He is a frequent columnist in UK national newspapers and has written widely on such subjects as cycling, travel, British woodlands and life in the Brecon Beacons, Wales.
[2][3][4] Penn was born in Birmingham and grew up in Wales and London [5] before studying history at the University of Bristol.
[9] His other books include The Wrong Kind of Snow – a survey of the British obsession with the weather, co-authored with Antony Woodward – and It's All About the Bike, which documents his worldwide search for the perfect custom bike, while narrating the social history of the bicycle.
In 2010, he wrote and presented the television documentary Ride of my Life: the Story of the Bicycle, based on his book It's All About the Bike, which was broadcast on BBC4 and BBC2.
[12] In 2014, he travelled round Britain in a fish and chip van with Flintoff, making a six-part series for Sky1.