Peter Richard Gunton Hopkinson (1920–2007) was a British film-maker and director. A Second World War combat

cameraman A camera operator, or depending on the context cameraman or camerawoman, is a professional operator of a film camera or video camera as part of a film crew. The term "cameraman" does not imply that a male is performing the task. In filmmaking ...

, and documentary director, reporter and writer, he also worked at Denham Studios in the heyday of British cinema. He was a member of

The United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA). Peter Hopkinson died on 28 June 2007, aged 87. He is survived by his wife, Margaret, and two stepsons.

Early life

Born in

Ealing Ealing () is a district in West London, England, west of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Ealing. Ealing is the administrative centre of the borough and is identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Plan. Ealing was histor ...

in 1920, Hopkinson went straight from Lower School at

Harrow Harrow may refer to: Places * Harrow, Victoria, Australia * Harrow, Ontario, Canada * The Harrow, County Wexford, a village in Ireland * London Borough of Harrow, England ** Harrow, London, a town in London ** Harrow (UK Parliament constituency) ...

to the film studies to work as a

clapper boy Clapper or Clappers may refer to: Miscellaneous *Clapper, part of a bell *Clapper (musical instrument), consisting of two pieces of wood struck together *Clapper bridge, an ancient form of bridge * Clapper Post, urban postal service of Vienna (XV ...

at age 16. He had been fascinated by film-making ever since he got a silent 35mm

projector A projector or image projector is an optical device that projects an image (or moving images) onto a surface, commonly a projection screen. Most projectors create an image by shining a light through a small transparent lens, but some newer types ...

at an early age. He got a job as a clapper boy on George Formby comedies. On leaving Ealing, Hopkinson worked as a camera assistant at Alexander Korda's Denham Studios, built on a site near the village of Denham, Buckinghamshire.

Career

He worked with the American director King Vidor on The Citadel (1938), based on the novel by A.J. Cronin, and appeared briefly in The Thief of Bagdad (released 1940) before being called up for service in 1939. He joined the Army Film Unit under David MacDonald. 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 Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

to make a film about getting supplies through to Russia. In Baghdad, the then prime minister Rashid Ali had allied

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

with Germany, and the city had been invaded by the British. However, Hopkinson's first film reached London 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 The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previous ...

to an airfield at

Megara Megara (; el, Μέγαρα, ) is a historic town and a municipality in West Attica, Greece. It lies in the northern section of the Isthmus of Corinth opposite the island of Salamis Island, Salamis, which belonged to Megara in archaic times, befo ...

, 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 republics of Belorussia and Ukraine, where he filmed the plight of orphaned children. Hopkinson won an award from the Overseas Press Club for "Best Reporting from Abroad on Foreign Affairs" for his film To Open the World to the Nations: Suez (1955) made as the old order was in retreat and

Nasser Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein, . (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970) was an Egyptian politician who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 and introduced Egyptian ...

had taken over as Prime Minister. In 1955, he joined NBC'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 en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Opera House An opera house is a theatre building used for performances of opera. It usually includes a stage, an orchestra pit, audience seating, and backstage facilities for costumes and building sets. While some venues are constructed specifically for o ...

with Beethoven's

Fidelio ''Fidelio'' (; ), originally titled ' (''Leonore, or The Triumph of Marital Love''), Op. 72, is Ludwig van Beethoven's only opera. The German libretto was originally prepared by Joseph Sonnleithner from the French of Jean-Nicolas Bouilly, with ...

. Hopkinson joined

World Wide Pictures World Wide Pictures (WWP) is a film distributor and production company established as a subsidiary of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) in 1951. It is involved in the production and distribution of evangelistic films, the produc ...

and among the films he directed was Band Wagon, which won the Premier Award at the British Industrial Film Festival 1959. He continued working long past retirement age, making his last documentary for Whickers War, 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: Suez 1955 * African Awakening (1962, with

Wole Soyinka Akinwande Oluwole Babatunde Soyinka (Yoruba: ''Akínwándé Olúwọlé Babátúndé Ṣóyíinká''; born 13 July 1934), known as Wole Soyinka (), is a Nigerian playwright, novelist, poet, and essayist in the English language. He was awarded t ...

– won 1962

Unesco The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

's Kalinga Prize) * Home is the Soldier (1967) *

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

; A report (1969) * Grey and Scarlet (1977) * Work with Water (1974) * Star Performer (1961, advertising the new Ford Thames 5/7cwt panel van) * Asian Crescent (1964) * The Smiths of London (1952) * Today in Britain (1964) * The caring Profession (1971) * Naturally It's Rubber (1964) * The Orphans of

Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the admi ...

(commissioned 1989 by Channel 4 television) * Power Behind the Image (1995, BBC Centenary Season of Cinema) * Uses and Abuses of Archive Film (1995),

Ernest Lindgren Ernest Lindgren (3 October 1910 – 22 July 1973) was a British film archivist and writer. Career Lindgren joined the British Film Institute in February 1934 as Information Officer, and became the first curator of the National Film Library ...

Memorial Lecture) * Whickers War (

Alan Whicker Alan Donald Whicker (2 August 1921 – 12 July 2013) was a British journalist and television presenter and broadcaster. His career spanned almost 60 years, during which time he presented the documentary television programme ''Whicker ...

, Television Documentary- 2004) * The Russians Nobody Knows (USA newsreel series, The March of Time – (1948) * Film and Politic

Screen of Change, Chapter 2. * Film and Personality * Film and War * Film and Race (classification of human beings), Race * Film and the National Image * Film and the

Environment Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, all living and non-living things occurring naturally * Biophysical environment, the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism or ...

Locations

* United Kingdom *

* Italy *

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

* Russia *

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

* China * United States * Austria

Books

Split Focus

''Split Focus; an Involvement in Two Decades'' is an introduction to documentary and the first installment of autobiography, describing the history of documentary television from its origins as cinema newsreel. Published by Hart-Davis, 1969.

The Role of Film in Development

(Reports and papers on mass communication) Published by

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

1971.

Screen of Change (autobiography/memoir)

Published by UKA Press 2007 ''Screen of Change'' is a memoir and historical study from film-maker Peter Hopkinson. The BUFVC has published chapter two 'Film and Politics', with the generous permission of the author

References

Screen of Change review British Film Institute

Sight and Sound ''Sight and Sound'' (also spelled ''Sight & Sound'') is a British monthly film magazine published by the British Film Institute (BFI). It conducts the well-known, once-a-decade ''Sight and Sound'' Poll of the Greatest Films of All Time, ongoing ...

br>
January 2009

SCREEN OF CHANGE, Chapter 2 'Film and Politics', published by BUFVC (British Universities Film and Video Council), with kind permission of the author.

Article by

Kevin Brownlow Kevin Brownlow (born Robert Kevin Brownlow; 2 June 1938) is a British film historian, television documentary-maker, filmmaker, author, and film editor. He is best known for his work documenting the history of the silent era, having become inter ...

, UKA Press October 2007

Screen of Change review by

, UKA Press October 2007

Filmography, Film database (The Complete Index To World Film since 1895)

Whickers War – The Battle for Italy, broadcast 4 August 2004, Channel 4 .

Obituaries

The Independent

The Guardian

The Times Online

External links

BUFVC (British Universities Film and Video Council) {{DEFAULTSORT:Hopkinson, Peter 1920 births 2007 deaths British film directors British Army personnel of World War II British Army soldiers