David Hammond (1928-2008) was a broadcaster, documentary

film-maker Filmmaking or film production is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, beginning with an initial story, idea, or commission. Production then continues through screenwritin ...

and folk-singer from

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

Life and work

Hammond was born in

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

in 1928 and educated at Methodist College. He then trained as a teacher at

Stranmillis College Stranmillis University College is a university college of Queen's University Belfast. The institution is located on the Stranmillis Road in Belfast. It had students in . The school offers the BEd, PGCE and TESOL, as well as other courses. ...

. He taught for several years in primary schools and then took up a post as a teacher at Orangefield Boys' Secondary School. Among his many pupils were

Van Morrison Sir George Ivan "Van" Morrison (born 31 August 1945) is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician whose recording career started in the 1960s. Morrison's albums have performed well in the UK and Ireland, with more than 40 reaching the UK ...

and Brian Keenan. In 1964 he was appointed to the education department of

BBC Northern Ireland BBC Northern Ireland is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcasting, public broadcaster in Northern Ireland. It is widely available across both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. BBC Northern Ireland is one of the four BB ...

. In this role he collaborated with others in the production of many films about life in

. These included ''Today and Yesterday in Northern Ireland'', ''Explorations'', and the memorial of life in the Belfast shipyards, ''Steel Chest'', ''Nail in the Boot'', and ''the Barking Dog''. He left the BBC in 1986 and established Flying Fox film company. He produced many award-winning programmes including ''Dusty Bluebells'' (1971) about Belfast children's street games. He was a member of the board of the

Field Day Theatre Company The Field Day Theatre Company is a theatre company founded in Derry, Northern Ireland in 1980 by playwright Brian Friel and actor Stephen Rea. History The company's first production in 1980 was Friel's recently completed play, ''Translations''. ...

Awards

His films and life were celebrated at the 2003 Celtic Film Festival in Belfast. BBC Northern Ireland commissioned a six-part series on his life and work called ''David Hammond’s Ireland''.

Dublin City University Dublin City University (abbreviated as DCU) () is a Third-level education in the Republic of Ireland, university based on the Northside, Dublin, Northside of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Created as the ''National Institute for Highe ...

awarded him an honorary doctorate.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hammond, David Male writers from Northern Ireland 1928 births 2008 deaths Writers from Belfast Film producers from Northern Ireland 20th-century educators from Northern Ireland People educated at Methodist College Belfast Alumni of Stranmillis University College Schoolteachers from Northern Ireland 20th-century British businesspeople