Alexander Fiske-Harrison

Alexander Rupert Fiske-Harrison (born 22 July 1976) is an English author, journalist, and conservationist.

His writing is known for his immersion in his subject matter. He trained and worked for some years as a method actor. 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.

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 i
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.

Background and personal life

He is the youngest son of Clive Fiske Harrison. 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.

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.

He also trained at the Method acting school, the Stella Adler Conservatory in New York City, when Marlon Brando was its chairman. (He was consultant on the Academy Award-nominated Universal Pictures' documentary on Brando, ''Listen To Me Marlon)''.

Fiske-Harrison was romantically linked in the Spanish press to Austria's number one female professional polo player Klarina Pichler, and captain of ''Las Sacras Romanas'' - 'The Holy Romans' - an international polo team which he sponsored to the semi-finals at Cowdray Park and other tournaments. She is a descendant of Baron Leonhard Pichler von Weitenegg of the old Swabian nobility Previously he had been linked in the British press to Old Etonian former British Army Officer Lord Brocket's daughter, the Hon. Antalya Nall-Cain, later Princess Antalya of Prussia, and before that to Old Etonian former British Cabinet Minister Jonathan Aitken's daughter, Miss Alexandra Aitken.

Journalism

Fiske-Harrison has written for newspapers and magazines including ''The Times'', ''Financial Times'', ''The Daily Telegraph'', ''The Times Literary Supplement'', '' GQ'', and ''The Spectator'', magazines and has been himself featured in the society pages of the ''Telegraph,'' ''Evening Standard'' and Condé Nast's ''Tatler''.

He has been interviewed and provided commentary on broadcast media outlets including the BBC, CNN, Al-Jazeera, Discovery Channel, US National Public Radio. and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation National Radio.

He has also written in Spanish for ''ABC'' and ''El Norte de Castilla'' and has been himself featured in the society pages of ''ABC'' and''¡Hola!'' magazine (Spanish parent of ''Hello!'' magazine.)

Conservation

Fiske-Harrison has written on wolves and dogs, cattle and horses, and apes. He often focuses on human perception of, and interaction with, animals.

Spain

Bullfighting

An essay on bullfighting for ''Prospect magazine'' 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.''

''Into The Arena: The World Of The Spanish Bullfight''

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'".

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."

Bull-running

As part of his research in 2009, Fiske-Harrison began running with the bulls in Pamplona, and became a part of the 'Runners Team of the World', 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"- in the municipality of San Sebastián de los Reyes and the ancient castle of Cuéllar in Old Castile, which hosts the oldest ''encierro'' in Spain, and where he was awarded a prize for writing about the ''encierros'' in 2013.

''The Bulls Of Pamplona''

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.

Drama

Fiske-Harrison's acting debut was as Govianus in ''The Second Maiden's Tragedy'' at the Hackney Empire theatre in London. He has also acted on the German stage and in independent film in the UK and Italy. He returned to acting in 2023 in ''The Honourable Way Out'', a Cold War spy thriller produced by the British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS).

''The Pendulum''

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.

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." The ''Sunday Times'' described it as "something earnest, nicely acted – if a little contained."Wise, Louis
'Theatre Review: The Pendulum, Jermyn Street, SW1'
''Sunday Times'' 15 June 2008

References

External links

Alexander Fiske-Harrison official website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fiske-Harrison, Alexander
English writers
English male actors
English conservationists
People educated at Eton College
Alumni of St Peter's College, Oxford
1976 births
Living people
British bullfighters
Bull runners