham Associates Ltd. https://www.davidhigham.co.uk/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Marnham, Patrick English biographers Year of birth missing (living people) Living people People educated at Downside School English male non-fiction writers