Peter Hopkirk

Peter Hopkirk
Born	(1930-12-15)15 December 1930
Died	22 August 2014(2014-08-22)(aged 83)
Notable works	The Great Game(1990)

Peter Stuart Hopkirk(15 December 1930 – 22 August 2014) was a Britishjournalist,author and historian who wrote six books about theBritish Empire,RussiaandCentral Asia.

Biography

Peter Hopkirk was born inNottingham,the son of Frank Stuart, an Anglican priest, and Mary Hopkirk (néePerkins). The family hailed originally from Roxburghshire in the borders of Scotland. He grew up atDanbury, Essexand was educated at theDragon SchoolinOxford.From an early age he was interested in spy novels carrying aroundJohn Buchan'sGreenmantleandRuyard Kipling'sKim.While at the Dragon School he playedrugbyand shot atBisley.

During hisnational service,he was commissioned in theRoyal Hampshire Regimentin January 1950 and served as asubalternin theKing's African Rifles,in the same battalion as Lance-CorporalIdi Amin.

Before becoming a full-time author, he was anITNreporter and newscaster for two years, theNew York Citycorrespondent ofLord Beaverbrook'sThe Sunday Express,and then, for nearly twenty years, withThe Times,five as its chief reporter, and later as aMiddle EastandFar Eastspecialist. In the 1950s, he edited theWest Africannews magazineDrum,sister paper to the South AfricanDrum.

Hopkirk travelled widely over many years in the regions where his six books are set –Russia,Central Asia, theCaucasus,China,India,Pakistan,Iran,and easternTurkey.

As a journalist, he sought a life in dangerous situations, being sent toAlgeriato cover the revolutionary crisis in the French colonial administration. Inspired by Fitzroy Maclean'sEastern Approaches,he began to think about the Far East. He was based in New York during theBay of Pigsfiasco in 1961, covering the events for theDaily Express.

Hopkirk was twice arrested and held in secret police cells. InCuba,he was accused of spying for the US Government and his contacts in Mexico obtained his release. In the Middle East, he was hijacked by Arab terrorists in Beirut, which led to his expulsion. At the height of the economic oil crises in 1974,Palestine Liberation Organization(PLO) personnel hijacked his plane, aKLMjet bound forAmsterdam.Hopkirk confronted the armed gang and persuaded them to surrender their weapons.

His works have been officially translated into fourteen languages, and unofficial versions in local languages are apt to appear in the bazaars of Central Asia. In 1999, he was awarded theSir Percy Sykes Memorial Medalfor his writing and travels by theRoyal Society for Asian Affairs.Much of his research came from the India Office archives in theBritish Library(in London'sSt Pancras).

Hopkirk's wife, Kathleen Hopkirk, wroteA Traveller's Companion to Central Asia,published by John Murray in 1994 (ISBN0-7195-5016-5).

Hopkirk died on 22 August 2014 at the age of 83.

Awards

• Sir Percy Sykes Memorial Prize (1999)

Works

• Foreign Devils on the Silk Road: The Search for the Lost Cities and Treasures of Chinese Central Asia,1980
  • on early European explorations of theTaklamakan Desert
• Trespassers on the Roof of the World: The Race for Lhasa,1982
• Setting the East Ablaze: Lenin's Dream of an Empire in Asia,1984
• The Great Game: On Secret Service in High Asia,John Murray,1990,ISBN071954727X
  • The Great Game: The Struggle for Empire in Central Asia,Kodansha International,1992,ISBN1568360223
• On Secret Service East of Constantinople: The Great Game and the Great War,1994ISBN0719550173
  • published in the US as:Like Hidden Fire: The Plot to Bring Down the British Empire,1995
  • on plots by the Germans to raise Central Asia against the British duringWorld War I
• Quest for Kim: in Search of Kipling's Great Game,1996;
  • atravelogueto the locations of Kipling's novelKim

Testimonials

Patrick Leigh FermorinThe Daily TelegraphnominatedThe Great Gamefor the Book of the Year.Edward SaidinPunchmagazine called it a "superb account" and theFTdeclared it to be "immensely readable and magisterial". Hopkirk, wrote Lord Longford, displayed "astonishing erudition."

References

Sources

Secondary sources

• A Traveller's Companion to Central Asia.John Murray.1994.ISBN0-7195-5016-5.

External links

• Peter Hopkirk - Historian of 'The Great Game'
• Peter Hopkirk
• Farewell, Peter Hopkirk, And Thank You