From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

E. C. Bentley (10 July 1875 – 30 March 1956) was a popular English novelist and humorist of the early twentieth century, and the inventor of the clerihew, an irregular form of humorous verse on biographical topics.

Born in London, and educated at St Paul's School and Merton College, Oxford, Bentley worked as a journalist on several newspapers, including the Daily Telegraph. His first published collection of poetry, titled Biography for Beginners (1905), popularized the clerihew form; it was followed by two other collections, in 1929 and 1939. His detective novel, Trent's Last Case (1913), was much praised, numbering Dorothy L. Sayers among its admirers, and with its labyrinthine and mystifying plotting can be seen as the first truly modern mystery. The success of the work inspired him, after 23 years, to write a sequel, Trent's Own Case (1936). There was also a book of Trent short stories, Trent Intervenes. Several of his books were reprinted in the early 2000s by House of Stratus.

From 1936 until 1949 Bentley was president of the Detection Club and contributed to both of their radio serials broadcast in 1930 and 1931 and published in 1983 as The Scoop and Behind The Screen. He died at the age of 80 in 1956. His son Nicolas Bentley was a famous illustrator.

References

• Murder Will Out: The Detective in Fiction, T. J. Binyon (Oxford, 1989) ISBN 0-19-219223-X pp.57-58

External links

• Works by Edmund Clerihew Bentley at Project Gutenberg
• Illustrated Bibliography of 1st Editions
• A web page about Bentley, with some clerihews and some biographical information on Bentley himself

From Wikiquote

Edmund Clerihew Bentley (July 10, 1875 – March 30, 1956) was a popular English novelist and humorist of the early 20th century, and the inventor of the clerihew, an irregular form of humorous verse on biographical topics.

Sourced

Trent's Last Case (1902)

Full text at Wikisource

• Between what matters and what seems to matter, how should the world we know judge wisely? When the scheming, indomitable brain of Sigsbee Manderson was scattered by a shot from an unknown hand, that world lost nothing worth a single tear; it gained something memorable in a harsh reminder of the vanity of such wealth as this dead man had piled up—without making one loyal friend to mourn him, without doing an act that could help his memory to the least honor. But when the news of his end came, it seemed to those living in the great vortices of business as if the earth, too, shuddered under a blow.
  • Chapter I, Bad news

Clerihews: Biography for Beginners, 1905

• The art of Biography
  Is different from Geography.
  Geography is about maps,
  But Biography is about chaps.

• Sir Christopher Wren
  Said, "I am going to dine with some men.
  If anyone calls
  Say I am designing St. Paul's."

• John Stuart Mill,
  By a mighty effort of will,
  Overcame his natural bonhomie
  And wrote "Principles of Political Economy."

• What I like about Clive
  Is that he is no longer alive.
  There is a great deal to be said
  For being dead.

• Sir Humphrey Davy
  Abominated gravy.
  He lived in the odium
  Of having discovered sodium.

• w:Edward the Confessor
  Slept under the dresser.
  When that began to pall,
  He slept in the hall.

• It was a weakness of w:Voltaire's
  To forget to say his prayers,
  And one which to his shame
  He never overcame.

Clerihews: More Biography, 1929

• George the Third
  Ought never to have occurred.
  One can only wonder
  At so grotesque a blunder.

• Chapman & Hall
  Swore not at all.
  Mr Chapman's yea was yea,
  And Mr Hall's nay was nay.

External links

Wikipedia has an article about:

Edmund Clerihew Bentley

Wikisource has original works written by or about:

Edmund Clerihew Bentley

• Works by Edmund Clerihew Bentley at Project Gutenberg
• Illustrated Bibliography of 1st Editions
• A web page about Bentley, with some clerihews and some biographical information on Bentley himself