Redmond O'Hanlon – författare

‘We’ve left a lot of men in Borneo – know what I mean?’ With their SAS trainer’s warnings ringing in their ears, the naturalist, Redmond O’Hanlon, and the poet, James Fenton, set out to rediscover the lost rhinoceros of Borneo. They were loaded with enough back-breaking kit to survive two months in a steaming 95° (in the shade) jungle of creeping, crawling, biting things. O’Hanlon could also rely on his encyclopaedic knowledge of the region’s flora and fauna, and had read-up on how to avoid being eaten by anything (stick your thumbs in a crocodile’s eyes, if you have time). And yet they proceeded to have an adventure that neither O’Hanlon, nor his friend, nor even his guides were remotely prepared for…‘Consistently exciting, often funny, and erudite without ever being overwhelming’ Punch.

Combining the acute observation of a nineteenth-century missionary, and the wit of a Monty Python player, Redmond O'Hanlon is famous for his adventurous travel. His new challenge is the Congo, the most dangerous and inhospitable jungle in the world.

Combining the acute observation of a nineteenth-century missionary, and the wit of a Monty Python player, Redmond O'Hanlon is famous for his adventurous travel. His new challenge is the Congo, the most dangerous and inhospitable jungle in the world.

‘We’ve left a lot of men in Borneo – know what I mean?’ With their SAS trainer’s warnings ringing in their ears, the naturalist, Redmond O’Hanlon, and the poet, James Fenton, set out to rediscover the lost rhinoceros of Borneo. They were loaded with enough back-breaking kit to survive two months in a steaming 95° (in the shade) jungle of creeping, crawling, biting things. O’Hanlon could also rely on his encyclopaedic knowledge of the region’s flora and fauna, and had read-up on how to avoid being eaten by anything (stick your thumbs in a crocodile’s eyes, if you have time). And yet they proceeded to have an adventure that neither O’Hanlon, nor his friend, nor even his guides were remotely prepared for…‘Consistently exciting, often funny, and erudite without ever being overwhelming’ Punch.

Redmond O'Hanlon describes his extraordinary three-week trip on an Orkney trawler as it journeys far into the north Atlantic in search of its catch. Young skipper Jason Schofield has a 2 million pound overdraft on his boat, the Norlantean, which is why he has to go out in a Category One Force 12 hurricane when the rest of the Scottish fleet has run for shelter. O'Hanlon may not be much help when it comes to seamanship - in the words of one of the crew, he doesn't know his arse from his tit - but he is able to wax lyrical on the amazing deep-sea fish to be found north of the Wyville Thomson Ridge: greater argentine, flying squid, blue ling, the truly disgusting hagfish and many other exotics.Combining humour with erudition, O'Hanlon has written a vivid and compulsively readable account of a journey that for sheer terror beats all his previous adventures.

In 1986, Redmond O'Hanlon decided to undertake a four-month trip through Venezuala, up the Orinoco River and across the Amazon Basin. The trip involved the risk of contracting dysentery, rabies and river blindness, encountering jaguars, vipers, anacondas, 640-volt electric eels, and giant catfish known to bite off human feet. He struggled to find a willing travelling companion.In Trouble Again is the gripping, hilarious and unpredictable account of that trip, as one intrepid ornithologist and his unsuspecting Oxford chum stumble from one catastrophe to the next.

Redmond O'Hanlon found few experienced adventurers willing to accompany him on his four-month trip up the Orinoco river and across the Amazon Basin. He wondered why... Was it perhaps the fear of contracting dysentery, rabies or river blindness? Or maybe it was a disinclination to meet peckish jaguars, vipers, anacondas and 640-volt electric eels? Surely it couldn’t possibly be reluctance to swim among giant catfish, with their relatively harmless penchant for nipping off a person’s feet? Fortunately, an old friend volunteered, having absolutely no idea what he was letting himself in for. But then O’Hanlon didn’t have much idea either. How the intrepid ornithologist and his sidekick managed to survive some serious travelling trouble makes for gripping, and hilarious, reading.

Redmond O''Hanlon is known as an amiable anti-hero - the debunker of classical exploration literature - and here on this joint road trip with journalist Rudi Rotthier, O''Hanlon visits places from his dark childhood. With a fine sense of the comic and beautifully rendered observations of the people they encounter, Rotthier excels in painting a portrait of this English author as he details the escapades of their journey. O''Hanlon provides a stream of jokey anecdotes which offset the bleakness of almost all his memories as do their conversations on God, Darwin and nature. Plagued by depression and scarred by his childhood and sadistic teachers, O''Hanlon drinks excessively, pops caffeine and nicotine pills. One of his most important possessions is a jar containing some of the charred remains of a close friend who committed suicide. In his house in Oxfordshire piles of books have spilled over tables and shelves and tottering mounds of dirty crockery obscure the sink. Yet, unlikely as it may seem, this is a remarkably light-hearted, sensitive and funny book.