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A wordsmith with wit, charm and tenacity, broadcaster and long-serving councillor Jim Hopkins was a community advocate full of generosity for the rural communities he served.
One of New Zealand’s most prominent broadcasters, Hopkins’ career covered television, radio, newspapers and publishing before he devoted nearly two decades to local government.
A star of the media scene he was a scriptwriter on Close To Home (1975-1983), New Zealand’s first TV soap, and his television career included presenting on science programme Fast Forward, 1980s showbiz quiz show Don’t Tell Me, and one of Australian ABC TV’s highest rating programmes The Inventors.
While he was known to most Canterbury audiences for regular appearances on radio, as a skilled and witty debater, and on Canterbury Television (CTV) in his nightly show Hopkins Half-Hour he also wrote for the New Zealand Herald.
To Waitaki and Otago residents, he was well-known as Jim the red bespectacled councillor who served the district for nearly 19 years.
His son David Hopkins said his father was a “fantastic dad” who was “larger than life” and “loved the life he created in Waitaki in the last 20 years.
‘‘He loved his speech, he absolutely loved being a councillor, he was a dyed-in-the-wool do-gooder I suppose, and he carried on a family tradition of trying to make things better,’’ he said.
His son Tom Hopkins said he was “incredibly proud” of his father who had given so much in over two decades to local body politics in Banks Peninsula and in the Waitaki.
"I was quite young when he started at the Waitaki District Council and it wasn’t till he passed that I realised the big impact he’s had and all the great work must have done.”
Tom said his father was “very intelligent, very caring and was always there for him with guidance and support and a second opinion whenever he needed it."
Hopkins was also a performer on the BNZ Festival Debates and a radio talkback host on Radio Pacific in Auckland and Radio Avon in Christchurch.
When Radio Avon started in Christchurch in 1973, Hopkins and some of his University of Canterbury friends wrote a script for a comedy show titled The Lumpy Pudding Show.
Unfortunately the station manager nixed the idea and offered to lend the group “quite a few books on creativity”.
He went onto greater success in his further endeavours.
Over the next few years Hopkins took on regular TV work and started out as a reporter on Today at One from 1975 to 1976, going on to present on the channels companion current affairs show Prime Time and reporting on Dateline Monday later in the 70s.
His book “Blokes & Sheds”, profiling amateur inventors from across New Zealand, hit number one on the country’s sales list in 1998.
Hopkins followed it up with another book, Inventions from the Shed, in 1999 and a five-part documentary series for television with the same name that featured inventors across Australia in 2000.
He also appeared as a judge on The Gong Show, featured in Funny As: The Story of New Zealand Comedy.
Hopkins was also busy with public debates around the country.
His lifelong love of debating started in his high school years when he attended Christchurch Boys’ High School where he had recalled occasional “mad impromptu performances” from future television names David McPhail (McPhail & Gadsby), Ken Ellis and Peter Sharp during Friday afternoon working bees in the library.
His younger sister Judy said the family attended some of his early school debates and drama plays.
At the University of Canterbury where Hopkins’ studied he was an avid and able debater and performed in student revues.
A former Rotary Club of Oamaru president, Cr Hopkins was always on hand to help out at the club’s annual Bookarama.
He was the master of ceremonies (MC) at other club and community events, one of a few who did not require a microphone to be heard.
Hopkins was remembered in tribute as a “brilliant orator”, quick-witted, supportive and warm and welcoming by comedian Te Radar and radio host Jamie Mackay.
Mr Mackay said Jim was “a true wordsmith, a real comedian but he did admit he often pre-recorded him in interviews as he “wasn’t very good at a short answer”.
Comedian and actor Penny Ashton said Mr Hopkins was an “absolute icon of TV debates in the ’80s and ’90s”.
“A wit of utter brilliance. I’ll always remember him lampooning Tim Shadboldt talking endlessly with no time to breathe till he nearly passed out." I used to do these week-long leadership camps in Christchurch and he would come and talk to us about the media and he was an absolute charmer,” she said.
Former immigration minister Liane Dalziel said Jim brought “extraordinary energy and wit” to the IHC Celebrity Debates he chaired as she would watch in awe as he would scribble on a few pieces of paper before taking to the stage to mesmerise the audience.
Hopkins’ helped raise hundreds and thousands of dollars for many charity and organisation events all over New Zealand , including locally, making himself available as an MC for many years for the best of reasons.
Former MP Ruth Dyson said she also remembered his play on words was incomparable.
In one of the many debates Hopkins mentioned the place Mt Herbert and said he was never sure if Mt Herbert was a place name or an instruction.
NZ Young Farmer of the Year contest manager Ray Lew said Jim was "well-read, a great wordsmith with a formidable command of English and funny-to-boot”.
For 21 years he was the host of The NZ Young Farmer of the Year Contest.
Likened to a circus when the event rolled into town the veteran raconteur was its ringmaster.
A skilled and witty debater, Hopkins said the event was like the farming contest equivalent of “a switch to one-day-cricket” and NZ Young Farmer patron Eric Roy said he brought his usual vitality and “multi-talents” to the premier agricultural competition.
