Barry Hines

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Melvin Barry Hines (born June 30, 1939 in Hoyland near Barnsley , † March 18, 2016 in South Yorkshire , England ) was a British writer and screenwriter . He was mainly known for his socially critical novels. His best-known work is A Kestrel for a Knave , which became a successful film under the title Kes .

life and work

Barry Hines was born in 1939 in Hoyland, a small mining town in Northern England , as the elder of two sons of a miner under humble circumstances. In his youth, Hines played football for the English national elementary school team. He left school without a degree at the age of 15 and initially became a miner like his father. But even on the first day of work he was afraid of the dark and a friend asked him if miner was the best job he could have got with his potential. After that remark, Hines returned to school and got a good graduation. He studied at Loughborough Training College and after graduation taught as a teacher in London for two years before returning to his native Northern England. During his time at Longcar Central School in Barnsley, Hines wrote his first works in the school library after class. Later, when he was successful, Hines gave up his teaching post and became entirely a writer.

In his socially critical works, Hines mainly dealt with the difficult situation of the English working class . He celebrated his greatest success with his second novel A Kestrel for a Knave (1968) about the socially disadvantaged working-class boy Billy Caspar, who befriends a kestrel named Kes. In the successful film adaptation of Kes (1969) by Ken Loach , Hines was also involved as a screenwriter . Because of the realistic and clear descriptions, both the book and the film were well received by workers in northern England, and A Kestrel for a Knave is still read in English school lessons to this day . Director Ken Loach then brought three other works by Hines to the screen, each of which was involved in the script. In his later works, Hines was able to build on the success of Kes to a large extent and published further novels and short stories up until the 2000s, most of which also dealt with social issues. In addition, Hines worked as a screenwriter several times, for example on the award-winning 1984 television film Threads .

Barry Hines was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Sheffield in 2010 . He died in March 2016 at the age of 76 after suffering from Alzheimer's disease. The author had been married for a second time since 1980 and had two children.

Novels

  • The Blinder (1966)
    • German: Der Champion , Verlag Volk und Welt, Berlin 1974
  • A Kestrel for a Knave (1968)
    • German: And caught a falcon , Volk und Welt publishing house, Berlin 1973
  • First Signs (1972)
  • The Gamekeeper (1975)
  • The Price of Coal (1979)
  • Looks and Smiles (1981); also at Diesterweg, Frankfurt am Main 1989
  • Unfinished Business (1983)
  • The Heart of It (1994)
  • Elvis over England (1998)
  • This Artistic Life (2009)

Scripts

  • 1969: Kes (script for own work)
  • 1976: Center Play (TV series, episode)
  • 1971, 1973, 1977: Play for Today (TV series)
  • 1977: The Price of Coal (two-part TV series, script for own work)
  • 1980: The Gamekeeper (screenplay for own work)
  • 1981: Looks and Smiles - Expectations and Disappointments (Looks and Smiles) (script for own work)
  • 1984: Threads (TV movie)
  • 1990: Offside goalscorer (Shooting Stars)
  • 1992: Screen One (TV series, an episode)
  • 1992: One Woman and Ten Men (Born Kicking)
  • 2001: The Navigators (as script editor)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Richard Benson: Guardian first book award 2005: When we were heroes . The Guardian , December 4, 2005, accessed March 22, 2016.
  2. ↑ a b Author Biography - Barry Hines . Pomona Books, accessed March 22, 2016.
  3. ^ Paulette Edwards: Profiles: Barry Hines . BBC , as of May 1, 2008, September 24, 2014, accessed March 22, 2016.
  4. ↑ Heptathlete Jessica Ennis receives honorary degree . BBC , January 14, 2010, accessed March 22, 2016.
  5. ↑ Poppy Danby: Barry Hines whose novel about a troubled boy training a kestrel inspired classic film Kes dies aged 76 . Daily Mail , March 20, 2016, accessed March 22, 2016.
personal data
SURNAME Hines, Barry
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hines, Melvin Barry (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British novelist and screenwriter
DATE OF BIRTH June 30, 1939
PLACE OF BIRTH Hoyland , England , UK
DATE OF DEATH March 18, 2016
Place of death South Yorkshire , England , UK