Peter Hopkinson
Encyclopedia
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
film-maker and director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
. A Second World War combat cameraman, and documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
, reporter and writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, he also worked at Denham Studios in the heyday of British cinema
Cinema of the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom has had a major influence on modern cinema. The first moving pictures developed on celluloid film were made in Hyde Park, London in 1889 by William Friese Greene, a British inventor, who patented the process in 1890. It is generally regarded that the British film industry...
. He was a member of The United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA).
Peter Hopkinson died on June 28, 2007, aged 87. He is survived by his wife, Margaret, and two stepsons.
Early Life
Born in EalingEaling
Ealing is a suburban area of west London, England and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Ealing. It is located west of Charing Cross and around from the City of London. It is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. It was historically a rural village...
in 1920, Hopkin went straight from Lower School at Harrow
Harrow
Harrow may refer to:*Harrow , an agricultural implement consisting of many spikes, tines or discs dragged across the soil-Places:* London Borough of Harrow** Harrow, London** Harrow on the Hill** North Harrow** West Harrow** Harrow Weald...
to the film studies to work as a clapper boy at age 16. He had been fascinated by film-making ever since he got a silent 35mm projector
Movie projector
A movie projector is an opto-mechanical device for displaying moving pictures by projecting them on a projection screen. Most of the optical and mechanical elements, except for the illumination and sound devices, are present in movie cameras.-Physiology:...
at an early age. He got the job as clapper boy on George Formby comedies. On leaving Ealing, Hopkinson worked as a camera assistant at Alexander Korda’s Denham Studios, built on a 165 acre (0.6677319 km²) site near the village of Denham
Denham
- People :* Carl Denham, fictional character from King Kong* Daryl Denham, British radio DJ* Digby Denham, Australian politician* Dixon Denham, British explorer* Henry Denham, British printer* Henry Mangles Denham, , Royal navy...
, Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
.
Career
He worked with the American director King VidorKing Vidor
King Wallis Vidor was an American film director, film producer, and screenwriter whose career spanned nearly seven decades...
on The Citadel
The Citadel (film)
The Citadel is a 1938 film based on the novel of the same name by A. J. Cronin, first published in 1937. The film was directed by King Vidor and produced by Victor Saville.-Plot:...
(1938), based on the novel by A.J. Cronin, and appeared briefly in The Thief of Bagdad
The Thief of Bagdad (1940 film)
The Thief of Bagdad is a 1940 British fantasy film produced by Alexander Korda, and directed by Michael Powell, Ludwig Berger, and Tim Whelan, with contributions by Korda's brothers Vincent and Zoltán, and William Cameron Menzies...
(released 1940) before being called up for service in 1939. He joined the Army
Army
An army An army An army (from Latin arma "arms, weapons" via Old French armée, "armed" (feminine), in the broadest sense, is the land-based military of a nation or state. It may also include other branches of the military such as the air force via means of aviation corps...
Film Unit under David MacDonald
David MacDonald (director)
David MacDonald was a British film director, writer and producer. His first major film as director was The Brothers.-Select filmography:*The Last Curtain...
. When Hitler invaded Russia, Hopkinson volunteered for service overseas and was accepted, but in December 1941, aged 21, he heard of his selection as a cameraman and was sent to Persia to make a film about getting supplies through to Russia.
In Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
, the then prime minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
Rashid Ali had allied Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
with Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, and the city had been invaded by the British. However, Hopkinson’s first film reached London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
safely and was edited by Roy Boulting. It was shown throughout the world as Via Persia (1942). He was finally sent to Greece in 1944 to record the British advance. He attached himself to a commando unit that fought the Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
to an airfield at Megara
Megara
Megara is an ancient city in Attica, Greece. It lies in the northern section of the Isthmus of Corinth opposite the island of Salamis, which belonged to Megara in archaic times, before being taken by Athens. Megara was one of the four districts of Attica, embodied in the four mythic sons of King...
, where the Germans made a stand. "Advancing down on our little handful was the rearguard of nothing less than the entire German Army Group in the Balkans," he later wrote. At the battle, Hopkinson drove a Jeep around to help recover the men and munitions who had been paratrooped into the combat. He was injured in a Jeep and resolved never to drive again.
