Peter John Hennessy, Baron Hennessy of Nympsfield, FBA (born 28 March 1947) is an English historian and academic specialising in the history of government. Since 1992, he has been Attlee Professor of Contemporary British History at Queen Mary University of London.[1]
Early life
Hennessy was born in Edmonton, north London, son of William Gerald Hennessy and Edith, née Wood-Johnson.[2] He comes from a large Catholic family of Irish provenance. He was brought up in large houses requisitioned by the local council, first in Allandale Avenue and then in Lyndhurst Gardens, Finchley, north London.[3]
He attended the nearby Our Lady of Lourdes Primary School, and on Sundays he went to St Mary Magdalene Church, where he was an altar boy.[3] He was the subject of the first episode, first broadcast on 6 August 2007, of the BBC Radio 4 series The House I Grew Up In, in which he talked about his childhood.[3]
Hennessy was a journalist for the Times Higher Education Supplement from 1972 to 1974. From 1974 to 1982, he wrote leaders for The Times, for which he was also the Whitehall correspondent. He was The Financial Times' lobby correspondent at Westminster in 1976. In June 1977, Hennessy accused Donald Beves of being the "fourth man" in the Cambridge Spy Ring (then-known participants were Philby, Burgess, and Maclean), but Geoffrey Grigson and others quickly leapt to the defense of Beves, considering him uninterested in politics.[4]
In July and August 2013 he was the interviewer for BBC Radio 4's Reflections,[5] a series of four biographical interview programmes featuring Shirley Williams, Jack Straw, Norman Tebbit and Neil Kinnock. Hennessy continues to present the programme.
On 17 April 2022, he was interviewed by BBC Radio 4's Broadcasting House. On the subject of the Metropolitan Police fines issued to Boris Johnson for lockdown breaches during the Partygate scandal, he said "I think we're in the most severe constitutional crisis involving a prime minister that I can remember."[6]
Academic career
Professor Hennessy giving a public lecture at LSE in 1989
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.
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 writing.[7]
"I'm terribly pleased and honoured", Hennessy said at hearing the news. "I hope I can help the House of Lords a bit on constitutional matters. I'll certainly give it my best shot."[10] In August 2014, Lord Hennessy was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian opposing Scottish independence in the run-up to September's referendum.[11]
Personal life
Hennessy is married with two daughters.[12] He lives in London with his wife Enid.[13] In September 2019, he stated in an interview that he had early-stage Parkinson's disease.[14]
The New Protective State: Government, Intelligence and Terrorism (2007) ISBN9780826496140 Continuum
The Secret State: Preparing For The Worst 1945–2010 (2010) ISBN978-0-14-104469-9 Penguin
Distilling the Frenzy: Writing the History of One's Own Times (2012) ISBN9781849542159 Biteback
Establishment and Meritocracy (2014) ISBN9781908323774 Haus Publishing
Kingdom to Come: Thoughts on the Union Before and After the Scottish Referendum (2015) ISBN9781910376065 Haus Publishing
Reflections: Conversations with Politicians (2016) ISBN9781910376485 Haus Publishing (expanded & reissued in 2020, see below)
The Silent Deep: The Royal Navy Submarine Service Since 1945 (2015) with James Jinks ISBN9781846145803 Allen Lane
Winds of Change: Britain in the Early Sixties (2019) ISBN978-1846141102 Allen Lane
The Complete Reflections: Conversations with Politicians (2020) ISBN9781912208982 Haus Publishing
A Duty of Care: Britain Before and After Corona (2022) ISBN9780241491942 Penguin
The Bonfire of the Decencies: Repairing and Restoring the British Constitution (2022) ISBN9781913368715 Haus Publishing
Coat of arms of Peter Hennessy
Crest
A worker bee statant Or holding in the dexter foreclaws an open fountain pen bendwise sinister nib downwards Proper.
Escutcheon
Azure on a chevron engrailed between three closed books clasped Or a chevronel Gules.
Supporters
On either side a worker bee Or holding in the interior foreclaws an open fountain pen that on the dexter bendwise and on the sinister bendwise sinister nibs downwards Proper.[15]
