Jeff Kent (author)

Kent was born on 28 July 1951 in Hartshill, Stoke-on-Trent, England, and was educated at Hanley High School in Stoke-on-Trent. He gained an honours degree in international relations from the University of London in 1973 and a postgraduate certificate of education from Crewe College of Higher Education in 1974.{{cite book |editor1-last=Rains |editor1-first=Sarah |title=Dictionary of International Biography. |date=2007 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781903986264 |edition=33rd}}{{unreliable source?|date=June 2022}}

Kent taught history and geography at Maryhill Comprehensive School, in Kidsgrove, from 1974 to 1975 and at Leek College from 1976 to 1980. In 1980, he lectured in general studies at Stoke-on-Trent Technical College. In 1991, he began lecturing in English at Stoke on Trent College and later in history, geography and international perspectives.{{unreliable source?|date=June 2022}} From 1994 to 2010, he lectured in writing & publishing.The Sentinel, 21. 5. 2007, page 20.The Sentinel, 2. 9. 2006, page 17.

Kent became a freelance author in 1972{{cite book |title=International Who's Who of Authors & Writers 2010. |date=2009 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781857435283 |page=405 |url=https://archive.org/details/internationalwho0000unse_s1i9/page/404/mode/2up?}} and wrote record reviews for Hard Graft magazine.Hard Graft, July 1976, no. 4, page 12.Hard Graft, November–December 1976, page 12. In 1983, he published his first book, The Rise And Fall of Rock, a critical rock music history. It covered over 1,800 artists and 3,000 records.New Musical Express, 21. 1. 1984, page 38. In 1987, he published Principles of Open Learning, an examination of a radical, flexible and student-centred method of education.Education Now, Issue 1, May/June 1988, pages 10–12. In 1989, he published a biography of Eric Burdon, the lead singer of The Animals, entitled The Last Poet: The Story Of Eric Burdon, using material from extensive interviews with Burdon.Northern Life, Tyne Tees TV, 26. 5. 1989.On The Beat, Radio Merseyside, 10. 6. 1989.

In 1989, Kent published the first of seven books on Port Vale Football Club, Back To Where We Once Belonged!: Port Vale Promotion Chronicle 1988–1989, which was a celebration of the club's return to the Second Division of the Football League.Sentinel Sports final, 2. 9. 1989, page 9.Back To Where We Once Belonged!: Port Vale Promotion Chronicle 1988–1989, {{ISBN|0-9508981-3-9}}. In 1990, Kent published a history of Port Vale, entitled The Valiants' Years: The Story Of Port Vale.Herald & Post, 13. 12. 1990, page 27.The Independent, 19. 12. 1990, page 30. In 1991, he published Port Vale Tales: A Collection Of Stories, Anecdotes And Memories, which featured the recollections of those closely connected with the club, including Mick Cullerton, Ken Hancock, Brian Horton, Stanley Matthews, Harry Poole, and Kent himself.Sentinel Sports final, 14. 12. 1991, page 6.The Independent, 4. 1. 1992, page 42. In 1992, Kent published a Port Vale Forever song book to accompany his ten-track album of the same name.Midlands Today, BBC TV, 18. 12. 1992.Congleton Guardian, 21. 1. 1993, page 4. In 1993, he published The Port Vale Record 1879–1993, a history of Port Vale, cataloguing all the first-team's reported season by season results.The Independent II (Sport), 17. 12. 1993, page 34.Football Monthly, February 1994, page 37.The Port Vale Record 1879–1993, {{ISBN|0-9508981-9-8}}, back cover blurb. Three years later, he published Port Vale Personalities: A Biographical Dictionary of Players, Officials and Supporters, which contained the biographies of numerous individuals (mainly footballers) involved with the club since its inception.The Green 'Un, 19. 10. 1996, page 11. In 1998, Kent published The Potteries Derbies, which outlined the story of the first-team matches between Port Vale and Stoke City.The Oatcake, Issue no. 205, 12. 12. 1998.Winger: The Review of British Football, Issue 44, February 1999, page 23.

