Fred Hopkins was born in 1903, son of Thomas Egbert Hopkins and Alice Copus. He was an avid aviculturist, owning such exotic birds as an Australian spinebill, a yellow-tufted woodpecker, and a black-billed toucan. At the Crystal Palace Cage Bird Show in 1936, Hopkins displayed a collection of birds self-valued at over £18,000. This earned him significant media attention, although many newspapers pointed out that his collection was, in all likelihood, worth a lot less than he claimed. In 1927 he married Audrey Mildred Sainsbury; they would remain together until his death in 1980.