Edmund Clerihew Bentley (The Bookman, 1913)

Edmund Clerihew Bentley (10 July 1875 – 30 March 1956), who generally published under the names E. C. Bentley or E. Clerihew Bentley, was a popular English novelist and humorist, and inventor of the

clerihew A clerihew () is a whimsical, four-line biographical poem of a type invented by Edmund Clerihew Bentley. The first line is the name of the poem's subject, usually a famous person, and the remainder puts the subject in an absurd light or reveals som ...

, an irregular form of humorous verse on biographical topics.

Biography

Bentley was born in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and educated at St Paul's School and Merton College, Oxford.Cohen, Nancy. "Bentley, Edmund Clerihew (E. C.)". In Gale, Steven H., ed. (1996)
''Encyclopedia of British Humorists: Geoffrey Chaucer to John Cleese''
pp. 138–42. Taylor & Francis. His father, John Edmund Bentley, was professionally a civil servant but was also a rugby union international having played in the first ever international match for England against Scotland in 1871. Bentley worked as a journalist on several newspapers, including ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

''. He also worked for the weekly '' The Outlook'' during the editorship of

James Louis Garvin James Louis Garvin CH (12 April 1868 – 23 January 1947) was a British journalist, editor, and author. In 1908, Garvin agreed to take over the editorship of the Sunday newspaper ''The Observer'', revolutionising Sunday journalism and restori ...

. His first published collection of poetry, titled ''Biography for Beginners'' (1905), popularized the clerihew form; it was followed by two other collections, ''More Biography'' (1929) and ''Baseless Biography'' (1939). His detective novel ''

Trent's Last Case ''Trent's Last Case'' is a detective novel written by E. C. Bentley and first published in 1913. Its central character, the artist and amateur detective Philip Trent, reappeared subsequently in the novel '' Trent's Own Case'' (1936), and the s ...

'' (1913) was much praised, numbering

Dorothy L. Sayers Dorothy Leigh Sayers (; 13 June 1893 – 17 December 1957) was an English crime writer and poet. She was also a student of classical and modern languages. She is best known for her mysteries, a series of novels and short stories set between th ...

among its admirers, and with its labyrinthine and mystifying plotting can be seen as the first truly modern mystery. It was adapted as a film in 1920,

1929 This year marked the end of a period known in American history as the Roaring Twenties after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 ushered in a worldwide Great Depression. In the Americas, an agreement was brokered to end the Cristero War, a Catholic ...

, and

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Black Saturday in Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, becomes m ...

. The success of the work inspired him, after 23 years, to write a sequel, '' Trent's Own Case'' (1936). There was also a book of Trent short stories, ''Trent Intervenes'' (1938). From 1936 until 1949 Bentley was president of the

Detection Club The Detection Club was formed in 1930 by a group of British mystery writers, including Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, Ronald Knox, Freeman Wills Crofts, Arthur Morrison, Hugh Walpole, John Rhode, Jessie Rickard, Baroness Emma Orczy, R. ...

. He contributed to two crime stories for the club's radio serials broadcast in 1930 and 1931, which were published in 1983 as '' The Scoop and Behind The Screen''. In 1950 he contributed the introduction to a Constable & Co omnibus edition of Damon Runyon's "stories of the bandits of Broadway", which was republished by

Penguin Books Penguin Books is a British publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.Nicolas Bentley Nicolas Clerihew Bentley (14 June 1907 – 14 August 1978) was a British writer and illustrator, best known for his humorous cartoon drawings in books and magazines in the 1930s and 1940s. The son of Edmund Clerihew Bentley (inventor of the clerih ...

was an illustrator. Phonographic recordings of his work "Recordings for the Blind" are heard in the film ''

Places in the Heart ''Places in the Heart'' is a 1984 American film written and directed by Robert Benton. It stars Sally Field, Lindsay Crouse, Ed Harris, Ray Baker, Amy Madigan, John Malkovich, Danny Glover, Jerry Haynes and Terry O'Quinn. The film's narrative ...

'', by the character Mr. Will. G. K. Chesterton dedicated his popular detective novel on anarchist terrorism, ''

The Man Who Was Thursday ''The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare'' is a 1908 novel by G. K. Chesterton. The book has been described as a metaphysical thriller. Plot summary Chesterton prefixed the novel with a poem written to Edmund Clerihew Bentley, revisiting the p ...

