Gervase Phinn (born 27 December 1946) is an English author and educator. After a career as a teacher he became a schools inspector and, latterly, Visiting Professor of Education at the

University of Teesside Teesside University is a public university with its main campus in Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire in North East England. It was officially opened as ''Constantine Technical College'' in 1930, before becoming a polytechnic in 1969, and finally g ...

. He graduated from Leeds Trinity University in 1970 with a degree in Education. He has published five volumes of memoir, collections of poetry and a number of books about education. He has a particular interest in

children's literature Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. In addition to conventional literary genres, modern children's literature is classified by the intended age of the reade ...

and

literacy Literacy is the ability to read and write, while illiteracy refers to an inability to read and write. Some researchers suggest that the study of "literacy" as a concept can be divided into two periods: the period before 1950, when literacy was ...

Career

Phinn taught in a range of schools for fourteen years before becoming an education adviser and school inspector. He is now: * a freelance lecturer, broadcaster and writer * President of the

School Library Association The School Library Association (SLA) is an independent organization in the United Kingdom which promotes library, libraries and literacy in schools. The SLA was founded in 1937 and is based at Kembrey Park in north-eastern Swindon. It is a chari ...

for 2006–2009 * a consultant for the

Open University The Open University (OU) is a Public university, public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by List of universities in the United Kingdom by enrolment, number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate ...

* Honorary Fellow of

York St John University York St John University (originally established as York Diocesan College), often abbreviated to YSJ, is a public university located on a large urban campus in York, England. Established in 1841, it achieved university status in 2006 and in 2015 ...

* Doctor of Letters of the

University of Leicester The University of Leicester ( ) is a public university, public research university based in Leicester, England. The main campus is south of the city centre, adjacent to Victoria Park, Leicester, Victoria Park. The university's predecessor, Univ ...

* Fellow and Visiting Professor of Education at The

Bibliography

He has published many articles, chapters and books and edited a range of poetry and short story collections. His academic texts include: *''Young Readers and their Books'', published by David Fulton* ''Touches of Beauty: Poetry in the Primary School and Reading Matters'' He has published collections of his own plays, poems, picture books and short stories, including his anthologies of verse: *''Classroom Creatures'' *''It Takes One to Know One'' *''The Day Our Teacher Went Batty'' *''Family Phantoms'' Books of stories for children: *''What's the Matter, Royston Knapper?'' *''Royston Knapper: The Return of the Rogue'' *''Our Cat Cuddles'' (a picture book)

Dales series

Phinn is probably best known for his memoirs, many of which he has read as audiobooks: *''The Other Side of the Dale'' (1998, Michael Joseph) *''Over Hill and Dale'' (2000, Michael Joseph) *''Head Over Heels in the Dales'' (2002, Michael Joseph) *''Up and Down in the Dales'' (2004, Michael Joseph) *''The Heart of the Dales'' (2007, Michael Joseph)

Associated books

*''A Wayne in a Manger''

Others

*''All These Lonely People '' (2009, Penguin Books) *''Out of the Woods but Not Over the Hill'' (2010,

Hodder & Stoughton Hodder & Stoughton is a British publishing house, now an imprint of Hachette.H ...

) *''The Little Village School'' (2011, Hodder & Stoughton) *''Trouble at the Little Village School'' (2012, Hodder & Stoughton) *''The School Inspector Calls!'' (2014, Hodder & Stoughton) *''A Lesson in Love'' (2015, Hodder & Stoughton) *''Secrets at the Little Village School'' (2016, Hodder & Stoughton) *''Road to the Dales – The story of a Yorkshire Lad'' (2010, Penguin) – a memoir of his early childhood

Television and radio appearances

*''

Esther Esther (; ), originally Hadassah (; ), is the eponymous heroine of the Book of Esther in the Hebrew Bible. According to the biblical narrative, which is set in the Achaemenid Empire, the Persian king Ahasuerus falls in love with Esther and ma ...

'' (BBC1) *''

Midweek ''MidWeek'' is a weekly United States tabloid shopper and advertisement periodical published Wednesday in Honolulu, Hawaii and distributed throughout the Islands of Oahu and Kauai. It is owned by Black Press and is a sister publication of th ...

