Roger Pennington was born on 4th April 1930. He initially trained in mechanical engineering, but his interest in photography soon led to owning his first cine camera. In 1954 he produced his first 20 minute film, which won an Amateur Oscar in the following year.

With the arrival of commercial television in 1955 Pennington was accepted into Associated Rediffusion's training school, before joining Independent Television as a cameraman in 1955. He then moved on to be an assistant film director at Merton Park Studios, soon being promoted to Unit Manager and Production Manager on many industrial and documentary films. After being loaned to a television commercial production unit Pennington stayed on to work on more than 500 commercials. Over 60 television films followed, Pennington working as a First Assistant Director and Production Manager, then after a short spell with ITN, he spent a year with Jack Le Vien, researching film sequences for 'The Finest Hours'.

After then working for seven years as a film editor, mainly for BBC Television, Pennington returned to Le Vien in 1973 to help with the making of his short appeal film for the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust, which was shown daily at the Churchill centenary exhibition at Somerset House. He then moved to directing documentary and travel films for cinema, television and industry. Pennington also worked extensively as a stills photographer. He died on 19th February 1999.