Alexander Rupert Fiske-Harrison is an English writer, producer, financier and conservationist. His writing is known for his immersion in his subject matter. He also 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. He is researching wolves, dogs and human-canine interactions and common history for a book provisionally titled The Land Of Wolves. He sits on the board of the City of Londoninvestment bank, Fiske & Co, and is managing director of both Mephisto Productions and International Polo Events.
Fiske-Harrison has written for newspapers and magazine including The Times, Financial Times, Daily Telegraph, The Times Literary Supplement, GQThe Spectator, and Prospect and has featured in magazines such as 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 magazines such as ¡Hola!
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.
''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 Mail on Sunday gave it four stars, saying, "his descriptions of the fights are compelling and lyrical... One begins to understand what has captivated Spaniards for centuries." 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 researches 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, 'bull-run' 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.
''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."