'', to Edmund Clerihew Bentley, a school friend.Stapleton, Julia (2009)
''Christianity, Patriotism, and Nationhood: The England of G. K. Chesterton''
p. 15. Lexington Books. Although he is best known for his crime fiction and clerihews, Bentley also wrote at least one

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

short story. This is the recently re-discovered "Flying Visit", published in the ''

Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after be ...

'' on 31 March 1953.

Short prose works

Fiction

*"The Inoffensive Captain". ''

The Strand Magazine ''The Strand Magazine'' was a monthly British magazine founded by George Newnes, composed of short fiction and general interest articles. It was published in the United Kingdom from January 1891 to March 1950, running to 711 issues, though the ...

'', March 1914. Collected in '' Trent Intervenes'' (1938). *"The Clever Cockatoo". ''The Strand Magazine'', July 1914. Collected in ''Trent Intervenes'' (1938). *"The Ordinary Hair-Pins". ''The Strand Magazine'', October 1916. Collected in ''Trent Intervenes'' (1938). *"The Sweet Shot". ''The Strand Magazine'', March 1937. Collected in ''Trent Intervenes'' (1938). *"The Old-Fashioned Apache". ''The Strand Magazine'', May 1937. Collected in ''Trent Intervenes'' (1938). *"Trent and the Vanishing Lawyer". ''The Strand Magazine'', August 1937. Collected in ''Trent Intervenes'' (1938) as "The Vanishing Lawyer". *"Trent and the Bad Dog". ''The Strand Magazine'', September 1937. Collected in ''Trent Intervenes'' (1938). *"Trent and the Genuine Tabard". ''The Strand Magazine'', January 1938. Collected in ''Trent Intervenes'' (1938) as "The Genuine Tabard". *"Trent and the Unknown Peer". ''The Strand Magazine'', February 1938. Collected in ''Trent Intervenes'' (1938) as "The Unknown Peer". *"Trent and the Ministering Angel". ''The Strand Magazine'', November 1938. Collected in ''Trent Intervenes'' (HarperCollins Detective Story Club edition, 2017) as "The Ministering Angel". *"The Public Benefactor". Magazine publication unknown. Collected in ''Trent Intervenes'' (1938). *"The Little Mystery". Magazine publication unknown. Collected in ''Trent Intervenes'' (1938). *"The Fool-Proof Lift". Magazine publication unknown. Collected in ''Trent Intervenes'' (1938) as "Trent and the Fool-Proof Lift". *"Flying Visit". ''

'' (London), 31 March 1953.

Non-fiction

*"Two Machines and a Party". '' Daily News'' (London), 7 November 1905. *"Hearst for Governor". ''Daily News'' (London), 21 October 1906. *"Naas". ''Daily News'' (London), 6 November 1906. *"G. K.". '' The Listener'', 17 June 1936. *"Hitler Again Demonstrates His Pet Brand of Treachery". ''Ballymena Weekly Telegraph'', 20 April 1940. *"These Things Are Kept from the German Public". ''

'', date unknown. Reprinted: ''Belfast Telegraph'', 4 June 1940. *"Next US President". ''The Daily Telegraph'', date unknown. Reprinted: ''Belfast Telegraph'', 27 June 1940. *"The Lie as a Wartime Weapon". ''The Daily Telegraph'', date unknown. Reprinted: ''Belfast Telegraph'', 31 July 1940. *"I Am Glad I Was Born When I Was". ''The Listener'', 29 August 1940. *"Nazi Propaganda in Last War". ''The Daily Telegraph'', date unknown. Reprinted: ''Belfast Telegraph'', 7 September 1940. *"Boys and Girls of Yesterday and Today". ''The Listener'', 12 December 1940. *"The Interesting Age". ''The Listener'', 16 December 1943.

Book reviews

*"Arabi's Side". ''Daily News'' (London), 10 June 1907. *"The King's Serjeants". ''Daily News'' (London), 21 June 1911.

References

Sources

* Binyon, T. J., ''Murder Will Out: The Detective in Fiction'' (Oxford, 1989), pp. 57–58.

External links

* * *
Illustrated Bibliography of 1st Editions
with some clerihews and some biographical information on Bentley himself {{DEFAULTSORT:Bentley, Edmund 1875 births 1956 deaths 20th-century English novelists Alumni of Merton College, Oxford British anti-communists English crime fiction writers English mystery writers English male poets English humorists English male novelists Humorous poets Members of the Detection Club People educated at St Paul's School, London Presidents of the Oxford Union 20th-century English male writers