Alex Hooper-Hodson

Alex Hooper-Hodson is a best-selling British author, advice columnist and relationship expert, and more recently TV sex expert on Channel 5's Sex Pod. He has written three books 'The Boy Files'.,^[1] '52 Teen Boy Problems & How To Solve Them'^[2] and '52 Teen Girl Problems & How To Solve Them'^[3] for Wayland Books, a division of Hachette Children's Books.^[4]

Background

Alex comes from a significant background in this field. His mother Anne Hooper is the world's biggest selling sex author, having written over 30 books in over 40 languages, including many international best-sellers. Anne Hooper was an instrumental author in the British sexual revolution having written the first book to extensively discuss women's sexuality 'The Body Electric'.

Her partner Phillip Hodson, Alex's father, was also a key figure in the British counselling media. He was head of media relations for the BACP - The British Association for Counsellors and Psychotherapists. He was also a well known television personality in the 1980s as the agony uncle for BBCs Going Live programme where he dispensed advice in a way never before seen in British media at the time. Phillip was the first TV counsellor to openly address issues such as child abuse and safe sex in the British media in a programme aimed at younger adults. Phillip is still fondly remembered today by a whole generation for whom he was a friendly face and a fount of knowledge. Phillip still works as a counsellor, journalist and media personality.

Magazines & Newspapers

Alex has been published in newspapers since the age of nineteen when he was interviewed in The Independent. Alex has worked in the media extensively, having worked at an early age for the BBC, Reuters, Talk Sport radio, publishing and independent TV production and as a regular long standing columnist for national publications.

He was the agony uncle of Sugar magazine for six years starting in September 2004 and ending in February 2010. His column went through various iterations but always focused on giving a boys viewpoint to teenage girl's relationship problems.

Alex then wrote for the Scottish newspaper The Daily Record for 8 years starting in October 2007 and ending in July 2015. He began by writing a regular weekly sex and relationships column Sex Talk With Alex.^[5] After 3 years of producing Sex Talk on a weekly basis Alex then switched roles to take over the popular Teen Talk column. Alex adapted the format and brought it into the age of social networking by introducing such sections as 'Tweet of the Week' and 'Celebrity Casebook' as well as the highly successful 'Blog It' section. Alex has also worked as a freelance journalist and has contributed articles to The Independent,^[6] The Daily Record.^[7] as well as various other publications.

Whilst working on Sugar magazine Alex was featured in a feature entitled '69 Guy Secrets Revealed' with Nick Carter of Backstreet Boys fame and Lee Ryan from Blue. That same year Alex was also selected to represent the 'youth' of Britain at the Westminster Diet and Health Forum where he gave a speech to MPs, Cabinet Members, Members of the House of Lords and senior doctors on the subject of teenage drug use and safe sex in the media. He was questioned extensively by the audience and the panel. He defended his position well. Amongst his congratulators following this debate was the Baroness Massey of Darwin who told him she thought his standpoint was intelligent, important and inspired. ^[8]

Books

Alex is the author of teen guide to life 'The Boy Files' which was published by Wayland Books in April 2013. The book is a complete guide to puberty and growing up for boys aged 10–13 years old. Alex is the author of teen guide to life 'The Boy Files' which was published by Wayland Books in April 2013. The book is a complete guide to puberty and growing up for boys aged 10–13 years old.

He has also written "52 Teen Boy Problems & How To Solve Them" and "52 Teen Girl Problems & How To Solve Them", his 2nd and 3rd books. They are twin boy / girl puberty guides aimed at 13- to 16-year-olds. The premise for the books is that over the ten years of his career as an agony uncle Alex received many thousands of letters from teenagers, most of which can be boiled down to 52 key problems that every teenager has. Within these books Alex provides comprehensive answers to these problems, many of which go beyond the traditional areas of teen growing pains; the books cover the internet, social media, drugs, sex and socialising.

Bestseller

In August 2015 'The Boy Files' was rated number one in the Amazon bestseller chart for 'General Health for Young Adults' and was listed as an 'Amazon Number One Bestseller'.^[9]

In 2016 Amazon updated their categories and introduced the 'Children's Sex Education' category. As of March 2016 'The Boy Files' was the number one best-seller in the 'Children's Sex Education' category of Amazon.co.uk, as well as the number one most wished for and number one most gifted book in that category.^[10]

Radio

Alex appeared on BBC Radio Scotland's Fred MacAulay on 11/11/2013 ^[11] where he discussed the subject of 'marriage' and the inevitable conflicts that ensue from it.

Alex appeared a second time on the Fred MacAulay show on 30/06/2014 ^[12] where he talked on the subject of 'in-laws', specifically in relation to George Clooney and his wife Amal Alamuddin.

Alex appeared on BBC Radio Tees in March 2015 where he talked about his career and the changing role of the agony uncle in society.^[13]

Television

Alex is a Sex Expert on the TV show 'Sex Pod' which is broadcast on 5STAR. The first half of the show's first season was broadcast in May 2016 and the second half began showing in August of the same year. Sex Pod has been renewed for a second season which has been filmed and is to be broadcast in January 2017. Sex Pod has had the highest viewing figures to date for an original show in the 10pm timeslot on 5STAR and the entire season was repeated 3 times consecutively, with individual episodes airing three times a week due to its ever-increasing popularity.

Exhibition

Alex's work was exhibited at the Ply Gallery in Hornsey, North London between the 5th and the 11th October 2016 for an exhibition called Adolescence Then and Now. This was in support of World Mental Health Day and organised by Open Door, the young peoples' drop in charity. The theme was counselling through the ages. A specially recorded interview with Alex about his work as an agony uncle between 2004 and 2016 was available to listen to through wireless headphones. This was exhibited alongside headphones that played a similar interview with his father Phillip Hodson about his agony uncle career in the 1970s. Both Alex and Phillip also had a selection of letters from their problem pages on display showing the differences but also similarities between the respective eras from which they came. Local MP David Lamy gave a speech at the opening evening of the exhibition and it was featured in a write up in The Guardian. ^[14]

Criticism

Despite excellent reviews 'The Boy Files' has been criticised by Christians for teaching young people about 'evolution' and suggesting most boys think about sex during puberty. The author has cited this as a recommendation in his view as he is an avid atheist and supporter of Richard Dawkins.^[15]

References

External links

• alexhooperhodson.co.uk