Also in 2001, Kent published The Mysterious Double Sunset - a book about a solar phenomenon, traditionally observed on the summer solstice from St Edward's churchyard in Leek, Staffordshire, looking at The Cloud, {{convert|6.5|mi}} to the northwest.Express & Star, 6. 12. 2001, page 26.Granada TV, 22. 12. 2001.

In 2011 he published his seventh book on Port Vale, entitled, What If There Had Been No Port in the Vale?: Startling Port Vale Stories.Staffordshire Newsletter, 15. 12. 2011, page 46.

In 2013, Kent published Staffordshire's 1,000-Foot Peaks, a guide to the 65 hills of the county which reached that height.Staffordshire Newsletter, 5. 12. 2013, page 19.Step Out, April 2014, pages 15–16.Tamworth Herald, 8. 5. 2014, page 39. In 2014, he published Peak Pictures, a book of southern Pennine landscapes.The Sentinel, 20. 11. 2014, page 28.Peak Pictures, {{ISBN|978-0-9927505-1-0}}, back cover blurb. In 2015, Kent published Cheshire's 1,000-Foot Peaks, a guide to the 46 hills of the county reaching that height.{{Cite web|url=http://www.stonegazette.co.uk/2015/10/a-man-in-high-places/|title=A man in high places|website=Stonegazette.co.uk|date=9 October 2015|accessdate=31 July 2020|archive-date=25 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225130808/http://www.stonegazette.co.uk/2015/10/a-man-in-high-places/|url-status=dead}}{{Cite web|url=https://ramblerseastcheshire.org.uk/blog/?p=867|title=Exploring the Cheshire Highlands|website=Ramblereastcheshire.org|date=8 October 2015 |accessdate=31 July 2020}}

Kent founded his own publishing house, Witan Books, in 1980.{{cite book |title=The writer's handbook 2009 |date=2008 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |location=Basingstoke |isbn=9780230573239 |page=236 |url=https://archive.org/details/writershandbook20000unse_g6o6/page/236/mode/2up |access-date=22 July 2022}} The Small Press Yearbook 1993 described Witan Books as 'a vehicle for the promotion of the works of Jeff Kent'.Small Press Yearbook 1993, {{ISBN|0-9513630-6-9}}, page 272.

In the late 1970s, Kent was a pioneer of environmentally orientated music and released an animal rights protest single, Butcher's Tale,Torch, No. 25, March 1982, page 15.New Musical Express, 16. 10. 1982, page 7.Green Line, No. 7, November 1982, page 20. with his five-piece band The Witan,Global Tapestry Journal, Issue 20, Autumn 1989, page 53. on Witan RecordsTorch, No. 25, March 1982, page 7. in 1981. They released a two-part environmental concept album, Tales from the Land of the Afterglow, in 1984.Brum Beat, 1984, p. 9 Kent then performed benefit concerts for several environmental and humanitarian organisations.Global tapestry Journal, Issue 17, Winter 1985-6, p. 24 In 1992, he released his first solo work, Port Vale Forever.The Independent, 27. 2. 1993, page 50.Football Monthly;, Vol. 19. No. 3, March 1993, page 37. In 2000, he released his ecological concept album Only One World.Staffordshire Newsletter, 23. 11. 2000, page 74.The Independent, 16. 12. 2000, page 25.International Who's Who in Popular Music, {{ISBN|978-1-85743-514-6}}. His musical style has most frequently been described as folk-rock, in a similar vein to Strawbs.Torch magazine, 1982. From 2008 to 2013, Kent played percussion in the Glorishears of Brummagem morris dance band and claimed to have invented a new technique of playing the drum tambourine.Staffordshire Newsletter, 15. 12. 2011. In 2013, Kent co-founded Mercia Morris, in which he played various pieces of percussion strapped to his body, and he became the side's music co-ordinator.The Sentinel, 5. 9. 2013, page 12 Some of his instrumental music was used to create the soundtrack of the film Pictures From The Potteries, released in 2014.Staffordshire Newsletter, 27. 11. 2014, page 14.Pictures From The Potteries, Witan Films, 2014, WTN 083, back cover blurb and end credits.{{unreliable source?|date=June 2022}}

