Ian Sharp

Ian Sharp (born 13 November 1946, Clitheroe, Lancashire) is an English film and television director.

Sharp was educated at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Blackburn and Hatfield College, Durham University where he gained an honours degree in Psychology and Modern Philosophy in 1968. During the seventies, he worked at the BBC making documentaries first for the General Features Department and then for Music and Arts, especially Arena and Omnibus. In 1978 the BBC gave him 3 months sabbatical to make a movie called The Music Machine, and it was this experience that led him to turn towards drama.

His first break came in 1980 with the ITV comedy drama series Minder. That was quickly followed by The Professionals, and he made a total of 6 episodes for those two series. Shortly after that, he directed his first full feature movie, Who Dares Wins (1982), for producer Euan Lloyd. Next came the first six episodes of Robin of Sherwood for ITV, and the ensuing few years consisted of mainly television work until Robert Zemeckis asked him to direct the second unit on Who Framed Roger Rabbit starring Bob Hoskins.

Ian Sharp (public servant)

Dr Ian Gordon Sharp AO (April 23, 1913 – July 26, 1996) was a former senior Australian public servant, best known for his time as Secretary heading the Department of Labour and subsequently the Department of Labor and Immigration in the early 1970s.

Life and career

Ian Sharp was born in 1913.

In 1972, Sharp was appointed Secretary of the new Department of Labour, Contrary to the practice of most Whitlam Ministers, who inherited departmental heads from their Menzies Government colleagues, Sharp was hand-chosen for the role by the Minister for Labour Clyde Cameron. Sharp, a lawyer with a background in arbitration was said to be regarded as an old friend by Cameron.

When a New Ministry was announced, and his Minister's role was expanded to include immigration, Sharp's role too expanded and he was made Secretary of the new Department of Labor and Immigration. When Sharp handed over his Secretary position to Peter Wilenski in 1975, he spent three months with Wilenski in something of an "apprenticeship" role, sharing authority in the Department, before leaving in March that year.