Barry Hines facts for kids

Melvin Barry Hines (born June 30, 1939 – died March 18, 2016) was an English writer. He wrote novels, plays, and screenplays (scripts for films). His stories often showed the challenges faced by working-class people in Northern England. He especially focused on his home area of South Yorkshire.

Barry Hines is most famous for his novel A Kestrel for a Knave (1968). He helped turn this book into the movie Kes (1969), directed by Ken Loach. He also worked with Ken Loach on other films like Looks and Smiles and The Gamekeeper. Another important work was the TV drama The Price of Coal (1977).

He also wrote the TV film Threads. This film showed what might happen if a nuclear war hit the city of Sheffield.

Early Life and Football Dreams

Barry Hines was born in Hoyland Common, a mining village near Barnsley, in West Riding of Yorkshire. He went to Ecclesfield Grammar School after passing a special test in 1950. He was a talented football player and even played for the England Grammar Schools team.

After school, he worked for the National Coal Board in a coal mine. But he decided to go back to school to take more exams.

Later, he studied to become a teacher at Loughborough College. For a school project, he wrote a story called "Flight of the Hawk." This story later inspired his first novel, The Blinder. He taught Physical Education for several years. He would write his novels in the school library after the students went home. Eventually, he became a full-time writer.

Hines loved football. He played for Barnsley's reserve team and was even invited to try out for Manchester United. He also played for other teams like Loughborough College and Crawley Town.

Writing Career

Early Works and A Kestrel for a Knave (1965–1970)

Barry Hines' first published work was a play called Billy's Last Stand. He wrote it while he was a PE teacher. The play was about a poor coal miner. It was first heard on BBC Radio in 1965.

This radio play helped Hines find a publisher for his first novel, The Blinder, which came out in 1966. The book is about a talented teenage footballer who has to choose between his sports career and his studies. This story was partly based on Hines' own experiences playing youth football.

The Blinder caught the eye of film producer Tony Garnett. Garnett and director Ken Loach read Hines' next book idea. They bought the rights for their new film company in 1967.

The novel A Kestrel for a Knave was published in 1968. It tells the story of Billy Casper, a troubled schoolboy in a mining village. Billy finds comfort in training a kestrel (a type of hawk) that he names 'Kes'. Hines was inspired by his brother Richard, who had tamed a hawk when he was young. Hines helped write the script for the movie Kes (1969) with Ken Loach and Tony Garnett.

The movie was filmed around Hines' hometown of Barnsley. It was released in 1969 and became a big success. Many people now see it as one of the best British films ever made.

Working with Ken Loach (1971–1981)

Throughout the 1970s, Hines kept writing novels, plays, and TV scripts. Many of his stories focused on the challenges of work and industry in Britain at that time. He adapted Billy's Last Stand for the theatre in 1971.

In 1975, Hines wrote The Gamekeeper, a novel about a former steelworker who becomes a gamekeeper. He adapted this book into a film with Ken Loach in 1980. They also worked together on the TV drama The Price of Coal in 1977. This two-part show looked at a royal visit to a coal mine and then a mining accident.

Their fourth and final project together was Looks and Smiles. It was a novel in 1980 and a film in 1981. This story followed the daily life of an unemployed 17-year-old in Sheffield. Hines was very involved in making these films. He helped with choosing actors and editing the movies.

Threads and Later Works (1984–2009)

In 1984, Hines wrote the script for the TV film Threads. This film imagined what would happen if a nuclear war affected Sheffield. The BBC asked Hines to write the script because they wanted a realistic story. Hines focused on a young couple in Sheffield dealing with a pregnancy as the threat of war grew.

Threads was a big success and won a BAFTA award for Best Television Drama.

After Threads, Hines wrote less often. In the early 1990s, he wrote two TV plays about football. Shooting Stars (1990) was about friends who kidnap a local football star. Born Kicking (1992) was about the first professional female footballer.

His novel The Heart of It (1994) returned to the topic of coal mining. It was about a Hollywood writer visiting his father, a former miner. His last novel, Elvis Over England, was published in 2000. It followed an unemployed Elvis fan on a road trip.

In 2009, Barry Hines was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, which stopped him from writing more. A collection of his short stories, This Artistic Life, was published that year.

Writing Style and Themes

Barry Hines' writing is known for its realistic dialogue and his use of the Barnsley accent. He often wrote about the struggles of working-class people. His stories are described as "social realist," meaning they show real-life situations and problems.

Hines often wrote about important social issues in Britain. These included education in A Kestrel for a Knave, unemployment in Looks and Smiles, and working conditions in the mining industry in The Price of Coal. Football also appeared a lot in his writing.

Awards and Recognition

Barry Hines' work received many awards. The film Kes won a Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award for Best British Screenplay.

Threads (1984) won a special award at the 1985 Monte-Carlo Television Festival. It also won the Broadcasting Press Guild Award for Best Single Drama. It won the Best Single Drama award at the 1985 BAFTA Awards.

Hines often said he cared more about his working-class readers liking his books than winning awards. He wanted them to feel that their lives were shown accurately. Some readers even said A Kestrel for a Knave was the only book they had ever read.

Hines received honorary degrees from Loughborough University in 2009 and the University of Sheffield in 2010. His personal writings and papers are now kept at the University of Sheffield Library.

When he passed away, many people praised his work. Writer Tony Parsons called him "inspirational." Ken Loach said Hines "loved language and his ear for dialect and its comedy was pitch perfect."

Personal Life

Barry Hines was married twice and had two children from his first marriage.

He spent his later life in Sheffield. After being diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, he moved back to a care home in his home village of Hoyland Common. He passed away on March 18, 2016, at the age of 76.

Works

Novels

• The Blinder (1966)
• A Kestrel for a Knave (1968) (later filmed as Kes)
• First Signs (1972)
• The Gamekeeper (1975) (later made into a film)
• Looks and Smiles (1981) (later made into a film)
• Unfinished Business (1983)
• The Heart of It (1994)
• Elvis over England (2000)
• Springwood Stars (2024) (completed in 2002)

Short Story Collections

• This Artistic Life (2009)

Radio, Film, and Television

• Billy's Last Stand (1970)
• Speech Day (1972)
• Two Men From Derby (1976)
• The Price of Coal (1977)
• Threads (1984)
• Shooting Stars (1990)
• Born Kicking (1992)