Ken Loach Biography
Ken Loach (born as Kenneth Charles Loach) is a director of television and independent films from England. He is known for his socially critical directing style and socialist ideals in his films like poverty (Poor Cow, 1967), homelessness (Cathy Come Home, 1966) and labour rights (Riff-Raff, 1991, and The Navigators, 2001).
Ken Loach Age
Loach is 83 years old as of 2019. He was born on June 17, 1936 in Nuneaton, United Kingdom.
Ken Loach Parents – Family and School
Kenneth Charles Loach was born to Vivien Hamlin and John Loach in Nuneaton. They took their son to King Edward VI Grammar School for his education before he joined St Peter’s College, Oxford, to read law. In 1987, he graduated with a law degree. Thereafter, he spent two years in the Royal Air Force and then began a career in the dramatic arts, first as an actor in regional theatre companies and then as a director for BBC Television.
Ken Loach Wife
The British Humanist Association patron is married to Lesley Ashton since 1962. They live in Bath, Somerset, England. They also have had five children in their marriage.
Ken Loach Children
Loach is a father of 5: two daughters and three sons. His first-born child is known as Stephen Loach, born in 1963 while the second-born, a son by the name Nicholas Loach who was born in 1965, passed on in a car accident in 1971 when he was five years old. Loach’s other son and the fourth child is Jim Loach who is a film and television director. Loach’s daughters are Hannah Loach, born in 1967, and Emma Loach who is the fifth child born in 1972. Emma is a documentary filmmaker and the wife of English actor Elliot Levey.
Ken LoachKen Loach Filmmaking Career
As a director for BBC television after college studies, Loach made 10 contributions to Wednesday Play anthology series. They include the docudramas Up the Junction (1965), Cathy Come Home (1966) and In Two Minds (1967). Loach’s producer in this period was Tony Garnett and their professional connection lasted until the end of the 1970s.
He also directed the absurdist comedy The End of Arthur’s Marriage, feature films for the cinema, with Poor Cow in 1967 and Kes in 1969.
Loach’s films in the 70s and 80s were affected by poor distribution, lack of interest and political censorship, hence, deeming them less successful. He concentrated on television documentaries rather than fiction during the 1980s, and many of these films are now difficult to access as the television companies have not released them on video or DVD. To earn some money at the end of the 80s, he directed some television advertisements for Tennent’s Lager.
He also began to direct theatrical feature films more regularly. The films include Hidden Agenda (1990), Land and Freedom (1995), and Carla’s Song (1996). He was the director of the Courtroom Drama reconstructions in the docu-film McLibel, concerning McDonald’s Restaurants v Morris & Steel, the longest libel trial in English history.
He won the Palme d’Or at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival on 28 May 2006. This was for the film The Wind That Shakes the Barley which was followed by It’s a Free World… (2007), a story of one woman’s attempt to establish an illegal placement service for migrant workers in London.
He interspersed wider political dramas throughout the 2000s with films like Bread and Roses (2000), focused on the Los Angeles janitors strike and Route Irish (2010) set during the Iraq occupation. Ae Fond Kiss… (aka, Just a Kiss, 2004) explored an inter-racial love affair, Sweet Sixteen (2002) concerns a teenager’s relationship with his mother and My Name Is Joe (1998) an alcoholic’s struggle to stay sober.
In 2014, Loach had announced his retirement from film-making but soon after restarted his career following the election of a Conservative government in the UK general election of 2015. He won his second Palme d’Or for I, Daniel Blake (2016) and in February 2017, the film was awarded a BAFTA as “Outstanding British Film”.
Ken Loach Books
Loach has authored several books, his latest one being published in 2015:
- Art and Resistance, published in 2015
- Jimmy’s Hall, published in 2014
- The Spirit of ’45, published in 2014
- The Angels’ Share, published in 2012
- Route Irish, published in 2011
- Loach on Loach, published in 1998
Ken Loach Tv Shows and Cinema Films
Cinema feature films
- 1967 – Poor Cow
- 1969 – Kes
- 1971 – Family Life
- 1979 – Black Jack
- 1981 – Looks and Smiles
- 1986 – Fatherland
- 1990 – Hidden Agenda
- 1991 – Riff-Raff
- 1993 – Raining Stones
- 1994 – Ladybird, Ladybird
- 1995 – Land and Freedom
- 1996 – Carla’s Song
- 1998 – My Name Is Joe
- 2000 – Bread and Roses
- 2001 – The Navigators
- 2002 – Sweet Sixteen
- 2002 – 11’09″01 September 11 (segment “United Kingdom”)
- 2004 – Ae Fond Kiss…
- 2005 – Tickets, along with Ermanno Olmi and Abbas Kiarostami
- 2006 – The Wind That Shakes the Barley
- 2007 – It’s a Free World…
- 2009 – Looking for Eric
- 2010 – Route Irish
- 2012 – The Angels’ Share
- 2014 – Jimmy’s Hall
- 2016 – I, Daniel Blake
- 2019 – Sorry We Missed You
TV shows
- 1998 – Another City: A Week in the Life of Bath’s Football Club
- 1996 – The Flickering Flame
- 1991 – The Arthur Legend
- 1989 – The View From the Woodpile
- 1989 – Time to Go
- 1985 – End of the Battle… Not the End of the War
- 1985 – Which Side Are You On?
- 1983/4 – Questions of Leadership
- 1983 – The Red and the Blue: Impressions of Two Political Conferences – Autumn 1982
- 1981 – A Question of Leadership
- 1980 – Auditions
- 1980 – The Gamekeeper
- 1977 – The Price of Coal
- 1975 – Days of Hope
- 1973 – A Misfortune
- 1971 – After a Lifetime
- 1971 – The Rank and File
- 1969 – The Big Flame
- 1967 – In Two Minds
- 1966 – Cathy Come Home
- 1965 – The End of Arthur’s Marriage
- 1965 – Up the Junction
- 1964 – Z-Cars
Ken Loach Interview
About InformationCradle Editorial Staff
This Article is produced by InformationCradle Editorial Staff which is a team of expert writers and editors led by Josphat Gachie and trusted by millions of readers worldwide.
We endeavor to keep our content True, Accurate, Correct, Original and Up to Date. For complain, correction or an update, please send us an email to informationcradle@gmail.com. We promise to take corrective measures to the best of our abilities.