This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2006)

Pastoral nomads camping near Namtso in 2005. In Tibet, nomads constitute about 40% of ethnic Tibetan population.^[1]

Beja nomads from Northeast Africa

Nomadic people (Greek: νομάδες, nomádes, "those who let pasture herds"), commonly known as itinerants in modern-day contexts, are communities of people who move from one place to another, rather than settling permanently in one location. There are an estimated 30-40 million nomads in the world.^[2]

Many cultures have traditionally been nomadic, but traditional nomadic behavior is increasingly rare in industrialized countries. Nomadic cultures are discussed in three categories according to economic specialization: hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads, and "peripatetic nomads".

Nomadic hunting and gathering, following seasonally available wild plants and game, is by far the oldest human subsistence method. Pastoralists raise herds, driving them or moving with them, in patterns that normally avoid depleting pastures beyond their ability to recover. Peripatetic nomads, who offer the skills of a craft or trade to those with whom they travel, are most common in industrialized nations.

Hunter-gatherers[link]

Many groups of 'nomadic' hunter-gatherers (also known as foragers) moved from campsite to campsite, following game and wild fruits and vegetables. Hunting and gathering was the ancestral subsistence mode of Homo, and all modern humans were hunter-gatherers until around 10,000 years ago.

Following the development of agriculture, hunter-gatherers were displaced by farming or pastoralist groups in most parts of the world. Only a few contemporary societies are classified as hunter-gatherers, and many supplement, sometimes extensively, their foraging activity with farming and/or keeping animals.

Pastoralism[link]

Cuman nomads, Radziwiłł Chronicle, 13th century.

An 1848 Lithograph showing nomads in Afghanistan.

A yurt in front of the Gurvan Saikhan Mountains. Approximately 30% of the Mongolia's 3 million people are nomadic or semi-nomadic.

A Sami (Lapp) family in Norway around 1900. Reindeer have been herded for centuries by several Arctic and Subarctic people including the Sami and the Nenets.^[3]

Pastoral nomads are nomads moving between pastures. Nomadic pastoralism is thought to have developed in three stages that accompanied population growth and an increase in the complexity of social organization. Karim Sadr has proposed the following stages:

• Pastoralism: This is a mixed economy with a symbiosis within the family.
• Agropastoralism: This is when symbiosis is between segments or clans within an ethnic group.
• True Nomadism: This is when symbiosis is at the regional level, generally between specialized nomadic and agricultural populations.

The pastoralists are sedentary to a certain area, as they move between the permanent spring, summer, autumn and winter (or dry and wet season) pastures for their livestock. The nomads moved depending on the availability of resources.^[4]

Origin[link]

Nomadic pastoralism seems to have developed as a part of the secondary products revolution proposed by Andrew Sherratt, in which early pre-pottery Neolithic cultures that had used animals as live meat ("on the hoof") also began using animals for their secondary products, for example, milk and its associated dairy products, wool and other animal hair, hides and consequently leather, manure for fuel and fertilizer, and traction.

The first nomadic pastoral society developed in the period from 8500-6500 BC in the area of the southern Levant.^{[citation needed]} There, during a period of increasing aridity, PPNB cultures in the Sinai were replaced by a nomadic, pastoral pottery-using culture, which seems to have been a cultural fusion between a newly arrived Mesolithic people from Egypt (the Harifian culture), adopting their nomadic hunting lifestyle to the raising of stock.^[5]

This lifestyle quickly developed into what Jaris Yurins has called the circum-Arabian nomadic pastoral techno-complex and is possibly associated with the appearance of Semitic languages in the region of the Ancient Near East. The rapid spread of such nomadic pastoralism was typical of such later developments as of the Yamnaya culture of the horse and cattle nomads of the Eurasian steppe, or of the Greko-Mongol spread of the later Middle Ages.^[6]

Increase in the former Soviet Central Asia[link]

One of the results of the break-up of the Soviet Union and the subsequent political independence and economic collapse of its Central Asian republics has been the resurgence of pastoral nomadism.^[7] Taking the Kyrgyz people as a representative example nomadism was the centre of their economy prior to Russian colonization at the turn of the C19/C20, when they were settled into agricultural villages. The population became increasingly urbanized after World War II, but some people continued to take their herds of horses and cows to the high pasture (jailoo) every summer, i.e. a pattern of transhumance.

