Draft:PJ life.pdf

• Comment: Please carefully read WP:AUTOBIOGRAPHY. qcne (talk) 11:59, 21 August 2026 (UTC)

• Comment: In accordance with Wikipedia's Conflict of interest guideline, I disclose that I have a conflict of interest regarding the subject of this article. Pete Jennings (talk) 11:53, 21 August 2026 (UTC)

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Pete Jennings

Although known as Pete, his original forename was Owen. He is not to be confused with the late American TV newsman Peter Jennings. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Jennings

Born in 1953 in Ipswich, Suffolk, England, the son of a working-class family with three older siblings.

[[File:Pete Jennings, 2026 (Age 72).jpg|thumb|Pete Jennings, 2026 (Age 72)]]

Employment

Pete Jennings left Northgate Grammar School, Ipswich, in 1970 and became an apprentice engineer for Post Office Telephones. After qualifying as a planning engineer, he left in 1978 to pursue a career as a salesman and manager for various companies, including United Biscuits and Coca-Cola, for whom he was UK Salesman of the Year in 1986.

After becoming disillusioned with his life following redundancy and divorce, Pete earned a Diploma in Counselling & Psychotherapy in 1999 from Anglia Polytechnic University. He pursued a new career in social care, first as a Support Worker. He gained a B.A. (Social Work) in 2008 at Anglia Ruskin University, and spent the rest of his working life as a social worker, specialising in Adult Safeguarding. He retired in 2018 and lives on the Essex/Suffolk border with his second wife. They each have two adult offspring from their previous marriages.

Entertainment

Throughout his life, Pete has been involved in various forms of entertainment, starting at 12 as a disco DJ. This progressed to being the folk presenter/producer on Radio Orwell & Saxon Radio. From 1990 to 2023, he broadcast a weekly folk show on BBC Radio Suffolk. His work led to several film and TV appearances. [i]

Jennings also organised folk clubs and festivals and wrote a music column for the Ipswich Extra & Suffolk Leader newspapers. Although not a dancer, he appeared as Green Man for East Suffolk Morris on their Mayday morning event for many years. Later, he helped revive the Cutty Wren tradition every Boxing Day at Middleton, Suffolk as Wren Bearer for Old Glory Molly Dancers & Musicians.[ii] Pete also founded the Magic Mummers troupe in Chelmsford, Essex, appearing as the Clever Doctor.[iii]

Pete also fronted both local semi-pro rock and folk bands in Suffolk, including WYSIWYG, Bunkas and Pyramid of Goats. Three albums were released.[iv]

Having been involved in amateur dramatics in his teens, Pete joined the professional  Irregular Special Players, acting in murder-mystery evenings. He also became the principal tour guide for Gemini Ipswich Ghost Tours in 1997, utilising his storytelling skills and writing about the stories he researched.[v]

Jennings also joined Ormsgard Viking re-enactors[vi] and later formed Ealdfaeder Anglo-Saxons. The international Skirmish Living History Magazine (November, 2012) commented: "EALDFAEDER ANGLO SAXONS are the elite, semi-resident group of 7^th century re-enactors at the notable burial ground of Sutton Hoo, Suffolk and also perform at West Stow and other historic sites, mainly around East Anglia. Although they stun audiences with vicious combat, they are also focused upon presenting crafts and everyday living."

Spirituality.

From his teens, Pete had been interested in Paganism in its various forms. After studying purely through reading for many years, he became active in his local Pagan community in the late 1980s, promoting a moot, the annual Leaping Hare event in 1994 (which still continues), and the Gippeswic magazine, which he edited. As a member of Odinshof from 1988, he later ran a training programme. He also joined The Pagan Federation in the late 1980s. As an Odinist, now termed Heathen, he served for three years as Media Officer and was then elected President for a three-year tenure in 1997. [vii]

As speaker at many national Pagan camps and conferences, he began writing books, of which there are now more than forty.[viii] They mostly cover Paganism plus Anglo-Saxon & Viking topics, but his work also includes folklore, ghosts, and the Ron Webb Suffolk murder mystery series. He is best known for Pagan Paths (2002, Penguin). The Times review said "An excellent primer, taking in all the traditional earth - centred rituals as well as the more recent emergence of eco and cyber-paganism."

Reviewing 'Heathen Paths' (Gruff, 2018), the specialist Anglo-Saxon history magazine Widowinde stated: "Pete Jennings has done much to dispel such ignorance and prejudice and to place modern Heathenism proudly amongst neo- Paganism".

