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Arthur Hopcraft | |
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| Born | (1932-11-30)30 November 1932 Shoeburyness, Essex, England |
| Died | 22 November 2004(2004-11-22) (aged 71) |
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| Notable awards | BAFTA Writers Award (1986) |
Arthur Hopcraft (30 November 1932 – 22 November 2004) was a British screenwriter, well known for his TV plays such asThe Nearly Man, and for his small-screen adaptations such asTinker Tailor Soldier Spy;Hard Times,Bleak House, andRebecca. Before taking up writing for TV, he was a sports journalist forThe Guardian andThe Observer, writingThe Football Man: People and Passions in Soccer. He also had four other books published, including an autobiographical account of his childhood, and wrote the screenplay for the filmHostage. Hopcraft won theBAFTA Writers Award in 1986.[1]
Hopcraft was born inShoeburyness, Essex. He soon moved toCannock, Staffordshire, and as a teen, he started working at local newspapers. By the age of 17, he was reporting on theStafford Rangers' semi-professional football games using the pseudonym "Linesman." After his service in the military, he worked at theDaily Mirror in Manchester and thenThe Guardian. He had assignments in west Africa, India and Brazil. In the mid-1960s, he began doing football writing atThe Observer as well. From January 1968 he was a regular contributor to theIPC monthlyNova, his articles were mostly stories from his own life.
He was a "self-described loner whose claustrophobia extended to refusing to use the London Underground."[2] He never married, noting that "I tried both sexes, but ended up wishing they would all just go away".[2]
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