Philip Hope-Wallace

November 6, 1911 (age 67)

London

From university he went into journalism after abortive attempts at other work, and apart from a stint at the Air Ministry throughout the Second World War, his career was wholly in arts journalism in newspapers, magazines and in broadcasting. In 1930 Hope-Wallace went up to Balliol College, Oxford, to read modern languages. He graduated in 1933 during the Great Depression, and had difficulty in finding a job. He worked briefly for a commercial radio station at Fécamp, and from 1935 to 1936 was press officer for the Gas Light and Coke Company. While still in that post he obtained work on The Times as a special correspondent. At first he covered song recitals, and graduated to opera. Unfit for military service, Hope-Wallace worked at the Air Ministry during the Second World War. After the war he returned to journalism, writing on music and theatre for The Daily Telegraph (1945-1946) and then for The Manchester Guardian (from 1959 known as The Guardian), where he remained for the rest of his life. He also wrote for The Gramophone and Opera, and broadcast regularly for the British Broadcasting Corporation. He appeared as a "castaway" on the British Broadcasting Corporation Radio programme Desert Island Discs on 30 March 1974. In 1975 he was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his services to the arts Hope-Wallace was unmarried. He died in London at the age of 67. The obituarist in The Times called him "a critic of the arts as wise and searching as anyone in his time … all his work was fuelled by an informed pleasure that his attractively languid personality never concealed … above all he was consistently readable.".

Philip Hope-Wallace

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music critic

Background

Hope-Wallace was born in London, the third and youngest child and only son of Charles Nugent Hope-Wallace, charity commissioner, and his wife, Mabel, née Chaplin.

Education

He attended Charterhouse School, after which, owing to a weak chest, he was sent to a sanatorium in Germany.

Career

From university he went into journalism after abortive attempts at other work, and apart from a stint at the Air Ministry throughout the Second World War, his career was wholly in arts journalism in newspapers, magazines and in broadcasting. In 1930 Hope-Wallace went up to Balliol College, Oxford, to read modern languages. He graduated in 1933 during the Great Depression, and had difficulty in finding a job.

He worked briefly for a commercial radio station at Fécamp, and from 1935 to 1936 was press officer for the Gas Light and Coke Company.

While still in that post he obtained work on The Times as a special correspondent. At first he covered song recitals, and graduated to opera.

Unfit for military service, Hope-Wallace worked at the Air Ministry during the Second World War. After the war he returned to journalism, writing on music and theatre for The Daily Telegraph (1945-1946) and then for The Manchester Guardian (from 1959 known as The Guardian), where he remained for the rest of his life.

He also wrote for The Gramophone and Opera, and broadcast regularly for the British Broadcasting Corporation. He appeared as a "castaway" on the British Broadcasting Corporation Radio programme Desert Island Discs on 30 March 1974.

In 1975 he was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his services to the arts Hope-Wallace was unmarried. He died in London at the age of 67.

The obituarist in The Times called him "a critic of the arts as wise and searching as anyone in his time … all his work was fuelled by an informed pleasure that his attractively languid personality never concealed … above all he was consistently readable.".

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Philip Hope-Wallace

Background

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Awards

Commander of the Order of the British Empire