At the end of the war, Hopkinson was sent by the UN Relief and Rehabilitation Association to the Soviet provinces of Belorussia and Ukraine, where he filmed the plight of orphaned children.
Hopkinson won an award from the Overseas Press Club
Overseas Press Club
The Overseas Press Club of America was founded in 1939 in New York City by a group of foreign correspondents. The wire service reporter Carol Weld was a founding member...
for "Best Reporting from Abroad on Foreign Affairs" for his film To Open the World to the Nations: Suez
Suez
Suez is a seaport city in north-eastern Egypt, located on the north coast of the Gulf of Suez , near the southern terminus of the Suez Canal, having the same boundaries as Suez governorate. It has three harbors, Adabya, Ain Sokhna and Port Tawfiq, and extensive port facilities...
(1955) made as the old order was in retreat and Nasser had taken over as Prime Minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
.
In 1955, he joined NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
's Project 20 which planned a programme on Austria as the Allied occupying forces were departing. Hopkinson, as director/cameraman, wove his documentary around the re-opening of Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
's Opera House
Opera house
An opera house is a theatre building used for opera performances that consists of a stage, an orchestra pit, audience seating, and backstage facilities for costumes and set building...
with Beethoven's Fidelio
Fidelio
Fidelio is a German opera in two acts by Ludwig van Beethoven. It is Beethoven's only opera. The German libretto is by Joseph Sonnleithner from the French of Jean-Nicolas Bouilly which had been used for the 1798 opera Léonore, ou L’amour conjugal by Pierre Gaveaux, and for the 1804 opera Leonora...
.
Hopkinson joined World Wide Pictures
World Wide Pictures
World Wide Pictures is a film distributor and production company established as a subsidiary of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association in 1951...
and among the films he directed was Bandwagon
Bandwagon
Bandwagon may refer to:* a wagon which carries a band of musicians in a parade or for promotional purposes. Other uses of the term derive from this one.* Bandwagon effect, "copycat" behavior...
, which won the Premier Award at the British Industrial Film Festival
Film festival
A film festival is an organised, extended presentation of films in one or more movie theaters or screening venues, usually in a single locality. More and more often film festivals show part of their films to the public by adding outdoor movie screenings...
1959.
He continued working long past retirement age, making his last documentary for Whickers War
War
War is a state of organized, armed, and often prolonged conflict carried on between states, nations, or other parties typified by extreme aggression, social disruption, and usually high mortality. War should be understood as an actual, intentional and widespread armed conflict between political...
, broadcast in 2004
Films, documentaries, print
- Via Persia (1942)
- Desert Victory (1943)
- Battle for Bread (1950)
- Bandwagon (1960)
- To Open the World to the Nations: SuezSuezSuez is a seaport city in north-eastern Egypt, located on the north coast of the Gulf of Suez , near the southern terminus of the Suez Canal, having the same boundaries as Suez governorate. It has three harbors, Adabya, Ain Sokhna and Port Tawfiq, and extensive port facilities...
1955 - African Awakening (1962, with Wole SoyinkaWole SoyinkaAkinwande Oluwole "Wole" Soyinka is a Nigerian writer, poet and playwright. He was awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in Literature, where he was recognised as a man "who in a wide cultural perspective and with poetic overtones fashions the drama of existence", and became the first African in Africa and...
– won 1962 UnescoUNESCOThe United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
's Kalinga PrizeKalinga PrizeThe Kalinga Prize for the Popularization of Science is an award given by UNESCO for exceptional skill in presenting scientific ideas to lay people...
) - Home is the Soldier (1967)
- GhanaGhanaGhana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...
; A report (1969) - Grey and Scarlet (1977)
- Work with Water (1974)
- Star Performer (1961)
- Asian Crescent (1964)
- The Smiths of LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
(1952) - Today in Britain (1964)
- The caring Profession (1971)
- Naturally It’s Rubber (1964)
- The Orphans of MinskMinsk- Ecological situation :The ecological situation is monitored by Republican Center of Radioactive and Environmental Control .During 2003–2008 the overall weight of contaminants increased from 186,000 to 247,400 tons. The change of gas as industrial fuel to mazut for financial reasons has worsened...