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[i] Films & TV that Pete has featured in:

Magic & Mystery series 1. Anglia TV, 1994

Suffolk Ghosts – Directed by Richard Felix. Past in Pictures, 2005

Wild Hunt – Directed by Will Wright. Film Tribe, 2006

In Search of Beowulf with Michael Wood. BBC4, 2009

Born of Hope – Directed by Kate Maddison – Actors at Work 2009

The Last Journey – Directed by Carl Stickley, 2018

Weird Britain – Blaze TV Series 1, Episode 7. Directed by Matt Everett, 2024

[ii] Pagan Dawn, Samhain 1999 p23-24.

[iii] An interview by East Anglian Traditional Music Trust reveals details of Pete Jennings’ involvement with folk traditions.<ref>https://www.eatmt.org.uk/a-life-in-folk-by-pete-jennings/<ref>

[iv] Recordings

Awake (with WYSIWYG) – Homebrew (1987)

Chocks Away (with WYSIWYG) Athos (1988)

No Kidding (with Pyramid of Goats) – Gruff (1990)

Spooky Suffolk (with Ed Nicholls) Gruff (2003)

Old Glory & the Cutty Wren CD – Gruff (2003)

[v] The East Anglia Daily Times ran a long article about his ghost books and tours in 2006. <ref>https://www.eadt.co.uk/news/21309420.pagan-pete-things-go-bump/<ref>

[vi] Pentacle magazine, Samhain 2005 p23.

[vii] A lengthy interview on film with Friday Night Files about Pete’s beliefs, experiences within the Pagan Federation etc. can be found on YouTube <ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbvjK1DsEJU&forced<ref>

[viii] Publications

Pathworking (with Pete Sawyer) – Capall Bann (1993)

Northern Tradition Information Pack – Pagan Federation (1996)

Supernatural Ipswich – Gruff (1997)

Pagan Paths – Rider (2002) New 20th anniversary expanded and updated Penguin edition (2022)

The Northern Tradition – Capall Bann (2003)

Mysterious Ipswich – Gruff (2003)

Old Glory & the Cutty Wren – Gruff (2003)

Pagan Humour – Gruff (2005)

The Gothi & the Rune Stave – Gruff (2005)

Haunted Suffolk – Tempus (2006)

Tales & Tours – Gruff (2006)

Haunted Ipswich – Tempus/ History Press (2010)

Penda: Heathen King of Mercia and his Anglo-Saxon World. – Gruff (2013)

The Wild Hunt & its followers – Gruff (2013)

Blacksmith Gods, Myths, Magicians & Folklore – Moon Books- Pagan Portals (2014)

Heathen Information Pack (with others) – Pagan Federation (2014)

Confidently Confused – Gruff (2014)

Adventures in Ælphame – Gruff (2015)

Valkyries, selectors of heroes: their roles within Viking & Anglo-Saxon heathen beliefs. - Gruff (2016)

A Cacophony of Corvids: the mythology, facts, behaviour and folklore of ravens, crows, magpies and their relatives. - Gruff (2017)

Heathen Paths (2nd expanded & revised edition): Viking and Anglo-Saxon Pagan Beliefs – Gruff (2018)  

The Bounds of Ælphame – Gruff (2019)

The Woodwose in Suffolk & beyond. – Gruff (2019)

Pathworking & Creative Visualisation – Gruff (2019)

Viking Warrior Cults – Gruff (2019)

When the sea turned to beer – Gruff (2020)

The Wyrd of Ælphame – Gruff (2020)

Dog Walk Detectives – Gruff (2021)

The Pagan Thinker – Gruff (2021)

Conveyor Belt Corpse – Gruff (2021)

The Surreptitious Cyclist – Gruff (2021)

An Angry Arsonist – Gruff (2022)

Murder amongst the mounds – Gruff (2023)

Holistic Homicide – Gruff (2024)

Morris Murder – Gruff (2024)          

Single Hit – Gruff (2024)

Ragnarok: Creation and destruction within Norse mythology- Gruff (2025)

Hereward: Hero of East Anglia – Gruff (2025)

Automatically Dead – Gruff (2026)

Quirky Ipswich – Amberley (2026)

Pete Jennings has also contributed to the following:

Illustrated Guide to Witchcraft. Wyley, G.  Parkgate (1998)

Modern Pagans: an investigation of contemporary Pagan practices. (Eds. V Vale & J. Sulak.) San Francisco, USA: RE/Search (2001)

The Museum of Witchcraft: A Magical History – (Ed. Kerriann Godwin) Boscastle: Occult Art Co. (2011)

The Call of the God: an anthology exploring the divine masculine within modern Paganism (Ed. Frances Billinghurst) Australia: TDM (2015)

Pagan Planet: Being, Believing & Belonging in the 21st Century. Ed. Nimue Brown. UK: Moon Books (2016)

External Links:

Pete Jennings Homepages http://www.gippeswic.org

Pete Jennings at IMDb https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4476537/?ref_=ttfc_fcr_4_28