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Jon Ronson

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Jon Ronson
Ronson speaking at TAM London, October 2009
Ronson speaking at TAM London, October 2009
Born (1967-05-10) 10 May 1967 (age 57)
Cardiff, Wales
OccupationAuthor, Screenwriter, Documentary filmaker, Journalist
Alma materPolytechnic of Central London[1]
GenreConspiracy theory, Investigative journalism
Website
http://www.jonronson.com/

Jon Ronson (born Cardiff, 1967) is a Welsh journalist, documentary filmmaker, radio presenter and nonfiction author, whose works include The Men Who Stare At Goats. His journalism and columns have appeared in British publications including The Guardian newspaper, City Life and Time Out magazine. He has made several documentary films for television and two documentary series for Channel 4.

Life and career

Early life and education

Ronson was born in Cardiff, Wales, in 1967; he attended Cardiff High School.[2] He studied for a degree in Media Studies at Westminster University.[2]

Writing

Ronson has a distinctive self-deprecating reporting style, which incorporates aspects of Gonzo journalism.[3] His articles and stories often detail his process of information gathering and he is usually quite visible in his articles as a character. Ronson's documentary filmmaking style continues this theme and follows that of British documentary filmmaking pioneer Nick Broomfield. The journalist Louis Theroux has reviewed him favourably;[4] John Safran and Harmon Leon have cited Ronson as an influence.[citation needed] He is a distinguished supporter of the British Humanist Association.[5]

Jon Ronson's first book, Clubbed Class, was published in 1994. The book is a travelogue in which Ronson bluffs his way into a jet set lifestyle, in search of the world's finest holiday.

His second book, Them: Adventures with Extremists, is an investigative account of his experiences with people labelled as extremists, including David Icke, Randy Weaver, Omar Bakri Muhammad, Ian Paisley, and Thom Robb. Ronson also follows independent investigators of secretive groups such as the Bilderberg Group. The narrative tells of Ronson's attempts to infiltrate the "shadowy cabal" fabled, by these conspiracy theorists, to rule the world.[6] The book, a bestseller[citation needed], was described by Louis Theroux as "funny and compulsively readable picaresque adventure through a paranoid shadow world."[7]

Variety magazine announced in September 2005 that Them has been purchased by Universal Pictures to be turned into a feature film. The screenplay is being written by Mike White (School of Rock, The Good Girl), produced by White and the comedian Jack Black, and directed by Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead).

Ronson's third book, The Men Who Stare at Goats, deals with the secret New Age unit within the United States Army called the First Earth Battalion. Ronson investigates people such as Major General Albert Stubblebine III, former head of intelligence, who believe that people can walk through walls with the right mental preparation, and that goats can be killed simply by staring at them. Much was based on the ideas of Lt. Col. Jim Channon, ret., who wrote the First Earth Battalion Operations Manual in 1979, inspired by the emerging Human Potential Movement of California. The book tells how these New Age military ideas mutated over the decades to influence interrogation techniques at Guantanamo Bay. An eponymous film of the book was released in 2009, in which Ronson's investigations were fictionalised and structured around a journey to Iraq. Ronson is played by the actor Ewan McGregor in the film.[8]

Ronson's fourth book, Out of the Ordinary: True Tales of Everyday Craziness, was published by Picador and Guardian Books in November 2006. It is a collection of Ronson's Guardian articles, mostly those concerning his domestic life. A companion volume, What I Do: More True Tales of Everyday Craziness, was published in November 2007.[9][10]

The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry is Ronson's fifth book, published in 2011. In it, he explores the nature of psychopathic behavior, learning how to apply the Hare Psychopathy Checklist, and investigating its reliability. He interviews people in facilities for the criminally insane as well as potential psychopaths in corporate boardrooms.

Ronson also contributed the memoir A Fantastic Life to the Picador anthology Truth or Dare, in 2004. It told the story of Ronson's ill-fated endeavour to provide for his child an enchanting Christmas, and was the basis for his subsequent Out of the Ordinary column in The Guardian.

Documentaries

Radio

Jon Ronson's main radio work is the production and presentation of a BBC Radio 4 programme, Jon Ronson on... which was shortlisted for a 2006, 2008 and 2009 Sony award. In August 2008, Radio 4 aired "Robbie Williams and Jon Ronson Journey to the Other Side'", a documentary by Jon Ronson about pop star Williams' fascination with UFOs and the paranormal.