Since the 1990s, as the cash economy shrank, unemployed relatives were absorbed back on the family farm, and the importance of this form of nomadism has increased. The symbols of nomadism, specifically the crown of the grey felt tent known as the yurt, appears on the national flag, emphasizing the centrality of their nomadic history and past in the creation of the modern nation of Kyrgyzstan.pomp

Sedentarization[link]

By 1920; nomadic pastoral tribes represented over a quarter of Iran's population.^[8] Tribal pastures were nationalized during the 1960s. The National Commission of UNESCO registered the population of Iran at 21 million in 1963, of whom two million (9.5%) were nomads.^[9] Although the nomadic population of Iran has dramatically decreased in the 20th century, Iran still has one of the largest nomadic populations in the world, an estimated 1.5 million in a country of about 70 million.^[10]

In Kazakhstan where the major agricultural activity was nomadic herding,^[11] forced collectivization under Joseph Stalin’s rule met with massive resistance and major losses and confiscation of livestock.^[12] Livestock in Kazakhstan fell from 7 million cattle to 1.6 million and from 22 million sheep to 1.7 million. The resulting famine of 1931-1934 caused some 1.5 million deaths: this represents more than 40% of the total Kazakh population at that time.^[13]

In the 1950s as well as the 1960s, large numbers of Bedouin throughout the Middle East started to leave the traditional, nomadic life to settle in the cities of the Middle East, especially as home ranges have shrunk and population levels have grown. Government policies in Egypt and Israel, oil production in Libya and the Persian Gulf, as well as a desire for improved standards of living, effectively led most Bedouin to become settled citizens of various nations, rather than stateless nomadic herders. A century ago nomadic Bedouin still made up some 10% of the total Arab population. Today they account for some 1% of the total.^[14]

At independence in 1960, Mauritania was essentially a nomadic society. The great Sahel droughts of the early 1970s caused massive problems in a country where 85% of its inhabitants were nomadic herders. Today only 15% remain nomads.^[15]

As many as 2 million nomadic Kuchis wandered over Afghanistan in the years before the Soviet invasion, and most experts agreed that by 2000 the number had fallen dramatically, perhaps by half. The severe drought had destroyed 80% of the livestock in some areas.^[16]

Niger experienced a serious food crisis in 2005 following erratic rainfall and desert locust invasions. Nomads such as the Tuareg and Fulani, who make up about 20% of Niger's 12.9 million population, had been so badly hit by the Niger food crisis that their already fragile way of life is at risk.^[17] Nomads in Mali were also affected.^[18]

Contemporary peripatetic minorities in Europe and Asia[link]

A tent of Gypsies in Hungary, 19th century.

"Peripatetic minorities" are mobile populations moving among settled populations offering a craft or trade.

Each existing community is primarily endogamous, and subsists traditionally on a variety of commercial and/or service activities. Formerly, all or a majority of their members were itinerant, and this largely holds true today. Migration generally takes place within the political boundaries of a single state these days.

Each of the peripatetic communities is multilingual; it speaks one or more of the languages spoken by the local sedentary populations, and, additionally, within each group, a separate dialect or language is spoken.^{[citation needed]} The latter are either of Indic or Iranian origin,^{[citation needed]} and many are structured somewhat like an argot or secret language, with vocabularies drawn from various languages. There are indications that in northern Iran at least one community speaks Romani language, and some groups in Turkey also speak Romani.

Dom people[link]

In Afghanistan, the Nausar worked as tinkers and animal dealers. Ghorbat men mainly made sieves, drums, and bird cages, and the women peddled these as well as other items of household and personal use; they also worked as moneylenders to rural women. Peddling and the sale of various goods was also practiced by men and women of various groups, such as the Jalali, the Pikraj, the Shadibaz, the Noristani, and the Vangawala. The latter and the Pikraj also worked as animal dealers. Some men among the Shadibaz and the Vangawala entertained as monkey or bear handlers and snake charmers; men and women among the Baluch were musicians and dancers, and Baluch women also practiced prostitution. Jogi men and women had diverse subsistence activities, such as dealing in horses, harvesting, fortune-telling, bloodletting, and begging.^{[citation needed]}

In Iran the Asheq of Azerbaijan, the Challi of Baluchistan, the Luti of Kurdistan, Kermānshāh, Īlām, and Lorestān, the Mehtar in the Mamasani district, the Sazandeh of Band-i Amir and Marv-dasht, and the Toshmal among the Bakhtyari pastoral groups worked as professional musicians. The men among the Kowli worked as tinkers, smiths, musicians, and monkey and bear handlers; they also made baskets, sieves, and brooms and dealt in donkeys. Their women made a living from peddling, begging, and fortune-telling.

