Norman Denning was born to Charles and Clara Denning in 1904, in Whitchurch in the accommodation above his parents shop.
14 Facts About Norman Denning
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Norman Denning joined the forces, choosing the Royal Navy shortly after the end of World War I; despite his bad eyesight he was accepted into the Paymaster Branch.
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Norman Denning served as secretary to various senior figures and worked in supplying naval vessels, but quickly became an expert on naval intelligence.
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Norman Denning wrote a report and submitted it to the Director of Naval Intelligence, but it was dismissed as him 'over-exercising his imagination'.
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In 1939, with the permission of James Troup, Director of Naval Intelligence from 1935 to 1939, and John Henry Godfrey, Director of Naval Intelligence from 1939 to 1943, the then Lieutenant Commander Norman Denning formulated and established the Operational Intelligence Centre for the Navy based at the Admiralty Citadel in London.
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Furthermore, Norman Denning was one of the first intelligence officers to recognise the potential of photographic reconnaissance as a worthwhile intelligence source.
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Consequently, Norman Denning helped persuade the heads of the Royal Air Force to allow the Australian officer Sidney Cotton's pioneering unit, the RAF Photographic Development Unit and then No 1 Photographic Reconnaissance Unit RAF to be used for intelligence-gathering.
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Norman Denning was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire for his work in 1945, and after the war was made Director of Planning for the Admiralty.
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Norman Denning became Director of the Royal Naval College, Greenwich in 1956 and in 1958 became Deputy Chief of Naval Personnel,.
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Norman Denning was appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath in the 1961 New Year Honours, and promoted Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1963 New Year Honours.
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Norman Denning retired from the Navy in September 1965, and later became head of the Defence and Security Media Advisory Committee.
12.
Norman Denning died on 27 December 1979; after separating a pair of fighting dogs he was bitten on the hand, and the resulting tetanus jab caused a reaction which set off a heart attack.
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Norman Denning married Iris Curtis in 1933, with whom he had two sons and a daughter.
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Norman Denning was buried next to his eldest sons ashes within the Micheldever churchyard.