Robin Saikia
Encyclopedia
Robin Saikia is a British author and actor educated at Winchester College
and Merton College, Oxford
.
and as the venue for the Venice Film Festival
. The book charts the antics of many of the more disreputable visitors, including Byron and Oswald Mosley, but also celebrates the natural beauties of the Lido and its symbolic role as the outer boundary of the Serenissima (Blue Guides, May 2011). Other works include Blue Guide Literary Companion London, an anthology of poetry and prose written in and about Britain's capital along with Saikia's introductory essays. The book contains pieces by Julian Maclaren-Ross
, Ian Fleming
, Anthony Powell
, the Prince of Wales
and many others. Though criticised in the Spectator for being deeply rooted in the past, the anthology was hailed by popular historian Giles Milton as 'a literary masterpiece'. Saikia's Blue Guide Hay-on-Wye is a historical and cultural exploration of the Anglo-Welsh border town of Hay-on-Wye
, famous for its self-crowned king, Richard Booth
, for its book dealers, and as the venue of the annual Guardian Hay Festival
of Literature and the Arts (Blue Guides 2010). He also wrote, for Blue Guides
, Blue Guide Italy Food Companion, a portable glossary and phrasebook accompanied by historical and cultural essays on Italian cuisine. Other works include The Horn Book: A Victorian Sex Manual (Saucy Book Company, 2008),, Munich: A Third Reich Tourist Guide (Foxley Books, 2008) and A Commentary on Ten Ancient Arabic Poems (Bayswater Press, 2008). In The Red Book: The Membership List of The Right Club, Saikia analyses the activities of Captain Archibald Maule Ramsay's 'Right Club', a right wing group operating in London shortly before the Second World War (Foxley Books, July 2010). The book contains a full facsimile of the ledger in which Ramsay recorded the members of the club. It also reveals that the White Russian nobleman, Prince Yurka Galitzine, joined the club shortly before the outbreak of war but swiftly renounced his right wing views after his experiences in 1944 when, as member of an Intelligence unit in the Political Warfare Department of SHAEF, he was tasked with an investigation of the atrocities at the Natzweiler-Rudhof death camp in Alsace.
play, Fridays When It Rains, first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and adapted for the stage by the British actress and director Vicki Carpenter, who appeared as Connie opposite Saikia's Dove. (Iambic Arts, Brighton). Saikia has also appeared as Roger de Brito in T.S. Eliot's Murder in the Cathedral and Decius in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, both with the Hampstead Players
.
and feature articles on music, art dealing and espionage in Time Out 1000 Things To Do In London For Under £10 Saikia is an active campaigner for a radical reform of the Family Division of the UK High Court. He hosts a weekly radio show, the Robin Saikia Show, on the community radio station OnFM that broadcasts in Central London on 101.4FM.
Robin Saikia's personal website
The Venice Lido by Robin Saikia
Robin Saikia's author page at Blue Guides
Winchester College
Winchester College is an independent school for boys in the British public school tradition, situated in Winchester, Hampshire, the former capital of England. It has existed in its present location for over 600 years and claims the longest unbroken history of any school in England...
and Merton College, Oxford
Merton College, Oxford
Merton College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 1260s when Walter de Merton, chancellor to Henry III and later to Edward I, first drew up statutes for an independent academic community and established endowments to...
.
Books
Robin Saikia wrote The Venice Lido, the first ever full-length historical and cultural guide to Venice's glamorous beach resort, from its early days as a primitive settlement until its heyday as the setting for Death in VeniceDeath in Venice
The novella Death in Venice was written by the German author Thomas Mann, and was first published in 1913 as Der Tod in Venedig. The plot of the work presents a great writer suffering writer's block who visits Venice and is liberated and uplifted, then increasingly obsessed, by the sight of a...
and as the venue for the Venice Film Festival
Venice Film Festival
The Venice International Film Festival is the oldest international film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the...
. The book charts the antics of many of the more disreputable visitors, including Byron and Oswald Mosley, but also celebrates the natural beauties of the Lido and its symbolic role as the outer boundary of the Serenissima (Blue Guides, May 2011). Other works include Blue Guide Literary Companion London, an anthology of poetry and prose written in and about Britain's capital along with Saikia's introductory essays. The book contains pieces by Julian Maclaren-Ross
Julian MacLaren-Ross
Julian MacLaren-Ross was a British novelist.-Background:Born James McLaren Ross in South Norwood, London in 1912, his father John Lambden Ross was of mixed Scottish and Cuban blood, and his mother, from an Anglo-Indian family, was described as "a magnificent Indian lady and the obvious source of...
