Early Life
Jenkins was born in Pretoria. At age 17, he wrote and had published A Century of History, which received a special eulogy from General Jan Smuts at the centenary of Potchefstroom.
He subsequently won the Lord Kemsley Commonwealth Journalistic Scholarship, which took him to Fleet Street, where he spent World War II as a war correspondent. While working for the Sunday Times, he became friends with author Ian Fleming, creator of the British secret agent James Bond. Fleming later praised Jenkins' writing, saying "Geoffrey Jenkins has the supreme gift of originality... A Twist of Sand is a literate, imaginative first novel in the tradition of high and original adventure".
After the war Jenkins settled in Rhodesia, where he met his wife, author Eve Palmer (1916–1998). They married in 1950. He was the editor of the newspaper The Umtali Advertiser and eventually took up a position with The Star newspaper in Johannesburg.
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