Richard Fidler Richard Fidler i(A73931 works by)
Also writes as: DAAS
Born: Established: 1964
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England,
c
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United Kingdom (UK),
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Western Europe, Europe,
;
Gender: Male
Arrived in Australia: ca. 1966
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BiographyHistory

Richard Fidler first came to prominence as a member of the Doug Anthony All Stars (DAAS) with Paul McDermott and Tim Ferguson in the 1980s. The group was founded in 1984 and disbanded in 1994. (It later re-formed, in 2014, but without Fidler.) Beginning as buskers during their university days, the group rose to prominence in the UK after a gig at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 1987 and to prominence in Australia when they became regular performers on television program The Big Gig in 1989. They created their own comedy series, DAAS Kapital, on the ABC in 1991, and disbanded in 1994.

Since 2005, Fidler has been best known for the program Conversations with Richard Fidler on ABC Brisbane Radio. In that year, he moved to Brisbane to host a program on local radio station 612 ABC Brisbane. Initially, his shift included one hour styled as Conversations, but this gradually became the focus of the program, and has continued to be a highly successful radio program and frequently downloaded podcast.

In 2016, Fidler published Ghost Empire, a father-and-son travelogue that also explored the rich history of the Byzantine Empire. In 2017, he published Saga Land with Kári Gíslason, also a travelogue that delved into the history of the land being travelled.

Exhibitions

Most Referenced Works

Personal Awards

2011 recipient Churchill Fellowship To investigate new forms of public radio.

Awards for Works

y separately published work icon The Book of Roads and Kingdoms Sydney : ABC Books , 2022 24919717 2022 multi chapter work prose

'A lost imperial city, full of wonder and marvels. An empire that was the largest the world had ever seen, established with astonishing speed. A people obsessed with travel, knowledge and adventure.

'When Richard Fidler came across the account of Ibn Fadlan - a tenth-century Arab diplomat who travelled all the way from Baghdad to the cold riverlands of modern-day Russia - he was struck by how modern his voice was, like that of a twenty-first century time-traveller dropped into a medieval wilderness. On further investigation, Fidler discovered this was just one of countless reports from Arab and Persian travellers of their adventures in medieval China, India, Africa and Byzantium. Put together, he saw these stories formed a crazy quilt picture of a lost world.

'The Book of Roads & Kingdoms is the story of the medieval wanderers who travelled out to the edges of the known world during Islam's fabled Golden Age; an era when the caliphs of Baghdad presided over a dominion greater than the Roman Empire at its peak, stretching from North Africa to India. Imperial Baghdad, founded as the 'City of Peace', quickly became the biggest and richest metropolis in the world. Standing atop one of the city's four gates, its founder proclaimed: Here is the Tigris River, and nothing stands between it and China.'

'In a flourishing culture of science, literature and philosophy, the citizens of Baghdad were fascinated by the world and everything in it. Inspired by their Prophet's commandment to seek knowledge all over the world, these traders, diplomats, soldiers and scientists left behind the cosmopolitan pleasures of Baghdad to venture by camel, horse and boat into the unknown. Those who returned from these distant foreign lands wrote accounts of their adventures, both realistic and fantastical - tales of wonder and horror and delight.

'In a flourishing culture of science, literature and philosophy, the citizens of Baghdad were fascinated by the world and everything in it. Inspired by their Prophet's commandment to seek knowledge all over the world, these traders, diplomats, soldiers and scientists left behind the cosmopolitan pleasures of Baghdad to venture by camel, horse and boat into the unknown. Those who returned from these distant foreign lands wrote accounts of their adventures, both realistic and fantastical - tales of wonder and horror and delight.'  (Publication summary)

2023 shortlisted Booksellers Choice Award BookPeople Book of the Year Adult Nonfiction Book of the Year
2023 longlisted APA Book Design Awards Best Designed Non Fiction Book designed by Mark Campbell.
2023 winner Indie Awards Nonfiction
y separately published work icon The Golden Maze Sydney : ABC Books , 2020 19671161 2020 single work prose travel

'Beloved ABC broadcaster and bestselling author of Ghost Empire and Saga Land, Richard Fidler is back with a personally curated history of the magical city that is Prague.

'In 1989, Richard Fidler was living in London as part of the provocative Australian comedy trio The Doug Anthony All Stars when revolution broke out across Europe. Excited by this galvanising historic, human, moment, he travelled to Prague, where a decrepit police state was being overthrown by crowds of ecstatic citizens. His experience of the Velvet Revolution never let go of him.

'Thirty years later Fidler returns to Prague to uncover the glorious and grotesque history of Europe's most instagrammed and uncanny city: a jumble of gothic towers, baroque palaces and zig-zag lanes that has survived plagues, pogroms, Nazi terror and Soviet tanks. Founded in the ninth Century, Prague gave the world the golem, the robot, and the world's biggest statue of Stalin, a behemoth that killed almost everyone who touched it.

'Fidler tells the story of the reclusive emperor who brought the world's most brilliant minds to Prague Castle to uncover the occult secrets of the universe. He explores the Black Palace, the wartime headquarters of the Nazi SS, and he meets victims of the communist secret police. Reaching back into Prague's mythic past, he finds the city's founder, the pagan priestess Libussa who prophesised: I see a city whose glory will touch the stars.

'Following the story of Prague from its origins in medieval darkness to its uncertain present, Fidler does what he does so well - curates an absolutely engaging and compelling history of a place. You will learn things you never knew, with a tour guide who is erudite, inquisitive, and the best storyteller you could have as your companion.' (Publication summary)

2021 longlisted Mark and Evette Moran Nib Award for Literature
2021 shortlisted Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA) Australian General Non-Fiction Book of the Year
2021 longlisted Indie Awards Nonfiction
y separately published work icon Saga Land Sydney : ABC Books , 2017 12035241 2017 selected work prose

'A gripping blend of family mystery, contemporary stories and the beautiful and bloody Viking tales, set against the starkly stunning landscape of Iceland.

'Broadcaster Richard Fidler and author Kari Gíslason are good friends. They share a deep attachment to the sagas of Iceland - the true stories of the first Viking families who settled on that remote island in the Middle Ages.These are tales of blood feuds, of dangerous women, and people who are compelled to kill the ones they love the most. The sagas are among the greatest stories ever written, but the identity of their authors is largely unknown.

'Together, Richard and Kari travel across Iceland, to the places where the sagas unfolded a thousand years ago. They cross fields, streams and fjords to immerse themselves in the folklore of this fiercely beautiful island. And there is another mission: to resolve a longstanding family mystery - a gift from Kari's Icelandic father that might connect him to the greatest of the saga authors.' (Publication summary)

2019 shortlisted New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-Fiction
2018 shortlisted Australian Booksellers Association Awards BookPeople Book of the Year
2018 shortlisted APA Book Design Awards Best Designed Non Fiction Book
2018 shortlisted Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA) Australian General Non-Fiction Book of the Year
2018 winner Indie Awards Nonfiction
Last amended 8 Mar 2018 16:18:38
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