Jeff Kent

Jeffrey John William Kent (born 28 July 1951) is an English academic, musician, activist, and historian.

Kent was born on 28 July 1951 in Hartshill, Stoke-on-Trent, England, and was educated at Hanley High School in Stoke-on-Trent.

In the late 1970s, Kent was a pioneer of environmentally orientated music and released an animal rights protest single, Butcher's Tale, with his five-piece band The Witan, on Witan Records in 1981.

Kent became a freelance author in 1972 and wrote record reviews for Hard Graft magazine.

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.

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 became lectured in general studies at Stoke-on-Trent Technical College.

Kent founded his own publishing house, Witan Books, in 1980.

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.

They released a two-part environmental concept album, Tales from the Land of the Afterglow, in 1984.

Kent then performed benefit concerts for several environmental and humanitarian organisations.

In 1987, he published Principles of Open Learning, an examination of a radical, flexible and student-centred method of education.

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.

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.

In 1990, Kent published a history of Port Vale, entitled The Valiants' Years: The Story Of Port Vale.

In 1991, he began lecturing in English at Stoke on Trent College and later in history, geography and international perspectives.

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.

In 1992, Kent published a Port Vale Forever song book to accompany his ten-track album of the same name.

In 1992, he released his first solo work, Port Vale Forever, believed to be the first-ever football club album.

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.

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 Small Press Yearbook 1993 described Witan Books as 'a vehicle for the promotion of the works of Jeff Kent'.

From 1994 to 2010, he lectured in writing & publishing.

In 1998, Kent published The Potteries Derbies, which outlined the story of the first team matches between Port Vale and Stoke City.

Entitled Up The Vale!, it was released in 1998.

In 2000, he released his ecological concept album Only One World.

His musical style has most frequently been described as folk-rock, in a similar vein to Strawbs.

He was also historical adviser to Port Vale Football Club Millennium Documentary, released in 2000.

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, 6.5 mi to the northwest.

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.

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.

In 2013, Kent published Staffordshire's 1,000-Foot Peaks, a guide to the 65 hills of the county which reached that height.

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.

In 2014, he published Peak Pictures, a book of southern Pennine landscapes.

Some of his instrumental music was used to create the soundtrack of the film Pictures From The Potteries, released in 2014.

Kent was historical adviser to a video documenting the origins and story story of Port Vale.

In 2014, he created Pictures From The Potteries, a film of cine film hioghlights, 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.

In 2015, Kent published Cheshire's 1,000-Foot Peaks, a guide to the 46 hills of the county reaching that height.