"Mr. Whisp shows a lot of promise. If he keeps up the good work, he may well find himself sharing a photo shoot with me one of these days!"
-- Gilderoy Lockhart, author, Magical Me
Kennilworthy Whisp is the author of Quidditch Through the Ages, as well as a number of other Quidditch-related books, including The Wonder of Wigtown Wanderers, He Flew Like a Madman, and Beating the Bludgers. WhizzHard Books published the first edition of his famous book in 1952.
Bathilda Bagshot, the famous author of A History of Magic, noted in her promotional blurb about Quidditch Through the Ages, “Kennilworthy Whisp’s painstaking research has uncovered a veritable treasure trove of hitherto unknown facts about the sport of warlocks.”
Whisp lives in Nottinghamshire and is an avid fan of the Wigtown Wanderers. His hobbies are backgammon, vegetarian cookery, and collecting vintage broomsticks (QA).
The date of publication for the first edition of Quidditch Through the Ages is listed in a footnote to the Snidget entry in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (FB).
Skills
Prolific and engaging writer with an interest in the history and practice of Quidditch
Commentary
Etymology
Kennilworthy as a given name is unknown. Kenilworth is a town in Warwickshire (Wikipedia). Ken is a person's "range of knowledge or understanding" (Oxford English Dictionary). Worthy derives from Olde English Worthing, meaning "an enclosure" (Internet Surname Database).
Whisp is similar in sound to the Middle English word wisp, which is "a small thin bundle of something" (Oxford English Dictionary), such as of straw at the end of a broom. It is also perhaps related to will-o'-the-wisp (creature: hinkypunk) - where wisp relates to the tendril of smoke from a candle which floats away on the air, and therefore "something which deludes or misleads" (Wikipedia).
Notes
Lexicon list of Authors
Pensieve (Comments)
Tags: biography fans Quidditch history