Ian Donald Cochrane Hopkins | |
|---|---|
| Born | 16 July 1943 Darvel, Scotland |
| 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.
In July 2024 Hopkins latest novella, The Granny State of Drumhumble,[21] was published.
Set in the Scottish Highlands the novella is a "Satirical meta-fiction where Brigadoon meets Brave New World".