Writer and journalist, Kate Taylor who interviewed Jim for the Young Farmer of the Year 50th anniversary book, said he told her he spent 21 years “going to all sorts of places that were truly Heartland NZ . . . they have the character and essence of the country and the qualities that define NZ and New Zealanders”.
Hopkins had some knowledge of farming, having spent holidays with an aunt and uncle who farmed at Cheviot, in North Canterbury.
Ms Taylor also worked with Hopkins, the “craggy-faced, bespectacled fellow” when he was her former employer as a chief reporter at CTV in Christchurch.
While she said he was not always the easiest boss to work with, “quite discombobulating”, there were moments of “complete hilarity” as Hopkins loved to play light-hearted tricks and gags on her .
He hung up his vocal cords for that event and called it a day in 2011.
The affable broadcaster then went on to serve four terms as a councillor at Bank’s Peninsula before moving to the Waitaki.
Mr Hopkins committed 19 years to the Waitaki District Council in his role as councillor and was former deputy mayor from 2010 and served for three years. He also ran for the mayoralty in 2013.
His fellow councillors and colleagues remember him for his wit and dedication to the work, for breaking into song at any given moment, as sharp and engaged, although “technologically challenged”.
While known for his robust performances throughout his career, some of his “performances” at the council table were not always appreciated, and often letters to the Oamaru Mail would be published questioning his often unique stance or approach on topical issues.
He was however widely respected for always standing up for the underdog, and the ratepayers, and for calling out injustice, and highlighting insincerity in his role as councillor.
WDC mayor Mel Tavendale said he kept the council table honest and was respected for his debates and knowing standing orders like the back of his hand — he made sure things were done correctly.
Mrs Tavendale said “discombobulating” remained a firm part of Jim’s vocabulary.
She said "he would never waste a perfectly good wood . . . bemoaning the media when they failed to pick up on his pearls of wisdom”.
"He was a thoughtful man with a huge heart . . . he will be missed and remembered,” Mrs Tavendale said.
Hopkins’ was a staunch supporter of journalism, calling in every week to the Otago Daily Times and Oamaru Mail office without fail to pick up his newspapers.
His unmistakable energy, flair and style was entirely his own. He appealed to the masses.
James Arthur (Jim) Hopkins was born on December 9 in 1946 in Temuka to his parents Marie and Ivor, an ordained Anglican minister later appointed canon of the Christchurch Diocese.
His mother Marie was a nurse at the Timaru Hospital and his parents married before their father, who was in Burnham Military Camp, went to war.
When Jim’s father returned from war in 1946 they settled into a parish, St Peter’s Church in Temuka and Jim was their first-born in Waimate. His brother Peter was later born in Temuka.
His cousin Jan Stiebert remembers the Temuka vicarage and spent a lot of time there along with other family members immediately post World War 2.
The vicarage doors were open to everyone including aunties and uncles, often residing there at one time, due to the shortage of housing at the time.
The young family then moved to Addington, in Christchurch where Judy was born and lived there till about 1960.
She said many of Jim’s vivid and most nostalgic memories were of St Mary’s Church Square in Addington.
Judy remembers cricket games on the vicarage lawn. Hopkins loved cricket and his father would often take him, and his brother Peter, to Lancaster Park to regularly watch games.
The family then moved to the prison settlement at Paparua when Hopkins had finished Christchurch South Intermediate and was attending Christchurch Boys’ High School.
He loved debating and drama and his schoolmasters had a big influence on him, including English master Colin Macintosh.
Another enduring love of Hopkins’ was aviation and anything to do with aircraft. His eyesight had ruled him out of flying but he joined the Air Training Cadets (ATC) in Wigram.
Hopkins would spend hours making model aircraft and had a huge collection of models.
His treasured library of aircraft and aviation books and magazines make up a huge collection Hopkins’ amassed over his lifetime.
Judy remembers they were all “brought up in the old way of pastoral care” and a sense of open community and service, that had a life-long influence on her brother and his strong sense of duty and care.
She said family holidays were a strong memory with trips to Gore Bay, Blackball, and Westport where her father would relieve at the vicarage, and Jim often had a childhood friend on holiday with them.
At the University of Canterbury where Hopkins studied arts he also joined the the debating society and was actively involved in student affairs. He left university before completing his degree keen to get started in life.
While the family was based at the prison settlement his mother also held a position at Templeton Hospital, a residential hospital for the intellectually handicapped and disabled.
The family then moved from Paparua to the Justice House Department on Manchester St, there to help newly released inmates and provide ongoing support.
Hopkins also worked at Templeton hospital as a training officer setting up the background for his life-long involvement with IHC, and charity debates, of which were of great importance to him.
Hopkins had three children, Cass and David whose mother is Jean Brines.
He had a second son, Tom Hopkins, whose mother, Tess McPartlin, died in 2024.
Tom said he made regular visits from his home in Australia to see his parents separately in Ōamaru and Christchurch over the years.
Jim Hopkins raised his children to be logical and reflective thinkers, and to express their creativity.
He died on Monday July 27 this year aged 79.
In Hopkins’ death notice the family said his “wit, charm and tenacity” will be missed.
Jim Hopkins is survived by children David, Cass and Tom, granddaughter Jeanne, and was the beloved older brother of Peter and Judy.