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Marcel Theroux | |
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.jpg) Theroux in October 2017 | |
| Born | (1968-06-13)13 June 1968 (age 57) Kampala, Uganda |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 2002–present |
| Children | 2 |
| Relatives |
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| Website | marceltheroux |
Marcel Raymond Theroux (born 13 June 1968) is an English-American novelist and broadcaster. He has written novels such asThe Confessions of Mycroft Holmes: A Paper Chase (2001),A Blow to the Heart (2006),Far North (2009), andStrange Bodies (2013). He won theSomerset Maugham Award forThe Confessions of Mycroft Holmes and theJohn W. Campbell Memorial Award forStrange Bodies. He has also hosted documentaries on various topics and worked for TV news stations inNew York City andBoston.
Marcel Raymond Theroux was born on 13 June 1968 inKampala, the son of American travel writerPaul Theroux (who was teaching atMakerere University at the time) and his English then-wife Anne (née Castle).[1] He is of French-Canadian and Italian descent through his father. He is the older brother of documentary filmmakerLouis Theroux, the cousin of actorJustin Theroux, and the nephew of writersAlexander Theroux andPeter Theroux. He spent the first two years of his life in Singapore, where his father taught at theNational University of Singapore and where his brother was born.
When Theroux was two years old, he moved with his family to his mother's native England, where he was raised in theWandsworth area of London. After attending astate primary school, he boarded atWestminster School and became close friends with future deputy prime ministerNick Clegg.[2] He studied English literature atClare College, Cambridge, then won a fellowship toYale University to studyinternational relations with a specialisation inSoviet and East European Studies.
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Theroux began presenting documentaries forChannel 4'sUnreported World series in 2000. In 2004, he presentedThe End of the World as We Know It, part of theWar on Terra series aboutclimate change. He was chosen as presenter because he originally knew nothing about the subject. He initially believed that all environmentalists were opposed to technological progress, but became convinced that the world faced a global problem on a scale so serious that an expansion of nuclear energy was probably the best solution. He interviewedShell chairmanRon Oxburgh, but a PR assistant interrupted them; Oxburgh's negative views on the consequences of current oil consumption were likely considered detrimental to the corporation's image.
In March 2006, Theroux presentedDeath of a Nation onMore4 as part of theState of Russia series. In the programme, he explored the country'spost-Soviet problems, including population decline, the growing AIDS epidemic, and the persecution of theMeskhetian Turks. During interviews, he revealed that he is able to speak basic Russian. In September 2008, he presentedOligart: The Great Russian Art Boom, exploring the role ofRussia's oligarchy in keeping the country's art history alive by buying and exhibiting domestic art.
In March 2009,Faber & Faber published Theroux's novelFar North, a future epic set in theSiberiantaiga. That month, he presentedIn Search ofWabi-sabi onBBC Four, as part of the channel'sHidden Japan season of programming. He reported from Japan to explore the aesthetic tastes of Japan and its people. In 2012, he presented a documentary forUnreported World Series 23, on the subject of street children inUkraine.
Theroux's novelStrange Bodies won the 2014John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel. In 2017, he presented a documentary forUnreported World which explored the social and economic consequences of the recent rise in Orthodoxy and Russian nationalism underVladimir Putin. In 2020, he presented another documentary forUnreported World, which explored middle-aged single Japanese men's obsession withjunior idols and whether this was a quirk of Japanese culture or something more sinister.
Theroux lives in theTooting area of London with his wife and their two children.
