Michael A. Fopp is a retired museum director. Michael Fopp is the son of an Australian

Battle of Britain The Battle of Britain () was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defended the United Kingdom (UK) against large-scale attacks by Nazi Germany's air force ...

fighter pilot. He grew up surrounded by aeroplanes, but left the

Reading Blue Coat School Reading Blue Coat School is a co-educational private day school in Holme Park, Sonning, Berkshire. It is situated beside the River Thames, and was established in 1646 by Richard Aldworth, who named it "Aldworth's Hospital". Aldworth founded ...

to follow a childhood dream of riding horses professionally. He was a member of the Mounted Branch of London’s Metropolitan Police for over 10 years. Those years were spent leading ceremonial celebrations, carrying out duties during riots and other public disorder events. This ended when he was seriously assaulted by rioters in 1979, an event so serious as to cause the death of Blair Peach and injury to many others. During his police career he had permission to lecture and write about aviation history and, almost immediately after his hospitalisation joined the

Royal Air Force Museum The Royal Air Force Museum is a museum dedicated to the Royal Air Force in the United Kingdom. The museum is a non-departmental public body and is a registered charity. It has two public sites, Royal Air Force Museum London and Royal Air Fo ...

as Keeper of the Battle of Britain Collection in 1979. In 1984 he was awarded a master's degree by

City University London City, University of London was a public university from 1966 to 2024 in London, England. It merged with St George's, University of London to form City St George's, University of London in August 2024. The names "City, University of London" and ...

for whom he was a visiting lecturer in Management Studies for 9 years. In 1985 he was appointed director of the

London Transport Museum The London Transport Museum (LTM) is a transport museum based in Covent Garden, London. The museum predominantly hosts exhibits relating to the heritage of Transport in London, London's transport, as well as conserving and explaining the histo ...

. He returned to the Royal Air Force Museum as Director in 1988 and finished his thesis "Museum & Gallery Management", gaining his PhD in 1989. He was the director general of the RAF Museum's three sites – Hendon (London), Cosford and Stafford, all of which expanded during his tenure of over 22 years – retiring in 2010. He is past Chairman of the Air Safety Trust and the Air Pilots Trust, charities supporting flying scholarships, air safety and research. For many years he spent his spare time flying a Lancair aircraft which he built himself over a period of 8 years. His book ''Managing Museums & Galleries'', published by Routledge,Managing Museums & Galleries; Routledge was the first book to provide the reader with museum/gallery specific solutions to management problems. He is married to Rosemary, who is also a private pilot; they have one son. In 2011, he was given an Award of Doctor of Science ''honoris causa'' by

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fopp, Michael A. Alumni of City, University of London Directors of museums in the United Kingdom English curators English people of Australian descent Living people Year of birth missing (living people)