Tony Hoare was born on February 4, 1938 in Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, UK. He was a writer, known for Minder (1979), The Sweeney (1975) and Within These Walls (1974). He died on October 2, 2008 in Argelès-sur-Mer, Pyrénées-Orientales, France.
He was in a car crash early in his life in which he lost an eye, broke his nose and injured his back so he could hardly turn his head.
He was originally a rather unsuccessful getaway driver for a gang of bank robbers. While serving time in prison, he wrote a novel which he showed to writer Alan Plater who was giving a lecture at the prison. Plater encouraged him to use his experiences as a "villain" as background for writing radio plays. This led to his far more successful career as a writer for programmes such as The Sweeney (1975), London's Burning (1988) and Minder (1979).