In the early 1990s, Ronson was offered the position of sidekick on Terry Christian's Show on Manchester radio station KFM. It was here that the idea for the Ronson Mission originated. Every week Terry would set Jon a task such as to go out and find out if there is such a thing as God or alien life on other planets. When Terry moved on to present the cult late-night youth TV show The Word (which Jon became the first journalist to review, having been sneaked into the pilot show by Terry), Jon took over the show. It specialised in playing indie music, reggae and sixties psychedelia and often featured tracks from his favourite artists including Randy Newman and The Breeders. Ronson also co-presented a KFM show with Craig Cash, who went on to write and perform in The Royle Family and Early Doors.

Ronson contributes to Public Radio International in the United States, particularly the program This American Life. He has contributed segments to the following of its episodes: "Them", "Family Physics", "Naming Names", "It's Never Over", "Habeas Schmaebeas", "The Spokesman", "Pro Se", "The Psychopath Test". Some of these segments are versions of stories first heard on his BBC radio show.

Music

During his student years, Ronson replaced Mark Radcliffe as the keyboard player for the Frank Sidebottom band for a number of performances.

Ronson was the manager of the Manchester indie band The Man From Delmonte.

Television

Ronson presented the late nineties talk show "For The Love Of...",[14] in which each week he would interview a gathering of guests and experts on different phenomena and conspiracy theories. The interviews were conducted in a relaxed manner, with Ronson and his guests sitting in a circle of armchairs in a mock living room, frequently smoking.

Movie

Ronson sold the film rights to The Men Who Stare At Goats and a movie of the same name was released in 2009 as a comedy war film directed by Grant Heslov and written by Peter Straughan.

The journalist-character Bob Wilton in the movie, played by Ewan McGregor, did experience elements of Ronson's self-recounted story from the book, according to Ronson in his commentary on the DVD. However Wilton was, unlike Ronson, an American from Ann Arbor. And, unlike Ronson, Wilton went to Iraq.[15]

In the process of visiting the set during the shoot, Ronson began a collaborative writing project with Straughan.[15]

Published works

Jon Ronson at Humber Mouth Festival 2006

Notes and references

  1. ^ http://www.jonronson.com/jon_biog.html
  2. ^ a b Nathan Bevan, is Jon Ronson, WalesOnline.co.uk, retrieved 13 June 2011.
  3. ^ Relative to the Gonzo characterization: 1) Ronson, Jon, 'I've gotta get my elephant tusks back', The Guardian, 22 February 2005. The article subtitle read in part: "... Hunter S. Thompson created a new style of writing - gonzo - and a generation of followers. Jon Ronson explains why he became one of them"; the article was written the day after Thompson's death by suicide; Ronson himself in the article does not lay claim to the term to describe himself; and 2) ____, James, Ffresh 2011 Programme Goes Live", website for Ffresh: Student Moving Image Festival of Wales, 13 January 2011. "Highlights include sessions with ... gonzo journalist Jon Ronson ...." Both retrieved 2011-02-17.
  4. ^ Theroux, Louis, "Stranger than fiction", review of Them: Adventures with Extremists, The Guardian, 7 April 2001 22.30 BST. Retrieved 2011-02-17.
  5. ^ "Distinguished Supporters". Humanism.org.uk. Retrieved 2010-06-08.
  6. ^ Them:Adventures in Extemism p91. Retrieved 4 November 2009.
  7. ^ Theroux, Louis (7 April 2001). "Stranger than fiction". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 March 2009.
  8. ^ "The Men Who Stare At Goats (2009)". IMDb.com. Retrieved 2009-06-21.
  9. ^ "news: jonronson.com". jonronson.com. Retrieved 2009-06-21.
  10. ^ "Book Titles". AP Watt. Retrieved 2009-06-21.
  11. ^ "''Reverend Death'' on Channel 4". Channel4.com. Retrieved 2009-06-21.
  12. ^ 'I make it look like they died in their sleep' by Jon Ronson, The Guardian, May 12, 2008
  13. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZS67CXqxH04
  14. ^ For The Love Of..., IMDB
  15. ^ a b The Men Who Stare At Goats, DVD commentary by Jon Ronson. OV 21370. Overture Films, US. 2009.
Book extracts
Interviews

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