Ian Donald Cochrane Hopkins | |
---|---|
Born | Darvel, Scotland | 16 July 1943
Occupation | comedy writer and management consultant |
Language | English |
Nationality | Scottish |
Citizenship | United Kingdom |
Alma mater | London University |
Subject | Economics |
Ian Donald Cochrane Hopkins (also known as IDC Hopkins or Ian D. C. Hopkins or Ian Hopkins) is a Scottish comedy writer [1] [2] and management consultant.
Born in Darvel, Ayrshire on 16 July 1943, Hopkins attended Kilmarnock Academy before pursuing a career in Industrial Engineering. [2]
Hopkins undertook a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics at London University, following which he became a lecturer in Management at the University of the West of Scotland. [2]
Hopkins comedy writing career began as a contracted writer for Naked Radio, Six of the Best, Not the Nine O'Clock News, [3] [4] Three of a Kind, [5] Naked Video [6] and Spitting Image. [7] [8]
Hopkins has had three stage plays performed. Albatross Soup (co-authored with John Duignan), [9] 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 John Duignan: Skelp the Aged [10] [11] [12] in 2016; The Buick Stops Here [13] [14] in 2017; and The Lambshank Redemption [15] [16] in 2019.
Hopkins and Duignan began writing Skelp the Aged as a play, before deciding to make it a novel. [10] 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. [17] [2]
Hopkins also co-authored Shit Yourself Laughing [18] with Frank Muir.
In 2020, Hopkins' satirical novella, A Glutton-Free Diet, was published by Pegasus Publishers. [19] [20] The story takes place on the Isle of Arran and is set against the background of the New Labour government unveiling its proposals for a Scottish Parliament. The protagonists, in their own ways, represent the major contemporary influences in the 1997 Scottish devolution debate.
Richard Whalley Anthony Curtis is a British screenwriter, producer and film director. One of Britain's most successful comedy screenwriters, he is known primarily for romantic comedy films, among them Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), Notting Hill (1999), Bridget Jones's Diary (2001), Love Actually (2003), Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004), About Time (2013) and Yesterday (2019). He is also known for the drama War Horse (2011) and for having co-written the sitcoms Blackadder, Mr. Bean and The Vicar of Dibley. His early career saw him write material for the BBC's Not the Nine O'Clock News and ITV's Spitting Image.
John Hardress Wilfred Lloyd is an English television and radio comedy producer and writer. His television work includes Not the Nine O'Clock News, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Spitting Image, Blackadder and QI. He is currently the presenter of BBC Radio 4's The Museum of Curiosity.
William Fulton Beith Mackay was a Scottish actor and playwright, best known for his role as prison officer Mr. Mackay in the 1970s television sitcom Porridge.
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-current news stories and popular culture, as well as parody songs, comedy sketches, re-edited videos, and spoof television formats. The programme features Rowan Atkinson, Pamela Stephenson, Mel Smith, and Griff Rhys Jones, as well as Chris Langham in the first series.
Alistair Stuart MacLean was a Scottish novelist who wrote popular thrillers and adventure stories. Many of his novels have been adapted to film, most notably The Guns of Navarone (1957) and Ice Station Zebra (1963). In the late 1960s, encouraged by film producer Elliott Kastner, MacLean began to write original screenplays, concurrently with an accompanying novel. The most successful was the first of these, the 1968 film Where Eagles Dare, which was also a bestselling novel. MacLean also published two novels under the pseudonym Ian Stuart. His books are estimated to have sold over 150 million copies, making him one of the best-selling fiction authors of all time.
Sir Ian James Rankin is a Scottish crime writer, best known for his Inspector Rebus novels.
The Ó Duibhgeannáin clan were a family of professional historians in medieval and early modern Ireland.
Matt McKenzie is an actor best known for his voicework in games and movies. He is the voice of Auron in the RPG games Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy X-2, and Kingdom Hearts II. He also provided the English voice of Borgoff in the movie Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, Ptolemy in Reign: The Conqueror, and Major Elliot in the animated movie Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. McKenzie has also guest starred in some well-known movies and TV shows such as Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, JAG, 7th Heaven, That '70s Show, The O.C. and recently 24 as Agent Hollister. He also had a cameo role in Clint Eastwood's The Rookie as Inspector Wang. He appeared in an episode of House M.D. as Doctor Fedler, where he talks briefly with Robert Chase about The Beatles. He appeared on two episodes of AMC's Mad Men as Crab Colson. Most notably, he voiced Agent Smith and various Agents in The Animatrix.
Ian or Iain is a name of Scottish Gaelic origin, derived from the Hebrew given name יוֹחָנָן and corresponding to the English name John. The spelling Ian is an Anglicization of the Scottish Gaelic forename Iain. It is a popular name in Scotland, where it originated, as well as other English-speaking countries.
Death on Deadline is a Nero Wolfe mystery novel by American writer Robert Goldsborough, first published by Bantam in 1987, the second of Goldsborough's seven novels featuring Rex Stout's sedentary detective.
The Naked Gun media franchise, also known as Police Squad!, consists of several American crime spoof-comedies, based on an original story written by the comedy filmmaking trio Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker. The installments include one television series, and three theatrical films. The plot centers around a police detective with a lot of heart, despite being less-than intelligent. Leslie Nielsen stars in each installment in the protagonist role of Det. Sgt. Franklin "Frank" Drebin, with a fourth film starring Liam Neeson as Frank Drebin Jr. in active development as of 2022.
Jenny Colgan is a Scottish writer of romantic comedy fiction and science-fiction. She has written for the Doctor Who line of stories. She writes under her own name and using the pseudonyms Jane Beaton and J. T. Colgan.
Gary Stevenson, better known as Gary Lewis, is a Scottish actor. He has had roles in films such as Billy Elliot, Joyeux Noël, Gangs of New York, Eragon, and Three and Out, as well as major roles in the television docudrama Supervolcano and the Starz series Outlander.
Graham McTavish is a Scottish actor and author. He is known for his roles as Dwalin in The Hobbit film trilogy, Vlad Dracula Țepeș in the Netflix animated series Castlevania, Loki in various Marvel animated projects, The Saint of Killers in the AMC series Preacher, and Dougal MacKenzie and William Buccleigh MacKenzie in the Starz series Outlander. He is also known for his roles in the video game franchise Uncharted as the main antagonist Zoran Lazarević in Uncharted 2: Among Thieves and Charlie Cutter in Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception.
Philip Charles MacKenzie is an American actor and television director. He is best known for his role as Donald Maltby on Brothers, and as Ted Nichols on Open House, which he worked on with his current wife, Alison La Placa.
Mackenzie, MacKenzie and McKenzie are alternative spellings of a Scottish surname relating to Clan Mackenzie. It was originally written MacKenȝie and pronounced [məˈkɛŋjiː] in Scots, with the "z" representing the old Middle Scots letter, "ȝ" yogh. This is an anglicised form of the Scottish Gaelic MacCoinnich, which is a patronymic form of the personal name Coinneach, anglicized as Kenneth. The personal name means "handsome".
Events from the year 1925 in Scotland.
Events from the year 1906 in Scotland.
John Duignan was a Scottish economist and writer.