Kent was historical adviser to a video documenting the origins and story of Port Vale. Entitled Up The Vale!, it was released in 1998.The Sentinel, 6. 1. 1999, page 62.Up The Vale! video, Action sports International, 1998, no. 5-035953-004725. He was also historical adviser to Port Vale Football Club Millennium Documentary, released in 2000.The Sentinel, 10. 12. 1999, page 11.Port Vale Millennium DocumentaryCavsport, video. In 2014, he created Pictures From The Potteries, a film of cine film highlights, shot by his father around Stoke-on-Trent from 1962 to 1988. It was premiered at Stoke Film Theatre on 19 November 2014 and released on DVD the same year.Pictures From The Potteries, Witan Films, 2014, WTN 083, back cover blurb.{{unreliable source?|date=June 2022}}

Kent first began to campaign on an environmental and humanitarian platform in 1977 through his song lyrics.Tales from the Land of the Afterglow, Parts 1 & 2, WTN 003 & WTN 004, 1984. In 1980, he joined the Ecology Party and became a co-founder of the North Staffs Ecology Party that same year.Evening Sentinel, 11. 7. 1984, page 9.North Staffs Ecology Party minutes, 1980. In May 1984, he stood as the Ecology Party candidate for the Odd Rode ward in the Congleton Borough Council elections and polled 10.71% of the vote.Evening Sentinel, 4. 5. 1984, page 11. Afterwards, he founded the South Cheshire Ecology Party.Evening Sentinel, 12 May 1984, page 4. The following year, he joined the Ecology Party Education Working GroupEcology Party Education Working Group minutes, 1985. and was a contributor to its book, Routes to Change: A Collection of Essays for Green Education, published in 1988.Routes to Change: A Collection of Essays for Green Education, {{ISBN|0-9514065-0-7}}, pages iv and 25–28. The following year, he left the party (which by then had been renamed the Green Party).

In 1992, he joined the Movement For Middle England,Movement For Middle England minutes, 1992.West Mercia Network (MFME), inaugural meeting minutes, 22. 11. 1992. which aimed 'To work for the full autonomy of Middle England [the greater Midlands] within a devolved England.'Movement For Middle England Constitution. Convinced it could not achieve its objective, he left in 1993 and co-founded the Mercia Movement.[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17822919 Is it time to get Anglo-Saxon about England's local government?], BBC News, 26. 4. 2012.Wessex Wyvern, No. 2, November 1999, pages 2–3. Its objective was 'To re-create a legal autonomous Mercia as an organic democracy...' In 1997, he wrote and published The Mercia Manifesto: A blueprint for the future inspired by the past.The Mercia Manifesto: A blueprint for the future inspired by the past, {{ISBN|0-9529152-1-9}} He also released an ecological concept album, Only One World, in 2000.Only One World, WTN 030, 2000.

In 2001, the Mercia Movement published A Draft Constitution For Mercia, mainly written by Kent. It aimed to put it before a regional constitutional convention.A Draft Constitution For Mercia, {{ISBN|0-9529152-4-3}} The Mercian Constitutional ConventionNorthampton Chronicle & Echo, 20. 2. 2001, page 5.Wirral News, 28. 2. 2001, page 11. was formed in Birmingham on 17 March 2001The Constitution of Mercia, {{ISBN|0-9529152-6-X}}, page 3. with Kent elected convener.The Mercian Constitutional Convention minutes. The convention finally published The Constitution of Mercia, claiming to be 'the ultimate legal authority in Mercia'.The Constitution of Mercia, {{ISBN|0-9529152-6-X}}. On 29 May 2003, Kent and two other members of the convention declared the legal independence of Mercia, in Victoria Square, Birmingham.Central News, Central TV, 29. 5. 2003.Midlands Today, BBC TV, 29. 5. 2003. The convention renamed itself the Acting Witan of Mercia.Northampton Herald & Post, 25. 5. 2006, page 14.

