Philip Hoare (Southampton, 1958) is a British writer, film-maker and curator. He won the 2009 Samuel Johnson Prize, now known as the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, for his work Leviathan, or the Whale.
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Early life and education
Hoare was born Patrick Moore in Southampton. He chose the name Philip Hoare to avoid confusion with astronomer Patrick Moore:
A Roman Catholic, he attended St Mary's Independent School, Southampton on a scholarship. He went on to St Mary's University, Twickenham.
Imagine having to spend your entire life living with people asking: 'You're not that astronomer, are you?' Or: 'Do you play the xylophone?' Another reason was that when I was managing bands I used to review my own bands for the NME and Sounds as Philip Hoare. Philip was my confirmation name; Hoare [was] my mother's maiden name.
Career
Music
In 1982–83, Hoare ran the record label Operation Twilight, a UK-based subsidiary of the Belgian label Les Disques du Crépuscule.
2009 Samuel Johnson Prize
Hoare was the winner of the 2009 Samuel Johnson Prize, now known as the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, for his work Leviathan, or the Whale. The book, which describes a personal and societal fascination with whales, received praise. Jonathan Mirsky, writing for Literary Review, called the book "tremendous".
Other work
Hoare has recorded podcasts for NPR, VICE and Al Jazeera Media Network. His curatorial work includes Derek Jarman's Modern Nature, and he contributed to the Victoria and Albert Museum's international touring exhibition, David Bowie Is.
Hoare has written articles on whales, including one on the orca 'attacks' off the Iberian Peninsula in 2023. He is special ambassador for Whale and Dolphin Conservation, visiting fellow at the Fine Arts Work Center, Provincetown, and lecturer at the Rhode Island School of Design, Providence.
As a writer, Hoare has represented the British Council in Berlin, Guadalajara, and Moscow.
Works
Hoare is the author of the following works of non-fiction:
Serious Pleasures: The Life of Stephen Tennant (1990)
Noël Coward: A Biography (1995)
Wilde's Last Stand: Decadence, Conspiracy, and the First World War (1997)
Spike Island: The Memory of a Military Hospital (2000), the story of Netley Hospital in Southampton
The Ghosts of Netley (2004)
England's Lost Eden: Adventures in a Victorian Utopia (2005), about Mary Anne Girling and the New Forest Shakers
Leviathan or, The Whale (2008), which won the 2009 BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for non-fiction
The Whale: In Search Of The Giants Of The Sea (2010)
The Sea Inside (2013)
RisingTideFallingStar (2017)
Albert and the Whale: Albrecht Dürer and How Art Imagines Our World (2021)
William Blake and the Sea Monsters of Love (2025, 4th Estate)
He has also edited The Sayings of Noël Coward (1997).
Hoare has co-authored or contributed to the following publications:
Essay on the evolution of class in the UK in a British Council pamphlet, Posh: The Evolution of the Traditional British Brand (ed. Sorrel Hershberg, 1999).