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Peter Hennessy

ピーター・ヘネッシー

Pītā Henesshī

Aliases: Peter John Hennessy / Baron Hennessy of Nympsfield / Lord Hennessy of Nympsfield / The Lord Hennessy of Nympsfield

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1947-03-28 （Edmonton, London）
Nationality
British
Languages
English
Religion
Catholic
Residence History
North London (Edmonton, Finchley) → Cotswolds (Stroud area) → London

Career

Occupations
Historian, Academic, Journalist
Active Years
1969-
Affiliations
Queen Mary University of London, Institute of Contemporary British History, Gresham College, House of Lords
Memberships
Fellow of the British Academy (FBA)

Education

St Benedict's School, Ealing
Country: United Kingdom
Secondary school
Marling School
Country: United Kingdom
Grammar school
St John's College, Cambridge
Faculty of History / Contemporary British History
Degree: BA (1969), PhD (1990)
Period: 1960年代-1990
Year of Graduation: 1969
Country: United Kingdom
Kennedy Memorial Scholar at Harvard (1971-1972)
Harvard University
Degree: Kennedy Memorial Scholar
Period: 1971-1972
Country: United States

Awards

Duff Cooper Prize
1992
Work: Never Again: Britain 1945–1951
Result: winner
NCR Book Award
1993
Work: Never Again: Britain 1945–1951
Result: winner
Orwell Prize
2007
Work: Having It So Good: Britain in the 1950s
Category: 政治執筆
Result: winner

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Never Again: Britain 1945–1951

1992 History

Analysis of post-war Britain from 1945 to 1951.

Post-war recoveryGovernment operationsBritish constitution

Whitehall

1989 Political History

Study of the British civil service and government machinery.

BureaucracyGovernment secrets

Having It So Good: Britain in the 1950s

2006 History

Britain in the 1950s and the rise of Harold Macmillan.

1950s BritainWelfare state

The Secret State: Whitehall and the Cold War

2002 History

Whitehall and the Cold War secret state.

Cold WarIntelligence

Bibliography

  • Cabinet (1986)
  • Whitehall (1989)
  • Never Again: Britain 1945–51 (1992)
  • Pathways to the Pigeon Hole? (1993)
  • The Hidden Wiring (1995)
  • Ready, Steady, Go! (1997)
  • The Blair Centre (1999)
  • The Prime Minister (2000)
  • The Secret State (2002)
  • Rulers and Servants of the State (2004)
  • Having It So Good (2006)
  • Cabinets and the Bomb (2007)
  • The New Protective State (2007)
  • The Secret State: Preparing For The Worst 1945–2010 (2010)
  • Distilling the Frenzy (2012)
  • Establishment and Meritocracy (2014)
  • Kingdom to Come (2015)
  • Reflections: Conversations with Politicians (2016)
  • The Silent Deep (2015) with James Jinks
  • Winds of Change (2019)
  • The Complete Reflections (2020)
  • A Duty of Care (2022)
  • The Bonfire of the Decencies (2022)
  • On the Back of an Envelope (2024)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Archival-based detailed narrativeInsider interviewsAccessible prose with oral history
Recurring Motifs
British governmental 'machinery'Continuity of post-war BritainDeclassification of secretsConstitutional crises

Health

  • Parkinson's disease
    2019年-現在（初期段階）
    Early-stage, no significant impact on work reported

Legacy

Leading authority on contemporary British history, author of seminal works on post-war government, winner of major prizes including Duff Cooper and Orwell, FBA, and House of Lords peer.

Academic Societies

  • British Academy

Archives

  • Queen Mary, University of London Archives

In Popular Culture

  • Frequent BBC radio appearances

Trivia

  • From large Irish Catholic family
  • Raised in council-requisitioned houses in north London
  • Married to Enid, lives in London, two daughters
  • Crossbencher in House of Lords
  • Called Partygate the worst constitutional crisis involving a PM