John Julian Timothy Jeal, known as Tim Jeal (born 27 January 1945 in London, England), is a British

biographer Biographers are authors who write an account of another person's life, while autobiographers are authors who write their own biography. Biographers Countries of working life: Ab=Arabia, AG=Ancient Greece, Al=Australia, Am=Armenian, AR=Ancient Rome ...

of notable Victorians and is also a novelist. His publications include a memoir and biographies of

David Livingstone David Livingstone (; 19 March 1813 – 1 May 1873) was a Scottish physician, Congregationalist, and pioneer Christian missionary with the London Missionary Society, an explorer in Africa, and one of the most popular British heroes of t ...

(1973), Lord Baden-Powell (1989), and Sir Henry Morton Stanley (2007).

Early life

Tim Jeal was born 27 January 1945 to civil servant Clifford Freeman Jeal and Norah Margaret Sabine, daughter of Sir Thomas Edward Sabine Pasley, 3rd

Baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14t ...

, and Constance Wilmot Annie Hastings, daughter of the 14th

Earl of Huntingdon Earl of Huntingdon is a title which has been created several times in the Peerage of England. The medieval title (1065 creation) was associated with the ruling house of Scotland ( David of Scotland). The seventh and most recent creation dates t ...

. Jeal was educated at

Westminster School (God Gives the Increase) , established = Earliest records date from the 14th century, refounded in 1560 , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , head_label = Hea ...

, London, and Christ Church, Oxford. Clifford Jeal, about whom his son published a memoir in 2004, was a Christian mystic and follower of the Anglican Order Of The Cross fellowship and as such practised

pacifism Pacifism is the opposition or resistance to war, militarism (including conscription and mandatory military service) or violence. Pacifists generally reject theories of Just War. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaign ...

and vegetarianism. Jeal is married to Joyce Jeal and they have three daughters.

Career

Television

From 1966 to 1970, he worked for BBC Television in the features group.

Writing

Jeal has been writing books since the 1960s, for London and New York-based publishers. Although most of his works are fictional, he is best known for his biographies. His biography, ''Livingstone'' (1973), based on private letters, diaries and archives, was the first to describe the explorer/missionary's faults and failings and to reveal the man behind the icon. It became the basis for a BBC TV documentary and a film for the Discovery Channel. ''Livingstone'' has never been out of print since first publication in 1973 and in 2013 was reissued in a revised and expanded edition by

Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day, and became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and operationally autonomous. , Yale Universi ...

. In ''

Baden-Powell Lieutenant-General Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, ( ; (Commonly pronounced by others as ) 22 February 1857 – 8 January 1941) was a British Army officer, writer, founder and first Chief Scout of the wor ...

'' (1989), Jeal offers a revisionist account of Lieutenant-General The 1st Baron Baden-Powell, founder of the

Boy Scouts Boy Scouts may refer to: * Boy Scout, a participant in the Boy Scout Movement. * Scouting, also known as the Boy Scout Movement. * An organisation in the Scouting Movement, although many of these organizations also have female members. There are ...

, restoring his reputation which had deteriorated during the 20th century. However, Jeal also speculated that Lord Baden-Powell was a homosexual, even a repressed one, and this sparked a great deal of attention in the popular press culminating in scouting organisations reissuing an earlier biography of Baden-Powell by

William Hillcourt William Hillcourt (August 6, 1900 – November 9, 1992), known within the Scouting movement as "Green Bar Bill", was an influential leader in the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) organization from 1927 to 1992. Hillcourt was a prolific writer and ...

to dilute attention and sales of Jeal's book.Robert Campbell (1993) ''Origins of the Scouts'', Sydney, Australia In 1995, Jeal's book was the basis for a TV documentary in the

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 ...

series "Secret Lives" entitled ''Lord Baden-Powell: The Boy Man''. The 2007 biography of Sir Henry Morton Stanley was a revisionist account that showed Stanley in a more sympathetic light. Professor John Carey in ''

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 ...

'' accepted that Jeal's 'ardent, intricate defence of a man history has damned' had been successful, and concluded: 'Anyone who, after reading this book, imagines they would have behaved better than Stanley, if faced with the same dangers, must have a vivid imagination.' Tim Gardam said in ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...

'' that Jeal had 'fulfilled a mission to rehabilitate one of the most complex heroes of Victorian Britain'. Kevin Rushby in ''

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 ...

