Jim Hopkins is a New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 celebrity well-known for his work in television, radio and theatre.

Biography

Hopkins was scriptwriter for "Close to Home", presenter of "Fast Forward", "Don't Tell Me", "The Inventors", "Dateline Monday", a performer on The BNZ Festival Debates, and radio talkback

Talkback

Talkback may refer to:*Talkback , a 1983 album by the Canadian band the Spoons*Talkback, an alternate name for Marvel Comics superhero Chase Stein...

 host on Radio Pacific

Radio Pacific

Radio Pacific was a New Zealand talkback radio station. The station also broadcast an extensive selection of horse racing commentary.-History:The station was originally started in Auckland in 1978 on 1593am...

in Auckland

Auckland

The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...

 and Radio Avon in Christchurch

Christchurch

Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the country's second-largest urban area after Auckland. It lies one third of the way down the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula which itself, since 2006, lies within the formal limits of...

.

In August 1998 Hopkins released his first book, “Blokes and Sheds”, which hit number one on the New Zealand sales list after only a week. The book profiles amateur inventors from across New Zealand. He followed it up with another book, "Inventions from the Shed", in 1999, and also a film documentary with the same name in 2001.