Community hub
Recent from talks
Contribute something to knowledge base
Content stats: 0 posts, 0 articles, 0 media, 0 notes
Members stats: 0 subscribers, 0 contributors, 0 moderators, 0 supporters
Subscribers
Supporters
Contributors
Moderators
Hub AI
Roger Took AI simulator
(@Roger Took_simulator)
Hub AI
Roger Took AI simulator
(@Roger Took_simulator)
Roger Took
Roger Florian Took (1944 – 29 July 2011) was a British art historian, museum curator, author and convicted child sex offender who lived in London, Ireland, and Russia. In the course of his career, he ran several museums in England, was a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, and a former director of the Barbican Art Gallery. In 1985 he founded Artangel, an institution within the field of contemporary art. In December 2003, his book Running with Reindeer: Encounters in Russian Lapland, described life on Russia's Lapland and Kola Peninsula, and was shortlisted for the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award. Took was later recognized as an expert on the mediaeval Russian fur trade.
In April 2007, Took was arrested for paedophilia-related crimes, and in February 2008 was jailed for a minimum of four and a half years as part of an indeterminate sentence for 17 crimes relating to child abuse.
Born in Macclesfield, Took was the son of George Took and his wife Paula Schischka. He was educated at Haileybury College, Sandhurst, and the Courtauld Institute.
In 1985, Roger Took founded Artangel, a London-based arts organisation that commissions work ranging from sculpture to film from international artists. It was taken over by James Lingwood and Michael Morris in 1991.
Following his departure from Artangel in 1992, Took began his trips to Kola Peninsula in Russian Lapland because there was little known about the area. He prepared by taking a crash course in Russian and getting some arms training. He studied maps and the history of the area, people and Soviet occupation. Over the years he became fluent in Russian and began to use a Cyrillic keyboard.[citation needed]
In December 2003, Running with Reindeer: Encounters in Russian Lapland was published in hardback. Written in a travelogue style, Took begins the book detailing the events of his first trip to Murmansk (often referred to as Russia's Lapland) as the first traveler to the area in 70 years, and later details of the interior of the region. He explains the desolation of post-Soviet north villages and the details of everyday life there of both the indigenous and non-indigenous settlers, expressing a "combination of respect and shock at their dismal lifestyle." Breaking the law, Took ventured into restricted areas, often getting caught, in order to give the reader an understanding of this vanishing native culture, its endangered ecosystem, and the dynamics of its cultures.
The Daily Telegraph reviewed the book as an "almost encyclopaedic account of northern travels". A 2004 article in the Canadian Journal of History reviewed it as "quite an extraordinary book", but continued on that "the final sections of the work prove to be ... highly disappointing." The book was shortlisted for the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award in 2004.
In 1981, Took met a painter, Pat Cleary, who was a rich divorcee with children. Their families had been associated for decades. Despite her father's concerns that the financially struggling Took was only interested in marrying his daughter for her money, the two were married on 12 July 1983 and lived in Cleary's house in Chelsea, London. The extended family from Cleary's first marriage consisted of a son and two daughters and eventually eight grandchildren. With both of Cleary's daughters in school in other countries, her teenage son was the only child residing with the couple. Cleary was "touched" by the attention paid to her son by Took, who had repeatedly made it clear that he wanted no children of his own.[citation needed]
Roger Took
Roger Florian Took (1944 – 29 July 2011) was a British art historian, museum curator, author and convicted child sex offender who lived in London, Ireland, and Russia. In the course of his career, he ran several museums in England, was a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, and a former director of the Barbican Art Gallery. In 1985 he founded Artangel, an institution within the field of contemporary art. In December 2003, his book Running with Reindeer: Encounters in Russian Lapland, described life on Russia's Lapland and Kola Peninsula, and was shortlisted for the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award. Took was later recognized as an expert on the mediaeval Russian fur trade.
In April 2007, Took was arrested for paedophilia-related crimes, and in February 2008 was jailed for a minimum of four and a half years as part of an indeterminate sentence for 17 crimes relating to child abuse.
Born in Macclesfield, Took was the son of George Took and his wife Paula Schischka. He was educated at Haileybury College, Sandhurst, and the Courtauld Institute.
In 1985, Roger Took founded Artangel, a London-based arts organisation that commissions work ranging from sculpture to film from international artists. It was taken over by James Lingwood and Michael Morris in 1991.
Following his departure from Artangel in 1992, Took began his trips to Kola Peninsula in Russian Lapland because there was little known about the area. He prepared by taking a crash course in Russian and getting some arms training. He studied maps and the history of the area, people and Soviet occupation. Over the years he became fluent in Russian and began to use a Cyrillic keyboard.[citation needed]
In December 2003, Running with Reindeer: Encounters in Russian Lapland was published in hardback. Written in a travelogue style, Took begins the book detailing the events of his first trip to Murmansk (often referred to as Russia's Lapland) as the first traveler to the area in 70 years, and later details of the interior of the region. He explains the desolation of post-Soviet north villages and the details of everyday life there of both the indigenous and non-indigenous settlers, expressing a "combination of respect and shock at their dismal lifestyle." Breaking the law, Took ventured into restricted areas, often getting caught, in order to give the reader an understanding of this vanishing native culture, its endangered ecosystem, and the dynamics of its cultures.
The Daily Telegraph reviewed the book as an "almost encyclopaedic account of northern travels". A 2004 article in the Canadian Journal of History reviewed it as "quite an extraordinary book", but continued on that "the final sections of the work prove to be ... highly disappointing." The book was shortlisted for the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award in 2004.
In 1981, Took met a painter, Pat Cleary, who was a rich divorcee with children. Their families had been associated for decades. Despite her father's concerns that the financially struggling Took was only interested in marrying his daughter for her money, the two were married on 12 July 1983 and lived in Cleary's house in Chelsea, London. The extended family from Cleary's first marriage consisted of a son and two daughters and eventually eight grandchildren. With both of Cleary's daughters in school in other countries, her teenage son was the only child residing with the couple. Cleary was "touched" by the attention paid to her son by Took, who had repeatedly made it clear that he wanted no children of his own.[citation needed]