Sir Ludovic Kennedy shown on the cover of his book All In The Mind: A Farewell To God

Sir Ludovic Henry Coverley Kennedy (born 3 November 1919) is a British journalist, broadcaster, and author. He was knighted in 1994 for services to journalism. Image File history File links Cover of Ludovic Kennedys book All In The Mind: A Farewell To Go. ... Image File history File links Cover of Ludovic Kennedys book All In The Mind: A Farewell To Go. ... November 3 is the 307th day of the year (308th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 58 days remaining. ... 1919 (MCMXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with reporter. ... Note: broadcasting is also the old term for hand sowing. ... An author is the person who creates a written work, such as a book, story, article or the like. ... A statue of an armoured knight of the Middle Ages For the chess piece, see knight (chess). ... 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International year of the Family. ...

Early life and Naval career

Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, the son of a career Royal Navy officer, Kennedy was schooled at Eton College (where he played in a jazz band with Humphrey Lyttelton) and was set for university when World War II broke out. Kennedy's father Edward Coverley Kennedy, by then a 60 year old retired captain, was returned and given command of HMS Rawalpindi, a hastily militarised P&O steamship. For other uses, see Edinburgh (disambiguation). ... Motto: Nemo me impune lacessit (English: No one provokes me with impunity) Scotlands location within Europe Scotlands location within the United Kingdom Languages English, Gaelic, Scots Capital Edinburgh Largest city Glasgow First Minister Jack McConnell Area - Total - % water Ranked 2nd UK 78,782 km² 1. ... The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the senior service of the British armed services, being the oldest of its three branches. ... The Kings College of Our Lady of Eton beside Windsor, commonly known as Eton College or just Eton, is a prestigious and internationally known independent school for boys. ... Humphrey Lyttelton (b. ... Combatants Allies: Poland, British Commonwealth, France/Free France, Soviet Union, United States, China, and others. ... HMS Rawalpindi was a ship that was sunk during the Second World War. ... The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company or P&O is a shipping line which started in 1840 after the Peninsular Steam Navigation Company won the British Admiralty contract to carry the mail overseas in 1837. ...

While on patrol southeast of Iceland the Rawalpindi encountered the German battlecruiser Scharnhorst. Scharnhorst sank Rawalpindi; of her 312 crew 275 (including E.C.Kennedy) were killed. HMS Hood (left) and HMS Barham (right), in Malta, 1937. ... Scharnhorst was a 31,500 tonne Gneisenau class battlecruiser of the German Kriegsmarine, named after the Prussian general and army reformer Gerhard von Scharnhorst and to commemorate the World War I armored cruiser SMS Scharnhorst. ...

Ludovic Kennedy followed his late father into the navy; he served as an officer on destroyers, mostly in the same northern seas. His ship was one of those which pursued the battleship Bismarck following the Battle of the Denmark Strait. Kennedy later wrote about this in his book Pursuit. USS Lassen, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet or battle group and defend them against smaller, short-range attackers (originally torpedo boats, later submarines and aircraft). ... HMS Victory in 1884 Battleship was the name given to the most powerfully gun-armed and most heavily armored warships between the 15th and 20th Centuries. ... The German battleship Bismarck is probably the most famous warship of the Second World War. ... The Battle of the Denmark Strait was a World War II naval engagement fought between the British battleship Prince of Wales, and battlecruiser Hood and the German battleship Bismarck and heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen which were attempting to break out into the North Atlantic to destroy Allied merchant shipping. ...

Journalism and broadcasting

After the war he attended Christ Church college, Oxford and began a career as a journalist. College name Christ Church Named after Jesus Christ Established 1546 Sister College Trinity College Dean The Very Revd Christopher Andrew Lewis JCR President William Dorsey Undergraduates 426 Graduates 154 Home page Boat Club Christ Church, called in Latin Ædes Christi (i. ... The University of Oxford, located in the city of Oxford, England, is the oldest university in the English-speaking world. ...

In February 1950 he married dancer and actress Moira Shearer in the Chapel Royal in London's Hampton Court Palace. The couple went on to have one son and three daughters from a 56-year marriage which ended with her death on 31 January 2006 at the age of 80. A contemporary dancer rehearsing in a dance studio Dance generally refers to human movement either used as a form of expression or presented in a social, spiritual or performance setting. ... Actors in period costume sharing a joke whilst waiting between takes during location filming. ... Lady Kennedy (17 January 1926 – 31 January 2006), known as Moira Shearer, was an internationally famous British ballet dancer and actress. ... For other uses, see London (disambiguation) and Defining London (below). ... Hampton Court Palace with the Union Jack flying. ... January 31 is the 31st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

A campaigning, investigative reporter, Kennedy wrote for a number of publications including Newsweek. Later he became a television journalist and a newsreader on ITV's Independent Television News. He presented the BBC's flagship current affairs programme Panorama for several years. In his career Kennedy has been interested in miscarriages of justice, and he has written and broadcast on numerous cases. The Newsweek logo Newsweek is a weekly news magazine published in New York City and distributed throughout the United States and internationally. ... NBC news anchor Tom Brokaw A news presenter is, broadly speaking, a person that presents a news show on television, radio or the Internet. ... Independent Television News (ITN) is the main supplier of news broadcasts to two British television groups: ITV and Channel 4. ... Panorama is a long-running current affairs documentary series on BBC television, launched on 11 November 1953 and focusing on investigative journalism. ...

