John Hamilton Hinde AM (26 October 1911 – 4 July 2006) was an Australian broadcaster and film reviewer. He worked for the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...

(ABC) for more than fifty years, in both television and radio. Hinde was also one of Australia's first foreign correspondents, reporting from the

Pacific Theater The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Upon his death he bequeathed A$1 million to start a literary prize in honour of his late wife. He also left $500,000 to establish the John Hinde Award, for a science fiction script for film or television.

Biography

Early years

Born in 1911, Hinde grew up in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

. He started studying medicine at the

University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide (informally Adelaide University) is a public research university located in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. The university's main campus is located on N ...

, but dropped out and married. After a short lived marriage he went first to

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

and later to Sydney. In Sydney, Hinde got a job with

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

in 1937, but was sacked by the editor, Syd Deamer, who mistook him for someone else. Hinde then took a job with the ''

Labor Daily The ''Labor Daily'' was a Sydney-based journal/newspaper of the early to mid 20th century. An organ of the Australian Labor Party, it was published in Sydney by Stanley Roy Wasson after the ailing ''Daily Mail'' was absorbed by Labor Papers Ltd, w ...

'', but soon left because of a political disagreement. Deamer later became editor of ''ABC Weekly'' and rehired him. Hinde then joined the ABC News and Current Affairs department in 1939 and in the same year married for the second time to Barbara Jefferis (who later became a well-known novelist).

War correspondent

In 1942 Hinde got a break as a war correspondent, after senior correspondent, Haydon Lennard, was badly injured in a plane crash in New Guinea. Hinde was attached to General

Douglas MacArthur Douglas MacArthur (26 January 18805 April 1964) was an American military leader who served as General of the Army for the United States, as well as a field marshal to the Philippine Army. He had served with distinction in World War I, was C ...

's headquarters in 1942, first in Melbourne and then Brisbane, and eventually got to

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...

and the Pacific. Hinde was hurt whilst at Hollandia in

Netherlands New Guinea Dutch New Guinea or Netherlands New Guinea ( nl, Nederlands-Nieuw-Guinea, id, Nugini Belanda) was the western half of the island of New Guinea that was a part of the Dutch East Indies until 1949, later an overseas territory of the Kingd ...

, after a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

Betty bomber The Mitsubishi G4M was a twin-engine, land-based medium bomber formerly manufactured by the Mitsubishi Aircraft Company, a part of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy from 1940 to 1945. Its official designat ...

bombed a

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

ammunition dump. His eyes were badly injured, which affected him for the rest of his life. After the war Hinde returned to Sydney and was responsible for writing the ABC's first television news bulletin. But in 1963, with no career progress, a frustrated Hinde resigned from the ABC and for three years, with his wife earning a good living from her novels, Hinde indulged in electronics, his favourite pastime.

Film reviewer

After the ABC's previous reviewer, Frank Legg, was killed in a car crash, Hinde was offered freelance work as the film critic. To start with he received £30 and tickets to three movies a week which he then critiqued on a radio show: initially on 2BL, but later on Radio 2 and ABC regional radio. Hinde made the transition from radio to television, in 1983, and found the switch surprisingly easy. Hinde found though that on television he could not be as critical as on radio, but the value of showing footage made up for that. By 1986 he was doing film reviews every Sunday night as part of the ABC television news.

Cult following

Towards the end of his career, Hinde gained a new generation of fans through appearances on comedy programs like

Elle McFeast Elle McFeast is an Australian television character created by comedian Libbi Gorr. The character appeared in several shows during the 1990s, beginning with the ABC series ''Live and Sweaty'' in 1991. The character became the host of the show in ...

's ABC show ''McFeast''. He was renowned for outrageous skits on the show, even donning high heels and pink tights for ''McFeast's'' foray into the

Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras The Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras or Sydney Mardi Gras is an event in Sydney, New South Wales attended by hundreds of thousands of people from around Australia and overseas. One of the largest such festivals in the world, Mardi Gras is the ...

. He was astonished that he had gained a cult following, saying "When I went to Adelaide recently, young people were stopping me in the street everywhere". In 1999, with his eyesight failing and threatened by blindness, he was obliged to retire because he could not watch films properly. The last film that John Hinde presented on the ABC was ''

Odd Man Out ''Odd Man Out'' is a 1947 British film noir directed by Carol Reed, and starring James Mason, Robert Newton, Cyril Cusack, and Kathleen Ryan. Set in Belfast, Northern Ireland, it follows a wounded Nationalist leader who attempts to evade polic ...

'', starring James Mason and

Kathleen Ryan Kathleen Ryan (8 September 1922 – 11 December 1985) was an Irish actress. She was born in Dublin, Ireland of Tipperary parentage and appeared in British and Hollywood films between 1947 and 1957. In 2020, she was listed as number 40 on ''Th ...

, on 15 December 1999. In 2002, Hinde was appointed a Member of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

in the

Queen's Birthday Honours The Birthday Honours, in some Commonwealth realms, mark the reigning British monarch's official birthday by granting various individuals appointment into national or dynastic orders or the award of decorations and medals. The honours are present ...

list for his services to the film and media industry. He died on 4 July 2006 in a suburban nursing home in Sydney.

Barbara Jefferis Award

Upon Hinde's death the

Barbara Jefferis Award The Barbara Jefferis Award is an Australian literary award prize. The award was created in 2007 after being endowed by John Hinde upon his death to commemorate his late wife, author Barbara Jefferis. It is funded by his $1 million bequest. Origi ...

was created in 2007 in honour of Hinde's late wife of 64 years, Barbara Jefferis. The literary prize will be one of Australia's richest, the result of a $1 million

bequest A bequest is property given by will. Historically, the term ''bequest'' was used for personal property given by will and ''deviser'' for real property. Today, the two words are used interchangeably. The word ''bequeath'' is a verb form for the act ...

by Hinde. The

Australian Society of Authors The Australian Society of Authors (ASA) was formed in 1963 as the organisation to promote and protect the rights of Australia's authors and illustrators. The Fellowship of Australian Writers played a key role it its establishment. The organisati ...

(ASA) will administer the Award, which will go to the author of "the best Australian novel that empowers the status of females or depicts them in a positive light." The annual prize will be at least $35,000 but is likely to be around $42,000 to match the

Miles Franklin Award The Miles Franklin Literary Award is an annual literary prize awarded to "a novel which is of the highest literary merit and presents Australian life in any of its phases". The award was set up according to the will of Miles Franklin (1879–195 ...

References

External links

ABC Around the World
– World War II – The Pacific

News article upon his death {{DEFAULTSORT:Hinde, John 1911 births 2006 deaths Australian radio personalities Australian television presenters Australian film critics Members of the Order of Australia