Novelist and scriptwriter. Born in Auchterarder (Perthshire), Kennaway was the son of a solicitor and estate factor who died when he was only twelve. He was educated at Cargilfield (Edinburgh), Glenalmond College and, following national service in Germany, Trinity College, Oxford, where he read politics, philosophy and economics.
He joined a London publishing house, but was himself able to publish a short story, The Dollar Bottom, in 1954. His time in the army inspired his best-known novel, Tunes of Glory (1956), which was made into a film in 1960 - with Kennaway writing the screenplay. He went on to write scripts for other films including Violent Playground (1958), The Shoes of the Fisherman (1968) and Battle of Britain (1969).
His other novels were Household Ghosts (1961), The Bells of Shoreditch (1963), The Mindbenders (1963), Some Gorgeous Accident (1967), The Cost of Living Like This (1969) and Silence (1972).
Kennaway died in a car accident and lies buried in St Mary's Churchyard, Fairford (Gloucestershire).
