C. Northcote Parkinson facts for kids

Quick facts for kids C. Northcote Parkinson
Parkinson in 1961
Born	Cyril Northcote Parkinson 30 July 1909 Barnard Castle, County Durham, England
Died	9 March 1993(1993-03-09) (aged 83) Canterbury, Kent, England
Resting place	Canterbury
Occupation	Naval historian
Education	University of Cambridge King's College London
Subject	Naval history
Notable works	Parkinson's Law (1957)
Notable awards	Julian Corbett Prize in Naval History

Cyril Northcote Parkinson (born 30 July 1909 – died 9 March 1993) was a British historian and author. He wrote about 60 books. His most famous book was Parkinson's Law (1957). In this book, he shared his famous idea: "Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion." This means that if you have a lot of time to do something, it will probably take you all that time. This idea made him an important thinker in how public services and businesses are managed.

Early Life and Learning

Cyril was the youngest son of William Edward Parkinson, an art teacher. His mother was Rose Emily Mary Curnow. Cyril went to St. Peter's School, York. In 1929, he won a scholarship to study history at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He earned his first degree in 1932.

While at university, Parkinson became very interested in naval history, which is the history of navies and sea battles. He got to read old family papers at the National Maritime Museum. These papers helped him write his first book, Edward Pellew, Viscount Exmouth, Admiral of the Red. In 1934, he studied at King's College London and wrote his PhD paper about trade and war in the Eastern Seas. He won a special prize for it in 1935.

Career in Academia and the Military

In 1934, while still a student, Parkinson joined the Territorial Army. He became a lieutenant and led an infantry company in a parade for King George V in 1935. That same year, he became a research fellow at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He was promoted to captain in 1937.

He taught history at Blundell's School in 1938 and then at the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth in 1939. In 1940, he joined the Queen's Royal Regiment as a captain. He worked in different teaching roles in the military in Britain. In 1943, he married Ethelwyn Edith Graves, a nurse, and they had two children.

After leaving the army as a major in 1945, he taught history at the University of Liverpool from 1946 to 1949. In 1950, he became a history professor at the new University of Malaya in Singapore. He started an important series of history books about Malaya. He tried to keep the university from splitting into two campuses, but it did in 1959. The Singapore campus later became the University of Singapore.

Parkinson divorced in 1952 and married Ann Fry, a writer and journalist. They had two sons and a daughter. In 1958, while still in Singapore, he published his most famous book, Parkinson's Law. This book grew from a funny article he wrote in The Economist magazine in 1955. The book made fun of how government offices work. It became a huge success.

The book explained that 'work expands to fill the time available for its completion'. It also included other funny ideas, like Parkinson's Law of Triviality. This law says that people spend more time discussing small, unimportant things than big, important ones. For example, people might argue for hours about a small bike shed budget but quickly approve a huge budget for a nuclear power plant. He also joked that the Royal Navy might end up with more admirals than ships!

After teaching as a visiting professor at Harvard University and other American universities, he left his job in Singapore to become a full-time writer. To avoid high taxes in Britain, he moved to the Channel Islands and lived in St Martin's, Guernsey. He was active in the local community and bought an old manor house, Anneville Manor, which he restored. He also wrote a series of historical novels about a fictional naval officer from Guernsey, Richard Delancey, during the Napoleonic era.

Parkinson and His Famous 'Law'

Parkinson's law is a very important idea about time management. It states: "Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion." This means if you have a week to do a two-hour task, it will likely take you the whole week. Many people have noticed this in their own lives.

Parkinson first shared his law in a funny article in The Economist magazine on 19 November 1955. He wrote it to criticize how public services and government offices were becoming too big and costly. He pointed out that people often thought more government workers meant more work was being done. But he showed that sometimes, the number of workers just kept growing, even if the amount of work didn't.

His article talked about two main ideas:

• The Law of Multiplication of Subordinates: This means that managers tend to hire more people under them, even if they don't really need them.
• The Law of Multiplication of Work: This means that when more people are hired, they create more work for each other, even if it's not truly necessary.

Two years later, in 1957, Parkinson's new books, Parkinson's Law And Other Studies in Administration and Parkinson's Law: Or The Pursuit of Progress, were published. These books made his ideas even more famous.

When he was teaching in Singapore, Parkinson gave many talks about his law. His ideas were discussed in newspapers like The Straits Times and Time magazine. Time called his theme "a delightfully unprofessional diagnosis of the widespread 20th century malady — galloping orgmanship." Orgmanship, according to Parkinson, was when "all administrative departments increase the number of subordinate staff, irrespective of the amount of work (if any) to be done."

The Straits Times editor, Allington Kennard, wrote about other parts of Parkinson's ideas, like Parkinson's Law of Triviality. This law says that "The time spent on any item of an agenda is in inverse proportion to the sum involved." He gave a local example: the Singapore City Council spent "six hours to pick a new man for the gasworks and two and a half minutes to approve a $100 million budget." This shows how people can focus on small things and ignore big ones.

Parkinson became very well-known. When he visited England in 1958, he was on TV and featured in newspapers. His book had sold over 80,000 copies. Even the British Parliament seemed to agree with his ideas. A committee found that government departments like the War Office and Admiralty were increasing staff too quickly.

University of Malaya Contributions

When Parkinson arrived in Singapore in April 1950, he quickly became known through newspapers and public talks. He started teaching at the University of Malaya.

Public Lectures and Exhibitions

Parkinson gave his first public lecture as a professor on 19 May. He spoke about "The Task of the Historian." He noted that the history chair was named after Stamford Raffles, who had tried to start the university in 1823 and was also a historian. Many people attended, including the university's Dean of Arts.

