Patrick Ryan was born in Newport, on the
Isle of Wight in 1916 to a family of Irish origin. He was educated at
The Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School. On the outbreak of war in 1939 he enlisted in the
Royal Warwickshire Regiment, was commissioned as an officer, and then transferred to The Fourth Regiment of the
Reconnaissance Corps of the
Royal Armoured Corps. He served in North Africa, Italy, and
Greece. He moved to
Leeds in the 1950s as Assistant Head Postmaster, and his "apprenticeship" in adapting to
Yorkshire life is related in his humorous memoir
How I Became A Yorkshireman, published in the late 1960s. He later became Head Postmaster at
Harrogate and was a regular contributor for
Punch and
The New Scientist in the 1960s and 1970s, as well as writing several television plays and some episodes of "The Army Game" and "Bootsie and Snudge" both popular army based television comedy sitcoms at that time. He also wrote pieces for
The Smithsonian and the New York
Saturday Evening Post. In 1968 he returned to the South of England, becoming Head Postmaster of Kingston-upon-Thames until his retirement from the Post Office. He was married with one daughter. ==Published works==