Meredith Hooper
Australian historian and writer (1939–2025)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Meredith Jean Hooper (née Rooney; 21 October 1939 – 27 December 2025) was an Australian historian and writer.[1]
21 October 1939
Meredith Hooper | |
|---|---|
| Born | Meredith Jean Rooney 21 October 1939 Adelaide, Australia |
| Died | 27 December 2025 (aged 86) |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Language | English |
| Alma mater | University of Adelaide, University of Oxford |
| Genre | History, science writing, children's books |
| Subject | Antarctica |
| Spouse | Richard Hooper |
| Children | Tom Hooper |
Early life and education
Career
Hooper was a member of Association of British Science Writers[4] and the British Society for the History of Science,[citation needed] and was a visiting research fellow at the Royal Institution.[5]
In 2000, the National Science Foundation and the Congress of the United States awarded Hooper the Antarctica Service Medal.[6] In 2014, Hooper was named the Australian of the Year in the UK.[6][7]
Personal life and death
Meredith Hooper was the wife of British civil servant Richard Hooper[8] and mother of film director Tom Hooper. After seeing a 2007 reading of an unproduced play, she told her son she thought he should consider pursuing it for a film adaptation; the project became his Academy Award-winning film, The King's Speech.[9]
Hooper died on 27 December 2025, at the age of 86.[10] She was buried at Highgate Cemetery.[11]
Bibliography
- The Longest Winter: Scott's Other Heroes[12][13][14]
- Celebrity Cat: With Paintings from Art Galleries Around the World[15]
- The Pebble in my Pocket: A History of Our Earth[16]
- The Endurance: Shackleton's Perilous Expedition in Antarctica[17]
- The Ferocious Summer: Adelie Penguins and the Warming of Antarctica[18]
- Stranded in the Winter: The Story of Scott’s Northern Party[19]