# Stuart Hood > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Stuart_Hood > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Stuart_Hood.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuart_Hood > Source revision: 1338312449 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|British writer (1915–2011)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}} {{Infobox person | name = Stuart Hood | image = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = Stuart Clink Hood | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1915|12|17}} | birth_place = [Edzell](/source/Edzell), [Angus](/source/Angus%2C_Scotland), Scotland | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2011|1|31|1915|12|17}} | death_place = | nationality = | other_names = | alma_mater = [University of Edinburgh](/source/University_of_Edinburgh) | occupation = | years_active = | known_for = | notable_works = | title = Controller of [BBC Television Service](/source/BBC_Television_Service) {{small|(1961–1963)}} }} '''Stuart Clink Hood''' (17 December 1915 – 31 January 2011){{cite news|first=Brian|last=Winston|author-link=Brian Winston|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2011/dec/22/stuart-hood |title=Obituary: Stuart Hood|newspaper=[The Guardian](/source/The_Guardian)|date=22 December 2011}} was a Scottish [novelist](/source/novelist), [translator](/source/translator) and a former British television producer and Controller of [BBC Television](/source/BBC_Television). ==Life== Hood was born in [Edzell](/source/Edzell), [Angus](/source/Angus%2C_Scotland), Scotland. His father was an infant school headmaster, firstly in Edzell and then in [Montrose](/source/Montrose%2C_Angus). After school Hood attended the [University of Edinburgh](/source/University_of_Edinburgh) between 1934 and 1938.{{cite journal |last= Hood |first= Stuart |author2=Bob Lumley |year=1988 |title=Keeping Faith: An Interview with Stuart Hood |journal=[Edinburgh Review](/source/Edinburgh_Review) |volume=78-9}}, p. 175. During the [Second World War](/source/Second_World_War) Hood served in the British Army as an intelligence officer. He spent a year in Italy as a prisoner of war before joining the [partisans](/source/Italian_resistance_movement).''Edinburgh Review'', 1988, p. 183. His memoir of this period, ''Pebbles from my Skull'', was published in 1963; a revised version appeared in 1985. It is an unromantic account of the partisans in Italy and their relationship to the official allied forces. From 1961 until 1963, Hood was the Controller of the [BBC Television Service](/source/BBC_One).''Edinburgh Review'', 1988, p. 195 As Controller, he played a key role in changing the BBC's reputation from being a producer of stodgy, didactic programming in the tradition of [Lord Reith](/source/John_Reith%2C_1st_Baron_Reith) to a more creative broadcaster. His tenure saw the launch of innovative programming such as on the police drama ''[Z-Cars](/source/Z-Cars)'', the satire ''[That Was the Week That Was](/source/That_Was_the_Week_That_Was)'' and the influential science fiction programme ''[Doctor Who](/source/Doctor_Who)'', as well as the appearance of the first female newscaster, [Nan Winton](/source/Nan_Winton). He became the overall Controller of BBC Television in 1963 with the preparations for the launch of the minority channel [BBC2](/source/BBC_Two), with his former assistant [Donald Baverstock](/source/Donald_Baverstock) working under him to Control [BBC1](/source/BBC_One) and [Michael Peacock](/source/Michael_Peacock_(television_executive)) doing the same for the new channel.{{cite web|publisher=BBC|accessdate=3 June 2008|title=When the lights went out|first=Mark|last=Lewisohn|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/classic/bbc2/article.shtml|date=2004}} This arrangement was short-lived as he resigned from the BBC in the summer of 1964, although his subsequent period at [Rediffusion London](/source/Rediffusion_London) as Controller was also brief. During the 1970s, he was Professor of Film and Television at the [Royal College of Art, School of Film and Television](/source/Royal_College_of_Art%2C_School_of_Film_and_Television).