The Christopher Hogg Collection

The collection consists of papers specifically related to Christopher Hogg's work as Chairman of the National Theatre Board between 1995 and 2004, as a member of the Royal National Theatre Finance and Audit Committee (1995-2004) and the Successions Committee (c 2000-2002) and as the Director of RNT Enterprises Ltd (1997-2002).

The documents are of three main types: handwritten, semi-verbatim notes on individual meetings, conversations and interviews held with the management and senior executive, other Board members, job applicants and many others from outside the Theatre; Board and committee papers such as minutes, reports and policy documents; and correspondence, specifically, notes, letters, faxes, emails, memorandums, postcards and greetings cards, with enclosures. There are also a number of loose documents, and these and the enclosures encompass a wide variety of materials, including file notes, press cuttings, press releases, CVs, supporting statements, short published biographies from Who's Who and other sources, job descriptions, advertisements, contracts and other legal documents, corporate information sheets, spreadsheets, diagrams, tables, timetables, lists of names and contact details, lists of quotes and opinions, a PowerPoint slide printout, a set of rough notes for a speech, an order of service booklet, a photograph of the Board, a guest list and a wine list.

The subject matter of the documents reflects both the regular remit of the Board and the main challenges facing the Theatre during this period, particularly appointments to the Board and committees and to senior positions in the Theatre; internal working relationships between the Executive and the Board and external ones between the Theatre and the Department for National Heritage (subsequently the Department for Culture, Media and Sport) and the Arts Council of England (subsequently, Arts Council England); the Theatre buildings and their auditoria, including their modernisation and refurbishment; and financial matters, including the Theatre's public subsidy, donations, budgeting and financial planning. Repertoire and artistic vision for the Theatre are the remit of the Artistic Directors but are frequently touched upon in correspondence and records of meetings with them. Hogg held the Chairmanship of the Board in 1997 when Trevor Nunn replaced Richard Eyre as Artistic Director and again in 2003 when Nicholas Hytner succeeded to the role, and of particular note for research purposes are the unique and detailed sets of handwritten notes on meetings (both formal and informal) with the candidates and others he kept regarding this process.

Christopher Hogg was born in 1936 and was educated at Marlborough College, Trinity College, Oxford and Harvard University, where he attained an MBA.
He became the fourth Chairman of the National Theatre in 1995 on the retirement of Lady Soames DBE and held the post until 2004, being replaced by Sir Haydon Philips. He described himself in his first Chairman's Statement in the National Theatre Annual Report (1995-1995) as having a family background in theatre and enjoying a life-time of theatre-going.
He is known as an industrialist and started his career at Samuel Hill Ltd in 1963 before going on to hold a number of Directorships, Chief Executive roles and Chairmanships in prominent companies, becoming Chief Executive (1979–91) and then Chairman (1980–96) of Courtaulds PLC, Chairman of Allied Domecq PLC (1996-2002), Chairman of Reuters Group PLC (1985-2004), and Chairman of GlaxoSmithKline PLC (2002-2004). He also held a number of public roles, including as a member of the Department of Industry's Industrial Development Advisory Board (1976-80), a Non-Executive Director of the Bank of England (1992-1996) and Chairman of the Financial Reporting Council (2006-2010).
He has been married twice, first to Anne Patricia (née Cathie) (1961-1997) and then to Miriam Stoppard (1997-). He has two children by his first marriage.

The original order the papers were received in has been maintained.

There was little direct information recorded by Hogg on his chosen system of organisation. However, stuck to the top file of one of the boxes, there was a sticky note which said, 'These are July 2000-Oct 2001 papers extracted from my main NT running file because they have a bearing on the wider background. Please keep them together and don't merge them with the succession files 1 and 2' (catalogue ref. CH/3/1/1).

In the box file containing Annual Reports, those that were not disposed of – the Rayner Report (1985) and some correspondence and a press cutting – were kept as one series.

Six of the nine original box files contained plastic files with a mixture of subject-matter in them, they were organised chronologically, and they were labelled as general files and by date. There were also three slim thematic files interspersed with these in the same box files. It was assumed that these made up the 'main NT running file' described in the note, and these six box files therefore formed a second series.

The last two box files had thematic labels related to management successions at the National Theatre and, one – 'Files Lent to John Makinson in connection with Management Succession at the National Theatre' - included the file that contained the sticky note. It is not clear whether the note referred all of the files or just the top one in the box, but at least some of the documents in this box were removed or copied from the running file at a later date by Hogg to give to a John Makinson. The other box held 'succession files 1 and 2'. These were kept together in a third series, but, as the note requested, the two box files have been kept as separate sub-series and not merged.

For access, the researcher must apply in writing to the Head of Archive or the Publishing Director, who will then seek permission for access from the Chairman of the Board.

Gift of Christopher Hogg, London, 21 March 2017.

Biographical information was obtained from the website of Who's Who and copies of National Theatre Annual Reports held at the National Theatre Archive (Catalogue reference numbers RNT/B/2 and RNT/B/5).

Description prepared by J. Borzykh in May 2018, National Theatre Archive.

All reproduction of the collection by third parties requires signed agreement to the National Theatre's Copyright Regulations to ensure conformity with the terms of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All published reproduction of the collection will be required to credit the Christopher Hogg Collection. Where it is known that research intended for publication is based extensively on the collection, the author will be requested by the Archivist to make sufficient acknowledgement and the Archivist will inform the Depositor.

Appraisal identified one box of Annual Reports, Reviews and Financial Statements, and a programme [presumably his personal copies], which, as these are published materials and were unannotated, with copies of most of them already held in the Royal National Theatre (catalogue Refs. RNT/B/2 and RNT/B/5), were disposed of unless they filled a gap in the RNT collection. The box also contained his annotated copy of the Rayner Report (1985) and some loose papers interleaved in the programme and an Annual Report which were preserved. All other papers in the Collection have been preserved.

These are Hogg's personal papers, and he kept them at home after leaving the National Theatre Board in 2004 until donating them to the National Theatre Archive in 2017. They were collected from there by the Archivist on 21 March 2017.

No accruals are expected.

This collection is closely related to series 'Chairman's Papers' (Catalogue reference RNT/B/4), which are received by internal transfer and contained in the Royal National Theatre business collection.

Some duplicates for minutes and other Board and committee papers can be found in the following series of the Royal National Theatre business collection: 'Board Agendas and Papers' (RNT/B/1), Finance & General Purposes Committee Papers (RNT/B/3), Nominations Committee (RNT/B/7) and RNT Enterprises (RNT/B/8).

To view copies of the Annual reports and other published documents disposed of from this collection, please view the following series in the Royal National Theatre business collection: Annual Reports (RNT/B/2), and Separate Annual Reviews and Financial Statements (RNT/B/5).