The Ghorbat among the Basseri were smiths and tinkers, traded in pack animals, and made sieves, reed mats, and small wooden implements. In the Fārs region, the Qarbalband, the Kuli, and Luli were reported to work as smiths and to make baskets and sieves; they also dealt in pack animals, and their women peddled various goods among pastoral nomads. In the same region, the Changi and Luti were musicians and balladeers, and their children learned these professions from the age of 7 or 8 years.^{[citation needed]}

The nomadic groups in Turkey make and sell cradles, deal in animals, and play music. The men of the sedentary groups work in towns as scavengers and hangmen; elsewhere they are fishermen, smiths, basket makers, and singers; their women dance at feasts and tell fortunes. Abdal men played music and made sieves, brooms, and wooden spoons for a living. The Tahtacı traditionally worked as lumberers; with increased sedentarization, however, they have taken to agriculture and horticulture.^{[citation needed]}

Little is known for certain about the past of these communities; the history of each is almost entirely contained in their oral traditions. Although some groups—such as the Vangawala—are of Indian origin, some—like the Noristani—are most probably of local origin; still others probably migrated from adjoining areas. The Ghorbat and the Shadibaz claim to have originally come from Iran and Multan, respectively, and Tahtacı traditional accounts mention either Baghdad or Khorāsān as their original home. The Baluch say they^{[clarification needed]} were attached as a service community to the Jamshedi, after they fled Baluchistan because of feuds.^[19][20]

Gallery[link]

• 

  A Scythian horseman from the general area of the Ili river, Pazyryk, c.300 BCE.

• 

  A young Bedouin lighting a camp fire in Wadi Rum, Jordan.

• 

  Kyrgyz nomads in the steppes of the Russian Empire, Uzbeckestan, by pioneer color photographer Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky, ca. 1910.

• 

  Tuareg in Mali, 1974.

• 

  Kyrgyz nomads, 1869-1870.

• 

  Nomads in the Desert (Giulio Rosati).

See also[link]

• List of nomadic peoples
• Seasonal human migration
• Uncontacted peoples

Specific:

• Eurasian nomads for the historically and pre-historically important Horse People
• Mongol Empire
• Nomadic empires
• Nomadic tents
• Nomads of India
• Sea Gypsies

Concepts in industrialised societies:

• Global nomad
• Snowbird (people)
• Military brat
• Perpetual traveler
• RV lifestyle
• Third culture kid

References[link]

Further reading[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Nomads

• Oberfalzerova, Alena. (2006): Metaphors and Nomads, Triton, Prague. ISBN 80-7254-849-2
• Sadr, Karim. The Development of Nomadism in Ancient Northeast Africa, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1991. ISBN 0-8122-3066-3
• Cowan, Gregory. "Nomadology in Architecture: Ephemerality, Movement and Collaboration" University of Adelaide 2002 (available: http://hdl.handle.net/2440/37830 [1])
• Chatty, Dawn. Articles on Nomadic life (1983–2009)
• Chatwin, Bruce. The Songlines (1987)
• Deleuze and Guattari, A Thousand Plateaus (1980)
• Melvyn Goldstein: The Impact of China's Reform Policy on the Nomads of Western Tibet
• The Remote World of Tibet's Nomads
• Grousset, René. L'Empire des Steppes (1939) (French)
• Michael Haerdter Remarks on modernity, mobility, nomadism and the arts
• Kradin, Nikolay. Nomadic Empires in Evolutionary Perspective. In Alternatives of Social Evolution. Ed. by N.N. Kradin, A.V. Korotayev, Dmitri Bondarenko, V. de Munck, and P.K. Wason (p. 274-288). Vladivostok: Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences; reprinted in: The Early State, its Alternatives and Analogues. Ed. by Leonid Grinin et al. (р. 501-524). Volgograd: Uchitel', 2004.
• Kradin, Nikolay N. 2002. Nomadism, Evolution, and World-Systems: Pastoral Societies in Theories of Historical Development. Journal of World-System Research 8: 368-388.
• Kradin, Nikolay N. 2003. Nomadic Empires: Origins, Rise, Decline. In Nomadic Pathways in Social Evolution. Ed. by N.N. Kradin, Dmitri Bondarenko, and T. Barfield (p. 73-87). Moscow: Center for Civilizational Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences.
• Kradin, Nikolay N. 2006. Cultural Complexity of Pastoral Nomads. World Cultures 15: 171-189.
• Beall, Cynthia and Goldstein, Melvyn: Past becoming future gor Mongolian nomads National Geographic Magazine May 1993
• Vigo, Julian. 'Nomadic Sexualities and Nationalities: Postcolonial Performative Words and Visual Texts'. Inscriptions in the Sand Famagusta: Eastern Mediterranean University Press, 2005.