Kent served as the chairman of the Port Vale Supporters' Group from January 1992 to July 1994Sentinel Sports final, 5. 9. 1992, page 7. and was co-ordinator of the Save the Vale campaign and Vale Supporter LinksThe Sentinel, 21. 8. 2003, page 52. in 2003.

In 2012, Kent claimed to be the first person to climb all 65 of Staffordshire's 1,000-foot peaks.The Stone & Eccleshall Gazette, March 2013, page 45. In 2014, he climbed all 46 of Cheshire's 1,000-foot peaks,The Sentinel, 22. 12. 2014, page 28 In 2015 and 2016, he ascended all 197 of Shropshire's 1,000-foot peaks.Shropshire Star, 28. 12. 2016, page 4

Singles:

• Butcher's Tale/Annie, with the Dancing Eyes – Jeff Kent & The Witan (WTN 001, 1981).

Albums:

• Tales from the Land of the Afterglow, Part 1 – Jeff Kent & The Witan (WTN 003, 1984)..
• Tales from the Land of the Afterglow, Part 2 – Jeff Kent & The Witan (WTN 004, 1984).
• Port Vale Forever – Jeff Kent (WTN 024, 1992).
• Only One World – Jeff Kent (WTN 030, 2000).

Self-published:

• The Rise and Fall of Rock (Witan Books, 1983, {{ISBN|0-9508981-0-4}}).
• The Last Poet: The Story of Eric Burdon. (Witan Books, 1989, {{ISBN|0-9508981-2-0}}).o
• The Valiants' Years: The Story of Port Vale (Witan Books, 1990, {{ISBN|0-9508981-4-7}}).
• Port Vale Tales: A Collection of Stories, Anecdotes And Memories (Witan Books, 1991, {{ISBN|0-9508981-6-3}}).
• Port Vale Forever (Witan Books, 1992, {{ISBN|0-9508981-8-X}}).
• Port Vale Personalities: A Biographical Dictionary of Players, Officials and Supporters (Witan Books, 1996, {{ISBN|0-9529152-0-0}}).
• The Potteries Derbies (Witan Books, 1998, {{ISBN|0-9529152-3-5}}).
• The Mysterious Double Sunset (Witan Books, 2001, {{ISBN|0-9529152-5-1}}).
• What if There Had Been No Port in the Vale?: Startling Port Vale Stories! (Witan Books, 2011, {{ISBN|978-0-9529152-8-7}}).
• Staffordshire's 1,000-Foot Peaks (Witan Books, 2013, {{ISBN|978-0-9927505-0-3}}).
• Cheshire's 1,000-Foot Peaks (Witan Books, 2015, {{ISBN|978-0-9927505-2-7}}).

Co-author:

• Routes to Change: A Collection Of Essays For Green Education (The Green Party Education Working Group, 1988, {{ISBN|0-9514065-0-7}}).
• 100 Walks in Staffordshire (The Crowood Press, 1992, {{ISBN|1-85223-522-5}}).

{{reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kent, Jeff}}

Category:Alumni of the University of London

Category:English environmentalists

Category:English historians

Category:English keyboardists

Category:English male singers

Category:English writers

Category:People from Hartshill

Category:Port Vale F.C.

Category:1951 births

Category:Living people

Category:People educated at Hanley High School

Category:Schoolteachers from Staffordshire

Category:Writers from Staffordshire