Richard Rudgley

Richard Ian Rudgley (born 1961) is a British anthropologist, author and television presenter.

Early life

Rudgley was born in Hampshire, England in 1961.He attended the University of London where he obtained a first-class degree in Social Anthropology and Religious Studies and two full scholarships to the University of Oxford. His works have won many awards from the Royal Anthropological Society, the British Museum amongst other museums and anthropological institutions. He is often complimented and described as one of the faces of Channel 4 history. He is a Fellow of The Royal Geographical Society.At Oxford he attained an M.St. and M.Phil.in Ethnology and Museum Ethnography. He is currently carrying out work on his D.Phil. specialising in historical and contemporary uses of psychoactive substances by the native peoples of Canada and Alaska. He has done much field work in China and Canada, and written and lectured on the usage of hallucinogens and intoxicants. He has been published by Little Brown Publishers, Random House, Arrow Books, Century Books, Abacus, Channel 4 Books & Thomas Dunne Books amongst others.

Published work

His first book, "The Alchemy of Culture: Intoxicants in Society" (published in America under the title "Essential Substances: A Cultural History of Intoxicants in Society") was the first winner of the Prometheus Award, launched by the British Museum Press in 1991.http://www.smith.edu/hsc/bondage.html Of Human Bondage: Perspectives on AddictionSymposium Program. Smith College, 2005] His critically acclaimed book "Lost Civilisations of the Stone Age" was turned into a television series for Channel 4 entitled "Secrets of the Stone Age". [http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/H/history/n-s/stone.html Journeys through time] . Channel 4.] He has since written several further books and presented other programmes and series and on Channel 4, including "Pagans". [http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?thold=-1&mode=flat&order=0&sid=2146411727 Richard Rudgley presents 'Pagans' on Channel 4] . The Megalithic Portal. 2004-07-14.] His seven books: "Alchemy of Culture: Intoxicants in Society", "Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Substances", "Wildest Dreams: An Anthology of Drug-Related Literature", "Secrets of the Stone Age", "Lost Civilizations of the Stone Age", "Pagan Resurrection" & "Barbarians: Secrets of the Dark Ages" have been translated into ten languages and received excellent critical acclaim for each. He has been published by Little Brown Publishers, Random House, Arrow Books, Century Books, Abacus, Channel 4 Books & Thomas Dunne Books amongst others.

References