Tim Hunkin
Template:Short description Template:DMCA Script error: No such module "Template wrapper".Script error: No such module "Check for conflicting parameters". Timothy Mark Trelawney Hunkin (born 27 December 1950 in London) is an English engineer, cartoonist, writer, and artist living in Suffolk, England. He is best known for creating the Channel Four television series The Secret Life of Machines,[1] in which he explains the workings and history of various household devices. He has also created museum exhibits for institutions across the UK, and designed numerous public engineering works, chiefly for entertainment. Hunkin's works are distinctive, often recognisable by his unique style of papier-mâché sculpture (made from unpainted newsprint), his pen and ink cartoons, and his offbeat sense of humour.[2][3]
Education
Hunkin enrolled in 1969, and graduated in engineering science from Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge in 1972.[4]
Work and career
Hunkin's Under the Pier Show[5] at Southwold Pier, England, is a penny arcade featuring a number of humorous, coin-operated machines of his creation. Attractions include the "Autofrisk" (a device that simulates the experience of being frisked by multiple, inflated rubber gloves), the "Bathyscape" (a device that simulates a brief submarine adventure) and a somewhat rude sculptural clock. Hunkin has also opened Novelty Automation, an amusement arcade in Holborn, London, which has a more satirical tone, of which Hunkin has said "I don’t think political art has an enormous effect, but in the short term it is satisfying to reinforce people’s disrespect of the villains."[6]
Many of his other projects are large-scale and theatrical, including gigantic clocks of unconventional designs, bonfires and pyrotechnic displays. In 1976, he designed the flying pigs and sheep for rock band Pink Floyd's In The Flesh tour, promoting their Animals album.
His displays are also featured in episodes of The Secret Life of Machines and relate to the machine covered by the programmes. These included a mountain of flaming televisions; flying vacuum cleaners fitted with rocket motors; a carhenge; a ballet of self-propelled portable radios; and a bizarre "pilgrimage" of an internal combustion engine carried, shoulder high, on a bier into the centre of Carhenge. The Pink Floyd inflatable pig was also featured in the vacuum cleaner episode. Other displays featured in the series were more informative, such as a free-standing central heating system and a "human sewing machine." The programmes also include his cartoons in voiced and animated form.
In the early 1990s, Hunkin was commissioned by the Science Museum to create the Secret Life of the Home gallery, showcasing various household appliances and interactive exhibits. The gallery closed after 29 years on June 2 2024.[7]
In 2013 he created a large, unfolding clock for the San Francisco Exploratorium.[8]
During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic Hunkin was inspired by other creators online to make a new series called The Secret Life of Components that was distributed on YouTube beginning in March 2021. A second installment was distributed beginning 30 March 2022. [9]
Books
Hunkin has published several books in his distinctive cartoon style. His first was a children's book, Mrs Gronkwonk and the Post Office Tower (Template:ISBN) in 1973, which he recently made available again at Lulu.com. In 1988 he published Almost Everything There Is To Know,[10] a compilation of his comic strip The Rudiments of Wisdom,[11] first published in The Observer. He is also the author of the book Hunkin's Experiments [12][13] which describes a variety of science-based pranks, games, and curiosities. Content from both books is freely available online.
See also
References
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- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."The Secret Life Of Machines Home Page". Secretlifeofmachines.com. Archived from the original on 1 February 2019. Retrieved 22 January 2019.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Tim Hunkin home page". Timhunkin.com. Archived from the original on 20 November 2017. Retrieved 22 January 2019.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."B3TA : INTERVIEWS : TIM HUNKIN". B3ta.com. Archived from the original on 3 June 2021. Retrieved 22 January 2019.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Tim Hunkin: The Seaside Inventor". YouTube.com. University of Cambridge. Archived from the original on 22 December 2021.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Under the pier show arcade, southwold/alternative coin operated machines". Underthepier.com. Archived from the original on 22 November 2017. Retrieved 22 January 2019.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Weaver, Matthew (17 November 2016). "Housing Ladder arcade game has players dodging buy-to-let investors". Theguardian.com. Archived from the original on 2 June 2021. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Saying goodbye to The Secret Life of the Home gallery". Science Museum Blog. Retrieved 9 July 2025.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Exploratorium - Tinkerer's Clock, created by tinkerer Tim Hunkin..." Exploratorium.tumblr.com. Archived from the original on 2 June 2021. Retrieved 22 January 2019.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Secret life of components". Archived from the original on 4 March 2021. Retrieved 4 March 2021.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Hunkin, Tim (1988). Almost Everything There Is To Know. ISBN 1-871307-43-0.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."The Rudiments of Wisdom Cartoon Encyclopedia". Rudimentsofwisdom.com. Archived from the original on 28 January 2019. Retrieved 22 January 2019.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Hunkin, Tim (April 2004). Hunkin's experiments. ISBN 978-0954226602.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Hunkin's Experiments (over 200 home experiments)". Hunkinsexperiments.com. Archived from the original on 17 May 2021. Retrieved 22 January 2019.
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