He appeared as himself in several episodes of the political comedy series Yes, Minister, and was the subject of an episode of That Reminds Me. From 1984 to 1991 he presented the television review programme Did You See...?. He interviewed Peter Cook's character Sir Arthur Streeb-Greebling in A life in pieces in 1990. Sir Humphrey Appleby, Bernard Woolley and Jim Hacker in the Ministers Office at the Department of Administrative Affairs Yes, Minister and its sequel Yes, Prime Minister are British sitcoms that were transmitted by the BBC between 1980 and 1988. ... That Reminds Me is a series of programmes broadcast on BBC Radio 4 where someone (usually) connected with comedy talks about their life for thirty minutes in front of a live audience. ... Peter Edward Cook (17 November 1937–9 January 1995) was an English satirist, writer and comedian who is widely regarded as the leading figure in the British satire boom of the 1960s. ... Sir Arthur Streeb-Greebling was a character played by Peter Cook throughout his career. ...

Writing

Kennedy's highly regarded book Pursuit: The Chase and Sinking of the "Bismarck" (ISBN 0304355267) detailed the career of the Bismarck, her sinking of British battlecruiser Hood, and her destruction by the Royal Navy. The German battleship Bismarck is probably the most famous warship of the Second World War. ... HMS Hood (left) and HMS Barham (right), in Malta, 1937. ... HMS Hood (pennant number 51) was a battlecruiser of the Royal Navy. ...

He has written several books that question the convictions of a number of notable cases in British criminal history. Among these, 10 Rillington Place (ISBN 0586034285) examined the conviction of Timothy Evans, who was executed for the murder of his wife and baby. Kennedy contended that Evans was innocent, and that the crimes had been committed by the serial killer John Christie. Evans was posthumously pardoned, and the scandal helped in the abolition of the death penalty in the UK. Kennedy's book was filmed in 1971: Richard Fleischer's film starred John Hurt as Evans and Richard Attenborough as Christie. This article might not be written in the formal tone expected of an encyclopedia entry. ... Timothy John Evans (November 20, 1924 - March 9, 1950) was a young man, definitely mentally retarded, who was hanged in the United Kingdom in 1950 for the murder of his infant daughter. ... Serial killers are individuals who have a history of multiple slayings of victims who were usually unknown to them beforehand. ... John Reginald Halliday Christie (Halifax, West Yorkshire, April 8, 1898 - London, July 15, 1953) was a British serial killer active in the 1940s and 50s. ... Posthumous means after death. ... A pardon is the forgiveness of a crime and the penalty associated with it. ... Capital punishment, also referred to as the death penalty, is the judicially ordered execution of a prisoner as a punishment for a serious crime, often called a capital offense or a capital crime. ... 1971 (MCMLXXI) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1971 calendar). ... Richard Fleischer (born December 8, 1916) is an American film director. ... John Hurt (Mississippi John Hurt is an early American folk and country blues singer, 1893–1966) John Vincent Hurt CBE (born January 22, 1940) is an Academy Award nominated English actor. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

In 1985, Kennedy published The Airman And The Carpenter (ISBN 0670806064), in which he argued that Bruno Richard Hauptmann did not kidnap and murder Charles Lindbergh's baby, a crime for which he was executed in 1936. The book was made into a 1996 HBO film Crime Of The Century, starring Stephen Rea and Isabella Rossellini. This article is about the year. ... Bruno Richard Hauptmann (November 26, 1899 _ April 3, 1936) was a German carpenter and criminal, sentenced to death and executed for the Lindbergh kidnapping, the abduction and murder of Charles Augustus Lindbergh III, the 20-month old son of famous pilot Charles Lindbergh. ... Charles Lindbergh Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr. ... 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... HBO logo HBO (Home Box Office) is a premium cable television network. ... Stephen Rea Stephen Rea (born October 31, 1946) is an Irish actor with an extensive stage and film career, both in Ireland and abroad. ... Isabella Rossellini, 1990 for others of the same surname see Rossellini Isabella Fiorella Elettra Giovanna Rossellini, born June 18, 1952 in Rome, is a model and an actress, daughter of Ingrid Bergman and Roberto Rossellini. ...

