The philosopher who fought bulls (From The Oxford Times)

The philosopher who fought bulls

10:03am Thursday 19th January 2012 in Gray Matter By Christopher Gray

I meet all sorts in my local pub, The Punter, on Osney Island — including, shortly before Christmas, a chap who has variously been an Oxford student of biology and philosophy, an actor and a bullfighter.

It was about this last unlikely activity that Alexander Fiske-Harrison wrote his excellent book, recently published (Profile Books, £15.99), called Into the Arena. Critics have called it the best book on the subject since Hemingway’s Death in the Afternoon.

Xander, pictured in bullfighting action, will be telling the story of its genesis in a talk at 1pm next Thursday (26) in the Norrington Room at Blackwell’s (note this company’s continued use of the apostrophe) Bookshop. The event is free and not to be missed.