, Ian Fleming
Ian Fleming
Ian Lancaster Fleming was a British author, journalist and Naval Intelligence Officer.Fleming is best known for creating the fictional British spy James Bond and for a series of twelve novels and nine short stories about the character, one of the biggest-selling series of fictional books of...
, Anthony Powell
Anthony Powell
Anthony Dymoke Powell CH, CBE was an English novelist best known for his twelve-volume work A Dance to the Music of Time, published between 1951 and 1975....
, the Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales is a title traditionally granted to the heir apparent to the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the 15 other independent Commonwealth realms...
and many others. Though criticised in the Spectator for being deeply rooted in the past, the anthology was hailed by popular historian Giles Milton as 'a literary masterpiece'. Saikia's Blue Guide Hay-on-Wye is a historical and cultural exploration of the Anglo-Welsh border town of Hay-on-Wye
Hay-on-Wye
Hay-on-Wye , often described as "the town of books", is a small market town and community in Powys, Wales.-Location:The town lies on the east bank of the River Wye and is within the Brecon Beacons National Park, just north of the Black Mountains...
, famous for its self-crowned king, Richard Booth
Richard Booth
Richard George William Pitt Booth, MBE , is a Welsh bookseller, known for his contribution to the success of Hay-on-Wye as a centre for second-hand bookselling...
, for its book dealers, and as the venue of the annual Guardian Hay Festival
Hay Festival
The Hay Festival of Literature & Arts is an annual literature festival held in Hay-on-Wye, Powys, Wales for ten days from May to June. Devised by Norman and Peter Florence in 1988, the festival was described by Bill Clinton in 2001 as "The Woodstock of the mind"...
of Literature and the Arts (Blue Guides 2010). He also wrote, for Blue Guides
Blue Guides
The Blue Guides are a series of highly detailed and authoritative travel guidebooks focusing almost exclusively on art and architecture along with the history and context necessary to understand them...
, Blue Guide Italy Food Companion, a portable glossary and phrasebook accompanied by historical and cultural essays on Italian cuisine. Other works include The Horn Book: A Victorian Sex Manual (Saucy Book Company, 2008),, Munich: A Third Reich Tourist Guide (Foxley Books, 2008) and A Commentary on Ten Ancient Arabic Poems (Bayswater Press, 2008). In The Red Book: The Membership List of The Right Club, Saikia analyses the activities of Captain Archibald Maule Ramsay's 'Right Club', a right wing group operating in London shortly before the Second World War (Foxley Books, July 2010). The book contains a full facsimile of the ledger in which Ramsay recorded the members of the club. It also reveals that the White Russian nobleman, Prince Yurka Galitzine, joined the club shortly before the outbreak of war but swiftly renounced his right wing views after his experiences in 1944 when, as member of an Intelligence unit in the Political Warfare Department of SHAEF, he was tasked with an investigation of the atrocities at the Natzweiler-Rudhof death camp in Alsace.
Theatre
Roles include Dove in the Nick WarburtonNick Warburton
Nick Warburton was a primary school teacher for ten years before deciding to become a full-time writer. He writes plays for stage, television and radio and scripts for television series including Doctors, Holby City and EastEnders. He has been part of the regular writing team on Holby City since...
play, Fridays When It Rains, first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and adapted for the stage by the British actress and director Vicki Carpenter, who appeared as Connie opposite Saikia's Dove. (Iambic Arts, Brighton). Saikia has also appeared as Roger de Brito in T.S. Eliot's Murder in the Cathedral and Decius in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, both with the Hampstead Players
Hampstead Players
The Hampstead Players are a notable amateur theatre group in north London, named after their base in Hampstead. It was founded in 1976. It produces three productions a year - spring, summer and autumn - in the parish church of St John-at-Hampstead. It also has a youth theatre wing, the...
.
Journalism
Recent journalism and travel writing includes Venice for Families in The GuardianThe Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
and feature articles on music, art dealing and espionage in Time Out 1000 Things To Do In London For Under £10 Saikia is an active campaigner for a radical reform of the Family Division of the UK High Court. He hosts a weekly radio show, the Robin Saikia Show, on the community radio station OnFM that broadcasts in Central London on 101.4FM.
Lectures
'Scraping and Screeching in Salzburg: Mozart's response to liturgical reform.' (Hampstead Christian Study Group).External Links
The Robin Saikia Show on OnFM London RadioRobin Saikia's personal website
The Venice Lido by Robin Saikia
Robin Saikia's author page at Blue Guides