Tommy Guerrero
Guerrero playing guitar on July 5, 2009.
Background information
Born	(1966-09-09)September 9, 1966 San Francisco, California, USA
Genres	Latin House, Downtempo, Art rock, Alternative hip hop
Occupations	Composer, guitarist, skateboarder
Instruments	Guitar
Years active	1986–present
Associated acts	Free Beer, Jet Black Crayon, Quannum Projects
Website	www.tommyguerrero.com

Tommy Guerrero (born September 9, 1966 in San Francisco) is an American skateboarder and musician. As a teen, he was one of the prominent members of the Bones Brigade, Powell Peralta's professional skateboarding team that was successful during the 1980s. He was well known for his relaxed style of street skating in his hometown of San Francisco, which was depicted in most of the Brigade's videos (Future Primitive, The Search for Animal Chin, Public Domain, and Ban This). After riding for Powell Peralta, Guerrero and Jim Thiebaud (a hometown friend and PP teammate) started the skateboarding company "Real".

After his success in the world of skateboarding, he decided to pursue his musical interests. Guerrero was a member of the skate rock band Free Beer and the experimental group Jet Black Crayon, but has had more success as a solo artist. His critically acclaimed albums, EPs, and singles combine various types of music from rock, rap, funk, soul, and jazz. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine named Guerrero's third studio album, Soul Food Taqueria (2003), #2 on its 2003 "best of list".^[1]

Guerrero also had numerous unreleased songs appear on the video game skate. by EA.

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• Loose Grooves & Bastard Blues (1998)
• A Little Bit Of Somethin' (2000)
• Hoy Yen Ass'n (collaboration with former Jet Black Crayon member Gadget) (2000)
• Soul Food Taqueria (2003)
• Year of the Monkey - EP (2005)
• From The Soil To The Soul (2006)
• BLKTOP PROJECT (collaboration with Ray Barbee, Matt Rodriguez, Doug Scharin and Chuck Treece) (2007)
• Return of the Bastard (2008)
• Guerrero also compiled and mixed a DJ mix album for the Azuli Records' Late Night Tales / Another Late Night series in 2002, Another Late Night: Tommy Guerrero.
• Lord Newborn and The Magic Skulls (collaboration with Money Mark and Shawn Lee)(2009).
• Lifeboats & Follies (2011)

Singles[link]

• Backintheday (1995)
• Junk Collector (2001)
• Rusty Gears Lonely Years / Organism (2001)
• Gettin' It Together (2004)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Trivial Biographical Facts
• Web Page on Beggars Group
• My Space page
• Tommy Guerrero discography at Discogs
• official Free Beer band website

This article on a United States rock guitarist is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Bonnie 'Prince' Billy
Will Oldham, June 6, 2009
Background information
Birth name	William Oldham
Also known as	Bonnie 'Prince' Billy
Born	(1970-01-15) January 15, 1970 (age 42)
Origin	Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.
Genres	Folk, alternative country, country
Years active	1993–present
Labels	Drag City, Domino, Spunk
Website	www.bonnieprincebilly.com

Will Oldham (born January 15, 1970),^[1] better known by the stage name Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, is an American singer-songwriter and actor. From 1993 to 1997, he performed and recorded under variations of the Palace name, including the Palace Brothers, Palace Songs, and Palace Music. After releasing material under his own name, he adopted the "Bonnie 'Prince' Billy" moniker for the majority of his output since 1998.

