Ian Donald Cochrane Hopkins (also known as IDC Hopkins or Ian D. C. Hopkins or Ian Hopkins) is a Scottish comedy writer and

management consultant Management consulting is the practice of providing consulting services to organizations to improve their performance or in any way to assist in achieving organizational objectives. Organizations may draw upon the services of management consultants ...

. Born in

Darvel Darvel ( sco, Dairvel, gd, Darbhail) is a small town in East Ayrshire, Scotland. It is at the eastern end of the Loudoun, Irvine Valley and is sometimes referred to as "The Lang Toon" ( en, the Long Town). The town's Latin motto, , means "No ...

Ayrshire Ayrshire ( gd, Siorrachd Inbhir Àir, ) is a historic county and registration county in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine and it borders the counties of Re ...

on 16 July 1943, Hopkins attended

Kilmarnock Academy Kilmarnock Academy (Scottish Gaelic: ''Acadamaidh Chille Mheàrnaig''), formerly Kilmarnock Burgh School, is a state-funded secondary school in Kilmarnock, Scotland, currently located on Sutherland Drive in the New Farm Loch area of the town. The ...

before pursuing a career in

Industrial Engineering Industrial engineering is an engineering profession that is concerned with the optimization of complex process (engineering), processes, systems, or organizations by developing, improving and implementing integrated systems of people, money, kno ...

. Hopkins undertook a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

degree in

Economics Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...

London University The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree- ...

, following which he became a lecturer in

Management Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

at the

University of the West of Scotland The University of the West of Scotland ( gd, Oilthigh na h-Alba an Iar), formerly the University of Paisley, is a public university with four campuses in south-western Scotland, in the towns of Paisley, Renfrewshire, Paisley, Blantyre, South Lanar ...

. Hopkins comedy writing career began as a contracted writer for

Naked Radio ''Naked Video'' is a BBC Scotland sketch show that was aired on BBC2 from 12 May 1986 to 18 November 1991. The show was created by Colin Gilbert who had previously created ''A Kick Up the Eighties'' and ''Naked Radio'' (the latter being a radio ...

, Six of the Best,

Not the Nine O'Clock News ''Not the Nine O'Clock News'' is a British television sketch comedy show which was broadcast on BBC2 from 1979 to 1982. Originally shown as a comedy alternative to the '' Nine O'Clock News'' on BBC1, it features satirical sketches on then-curren ...

, Three of a Kind,

Naked Video ''Naked Video'' is a BBC Scotland sketch show that was aired on BBC2 from 12 May 1986 to 18 November 1991. The show was created by Colin Gilbert who had previously created ''A Kick Up the Eighties'' and ''Naked Radio'' (the latter being a radio ...

and

Spitting Image ''Spitting Image'' is a British satirical television puppet show, created by Peter Fluck, Roger Law and Martin Lambie-Nairn. First broadcast in 1984, the series was produced by 'Spitting Image Productions' for Central Independent Television ov ...

. Hopkins has had three stage plays performed. ''Albatross Soup'' (co-authored with

John Duignan John Duignan (born 6 January 1946 – 22 March 2019) was a Scottish economist and writer. Duignan was born in Barrhead, Scotland, in a family of eight children. He left school, St Mirin's Academy in Paisley, at age 15 and worked in a blacksm ...

), ''Citizen Singh'' (co-authored with Gurmeet Mattu) and ''Every Bloody Sunday'' (co-authored with Gurmeet Mattu). Hopkins has also had three satirical novels published, each co-authored with

: ''Skelp the Aged'' in 2016; ''The Buick Stops Here'' in 2017; and ''The Lambshank Redemption'' in 2019. Hopkins and Duignan began writing ''Skelp the Aged'' as a play, before deciding to make it a novel. The three novels in the trilogy by Hopkins and Duignan follow hapless anti-heroes Mungo and Ethel Laird, in and out of trouble - and jail - as they struggle to maintain a living as bookies. Hopkins also co-authored ''Shit Yourself Laughing'' with

Frank Muir Frank Herbert Muir (5 February 1920 – 2 January 1998) was an English comedy writer, radio and television personality, and raconteur. His writing and performing partnership with Denis Norden endured for most of their careers. Together they wro ...

. In 2020, Hopkins' satirical novella, ''A Glutton-Free Diet'', was published by Pegasus Publishers. The story takes place on the

Isle of Arran The Isle of Arran (; sco, Isle o Arran; gd, Eilean Arainn) or simply Arran is an island off the west coast of Scotland. It is the largest island in the Firth of Clyde and the seventh-largest Scottish island, at . Historically part of Butesh ...

and is set against the background of the

New Labour New Labour was a period in the history of the British Labour Party from the mid to late 1990s until 2010 under the leadership of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. The name dates from a conference slogan first used by the party in 1994, later seen ...

government unveiling its proposals for a

Scottish Parliament The Scottish Parliament ( gd, Pàrlamaid na h-Alba ; sco, Scots Pairlament) is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. Located in the Holyrood area of the capital city, Edinburgh, it is frequently referred to by the metonym Holyro ...

. The protagonists, in their own ways, represent the major contemporary influences in the 1997 Scottish devolution debate. In July 2024 Hopkins latest novella, ''The Granny State of Drumhumble'', was published. Set in the Scottish Highlands the novella is a "Satirical meta-fiction where Brigadoon meets Brave New World".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hopkins, Ian Donald Cochrane 1943 births Living people Scottish comics writers Scottish dramatists and playwrights Scottish scholars and academics Academics of the University of the West of Scotland People from Darvel