James Hopkins

James Arthur Hopkins — known to almost everyone simply as Jim — was one of New Zealand's most distinctive and beloved voices across five decades of broadcasting, writing, comedy, and public life. Born in 1946, he possessed what colleagues would later call a "massive sense of humour and personality": a sharp, quick mind wrapped in warmth, and a gift for finding the telling detail in any room he walked into. Hopkins began his career in the 1970s as a scriptwriter, contributing to the long-running domestic drama Close to Home and the satirical series Public Eye. Television beckoned next: through the 1980s and 1990s he became a familiar face on screens across the country as presenter of the science series Fast Forward, Don't Tell Me, The Inventors, Dateline Monday, and The BNZ Festival Debates. His talkback work on Radio Pacific in Auckland and Radio Avon in Christchurch brought his wit into living rooms and cars, and for many years his column in the New Zealand Herald was among the most read — and responded to — in the paper. In August 1998, Hopkins struck a nerve no one had quite anticipated. His first book, Blokes and Sheds, reached number one on the New Zealand sales charts within a week of publication, turning a celebration of backyard inventors into a national conversation. A second book, Inventions from the Shed, followed in 1999, along with a five-part documentary series that took his shed-anthropology across the Tasman to Australian inventors. He later fronted The Knackered Chef and appeared in the 2019 documentary Funny As: The Story of New Zealand Comedy, cementing his place in the record of the country's cultural life. For more than thirty years Hopkins worked the after-dinner speaking circuit as one of New Zealand's most sought-after masters of ceremonies — intelligent, satirical, quick-witted, and always entertaining. He hosted the National Bank Young Farmer of the Year grand final for twenty-one consecutive years, championing the rural communities he believed were the true financial heartland of the country. In 2007 Hopkins entered local government, winning a seat on the Waitaki District Council for the Oamaru Ward. He served as Deputy Mayor from 2010 to 2013 and remained a councillor until his death on 27 July 2026. He had previously served four terms on the Banks Peninsula District Council. In the council chamber as on stage, he kept his colleagues honest, argued passionately for fairness, and never stopped advocating for the underdog. Jim Hopkins passed away aged 79, leaving behind a legacy of laughter, scrutiny, and genuine care for the communities he served.