Philip Adrian Hope-Wallace CBE (6 November 1911 – 3 September 1979) was an English music and theatre critic, whose career was mostly with ''

The Manchester Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the G ...

'' (later known as ''The Guardian''). From university he went into journalism after abortive attempts at other work, and apart from a stint at the

Air Ministry The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the Secretary of Stat ...

throughout the Second World War, his career was wholly in arts journalism in newspapers, magazines and in broadcasting.

Life and career

Hope-Wallace was born in London, the third and youngest child and only son of Charles Nugent Hope-Wallace, MBE, principal clerk of the

Charity Commission for England and Wales , type = Non-ministerial government department , seal = , seal_caption = , logo = Charity Commission for England and Wales logo.svg , logo_caption = , formed = , preceding1 = , ...

, and his wife, Mabel Florence, daughter of Colonel Allan Chaplin, of the

Madras Army The Madras Army was the army of the Presidency of Madras, one of the three presidencies of British India within the British Empire. The presidency armies, like the presidencies themselves, belonged to the East India Company until the Government ...

. Charles Hope-Wallace was a descendant of John Hope, 4th Earl of Hopetoun and of

George Nugent, 7th Earl of Westmeath George Frederick Nugent, 7th Earl of Westmeath PC (18 November 1760 – 30 December 1814), styled Lord Delvin until 1792, was an Irish peer. He gained notoriety in his own lifetime, due to his unhappy first marriage to Maryanne Jeffries, which e ...

, as well as of the Scottish Clan Bethune of Balfour. Philip attended

Charterhouse School (God having given, I gave) , established = , closed = , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , president ...

, after which, owing to a weak chest, he was sent to a sanatorium in Germany. He then moved to France, lodging with a Protestant clergyman in Normandy.Johnson, Paul
"Wallace, Philip Adrian Hope- (1911–1979)"
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004, retrieved 19 February 2014 In 1930 Hope-Wallace went up to

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the ...

, to read modern languages. He graduated in 1933 during the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

, and had difficulty in finding a job. He worked briefly for a commercial radio station at

Fécamp Fécamp () is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region in north-western France. Geography Fécamp is situated in the valley of the river Valmont, at the heart of the Pays de Caux, on the Alabaster Coast. It is aroun ...

, and from 1935 to 1936 was press officer for the

Gas Light and Coke Company The Gas Light and Coke Company (also known as the Westminster Gas Light and Coke Company, and the Chartered Gas Light and Coke Company), was a company that made and supplied coal gas and coke. The headquarters of the company were located on Ho ...

. While still in that post he obtained work on ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...

'' as a special correspondent.Obituary, ''The Times'', 17 December 1979, p. 15 At first he covered song recitals, and graduated to opera. Unfit for military service, Hope-Wallace worked at the

during the Second World War. After the war he returned to journalism, writing on music and theatre for ''

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 f ...

'' (1945–46) and then for ''

'' (from 1959 known as ''The Guardian''), where he remained for the rest of his life. He also wrote for '' The Gramophone'' and ''

Opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...

'', and broadcast regularly for the BBC. He appeared as a castaway on the

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering ...

programme ''

Desert Island Discs ''Desert Island Discs'' is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It was first broadcast on the BBC Forces Programme on 29 January 1942. Each week a guest, called a "castaway" during the programme, is asked to choose eight recordings (usua ...

'' on 30 March 1974. The programme was not archived by the BBC, but an unofficial tape copy was among a collection of over 90 episodes discovered by an amateur researcher and placed online in 2022. In 1975 he was appointed CBE for his services to the arts. Hope-Wallace was unmarried. He died in London at the age of 67. The obituarist in ''The Times'' called him "a critic of the arts as wise and searching as anyone in his time … all his work was fuelled by an informed pleasure that his attractively languid personality never concealed … above all he was consistently readable."

Publications

A selection of his writings for the publications noted above, as well as several other British periodicals including the ''

New Statesman The ''New Statesman'' is a British political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney and Beatrice Webb and other leading members ...

'', ''

'' (London), ''

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'', ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''Th ...

'', and ''

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'' appear in a volume edited by C.V. Wedgwood under the title ''Words and Music''.Hope Wallace, Philip, ''Words and Music''. William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1981.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hope-Wallace, Philip 1911 births 1979 deaths People educated at Charterhouse School Commanders of the Order of the British Empire English music critics The Guardian journalists Presidents of the Critics' Circle