Music[link]

Oldham is known for his "do-it-yourself punk aesthetic and blunt honesty,"^[2] and his music has been likened to Americana, folk, roots, country, punk, and indie rock. He has been called an "Appalachian post-punk solipsist",^[2] with a voice that has been described as "a fragile sort-of warble frittering around haunted melodies in the American folk or country tradition."^[2]

Will Oldham first performed and recorded under various permutations of the Palace name, including Palace Brothers, Palace Songs, Palace Music, and simply Palace. Regarding the name changes during this period (1993–1997), Oldham said:

Beginning in 1998, Oldham has primarily used the moniker Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, which draws inspiration from several sources:

Oldham has explained that "the primary purpose of the pseudonym is to allow both the audience and the performer to have a relationship with the performer that is valid and unbreakable."^[4] In 2012, Oldham is reworking his I See a Darkness album for a summer a release on Dominio.

Discography[link]

Studio albums[link]

• There Is No-One What Will Take Care of You – Palace Brothers (1993)^[5]
• Days in the Wake – Palace Brothers (1994)
• Viva Last Blues – Palace Music (1995)
• Arise Therefore – Palace Music (1996)
• Joya – Will Oldham (1997)
• I See a Darkness – Bonnie 'Prince' Billy (1999)
• Ease Down the Road – Bonnie 'Prince' Billy (2001)
• Master and Everyone – Bonnie 'Prince' Billy (2003)
• Sings Greatest Palace Music – Bonnie 'Prince' Billy (2004)
• Superwolf – Matt Sweeney & Bonnie 'Prince' Billy (2005)
• The Brave and the Bold – Tortoise & Bonnie 'Prince' Billy (2006)
• The Letting Go – Bonnie 'Prince' Billy (2006)
• Lie Down in the Light – Bonnie 'Prince' Billy (2008)
• Beware - Bonnie 'Prince' Billy (2009)
• The Wonder Show of the World - Bonnie 'Prince' Billy and the Cairo Gang (2010)
• Wolfroy Goes to Town - Bonnie 'Prince' Billy (2011)

Response[link]

Some of his albums, such as There Is No-One What Will Take Care of You (1993),^[6] Viva Last Blues (1995),^[7] and I See a Darkness (1999),^[8][9][10] have appeared on greatest albums lists.

He is mentioned in the lyrics of the Biffy Clyro song "Saturday Superhouse" and is the main character in the song "Williamsburg Will Oldham Horror" by New York anti-folk artist Jeffrey Lewis.

Johnny Cash recorded a version of "I See a Darkness" on his American Recordings disc, American III: Solitary Man (2000). Oldham provided backing vocals.

Steve Adey also covered "I See a Darkness" on his 2006 LP All Things Real.

Mark Kozelek recorded a version of Oldham's "New Partner" on his 2008 disc, The Finally LP.

Katatonia covered "Oh How I Enjoy the Light" on their 2001 EP Tonight's Music.

In 2009 Mark Lanegan and Soulsavers recorded a cover version of "You Will Miss Me When I Burn". The release is a split single, backed with the Lanegan penned "Sunrise" featuring vocals by Oldham.

In 2011, Deer Tick's cover of Oldham's song "Death to Everyone" appeared in an episode of Hell On Wheels.

Film[link]

Will Oldham began his acting career at the age of 17, when he portrayed a teen preacher in John Sayles's film about an Appalachian mining community, Matewan (1987). Oldham moved to Hollywood to pursue acting in the late 1980s,^[11] and landed roles in a couple of films. However, he quickly became disillusioned with the film industry and quit in 1989.^[12] He has since had several minor roles in independent films, such as Julien Donkey-Boy (1999), Junebug (2005), and The Guatemalan Handshake (2006). Oldham took a lead role in Old Joy, which was featured at SXSW XX and opened at New York's Film Forum on September 20, 2006. Will Oldham also played the role of a preacher in the "Horse Apples" special of WonderShowzen in series 2 of the show. In 2009, he has been the narrator of "Madam and Little Boy", a documentary film about atomic weapons directed by Swedish artist Magnus Bärtås. In 2010, Oldham had a small part in Jackass 3D as a gorilla trainer. Oldham revealed that he had to write a theme song in the style of a Saturday morning cartoon show for filmmaker Lance Bangs' life to get the role.^[13]

Filmography[link]

• Matewan (1987), directed by John Sayles
• Everybody's Baby: The Rescue of Jessica McClure (1989) (TV movie)
• Thousand Pieces of Gold (1991)
• Elysian Fields (1993)
• Radiation (1998)
• Julien Donkey-Boy (1999) (uncredited role), directed by Harmony Korine
• Slitch (2003), directed by Dianne Bellino
• Tripping with Caveh (2004), directed by Caveh Zahedi
• Junebug (2005)
• The Guatemalan Handshake (2006)
• Old Joy (2006)
• Trapped in the Closet- Chapter 15 (2007)
• Wendy and Lucy (2008)
• Madam and Little Boy (2009)
• Jackass 3D (2010)
• Pioneer (2011)