(commissioned 1989 by Channel 4Channel 4Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
television) - Power Behind the Image (1995, BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
Centenary Season of CinemaFilmA film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
) - Uses and Abuses of Archive Film (1995), Ernest LindgrenErnest LindgrenErnest Lindgren was a British film archivist and writer.Lindgren joined the British Film Institute in February 1934 as Information Officer, and became the first curator of the National Film Library in 1935, renamed the National Film Archive in 1955. He remained curator until his death in 1973...
Memorial Lecture) - Whickers War (Alan WhickerAlan WhickerAlan Donald Whicker, CBE is a British journalist and broadcaster. His career has spanned over 50 years.-Background:Whicker was born to British parents in Cairo, Egypt...
, TelevisionTelevisionTelevision is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
Documentary- 2004) - The Russians Nobody Knows (USA newsreelNewsreelA newsreel was a form of short documentary film prevalent in the first half of the 20th century, regularly released in a public presentation place and containing filmed news stories and items of topical interest. It was a source of news, current affairs and entertainment for millions of moviegoers...
series, The March of Time - (1948) - FilmFilmA film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
and PoliticsPoliticsPolitics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
http://www.bufvc.ac.uk/databases/newsreels/learnmore/docs/screen_of_change_chapter2.pdf Screen of Change, Chapter 2. - Film and Personality
- Film and WarWarWar is a state of organized, armed, and often prolonged conflict carried on between states, nations, or other parties typified by extreme aggression, social disruption, and usually high mortality. War should be understood as an actual, intentional and widespread armed conflict between political...
- Film and Race
- Film and the National Image
- Film and the EnvironmentEnvironment (biophysical)The biophysical environment is the combined modeling of the physical environment and the biological life forms within the environment, and includes all variables, parameters as well as conditions and modes inside the Earth's biosphere. The biophysical environment can be divided into two categories:...
Locations
- United KingdomUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
- Persia
- ItalyItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
- YugoslaviaYugoslaviaYugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
- GreeceGreeceGreece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
- RussiaRussiaRussia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
- IndiaIndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
- ChinaChinaChinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
- United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
- AustriaAustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
Split Focus
Split Focus; an Involvement in Two Decades is an introduction to documentary and a first installment of autobiographyAutobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
, describing the history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
of documentary television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
from its origins as cinema
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
newsreel
Newsreel
A newsreel was a form of short documentary film prevalent in the first half of the 20th century, regularly released in a public presentation place and containing filmed news stories and items of topical interest. It was a source of news, current affairs and entertainment for millions of moviegoers...
.
Published by Hart-Davis
Hart-Davis
Hart-Davis is a surname, and may refer to:* Adam Hart-Davis , English scientist, author, photographer, historian and broadcaster* Alice Hart-Davis , British journalist and author* Damon Hart-Davis...
, 1969.
The Role of Film in Development
(Reports and papers on mass communication)Published by UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
1971.
Screen of Change (autobiography/memoir)
Published by The UKA PressThe UKA Press
The UKA Press is an independent small publisher based in the United Kingdom. Since its launch in January 2004, it has published poetry, novels, short story collections and nonfiction titles...
2007
Screen of Change is a memoir
Memoir
A memoir , is a literary genre, forming a subclass of autobiography – although the terms 'memoir' and 'autobiography' are almost interchangeable. Memoir is autobiographical writing, but not all autobiographical writing follows the criteria for memoir set out below...
and historical study from film-maker Peter Hopkinson. The BUFVC has published chapter two ‘Film and Politics’, with the generous permission of the author. http://www.bufvc.ac.uk/databases/newsreels/learnmore/texts.html
Obituaries
- http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/peter-hopkinson-457563.html The Independent
- http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/jul/27/broadcasting.guardianobituaries The Guardian
- http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article2093492.ece The Times Online
External links
- http://www.bufvc.ac.uk BUFVC (British Universities Film and Video Council)