Alexander Rupert Fiske-Harrison (born 22 July 1976) is an English author and journalist, naturalist and conservationist.
His writing is known for his immersion in his subject matter. He trained and worked for some years as a method actor.Hodgkinson, Thomas. 'A new literary movement: You have method actors, so why not method authors?', The Independent. 1 February 2016 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.Fiske-Harrison, Alexander 'A Good Run' The Spectator, 14 July 2012 He is presently researching for a book on wolves in the United States.Fiske-Harrison, Alexander 'Desmond Morris was a master of provocative truths', The Spectator. 25 April 2026
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 in Le 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.
He was appointed a director of Fiske plc on , and is a managing director of Bragg, Stockdale, Hall & Co. Ltd., founded in 1824.
Background and personal life He is the youngest son of Clive Fiske Harrison.Winter, Laura. "Clive Fiske Harrison" . Debrett's People of Today 2012Fiske Harrison of Layer de la Haye Burke's Peerage (Subscription required.) 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 philosophy, as undergraduate and postgraduate and is presently studying 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.Profile Books Author page Alexander Fiske-Harrison
Fiske-Harrison received the Boisedale Life Davidoff Bon Viveur of the Year award at the 2024 luncheon.
He is half owner of the only thoroughbred stallion in professional polo today and its top sire, Elstar,Stallion Elstar website Polo's Top Sire and Future Sire of Sires and he split a share in the racehorse Romany King with schoolfriend the Marquess of Stafford.Old Etonian Horseracing & Breeding Society Newsletter The Only English Pure Thoroughbred Stallion Playing Polo In The World Today, November 2024
Journalism Fiske-Harrison has written for newspapers and magazines including The Times,Fiske-Harrison, Alexander 'Who to back in the Grand National? Not the tipsters' The Times. 12 April 2012 Financial Times, The Daily Telegraph,Fiske-Harrison, Alexander 'To the Spanish bullfighting is much more than just a sport' Daily Telegraph. 25 November 2011 The Times Literary Supplement, GQ,Fiske-Harrison, Alexander 'The Last Matador', GQ. September 2012 The Spectator,Fiske-Harrison, Alexander 'Warrior: The Story of the real warhorse', The Spectator, 21 January 2012 and Prospect, and has been himself featured in the society pages of the Telegraph,Methven, Charlie. 'Jonathan Aitken fille casts caution to the wind with Fiske', Mandrake, The Telegraph. 22 February 2002 Evening StandardLondoner's Diary 'Fights that started on the playing fields of Eton are breaking out all over London...', Evening Standard. 21 March 2013 and Condé Nast's Tatler.Compston, Harriet. 'Hottie Ahoy!', Tatler. July 2008
He has been interviewed and provided commentary on broadcast media outlets including the BBC,Lewis, Alun 'testbeds: Artificial Intelligence' , BBC Radio 4, 17 February 2000 CNN,'The future of bullfighting in Spain', CNN, 28 July 2010 Al-Jazeera,{ US National Public Radio. and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation National Radio.Doogue, Geraldine. 'Into the bullfighting arena', ABC National Radio. 4 August 2012
He has also written in Spanish for El Norte de CastillaFiske-Harrison, Alexander 'Gracias, Cuéllar, desde Londres' El Norte de Castilla. 3 September 2012 and has been himself featured in the society pages of ABC.Pina, Marina 'De Eton a Cuéllar, en un solo encierro', ABC. 31 August 2013
Naturalist and conservationist Fiske-Harrison has written on wolvesFiske-Harrison, Alexander. 'Four legs good, two legs bad' , Prospect. February 2009 and dogs, cattle and horses.Machuga, J. Félix. 'Los caballos siempre quieren darnos lo mejor que tienen' , ABC. 2 May 2013 He often focuses on human perception of, and interaction with, animals.Fiske-Harrison, Alexander. 'If we could talk to the animals...', Frieze. November 2003
Wolves In September 2025 it was announced he was working on a book on wolves in the United States, collaborating with fine art photographer David Yarrow.'My New Book On Bullfighting Appears In New York Magazine', Alexander's Journal. 15 September 2025
Spain Bullfighting
An essay on bullfighting for Prospect magazineFiske-Harrison, Alexander. 'A Noble Death' , Prospect. September 2008 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'".Schofield, Brian 'Review: Into The Arena by Alexander Fiske-Harrison', Sunday Times. 29 May 2011
Bull-running
As part of his research in 2009, Fiske-Harrison began running with the bulls in Pamplona,Fiske-Harrison, Alexander 'A Good Run', The Spectator, 14 July 2012 and became a part of the 'Runners Team of the World'. and the ancient castle of Cuéllar in Old Castile,Fiske-Harrison, Alexander 'Gracias, Cuéllar, desde Londres', 'El Norte de Castilla', 3 September 2012Fiske-Harrison, Alexander 'Y una vez más, gracias, Cuéllar, desde Londres', 'El Norte de Castilla', 2 September 2013 which hosts the oldest encierro in Spain,Fiske-Harrison, Alexander 'The real, old stuff', Financial Times, 31 May 2013 and where he was awarded a prize for writing about the encierros in 2013.Ernes 'Galardonados con el trofeo Ehtoro a la divulgación del encierro de Cuéllar' , Burladero.com, 27 June 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"'Alone Together':Familienkomödie im English Theatre", Die Welt. 23 November 2007 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."Billington, Michael. 'Theatre Review: The Pendulum', The Guardian. 9 June 2008. The Sunday Times described it as "something earnest, nicely acted – if a little contained."
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