'' said he was 'aware of the dangers of revisionism' and doubted that Stanley was as innocent as Jeal argued. While calling ''Stanley'' 'an awesome piece of scholarship executed with page-turning brio,' he expressed doubt that it would be the 'last word on Henry Morton Stanley.' In ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'', Jason Roberts wrote of '...this commanding, definitive biography' being 'an unalloyed triumph...'; and in the '' New York Times Book Review'', Paul Theroux described it as 'the most felicitous, the best informed, the most complete and readable iography of Stanley. Tim Jeal had unique access to the massive Stanley collection in the

Royal Museum of Central Africa The Royal Museum for Central Africa or RMCA ( nl, Koninklijk Museum voor Midden-Afrika or KMMA; french: Musée royal de l'Afrique centrale or MRAC; german: Königliches Museum für Zentralafrika or KMZA), also officially known as the AfricaMuse ...

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

and saw many letters, diaries and other documents (including correspondence between Stanley and King Leopold II of the Belgians) unseen by previous biographers. The book had its detractors. Kenyan law professor

Makau Mutua Makau W. Mutua (born 1958) is a Kenyan-American professor at the SUNY Buffalo School of Law and was its dean from 2008 to 2014. He teaches international human rights, international business transactions and international law. He is vice presiden ...

said "If Jeal's attempt was the resurrection of a humane Stanley, then I must judge him a complete failure," going on to suggest that "the author should have set aside any biased personal agendas and let history speak for itself. Instead, Jeal writes a political book in defence of a historical monster." ''Explorers of the Nile: The Triumph and Tragedy of a Great Victorian Adventure'' (2011) is about the search for the source of the Nile by

John Hanning Speke Captain John Hanning Speke (4 May 1827 – 15 September 1864) was an English explorer and officer in the British Indian Army who made three exploratory expeditions to Africa. He is most associated with the search for the source of the Nil ...

James Augustus Grant Lieutenant-Colonel James Augustus Grant (11 April 1827 – 11 February 1892) was a Scottish explorer of eastern equatorial Africa. He made contributions to the journals of various learned societies, the most notable being the "Botany of the Sp ...

Richard Francis Burton Sir Richard Francis Burton (; 19 March 1821 – 20 October 1890) was a British explorer, writer, orientalist scholar,and soldier. He was famed for his travels and explorations in Asia, Africa, and the Americas, as well as his extraordinary kn ...

, Samuel White Baker, Henry Morton Stanley,

and many others from 1856-1878. It is particularly focused on John Hanning Speke, seeking to restore his reputation, who is credited with unraveling the mystery of the source. Jeal has pitched the book as an update to

Alan Moorehead Alan McCrae Moorehead, (22 July 1910 – 29 September 1983) was a war correspondent and author of popular histories, most notably two books on the nineteenth-century exploration of the Nile, ''The White Nile'' (1960) and ''The Blue Nile'' (196 ...

's ''The White Nile''.

Bibliography

Novels

* ''For Love or Money'' (1967) * ''Somewhere Beyond Reproach'' (1968) * ''Cushing's Crusade'' (1974) * ''Until the Colours Fade'' (1976) * ''A Marriage of Convenience'' (1979) * ''The Adventures of Madelene and Louisa'', editor (1980) * ''Carnforth's Creation'' (1983) * ''For God or Glory'' (1996) US; published in UK as ''The Missionary's Wife'' (1997) * ''Deep Water'' (2000)

Biographies

* ''Livingstone'' (1973) * ''

'' (1989) * ''Swimming with My Father'' (2004) (memoir) * ''Stanley: The Impossible Life of Africa's Greatest Explorer'' (2007) * ''Explorers of the Nile: The Triumph and Tragedy of a Great Victorian Adventure'' (2011)

Awards and honours

*1973

New York Times Notable Book of the Year ''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely rea ...

selection for ''Livingstone'' *1975

John Llewellyn Rhys Prize The John Llewellyn Rhys Prize was a literary prize awarded annually for the best work of literature (fiction, non-fiction, poetry, drama) by an author from the Commonwealth aged 35 or under, written in English and published in the United Kingdom ...

winner for ''Cushing's Crusade'' *1989

selection for ''Baden-Powell''. *2004 PEN/Ackerley Prize shortlist for ''Swimming with my Father'' *2007 ''Los Angeles Times'' Book Prize (Biography) finalist for ''Stanley: The Impossible Life of Africa’s Greatest Explorer'' *2007 ''

'' "Biography of the Year" winner for ''Stanley: The Impossible Life of Africa’s Greatest Explorer'' *2007

National Book Critics Circle Award The National Book Critics Circle Awards are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English"."The National Book Critics Circle Award"
(no date), NBCC. Retrieved 7 March 2008.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jeal, Tim 1945 births Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford British biographers Living people John Llewellyn Rhys Prize winners People educated at Westminster School, London 21st-century British writers 20th-century English novelists 20th-century biographers 21st-century biographers