'' (BBC Radio 4) *'' You and Yours'' (BBC Radio 4) *''Open House with

Gloria Hunniford Mary Winifred Gloria Hunniford, OBE (born 10 April 1940) is a television and radio presenter, broadcaster and singer from Northern Ireland. She is known for presenting programmes on the BBC and ITV, such as '' Rip Off Britain'', and her regula ...

'' (ITV) *'' North East Tonight'' (Tyne Tees Television) *''

Today programme ''Today'', colloquially known as ''the Today programme'', is BBC Radio 4's long-running morning news and current-affairs radio programme. Broadcast on Monday to Saturday from 06:00 to 09:00 (starting on Saturday at 07:00), it is produced by BB ...

'' (BBC Radio 4) *''

Calendar A calendar is a system of organizing days. This is done by giving names to periods of time, typically days, weeks, months and years. A calendar date, date is the designation of a single and specific day within such a system. A calendar is ...

'' (Yorkshire Television) *''Breakfast Television'' (BBC1) *''

The Heaven and Earth Show ''The Heaven and Earth Show'' is a BBC television programme that aired on Sunday mornings from 10am to 11am on BBC One. The show ran for nine years between 1998 and 2007, looking at spiritual and moral issues. Over the years it had numerous prese ...

'' (BBC 2) *''The

Des O'Connor Desmond Bernard O'Connor (12 January 1932 – 14 November 2020) was an English comedian, singer and television presenter. He was a long-time TV chat-show host, beginning with '' The Des O'Connor Show'' in 1963, which ran for ten years as we ...

Show'' (LWT) *'' Quote... Unquote'' (BBC Radio 4) *''

Look North ''BBC Look North'' is a name used by the BBC for its regional news programmes in three regions in the North of England: * ''BBC Look North (North East and Cumbria), BBC Look North'' for the BBC North East and Cumbria region * ''BBC Look North (Y ...

'' (BBC 1) *''

The Big Toe Radio Show ''The Big Toe Radio Show'' was a daily show (seven days a week) for children on the DAB radio station BBC 7 at breakfast time and from 4 to 6pm. It was aimed at children aged nine to eleven. It featured music, games, stories read from well-known ...

'' (BBC Radio 7) *''Just One Chance'' (BBC 2) *''

Book at Bedtime ''Book at Bedtime'' (''A Book at Bedtime'' until 9 July 1993) is a long-running radio programme that is broadcast on BBC Radio 4 each weekday evening between 22:45 and 23:00. The programme presents readings of fiction, including modern classic ...

'' (BBC Radio 4) *''

Book of the Week ''Book of the Week'' is a long-running BBC Radio 4 series, first broadcast in 1998. It features daily readings from an abridged version of a selected book read over five or occasionally ten weekday episodes. Each episode is approximately 15 min ...

'' (BBC Radio 4) *''

A Good Read ''A Good Read'' is one of BBC Radio 4's longest-running programmes in which two guests join the main presenter to choose and discuss their favourite books. The programme grew out of an occasional slot on '' Weekend Woman's Hour'', initiated in 1 ...

'' (BBC Radio 4)

Honours

In 2004 Gervase Phinn received "The Speaker of the Year Award" from the Association of Speakers' Clubs. ''Up and Down in the Dales'', won the Customer Choice Award at the Spoken Book Awards. In 2005 the highest academic award of

Sheffield Hallam University Sheffield Hallam University (SHU) is a public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The university is based on two sites; the City Campus is located in the city centre near Sheffield station, Sheffield railway station, whil ...

, Doctor of the University (D.Univ.) was conferred upon him by the Chancellor, Professor Lord Winston. He is a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Arts The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, commonly known as the Royal Society of Arts (RSA), is a learned society that champions innovation and progress across a multitude of sectors by fostering creativity, s ...

and an Honorary Fellow of the English Speaking Board.

References

External links

*
"Gervase Phinn"
''

Penguin UK Penguin Books Limited is a Germany, German-owned English publishing, 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 ...

Authors'' * {{DEFAULTSORT:Phinn, Gervase 1946 births Living people 20th-century English memoirists 21st-century English memoirists 21st-century English novelists 21st-century English male writers Academics of Teesside University People from Rotherham Alumni of Sheffield Hallam University Alumni of Leeds Trinity University English male novelists Alumni of the University of Leeds English male non-fiction writers Writers about Yorkshire