Ludovic Kennedy

Sir Ludovic Henry Coverley Kennedy (b. November 3 1919 in Edinburgh, Scotland) is a British journalist, broadcaster, and author. He was knighted in 1994 for services to journalism.

Early life and Naval career

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 reactivated and given command of HMS Rawalpindi, a hastily militarised P&O steamship. 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.

Related Topics:
Royal Navy - Eton College - Humphrey Lyttelton - World War II - HMS ''Rawalpindi'' - P&O - Iceland - German - Battlecruiser - ''Scharnhorst''

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Ludovic Kennedy soon 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.

Related Topics:
Destroyer - Battleship - ''Bismarck'' - Battle of the Denmark Strait

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