14 Facts About Humphrey Carpenter

Humphrey William Bouverie Carpenter was an English biographer, writer, and radio broadcaster.

Humphrey Carpenter is known especially for his biographies of JR R Tolkien and other members of the literary society the Inklings.

Humphrey Carpenter won a Mythopoeic Award for his book The Inklings in 1982.

Humphrey Carpenter's mother was Urith Monica Trevelyan, who had training in the Frobel teaching method.

Humphrey Carpenter was educated at the Dragon School, Oxford and Marlborough College.

Humphrey Carpenter returned to Oxford to read English at Keble College.

Humphrey Carpenter played a role in launching Radio 3's arts discussion programme Night Waves and acted as a regular presenter of other programmes on the network including Radio 3's afternoon drivetime programme In Tune and, until it was discontinued, its Sunday request programme Listeners' Choice.

Humphrey Carpenter was an amateur jazz musician who played the piano, the saxophone, and the double-bass, the last instrument professionally in a dance band in the 1970s.

Humphrey Carpenter founded the Mushy Pea Theatre Group, a children's drama group based in Oxford, which premiered his Mr Majeika: The Musical in 1991 and Babes, a musical about Hollywood child stars.

Humphrey Carpenter's biographies included JR R Tolkien: A Biography, The Inklings: CS Lewis, JRR Tolkien, Charles Williams and their Friends, W H Auden, Ezra Pound, Evelyn Waugh, Benjamin Britten, Robert Runcie, Dennis Potter, and Spike Milligan.

Humphrey Carpenter authored Geniuses Together: American Writers in Paris in the 1920s ; his last book was The Seven Lives of John Murray about John Murray and the publishing house of Albemarle Street, was published posthumously.

Humphrey Carpenter wrote histories of BBC Radio 3, the British satire boom of the 1960s, Angry Young Men: A Literary Comedy of the 1950s, and a centennial history of the Oxford University Dramatic Society in 1985.

Humphrey Carpenter died in 2005 of heart failure, compounded by the Parkinson's disease from which he had suffered for several years.

Humphrey Carpenter was buried in Wolvercote Cemetery in Oxford, the final resting place of JR R Tolkien.