In 2003, he wrote 36 Murders and 2 Immoral Earnings (ISBN 1861974574) ([1]), in which he analysed a number of noted cases, including the Evans case and those of Derek Bentley and the Birmingham Six. 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Derek Bentley (30 June 1933 - 28 January 1953) was hanged at the age of 19 for a murder committed by a friend, creating a cause célèbre and leading to a 45-year long successful campaign to win him a posthumous pardon. ... The Birmingham Six were Hug Callaghan, Patrick Hill, Gerard Bitcher, Richard McIlkenny, William Power and John Walker. ...

He concluded that the adversarial system of justice that pertains in the UK and the United States "is an invitation to the police to commit perjury, which they frequently do." Perjury is lying or making verifiably false statements under oath or affirmation in a court of law or in any of various sworn statements in writing. ...

Kennedy has also written:

• Sub-Lieutenant: A Personal Record of the War at Sea, 1942
• One man's meat, 1953
• Trial of Stephen Ward, 1964, ISBN 0575010355
• Very lovely people; a personal look at some Americans living abroad, 1969, ISBN 0671202057
• Nelson and His Captains (also called Nelson's band of brothers), 1975, ISBN 0002115697
• Presumption of Innocence: Amazing Case of Patrick Meehan, 1976, ISBN 0575020725
• Death of the Tirpitz (also called Menace - the life and death of the Tirpitz), 1980, ISBN 0316489050
• On My Way to the Club, 1990, ISBN 0006370799 (his autobiography)
• Truth to Tell: Collected Writings of Ludovic Kennedy, 1992, ISBN 0552995053
• In Bed with an Elephant: Personal View of Scotland, 1995, ISBN 0593023269

Dr Stephen Ward ( - 3 August 1963), the son of Canon Arthur Evelyn Ward, Canon of Rochester Cathedral, was a fashionable London osteopath and talented portrait artist. ... Patrick (Paddy) Meehan was a man who was the victim of a controversial miscarriage of justice in the UK. He was convicted of the murder of Mrs. ... An autobiography (from the Greek auton, self, bios, life and graphein, write) is a biography written by the subject or composed conjointly with a collaborative writer (styled as told to or with). The term dates from the late eighteenth century, but the form is much older. ...

Campaigning

In addition to his writing and campaigning on miscarriages of justice, Kennedy has campaigned on a number of issues:

A lifelong atheist, Kennedy published All In The Mind: A Farewell To God (ISBN 0340680636) in 1999, in which he discussed his philosophical objections to religion, and the ills he felt had come from Christianity. He contributes to New Humanist magazine, and is an Honorary Associate of the National Secular Society. Atheism, in its broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of gods. ... Christianity is a monotheistic religion centered on the life, teachings, and actions of Jesus of Nazareth, known by Christians as Jesus Christ, as recounted in the New Testament. ... New Humanist is the leading journal of atheism, secularism and freethought in the UK. It has been published for 120 years, starting out as Wattss Literary Guide in November 1885. ... The National Secular Society is an organisation of the United Kingdom which promotes secularism. ...

He is also an advocate of the legalisation of assisted suicide, and is a co-founder and former chair of the Voluntary Euthanasia Society. His book, Euthanasia: The Case for the Good Death (ISBN 0701136391), was published in 1990. Euthanasia (Greek, good death) is the practice of killing a person or animal, in a painless or minimally painful way, for merciful reasons, usually to end their suffering. ...

Kennedy resigned from the Liberal Democrats in 2001 ([2]), citing the incompatibility of his pro-voluntary euthanasia views with those of Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy (no relation) who is a Roman Catholic. The Liberal Democrats, often shortened to Lib Dems, are a liberal political party in the United Kingdom. ... Rt. ...

He then stood as an independent on a platform of legalising voluntary euthanasia in the 2001 general election for the Wiltshire constituency of Devizes. He won 2% of the vote and has since rejoined the Liberal Democrats. The UK general election, 2001 was held on 7 June 2001 and was dubbed the quiet landslide by the media. ... Wiltshire (abbreviated Wilts) is a large southern English county. ... Devizes is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. ...

Trivia

Private Eye magazine sometimes refers to him as 'Ludicrous Kennedy'. In the long-running BBC sitcom Till Death Us Do Part, Alf Garnett whilst attacking BBC personalities spoke of him as a Russian Mick ("Mick" being an offensive term for an Irishman), meaning of course "that Ludovich Kennedy!" Private eye may mean: Look up Private eye on Wiktionary, the free dictionary Private Eye a fortnightly British satirical magazine-newspaper, edited by Ian Hislop (as of 2005) A private investigator, a private detective for hire (see also crime fiction and detective fiction) Private Eye, a song by Alkaline Trio... Til Death Us Do Part (also known as Till Death Us do Part)1 was a BBC television sitcom series written by Johnny Speight that ran from 1964 until 1974. ... Alf Garnett was a fictional character on the BBC television sitcom Til Death Us Do Part and later In Sickness and in Health. ...

External links

• Details of HMS Rawalpindi
• Brief biography of Ludovic Kennedy