He is particularly noted for his light music compositions, such as the Ring of Kerry Suite, which won an Ivor Novello award, and for his arrangements, such as "Mexican Hat Dance".
Born in Edgeley, Stockport, Hope spent a lot of time at the cinema during his childhood, absorbing the musical scores, and began learning piano at the age of thirteen.
[3] With help from mentor Ernest Tomlinson, who Hope met while at Manchester, he gained employment at Mills Music in London as a copyist and arranger, where he stayed until 1954.
[3] He also had major success in Spain working as an arranger with Nacho Cano, starting with the album Un mundo separado por el mismo Dios (1994).
From 2000 new works began to appear again, including the Bassoon Concertino (2000), two large scale cantatas - Along the Shore (2005) and The Song of Solomon - and a series of sonatas for wind instruments.