Jon Ronson Totally Explained

Everything about Jon Ronson totally explained

Jon Ronson (born 10 May 1967) is a Cardiff-born journalist, author, documentary filmmaker and radio presenter. His journalism and columns have appeared in British publications including The Guardian newspaper and Time Out magazine. He has made several documentary films for television and two documentary series for Channel 4. Ronson has also hosted the late-night television debating show For The Love Of.... Ronson has a distinctive self-deprecating reporting style, which incorporates aspects of Gonzo journalism. His articles and stories often detail his process of information gathering and he's 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 journalists Louis Theroux and John Safran have cited Ronson as an influence.

Works

Writing

Jon Ronson's first book,, is an investigative account of his experiences with people labelled as extremists. These include 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. The book, a bestseller, was described by Louis Theroux as "a funny, adventure through a paranoid shadowy world". 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 is reportedly being played by a woman.
Ronson's second book The Men Who Stare At Goats deals with the secret New Age unit within the US 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.
Ronson's third 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 about his domestic life. A second volume, What I Do: More True Tales of Everyday Craziness, was published in November 2007. 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

The Ronson Mission (1994) BBC 2
New York To California: A Great British Odyssey (1996) Channel 4
Hotel Auschwitz (1996) BBC Radio 4
Tottenham Ayatollah (1997) Channel 4
Critical Condition (1997) Channel 4
Dr Paisley, I Presume (1998) Channel 4
New Klan (1999) Channel 4
Secret Rulers of the World (2001) Channel 4
The Double Life of Jonathan King (2002) Channel 4
Kidneys for Jesus (2003) Channel 4
I Am, Unfortunately, Randy Newman (2004) Channel 4
Crazy Rulers of the World (2004) Channel 4
Death in Santaland (2007) More 4. This is a documentary about a foiled school shooting plot in the Christmas theme town of North Pole, Alaska.
Reverend Death (2008) Channel 4 about George Exoo an advocate of euthanasia.

Radio

Ronson contributes to Public Radio International in the United States, particularly their programme This American Life. He has contributed to the following of its programmes:

Them

Family Physics

Naming Names

It's Never Over

Habeas Schmaebeas

The Spokesman He presents a BBC Radio 4 programme, Jon Ronson on... which was shortlisted for a 2006 Sony award.
In the early 1990s Jon 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's 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. Jon also co-presented a KFM show with Craig Cash, who went on to write and perform in The Royle Family and Early Doors.

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 Manchester indie band The Man From Delmonte.

Bibliography

Out of the Ordinary: True Tales Of Everyday Craziness (Paperback - Picador/Guardian Books - November 3, 2006) ISBN 0-330-44832-3

The Men Who Stare At Goats (Hardcover - Picador - November 19, 2004) ISBN 0-330-37547-4

Them: Adventures with Extremists (Hardcover - Picador, 2001) ISBN 0-330-37545-8, (Hardcover - Simon & Schuster, 2002), ISBN 0-7432-2707-7 (Paperback - Simon & Schuster - January 1, 2003) ISBN 0-7432-3321-2

Clubbed Class (Hardcover - Pavilion Books Ltd - October 27, 1994) ISBN 1-85793-320-6

Notes and references

Further Information

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