{{cite web| publisher= Museum of Broadcast Communication| accessdate= 3 June 2008| title= Hood, Stuart: British Media Executive/Producer/Educator| url= http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/H/htmlH/hoodstuart/hoodstuart.htm| archive-date= 25 July 2009| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090725032023/http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/H/htmlH/hoodstuart/hoodstuart.htm| url-status= dead}} He was active in the [ACTT](/source/ACTT) union and was a member of the [Workers Revolutionary Party](/source/Workers_Revolutionary_Party_(UK)) between 1973 and 1978.''Edinburgh Review'', 1988, p. 202. In his youth, he had been a member of the [Young Communist League](/source/Young_Communist_League_(Great_Britain)) and then the [Communist Party of Great Britain](/source/Communist_Party_of_Great_Britain).Peter Lewis, [http://www.meccsa.org.uk/news/remembering-stuart-hood/ "Remembering Stuart Hood"], Media, Communication and Cultural Studies Association, January 2012. In 1988, he hosted an edition of ''[After Dark](/source/After_Dark_(TV_series))'' called "What Do Women Want" and featuring among others [James Dearden](/source/James_Dearden), [Mary Whitehouse](/source/Mary_Whitehouse), [Joan Wyndham](/source/Joan_Wyndham), [Naim Attallah](/source/Naim_Attallah) and [Shere Hite](/source/Shere_Hite). ==Writings== Hood gained a reputation as a translator, beginning with [Ernst Jünger](/source/Ernst_J%C3%BCnger)'s ''[On the Marble Cliffs](/source/On_the_Marble_Cliffs)'' in 1946.''Edinburgh Review'', 1988, p. 186. He also translated [Erich Fried](/source/Erich_Fried), [Aldo Busi](/source/Aldo_Busi), [Dario Fo](/source/Dario_Fo), [Dino Buzzati](/source/Dino_Buzzati), [Goffredo Parise](/source/Goffredo_Parise) and [Pier Paolo Pasolini](/source/Pier_Paolo_Pasolini). His first book, ''The Circle of the Minotaur'' appeared in 1950. It contained two novels: ''The Circle of the Minotaur'' itself and ''The Fisherman's Daughter''. It was followed by another novel, ''Since the Fall'', in 1955. ''Pebbles from My Skull'', about the time he spent with [partisans in war-time Italy](/source/partisans_in_war-time_Italy), was published in 1963 (Hutchinson) and revised in 1985 (Carcanet). He wrote several books that analyze and critique the broadcasting industry, including ''A Survey of Television'' (1967), ''The Mass Media'' (Studies in Contemporary Europe) (1972), ''Radio and Television'' (Professions) (1975), ''Questions of Broadcasting'' with Garret O'Leary (1990), ''Behind the Screens: The Structure of British Television'' (1994), and ''On Television'' with Thalia Tabary-Peterssen (1997). He also wrote some more novels, including ''A Storm From Paradise'' (1985), ''The Upper Hand'' (1987) and ''A Den of Foxes'' (1991). Hood co-authored "Introducing the Holocaust" in the ["Introducing..." book series](/source/Introducing..._(book_series)) with [Haim Bresheeth](/source/Haim_Bresheeth) released in 1997{{Cite web|url=https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/book/Haim-Bresheeth,--Stuart-Hood-and--Litza-Jansz-Introducing-the-Holocaust-9781848315143/|title=Allen & Unwin - Australia|website=www.allenandunwin.com}}{{Cite web| title=Stuart Hood, Twentieth-Century Partisan | url=https://www.cambridgescholars.com/resources/pdfs/978-1-5275-5447-4-sample.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210228000726/https://www.cambridgescholars.com/resources/pdfs/978-1-5275-5447-4-sample.pdf | archive-date=2021-02-28}} and also translated the anti-Nazi German novelist [Theodor Plievier](/source/Theodor_Plievier)'s novel ''Moscow'', which shows the 1941 Battle of Moscow from both German and Soviet perspectives.{{Cite news|last=Lichtblau|first=John H.|date=1954-03-07|title=Men Who Stopped Hitler; MOSCOW. By Theodor Plievier. Translated from the German by Stuart Hood. 318 pp. New York: Doubleday & Co. $3.95.|language=en-US|newspaper=[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1954/03/07/archives/men-who-stopped-hitler-moscow-by-theodor-plievier-translated-from.html|access-date=2021-03-29|issn=0362-4331}} ==References== {{Reflist|30em}} ==External links== *[https://web.archive.org/web/20110725080618/http://www.birth-of-tv.org/birth/assetView.do?asset=BIRTHOFTELEV19001___1112802336664 BBC video interview with Hood, 1961] {{s-start}} {{s-media}} {{succession box|title=Controller of [BBC Television Service](/source/BBC_One)|before=[Kenneth Adam](/source/Kenneth_Adam)|after=[Donald Baverstock](/source/Donald_Baverstock)|years=1961–1963}} {{s-end}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Hood, Stuart}} Category:1915 births Category:2011 deaths Category:People from Angus, Scotland Category:20th-century Scottish translators Category:20th-century Scottish novelists Category:20th-century Scottish male writers Category:Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Category:BBC One controllers Category:Scottish television executives Category:British Army officers Category:British Army personnel of World War II Category:British World War II prisoners of war Category:Communist Party of Great Britain members Category:Scottish male novelists Category:Workers Revolutionary Party (UK) members Category:World War II prisoners of war held by Italy --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Stuart Hood](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuart_Hood) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuart_Hood?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.