Career
As an only child growing up on the edge of London, he become an avid reader, and occasional actor. Hall began working at an insurance company, but in 1958, aged 19, he sailed for New Zealand on an assisted passage scheme for migrants.
Hall began writing his first plays for children while teaching at primary school in the mid-60s. Then an old school friend asked him to co-write a TV show showcasing the talents of actor/writer Joe Musaphia. (over the next four decades his television output would grow to include one-off plays, documentaries, pioneering New Zealand television series Buck House and Pukemanu and time on political satire Spin Doctors). Alongside his writing, he appeared on-screen with actor Grant Tilly on 60s sketch show In View of the Circumstances.
He was co-writer with Philip Norman and A K Grant of Footrot Flats the Musical, which has had more than 120 productions in New Zealand and Australia.
In 2006 he was the subject of documentary Who Laughs Last