He also gave talks on other topics, such as "The Historical Aspect of the Coronation" and "Singapore in the sixties" (meaning the 1860s). He spoke about tin mining in Malaya, explaining how Chinese workers helped develop the industry. He also shared his thoughts on "Colonialism," arguing that nationalism and colonialism were not always opposite ideas. He believed that gifts from Britain, like open debate, literature, and tolerance, should be valued by Malaya and Singapore as they became self-governing.

Parkinson also opened several public exhibitions. In 1950, he opened an exhibition on the "History of English Handwriting." In 1952, he opened an exhibition of photographs from the Times of London, showing events from 1921 to 1951. He also opened an exhibition of photos taken by University of Malaya students during their trip to India.

Library and Museum Ideas

In 1952, Parkinson suggested building a central public library for Singapore. He thought it would be a great way to honor King George VI. He believed that the existing Raffles Library was becoming too small and that Singapore needed a free public library for everyone, with books in English, Malay, and Chinese. He suggested the city council should be in charge of it.

Many important people, including the president of the Singapore City Council, agreed with his idea. They thought it was an "excellent, first-class suggestion." However, the government later decided to build a polytechnic (a technical college) as a memorial instead.

Even though his specific library idea wasn't immediately followed, Parkinson's call for a free public library was heard. In 1953, the Lee Foundation promised a large sum of money to help build a national library, as long as it was free for everyone. Parkinson's vision finally came true in November 1960, when the new, free library opened to the public.

Archiving Malaya's Past

Parkinson was very keen on preserving historical records. In 1950, he asked people to donate old log books, diaries, newspapers, and maps to libraries. He believed these old documents were very important for understanding Malaya's history. He said, "The time will come when school-children will be taught the history of their own land rather than of Henry VIII or the capture of Quebec."

He also pushed for a central archives office where all historical records of Malaya and Singapore could be kept safe. He pointed out that the hot, humid climate and insects could easily damage old documents. He believed that a proper archives office would help collect many private documents related to Malaya that were kept in the UK.

In 1953, Parkinson helped form the Singapore branch of the Malayan Historical Society. He told the first meeting that the society would help record history, folklore, and customs, and encourage the preservation of historical objects. He stressed that much of Malayan history still needed to be written down before it could be taught in schools.

He continued to urge the governments of Singapore and the Federation to set up a national archives. He said that "cockroaches had nibbled away at many vital documents." He wanted air-conditioned rooms with steel shelves and proper supervision to protect these records.

In 1955, Parkinson started the University of Malaya's Archaeological Society. It had 53 members, making it the largest of its kind in Southeast Asia at the time. He also worked on a ten-volume "Standard History of Malaya," with the first volume, written by him, covering 1867 to 1877, published in 1960.

New History Syllabus

In 1951, Parkinson changed the history syllabus at the University of Malaya. He decided to focus less on European history and more on Southeast Asia, especially Malaya. He wanted students to study world history first, then the impact of European nations on Southeast Asia, and finally, the history of Southeast Asia after British influence began.

He hoped this new course would help students do original research on modern Malayan history (19th and 20th centuries), an area where little research had been done. He believed that Malayan history should eventually be written by Malayans themselves, and his department was preparing the way for this. He wanted scholars trained at the university to combine Eastern and Western ways of thinking to help people understand each other better.

Resignation from University

In October 1958, while on a study trip in America, Parkinson sent a letter from New York resigning from his position at the University of Malaya. The university council discussed his resignation, as it happened after new rules about leave benefits came into effect. In July 1959, K. G. Tregonning was appointed to fill the history chair left empty by Parkinson.

Later Life and Death

After his second wife died in 1984, Parkinson married Iris Hilda Waters in 1985 and moved to the Isle of Man. After two years, they moved to Canterbury, Kent. He died there in March 1993, at the age of 83. He was buried in Canterbury, and his famous law is written on his gravestone.

Parkinson's grave at Canterbury City Cemetery in 2017

Published Works

Richard Delancey series of naval novels

• The Devil to Pay (1973)
• The Fireship (1975)
• Touch and Go (1977)
• Dead Reckoning (1978)
• So Near, So Far (1981)
• The Guernseyman (1982)

Other nautical fiction

• Manhunt (1990)

Other fiction

• Ponies Plot (1965)

Biographies of fictional characters

• The Life and Times of Horatio Hornblower (1970)
• Jeeves: A Gentleman's Personal Gentleman (1979)

Naval history

• Edward Pellew, Viscount Exmouth (1934)
• The Trade Winds, Trade in the French Wars 1793–1815 (1948)
• Samuel Walters, Lieut. RN (1949)
• War in the Eastern Seas, 1793–1815 (1954)
• Trade in the Eastern Seas (1955)
• British Intervention in Malaya, 1867–1877 (1960)
• Britannia Rules (1977)
• Portsmouth Point, The Navy in Fiction, 1793–1815 (1948)

Other non-fiction

• The Rise of the Port of Liverpool (1952)
• Parkinson's law (1957)
• The Evolution of Political Thought (1958)
• The Law and the Profits (1960)
• In-Laws and Outlaws (1962)
• East and West (1963)
• Parkinsanities (1965)
• Left Luggage (1967)
• Mrs. Parkinson's Law: and Other Studies in Domestic Science (1968)
• The Law of Delay (1970)
• The fur-lined mousetrap (1972)
• The Defenders, Script for a "Son et Lumière" in Guernsey (1975)
• Gunpowder, Treason and Plot (1978)
• The Law, or Still in Pursuit (1979)

Audio recordings

• Discusses Political Science with Julian H. Franklin (10 LPs) (1959)
• Explains "Parkinson's Law" (1960)

See also

In Spanish: Cyril Northcote Parkinson para niños