Whilst working out my luggage allowance for Pamplona – a fortnight of supplies plus 20 copies of my book Into The Arena, a 12lb cape, a 6lb muleta (the small red cape) and a 2lb practice sword – I saw that my interview with Reuters has been released (and subsequently picked up and reprinted in The Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Baltimore Sun, and many others, from the Hindustan Times to the West Australian.)

British writer risks death in the afternoon

The pavement outside a tapas bar in London’s Old Brompton Road is a far cry from a bullring in Spain.

But that doesn’t stop British writer, actor and amateur matador Alexander Fiske-Harrison from leaping to his feet mid-conversation and demonstrating a series of sweeping passes.

“There is no winning. It’s not a fight,” he says of the bloody Spanish
spectacle. “It’s a tragic play in three acts.”

Fiske-Harrison, an Old Etonion and Oxford graduate, is following a line of non-Spanish artists to have been captivated by the “corrida de toros” that includes film-maker Orson Welles, critic Kenneth Tynan and, of course, Ernest Hemingway.

His just-published book “Into the Arena” sets out to explain the world of the Spanish bullfight and to examine its moral dilemma –the killing of an animal for entertainment.

It goes onto say:

He also tried his luck running with the bulls at Pamplona’s San Fermin festival and will be there again in a few weeks time.

Very true… Read the full article here…

Alexander Fiske-Harrison