Photography[link]

Will Oldham shot the black-and-white cover photograph of Slint's 1991 album Spiderland. The photo depicts members of the band treading water in the lake of an abandoned quarry.^[14]

Oldham also featured as guest aesthetic designer for the North American literary magazine Zoetrope All Story (vol 11, no 1) in 2007. In a note contained in the issue, he jokes that it would be "really magnificent to imagine this issue as a cocktail party at which all of the contributors, word and image, are present. add a bowl of keys and some mushroom cookies and i am there. [sic]"

References[link]

External links[link]

This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links, and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references. (May 2012)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Will Oldham

• Bonnie 'Prince' Billy official website
• Will Oldham at Drag City (record label)
• Bonnie 'Prince' Billy at Domino Records (record label)
• Will Oldham at Allmusic
• Will Oldham at the Internet Movie Database
• The Royal Stable - Fan site with news, photos, tour dates, etc.
• The Pulpit - Fan site with some lyrics and tablature
• Daytrotter session
• Freewilliamsburg.com interview
• Bonnie 'Prince' Billy as Guest DJ at NPR Music
• The Pretender - Profile of Will Oldham in The New Yorker
• www.music-illuminati.com - Interview

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. Tagged since July 2009. Its lead section may not adequately summarize its contents. Please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of the article's key points. Tagged since November 2009.

Raymond Paul "Ray" Mears (born 7 February 1964) is an English woodsman, instructor, author and TV presenter. His TV appearances cover bushcraft and survival techniques, and he is best known for the TV series Ray Mears' Bushcraft, Ray Mears' World of Survival, Extreme Survival, Survival with Ray Mears, Wild Britain with Ray Mears and Ray Mears Goes Walkabout.

Early life[link]

Mears grew up in Kenley, Greater London, and the North Downs, where he discovered a countryside abundant with wildlife. Educated at Reigate Grammar School, a co-educational independent school in Reigate, Surrey, he learned to track foxes in the forest at a young age. As a boy, he desired to sleep out on the trail, but unable to afford camping equipment, he resorted to setting up camp using what he could find in his surroundings.

Interests[link]

Mears's enthusiasm for his subject, combined with his broad knowledge of survival and the uses which may be made of plants, trees and other natural materials found in woodland, forest or desert, have made him a popular figure in TV broadcasting in the UK.^{[citation needed]} He has travelled extensively across the world for his TV series and has learned survival techniques from the indigenous peoples he has met. In his programmes he demonstrates his knowledge of the wild, how to find food from seeds, berries, roots and other growing things, and how to survive by constructing temporary shelters, fires and canoes from natural materials.

Mears has practiced Judo for many years. He once proudly on TV when challenged as a guest wrestled the then winner of a 6 player bushmans tournament. Mears emerged victorious after a strenuous and competitive match. The bush community were most impressed.

Mears is particularly interested in the survival of groups of resistance fighters and partisans for extended periods during the Second World War, such as the Norwegian heavy water plant saboteurs (see The Real Heroes of Telemark^[1]) and the Bielski brothers in Belarus (see Extreme Survival).

Personal life[link]

Mears met his partner, Rachel, in 1992 when she attended one of his five day survival courses. The couple lived in East Sussex with her two adult children, and married in 2005, after Rachel was diagnosed with breast cancer. Rachel died from cancer in 2006, aged 50, and her ashes are scattered in the Ashdown forest near their home.^[2]

While filming a documentary in Wyoming in 2005 Mears was involved in a serious accident. The helicopter in which he and his camera crew were travelling struck the ground during a steep low level turn, and broke apart, rolling to a stop. The fuel tank was ruptured in the accident, and escaping fuel covered Mears and the crew. No fire occurred, and Mears was able to escape the wreckage and assist in the rescue and first aid of one of the crew who was badly injured. Mears escaped uninjured.^[3]

Non-television work[link]

Mears started his bushcraft company aged 19. Mears' first book, The Survival Handbook, was published in 1990. Mears has continued to publish books, both standalone works, and as accompaniments to his TV series.

