Godfrey Winn

Who was Godfrey Winn?

Godfrey Herbert Winn was a British journalist known as a columnist, and also a writer and actor.

Born in Birmingham, England, he went to King Edward's School, Birmingham. His career as a theatre actor began as a boy actor at the Haymarket Theatre and appeared in many plays and films. He went on to write a number of novels and biographical works, and became a star columnist for the Daily Mirror and the Sunday Express newspapers, and in 1939 was the first British war correspondent to cross the Maginot Line. His book PQ17 was an account of his experiences on Convoy PQ 17 during the Second World War. After the war he wrote numerous books and magazine articles, and appeared on radio and television as well as in films. He was a friend of W. Somerset Maugham and it is said that the character George Potter in Maugham's 1941 novel Strictly Personal was based on him.

Winn died from a heart attack at the age of 64.