Biography
Humphrey Jennings was an English documentary filmmaker. Born Frank Humphrey Sinkler Jennings on 19 August 1907 in Walberswick, Suffolk, he studied English at Pembroke College, Cambridge, and worked as a painter and designer before joining the GPO Film Unit in 1934. He was a co-founder of the Mass Observation social research organisation.
Jennings is best known for his films made during the Second World War for the Crown Film Unit. These include Listen to Britain (1942) and Fires Were Started (1943), on which he served as both director and writer. His only feature-length film, Fires Were Started, depicts the work of the Auxiliary Fire Service in London during the Blitz. He died on 24 September 1950 in Poros, Greece, while scouting locations for a new project.
