Level | Item |
Ref No | OHP/35 |
Title | Arthur Hopcraft |
Date | 18 January 2002 |
Extent | 1 audio tape, 1 cd, 1 file, 1 AIFF file (793.1 MB) |
Creator Name | Hopcraft; Arthur (1932-2004); author, journalist, TV playwright |
Description | Interview with Arthur Hopcraft, journalist for the Guardian. Conducted by Stephen Moss on 18 January 2002. Also includes a data sheet containing biographical details and information on the recording.
Summary contents of interview (with rough timings):
Disc 1: Track 1 00:40 Early career 02:00 Joining the Guardian in 1959 and editorship of [Alastair] Hetherington 02:40 Guardian moving to London from Manchester 04:50 Impact of dropping 'Manchester' from the title 06:30 Reasons for leaving the Guardian - didn't want to move to London 08:25 Memories of Roy Perrott, 'typical Manchester Guardian figure' 09:10 Perception of Guardian before he joined
10:20 Away from the Mirror, tabloid stories about sex changes. Starting to report about these types of stories 12:00 Guardian's approach to reporting news 12:40 Concerns about 'losing contact with their readership' - expanding news coverage of North West 13:50 Reporting on eccentric characters 15:30 Story about Russian ex-valet to the former GB ambassador in Moscow 16:50 Radical image of the Guardian 18:40 Memories of the editor 19:10 Contrast with the Mirror editor taking the northern staff out drinking
20:30 Nesta Roberts - only woman in the reporter's room 22:00 Process of taking foreign copy over the phone 22:30 Memories of Peter Preston (as a reporter) 23:00 Trip with Preston to Ghana 1962 - sent as observers to a dictatorial referendum 24:00 Not much foreign travel for international stories, mostly done over the phone 26:00 Ghana High Commission was unhappy with one of his stories, and had Preston arrested 29:30 Got a taste for foreign reporting
30:30 Standing in as night news editor 33:40 Nightly news conference - process of selecting the stories 35:00 Next foreign assignment was 1963: JFK visit to Ireland 36:45 1963 assignment for the freedom from hunger campaign 38:00 Working mainly as a feature writer 39:40 Working with Brian Redhead
40:30 Changing ideas about the paper's layout 41:00 Use of white space 42:00 Peter [Preston] - ambitious and extremely able 42:50 Sent to Brazil for an advertising supplement 44:00 The political situation was unstable and he found himself reporting on a coup 47:00 Sound cuts out 47:30 Re-starts 48:00 Reporters came rushing in from all over the place. All the US journalists were interviewing him 49:30 Wasn't briefed on how foreign journalists use cable
51:00 Phoned Hella Pick, dictated his stories and she would pass them on 51:30 Alistair Cooke at the Guardian 52:00 GB papers not really interested in South America 52:50 Wanting to be a correspondent - Interviewed for a job at the Buenos Aires Herald 55:40 Guardian's reporting from party conferences 57:10 Getting the pick of stories that came from Manchester 58:20 Hetherington stated that the Guardian was essentially about politics 59:20 Hetherington and politics/politicians 59:55 'Sense of diminution' at Manchester office because of London move
61:00 Peter Eckersley - good friend at Guardian who moved into TV 63:00 Concealed that he was a big football fan and theatre goer so as not to be pushed into that kind of reporting 64:10 Work for the Observer - mostly on football 64.20 Observer had very distinguished football reporters 66:00 Career after the Guardian, going abroad for a book on freedom from hunger (1968) 68:00 Working in TV drama
70:00 Started writing plays for the Stables Theatre, for Granada 70.10 Talks about his play-writing career (including Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy)
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Access Status | Open |
Access Conditions | Access to recording via GNM Digital Repository |
Format | Electronic record |
CD recording |
Printed document |
Tape recording |
Copyright | Guardian News & Media Ltd and Arthur Hopcraft |
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