Barnaby Thompson
British film producer
Barnaby David Waterhouse Thompson (born 29 March 1961) is a British film director and producer. He is best known for producing Wayne's World, Spice World, Kevin & Perry Go Large and An Ideal Husband, as well as co-directing the St Trinians films. He founded Fragile Films and ran Ealing Studios for fourteen years.
Early life and education
Thompson was born in London to parents who both worked in radio. He went to St. Paul's School and graduated from Oxford University with a degree in theology and philosophy.
Career
Thompson began his career in documentary filmmaking, including the 1990 short film Dear Rosie which received Academy Award and BAFTA nominations. In the early 1990s, he joined Lorne Michaels at Broadway Video in New York, where he co-produced several major American comedies, including Wayne’s World, Coneheads, and Tommy Boy.
Upon returning to the United Kingdom, Thompson co-founded Fragile Films with Uri Fruchtmann in 1996 and produced the global commercial success Spice World. His subsequent work included adaptations such as the BAFTA-nominated An Ideal Husband and Kevin & Perry Go Large.
The public source identifies “Barnaby Thompson” as british film producer. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Barnaby, Thompson and British.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Barnaby Thompson”, the useful work is to connect “british film producer” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 2, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q13522534. VIAF identifies the subject as 43778191. The Library of Congress control number is n2008070567. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1961, 1990 and 1996.
Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
- Tracing reception history
- Finding collection records
The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Barnaby Thompson”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Barnaby Thompson primary sources, Barnaby Thompson archive and Barnaby research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Barnaby Thompson”?
- Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
- How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Barnaby Thompson” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.