E. C. Bentley

Edmund Clerihew Bentley, commonly known as E. C. Bentley, was an influential English novelist, humorist, and journalist, best remembered for his invention of the clerihew, a whimsical, biographical poetic form. Here’s a brief overview of his life:

Born: July 10, 1875, in London, England ¹.
Died: March 30, 1956, in London, England, at the age of 80 ¹.

Education:

Bentley was educated at St Paul’s School in London and later attended Merton College, Oxford ¹.

Career:

He began his career as a journalist, working for several newspapers, including The Daily Telegraph ¹.
Bentley is also known for his work with the weekly The Outlook during the editorship of James Louis Garvin ¹.

Literary Contributions:

His first published collection of poetry, “Biography for Beginners” (1905), popularized the clerihew form ¹.
He followed this with two other collections, “More Biography” (1929) and “Baseless Biography” (1939)¹.
Bentley’s detective novel “Trent’s Last Case” (1913) was highly praised and is considered the first truly modern mystery, influencing the genre significantly ¹.
The success of “Trent’s Last Case” led him to write a sequel, “Trent’s Own Case” (1936), and a collection of short stories, “Trent Intervenes” (1938)¹.
From 1936 until 1949, Bentley served as the president of the Detection Club ¹.

Personal Life:

His son, Nicolas Bentley, was a well-known illustrator ¹.
Bentley’s friend, G. K. Chesterton, dedicated his famous detective novel, “The Man Who Was Thursday,” to him ¹.

Bentley’s legacy lives on through his contributions to detective fiction and his unique clerihew poetry, which continues to entertain readers with its wit and simplicity. ????????