Patrick Howarth

April 25, 1916 (age 88)

Calcutta, India

Patrick Howarth built his career as a Public Relations Executive, Journalist, and Author. Firstly, Howarth was determined to become a journalist, and he moved to Poland to edit a publication for the Baltic Institute. Fleeing the country just as World War II was beginning, he enlisted in the British Army, where he was in charge of controlling the actions of British secret agents in Europe. After the war, he returned to Poland, working as a press attaché for the British Embassy in Warsaw until 1947. He then returned to England and obtained a job with the British Home Civil Service, working for the Ministry of Town and Country Planning and the Ministry of Housing and Local Government. Howarth grew frustrated with the bureaucracy and left government work in 1953. Several eclectic business ventures followed, including growing bananas in Fiji and organizing expeditions to the North Pole. He then found his niche with the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, for which he served as public relations officer and editor of the magazine Lifeboat until 1979. The security of a steady job allowed Howarth to write a number of books, including fictional works such as The Dying Ukrainian, A Matter of Minutes, and the detective novel Portrait of a Killer, which was written under the pen name C. D. E. Francis. Howarth also wrote histories such as Questions in the House and Lifeboats and Lifeboat People, as well as biographies like Squire and Intelligence Chief Extraordinary. The poetry he had been so fond of writing back at university - he almost won the Newdigate Poetry Prize - reemerged as well, and his 1974 verse memoir Playback a Lifetime was broadcast on the BBC. He continued writing poetry almost until the day he died, often hearing his poems aired on BBC Radio programs. Among his last publications were My God, Soldiers! and Attila, King of the Huns.

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Works

book

The dying Ukrainian

1953

A Matter of Minutes

1953

Questions in the House

1956

Portrait of a Killer

1957

Squire

1969

Life-boats and life-boat people

1974

When the Riviera was ours

1977

Undercover

1980

Intelligence Chief Extraordinary

1986

George VI, a New Biography

(George VI became the King with more reluctance and dread ...)

1987

My God, Soldiers

(In November 1942 the Eighth Army set out on a journey tha...)

1989

Attila, King of the Huns

(Attila the Hun has been known to the world for centuries ...)

1994

Special operations

1995

Patrick Howarth Edit Profile

journalist author

Background

Patrick Howarth was born on April 25, 1916, in Calcutta, India. He was the son of an employee of the New Zealand Insurance Company.

Education

Patrick Howarth was educated at Rugby and also earned a Master's Degree from St. John's College, Oxford, in 1937.

$Education period of Patrick Howarth in St. John\'s College$

Career

Patrick Howarth built his career as a Public Relations Executive, Journalist, and Author. Firstly, Howarth was determined to become a journalist, and he moved to Poland to edit a publication for the Baltic Institute. Fleeing the country just as World War II was beginning, he enlisted in the British Army, where he was in charge of controlling the actions of British secret agents in Europe. After the war, he returned to Poland, working as a press attaché for the British Embassy in Warsaw until 1947. He then returned to England and obtained a job with the British Home Civil Service, working for the Ministry of Town and Country Planning and the Ministry of Housing and Local Government. Howarth grew frustrated with the bureaucracy and left government work in 1953.

Several eclectic business ventures followed, including growing bananas in Fiji and organizing expeditions to the North Pole. He then found his niche with the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, for which he served as public relations officer and editor of the magazine Lifeboat until 1979. The security of a steady job allowed Howarth to write a number of books, including fictional works such as The Dying Ukrainian, A Matter of Minutes, and the detective novel Portrait of a Killer, which was written under the pen name C. D. E. Francis. Howarth also wrote histories such as Questions in the House and Lifeboats and Lifeboat People, as well as biographies like Squire and Intelligence Chief Extraordinary. The poetry he had been so fond of writing back at university - he almost won the Newdigate Poetry Prize - reemerged as well, and his 1974 verse memoir Playback a Lifetime was broadcast on the BBC. He continued writing poetry almost until the day he died, often hearing his poems aired on BBC Radio programs. Among his last publications were My God, Soldiers! and Attila, King of the Huns.

Achievements

Howarth is best remembered as the author of histories, biographies, travel books, and poetry. Through the course of his career, Howarth managed to publish several books, as well as contribute to different periodicals, including Independent and Times.