A major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject.(March 2024) |
Alexander Fiske-Harrison | |
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Born | London | 22 July 1976
Occupation(s) | Author, journalist and conservationist |
Website | www |
Alexander Rupert Fiske-Harrison (born 22 July 1976) is an English author, journalist and conservationist. [1]
His writing is known for his immersion in his subject matter. He trained and worked for some years as a Method actor. [2] For his first book Into The Arena: The World Of The Spanish Bullfight he became a bullfighter. For his second, The Bulls Of Pamplona, he became a bull-runner. [3]
In 2011 he was shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year for Into The Arena , his fiction "Les Invincibles" was a finalist in Le Prix Hemingway International in France in 2016, and his work "The Feldkirch Crossing", was shortlisted for the Mogford Prize of the Financial Times Weekend Oxford Literary Festival in 2021. [4]
He is the youngest son of Clive Fiske Harrison. [5] [6] His brother Jules William Fiske Harrison was, according to The Times, a "skilled and fearless skier" who died in a skiing accident in Zermatt, Switzerland in 1988. [7]
He was educated at Eton and the University of Oxford, followed by The London School of Economics and Political Science and the University of London. He studied biological sciences, and then philosophy, politics and economics (PPE), before doing postgraduate work in the foundations of physics on the relationship between quantum theory and classical logic and then consciousness studies incorporating work in both foundations of psychology and animal behaviour. He is currently studying as a postgraduate at the School of Neuroscience at King's College London. [8]
He also trained at the Method acting school, the Stella Adler Conservatory in New York City, when Marlon Brando was its chairman. [9] (He was consultant on the Academy Award-nominated Universal Pictures' documentary on Brando, Listen To Me Marlon). [10]
Fiske-Harrison is engaged to be married to Klarina Pichler, [11] a professional polo player from Austria [12] and captain of Las Sacras Romanas - 'The Holy Romans' - an international polo team. [13] She is a descendant of Baron Leonhard Pichler von Weitenegg of the old Swabian nobility [14] Lord of Hornstein [15] and Seibersdorf [16] and Councillor of the Court Chamber to Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I. [17]
Fiske-Harrison has written for newspapers and magazines including The Times , [18] Financial Times , [19] The Daily Telegraph , [20] The Times Literary Supplement , [21] GQ , [22] and The Spectator , [23] magazines and has been himself featured in the society pages of the Telegraph, [24] Evening Standard [25] and Condé Nast's Tatler . [26]
He has been interviewed and provided commentary on broadcast media outlets including the BBC, [27] CNN, [28] Al-Jazeera, [29] Discovery Channel, [30] US National Public Radio. [31] and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation National Radio. [32]
He has also written in Spanish for ABC [33] and El Norte de Castilla [34] and has been himself featured in the society pages of ABC [35] and ¡Hola! magazine (Spanish parent of Hello! magazine.) [36]
Fiske-Harrison has written on wolves [37] and dogs, cattle and horses, [38] and apes. [39] He often focuses on human perception of, and interaction with, animals. [40]
An essay on bullfighting for Prospect magazine [41] in September 2008 led Fiske-Harrison to move to Spain to further research the topic. He lived, trained and fought alongside matadors including Juan José Padilla, Cayetano Rivera Ordóñez – whose father Paquirri was killed in the ring, and grandfather Antonio Ordóñez the subject of Hemingway's The Dangerous Summer – and Eduardo Dávila Miura of the Miura bull family. He wrote about his experiences on his blog The Last Arena: In Search of the Spanish Bullfight. [42]
In 2011 Profile Books published his Into The Arena: The World of the Spanish Bullfight. The Sunday Times said that "it provides an engrossing introduction to Spain's 'great feast of art and danger'". [43]
In answer to Animal Welfare and Animal Rights concerns, the Financial Times said, "it's to Fiske-Harrison's credit that he never quite gets over his moral qualms about bullfighting."
As part of his research in 2009, Fiske-Harrison began running with the bulls in Pamplona, [44] [45] and became a part of the 'Runners Team of the World', [46] and continued to do it across the rest of Spain, including the encierros, 'bull-runs', of the Navarran towns of Tafalla and Falces, where the run is down a mountain path beside a sheer drop called "El Pilón" [47] - in the municipality of San Sebastián de los Reyes and the ancient castle of Cuéllar in Old Castile, [48] [49] which hosts the oldest encierro in Spain, [50] and where he was awarded a prize for writing about the encierros in 2013. [51]
In Spring 2014 Fiske-Harrison co-authored and edited the book The Bulls Of Pamplona, with a foreword from the Mayor of Pamplona and contributions from aficionados of the festival of San Fermín, including John Hemingway, grandson of Ernest Hemingway, Beatrice Welles, daughter of Orson Welles, along with chapters of advice from the most experienced American and Spanish bull-runners.
Fiske-Harrison's acting debut was as Govianus in The Second Maiden's Tragedy at the Hackney Empire theatre in London. [52] He has also acted on the German stage [53] and in independent film in the UK and Italy. [54] He returned to acting in 2023 in The Honourable Way Out, a Cold War spy thriller produced by the British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS). [55]
The play is a two-act four-hander set in 1900 Vienna. Its first production was in the summer of 2008 at the Jermyn Street Theatre, in London's West End. [56]
Michael Billington in The Guardian gave it three stars and said, "the author himself plays the disintegrating hero with the right poker-backed irascibility... it is refreshing to find a new play that gets away from bedsit angst, one comes away with the sensation of having seen an accomplished historical play." [57] The Sunday Times described it as "something earnest, nicely acted – if a little contained." [58]
A rodeo clown, bullfighter or rodeo protection athlete, is a rodeo performer who works in bull riding competitions. Originally, the rodeo clown was a single job combining "bullfighting" — the protection of riders thrust from the bull, as well as being an individual who provided comic relief. Today, the job is split into two separate ones: bullfighters who protect the riders from the bull, and entertainers (barrelmen) who provide comic humor. However, in some parts of the world and at some small rodeos, the jobs of bull rider protection and comic remain combined.
