John Huntley

Who was John Huntley?

John Frederick Huntley was a British film historian, educator and archivist.

Huntley was born in Kew and entered the film industry as a teaboy at Denham Studios around 1938. After war service in the RAF, where he had a sideline in using film shows as an educational tool, he re-entered the film industry as one of film score conductor Muir Mathieson's assistants; Huntley had briefly studied at the Royal College of Music just after the war began.

He joined the British Film Institute in 1952, initially working for the information department, but from 1955 in distribution. His connection with the Telekinema during the Festival of Britain led to him being appointed as a programmer at the new National Film Theatre for a time. According to film collector Kevin Brownlow, Huntley was the most accessible of the BFI's staff because of his skill at bending the rules; he left the institute in 1974. With one of his daughters he set up the Huntley Film Archive in 1984, based from 2005 in the Herefordshire village of Ewyas Harold.

John Huntley was a published author and regular broadcaster; he presented Bygones on ITV for two years from 1987. He died from cancer in London.