Redmond O'Hanlon, FRGS,

FRSL The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820, by King George IV, to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the RSL has about 600 Fellows, elec ...

(born 5 June 1947) is an English writer and scholar.

Life

O'Hanlon was born in 1947 in

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...

, England. He was educated at

Marlborough College ( 1 Corinthians 3:6: God gives the increase) , established = , type = Public SchoolIndependent day and boarding , religion = Church of England , president = Nicholas Holtam , head_label = Master , head = Louis ...

and then

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

. After taking his M.Phil. in nineteenth-century English studies in 1971 he was elected senior scholar, and in 1974 Alistair Horne Research Fellow, at

St Antony's College, Oxford St Antony's College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1950 as the result of the gift of French merchant Sir Antonin Besse of Aden, St Antony's specialises in international relations, economi ...

. He completed his doctoral thesis, ''Changing scientific concepts of nature in the English novel, 1850–1920'', in 1977. Though very religious when he was young, O'Hanlon became an

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

upon his discovery of the works of

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended ...

. From 1970–74, O'Hanlon was a member of the literature panel of the

Arts Council of Great Britain The Arts Council of Great Britain was a non-departmental public body dedicated to the promotion of the fine arts in Great Britain. It was divided in 1994 to form the Arts Council of England (now Arts Council England), the Scottish Arts Council ( ...

. He was elected a member of the Society for the Bibliography of Natural History in 1982, a Fellow of the

Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

in 1984 and a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820, by King George IV, to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the RSL has about 600 Fellows, ele ...

in 1993. For fifteen years he was the natural history editor of the '' Times Literary Supplement''. O'Hanlon has become known for his journeys into some of the most remote jungles of the world, in Borneo, the Amazon basin and Congo. He has also written a harrowing account of a trip to the North Atlantic on a trawler. Between September 2009 and May 2010, Redmond O'Hanlon was a guest and co-presenter on the programme '' Beagle: In Darwin's wake'' for both

Canvas Canvas is an extremely durable plain-woven fabric used for making sails, tents, marquees, backpacks, shelters, as a support for oil painting and for other items for which sturdiness is required, as well as in such fashion objects as handbag ...

in Belgium and

VPRO The VPRO (stylized vpro; originally an acronym for , ) is a Dutch public broadcaster, which forms a part of the Dutch public broadcasting system. Founded in 1926 as a liberal Protestant broadcasting organization, it gradually became more ...

Television in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. In the programme, the clipper '' Stad Amsterdam'' re-traced the route that Charles Darwin took aboard (1831–36), a journey that played a seminal role in his thinking on

evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...

. He attended the ''Science & Technology Summit'' at the World Forum Convention Center in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

on 18 November 2010. Fellow ''Beagle'' shipmate

Sarah Darwin Sarah Catherine Darwin FLS (born 1 April 1964 in London) is a British botanist. She is the daughter of George Erasmus Darwin, a metallurgist, and his wife Shuna (née Service). She has two older brothers; Robert George Darwin (born 1959) and t ...

was another featured guest at this convention. In November 2011 VPRO Television began broadcasting ''O'Hanlons helden'' (English: O'Hanlon's heroes). In this eight-part series O'Hanlon introduces the viewer to his heroes of the nineteenth century. The programme was awarded with the prestigious Dutch television award, ''De Zilveren Nipkowschijf'' (English: The Silver Nipkow disk). This Silver 1st prize is awarded annually by a professional jury to the best quality television programme. A second eight-part series of ''O'Hanlons helden'' was broadcast in the winter of 2013–2014.

Published works

* ''Charles Darwin 1809–1882: A Centennial Commemoration'' (1982) (contributor) * ''Joseph Conrad and Charles Darwin: The Influence of Scientific Thought on Conrad's Fiction'' (1984) * ''Into the Heart of Borneo'' (1984) * ''In Trouble Again: A Journey Between the Orinoco and the Amazon'' (1988) * ''

Congo Journey ''Congo Journey'' (1996) is an autobiographical novel by British author Redmond O'Hanlon, following his trip across Congo-Brazzaville (now Republic of the Congo), taking a friend to Lake Tele in search of Mokèlé-mbèmbé, a legendary Congo di ...

'' (1996), American edition: ''No Mercy: A Journey Into the Heart of the Congo'' (1997) * ''Trawler'' (2005) * ith Rudy Rotthier''God, Darwin en natuur'' (2009), English translation: ''The Fetish Room'' (2011)

References

External links

Critical perspective at Contemporarywriters.comArticle in the Guardian newspaper
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ohanlon, Redmond 1947 births Living people British travel writers British people of Irish descent Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature People educated at Marlborough College Alumni of the University of Oxford Fellows of St Antony's College, Oxford English atheists