The festival of San Fermín is a week-long, historically rooted celebration held annually in the city of Pamplona, Navarre, Spain. The celebrations start at noon on 6 July and continue until midnight on 14 July. A firework (Chupinazo) starts off the celebrations and the popular song Pobre de mí is sung at the end. The most famous event is the running of the bulls, which begins at 8 a.m. each day on 7–14 July, but the festival involves many other traditional and folkloric events. It is known locally as Sanfermines in Spanish and Sanferminak in Basque, and is held in honour of Saint Fermin, the co-patron of Navarre.
A running of the bulls is an event that involves running in front of a small group of bulls, typically six but sometimes ten or more, that have been let loose on sectioned-off streets in a town, usually as part of a summertime festival. Particular breeds of cattle may be favored, such as the toro bravo in Spain, also often used in post-run bullfighting, and Camargue cattle in Occitan France, which are not fought. Bulls are typically used in such events.
A bullfighter is a performer in the activity of bullfighting. Torero or toureiro, both from Latin taurarius, are the Spanish and Portuguese words for bullfighter, and describe all the performers in the activity of bullfighting as practised in Spain, Portugal, Mexico, Peru, France, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela and other countries influenced by Portuguese and Spanish culture. The main performer and leader of the entourage in a bullfight, and who finally kills the bull, is addressed as maestro (master), or with the formal title matador de toros. The other bullfighters in the entourage are called subalternos and their suits are embroidered in silver as opposed to the matador's gold. They include the picadores, rejoneadores, and banderilleros.
Juan Belmonte García was a Spanish bullfighter. He fought in a record number of bull fights and was responsible for changing the art of bullfighting. He had minor deformities in his legs which forced him to design new techniques and styles of bullfighting.
A bullring is an arena where bullfighting is performed. Bullrings are often associated with the Iberian Peninsula, but they can also be found through Iberian America and in a few Spanish and Portuguese ex-colonies in Africa. Bullrings are often historic and culturally significant centres that bear many structural similarities to the Roman amphitheatre.
Francisco de Asís Rivera Ordóñez is a Spanish torero or 'bullfighter'.
The Spanish Fighting Bull is an Iberian heterogeneous cattle population. It is exclusively bred free-range on extensive estates in Spain, Portugal, France and Latin American countries where bull fighting is organized. Fighting bulls are selected primarily for a certain combination of aggression, energy, strength and stamina. In order to preserve their natural traits, during breeding the bulls rarely encounter humans, and if so, never encounter them on foot.
Spanish-style bullfighting is a type of bullfighting that is practiced in Spanish-speaking countries: Spain, Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Peru, as well as in parts of southern France and Portugal. This style of bullfighting involves a physical contest with humans attempting to publicly subdue, immobilize, or kill a bull. The most common bull used is the Spanish Fighting Bull, a type of cattle native to the Iberian Peninsula. This style of bullfighting is seen to be both a sport and performance art. The red colour of the cape is a matter of tradition – bulls are color blind. They attack moving objects; the brightly-colored cape is used to mask blood stains.
Portuguese-style bullfighting differs in many aspects from Spanish-style bullfighting, most notably in the fact that the bull is not killed in front of an audience in the arena. The cavaleiros and the forcados are unique to the Portuguese variety of bullfighting, as well as the participation of horsewomen (cavaleiras) in the routines.
Antonio Cayetano Rivera Ordóñez is a Spanish torero or 'bullfighter'.
Bullfighting is a physical contest that involves a bullfighter attempting to subdue, immobilize, or kill a bull, usually according to a set of rules, guidelines, or cultural expectations.
Bullfighting was banned in the Spanish autonomous community of Catalonia by a vote of the Catalan Parliament in July 2010. The ban came into effect on 1 January 2012. The last bullfight in the region took place on 25 September 2011 at La Monumental. The ban was officially annulled for being unconstitutional by Spain's highest court on 5 October 2016. However, despite the overturning of the ban, no further bullfight had taken place in Catalonia as of July 2020.
Francis "Frank" Evans is a British-born matador, the most senior form of bullfighter, known as "El Inglés" He is reputed to be the only British bullfighter currently working professionally. He now holds Spanish citizenship.
Domingo Ortega was a Spanish matador. Born Domingo López Ortega in Borox, Toledo, he was the son of a farmer, and grew up helping with farm work. During months when there was no work on the farm, he would travel to other towns selling garlic.
Póvoa de Varzim Bullfighting Arena was a bullring in Póvoa de Varzim, Portugal. It is located on Avenida Vasco da Gama, on the northern waterfront of the city. Bullfighting, horse shows, and concerts are held in the arena.
Juan José Padilla is a Spanish torero ('bullfighter'). He became a matador de toros, 'killer of (full-grown) bulls', in the town of his birth, Jerez de la Frontera, on June 18, 1994 when he was 21 years old. He was known as the 'Cyclone of Jerez' and featured heavily, both personally and professionally, in Into The Arena: The World Of The Spanish Bullfight, a shortlisted nominee for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year in 2011.
Juan Quintana Urra (1891-1974) was a Spanish hotelier, bullfight businessman, and activist in the Spanish Republic. He was the basis for the character Juanito Montoya in Ernest Hemingway's novel The Sun Also Rises.
Bill Hillmann is an American author, storyteller, and journalist. He is a bull-runner and former boxer.
Juan José García Corral, was a Spanish bullfighter and director of the Escuela Tauromaquia of Salamanca