In September 2007, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from Oxford Brookes University, and in the same year he began to deliver public lectures across the United Kingdom on his experiences in front of and behind the lens.

In July 2010, Mears was asked by Northumbria Police to help them track fugitive killer Raoul Moat, after he fled his temporary tent-based shelter in the village of Rothbury.^[4]

Television[link]

Mears has made a number of series for BBC television, visiting various parts of the world and covering such topics as bushcraft and survival skills, the traditional culture of indigenous peoples, and the achievements of noted explorers.

In 2009 he was approached by ITV to present a planned revival of its long-running nature documentary series Survival.^[5] The resulting three-part series was rebranded Survival with Ray Mears and broadcast on ITV1 in 2010. Each episode followed Mears as he used his tracking skills to locate bears, wolves and leopards. In a Radio Times interview to promote the series, Mears complained of being typecast by the BBC.^[6] This series was followed by Wild Britain with Ray Mears, also broadcast by ITV.

Series[link]

• Wild Tracks (BBC, 1994)
• Tracks (BBC, 1994–97)
• Ray Mears' World of Survival (BBC, 1997–98, 2 seasons of 6 episodes each)
• Ray Mears' Country Tracks (BBC, 1998, 2002–03)
• The Essential Guide to Rocks (BBC Education, 1998)
• Ray Mears' Extreme Survival (BBC, 1999–2002, 3 seasons of 6 episodes each)
• Ray Mears' Adventure Special (BBC, 2001) – Mears takes Ewan McGregor into the Honduran jungle on the trail of the prehistoric people of the Mosquito Coast.
• Ray Mears' Real Heroes of Telemark (BBC, 2003)
• Ray Mears' Bushcraft (BBC, 2004–05, 2 seasons of 5 episodes each)
• Ray Mears' Wild Food (BBC, 2007, 5 episodes)
• Ray Mears Goes Walkabout (BBC, June 2008, 4 episodes)^[7] – Mears tours the Australian outback. An accompanying hardcover book was published in the UK by Hodder and Stoughton in March 2008. In the series Mears meets one of his heroes: Les Hiddins (aka "The Bush Tucker Man"). He also heads to the Kimberley region to meet the reputed aboriginal artist and bush guide Ju Ju Wilson.
• Ray Mears' Northern Wilderness (BBC Two, Autumn 2009, 6 episodes) – Mears follows in the footsteps of pioneers who opened up Canada, such as Samuel Hearne, John Rae and David Thompson.
• Survival with Ray Mears (ITV, Spring 2010, 3 episodes)
• Wild Britain with Ray Mears (ITV, Autumn 2010, 6 episodes) - To be followed in 2011 by extended 60 minute episodes with exclusive additional content to be broadcast on UKTV's natural history channel Eden.

Books[link]

• The Survival Handbook (1990)
• The Outdoor Survival Handbook (1992)
• Ray Mears' World of Survival (1997)
• Bushcraft (2002)
• Essential Bushcraft (2003)
• The Real Heroes of Telemark: The True Story of the Secret Mission to Stop Hitler's Atomic Bomb (2003)
• Ray Mears' Bushcraft Survival (2005)
• Wild Food by Ray Mears & Professor Gordon Hillman (2007)
• Ray Mears Goes Walkabout (2008)
• Vanishing World - A Life of Bushcraft (2008)
• Northern Wilderness (2009)

Quotations[link]

Quotations by Ray Mears include:

• "Bushcraft is what you carry in your mind and your muscles."
• "The great thing about bushcraft is that wherever you go, the skills go with you."
• "One of the great things about bushcraft is that skills you learn in your back garden can be used all over the world." ^[8]
• "Knowledge is the key to survival and the best thing about that is: it doesn't weigh anything."
• "You cannot underestimate the importance of preparation."
• "As far as I'm concerned, these people are just showmen." On Bear Grylls^[9]

See also[link]

• Les Hiddins
• Mors Kochanski
• Lofty Wiseman
• Richard Proenneke
• Les Stroud
• Bear Grylls
• Rüdiger Nehberg
• Bruce Parry
• Lars Monsen

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Ray Mears on Myspace
• Ray Mears at the Internet Movie Database
• Ray Mears Woodlore on Facebook
• Ray Mears Bushcraft's channel on YouTube
• Ray Mears' Survival shows on Dave (UKTV)
• Photographs of 2005 helicopter accident
• Wild Britain on itvWILD