The Extraordinary Adventures of Roy Mathur
Author / Journalist / Presenter
I am a nomadic author, journalist, and presenter hatched in Saaf London, and warped by a steady diet of sherbet lemons, medically prescribed comic books (absolutely true—ask me in person), dirty grey rain, and chips.
As a child, I was obsessed with books, comics, films, and TV; particularly the science fiction, fantasy, and horror genres. I played video games on the Binatone TV Master (possibly a clone), the Sega Mega Drive, the original beige Nintendo Gameboy, and the breadbox Commodore 64 (the system on which I first started programming). My parents instilled in me a keen sense of history; I once even assisted my mother's excavations of a cache of 19th century pennies scattered along our garden path. I wrote stories, doodled, and, emulating my parents, snapped away with a series of film cameras. These early interests led to an education and career in science, technology, heritage, and finally media, and the journey has given my creative output a unique voice.
During an eternity in UK higher education, I cobbled together a peculiar mixture of skills and a bewildering array of impressive certificates, diplomas, and licenses, including a Masters degree in computery related stuff, and transferable credits and research experience in robotics, natural science, archaeology, and... Quite honestly, you could write an academic paper about my bizarre, spaghetti-like educational trajectory. Let's just say that I have accumulated an iceberg size mound of certification secured within the confines of an ancient sentient grey filing cabinet called Mr Bisley, who exudes a zen-like calm. Ommmmmmmmm.
My first career was a longish stint in the UK IT industry, before it went phut, thanks to the bosses, the bubble, and IR35. I started as a proper "have you tried turning it off and on again?" techie Morlock and ended running my own ETL consultancy (ETL—Extract Transform Load—sounds cool, right?)
Even while working, I continued my studies and volunteered in the conservation and heritage sector. After several years, I made my move; first running an archaeology practice, then becoming the curator and manager of a museum in Canada.
However, from the time I first entered the workforce, employment was never contiguous, (thank you very much late 20th/early 21st century economic chaos), but sandwiched between working in every conceivable job you care to mention, and quite a few you really would not, except astronaut as my application was rejected by NASA. Damn it.
Let's talk about writing and presenting, which are what I do now. After impressing the publisher and editor with my blog and podcast, I started as a technology and culture columnist, writing a weekly column in an English language national broadsheet newspaper in Mauritius called the Independent Daily. When it closed in 2013, I returned home to the UK and worked as a freelance journalist. I wrote features, news articles, and opinion pieces for print publications. I am also an author, but that pre-dates every other thing I have done by many years. Ouroboros style career planning or wot? Other creative media things I can do, have done, or continue to do, include scriptwriting, copywriting, content writing, developing text based computer games, voiceover, presenting, and podcasting.
As well indulging extremely eclectic, esoteric, and frankly eccentric, tastes in art and culture, my spare time is spent attempting the ascension to rockstardom, technological tinkering, and on or under the big blue H2O.
Things written about me.
These are a few of my favourite things:
"There’s Ed, Op Ed, Op, and then there’s this blog."---The Captain
"Well done son, keep it up!"---Tha Captain's mum"
"People will think you’re a nerd."---The Captain's dad
"I hate this!"—vox populi
"I don’t care."---The Captain
"Who the hell is the Captain anyway?"---Roy Mathur
"Finally, an honest review... great!"---Shayne T. Wright
"Podcast 71: Despite not feeling well, you did your 71st podcast, so I must say well done. You are a very determined podcaster. Keep it up."---Premjyotee 2015-03-02
"Great listen: A great podcast from an engaging host."---FragDoctor 2015-02-16
"A Fine Podcast for those of a Geeky Disposition: Roy's Rocket Radio was, until recently, unknown to me. As a confirmed geek, I'm always on the look out for podcasts that genuinely reflect my concerns as someone with interests that go beyond the mainstream. What's great about Roy is that he really knows his eggs. From the obvious, such as Trek and Star Wars, to the more obscure, The Captain is always on the mark. Plus, he's got a great way with the mic, making it a very easy listening experience---give it a go!"---The Geekhood Guy 2015-02-16
This cerebrally concocted and cleverly crafted grimoire is inspired by the d'elvish shadow scripts of Far Below (take the elevator down at Far Away). The curses within, cast by a foul and twisted sourcerous hand, wielding vile accursèd instruments cunningly wrought by dwarven-kind. Acknowledgements are grudgingly granted to the diverse legion of humans, gnomes, trolls, ogres, giants, the great and terrible Roc, rakshasa, satyrs, nymphs, djinn, skin walkers, centaurs, and other magical creatures and cryptids too numerous to mention, who have, under a terrible geas, unwillingly toiled in this villainous endeavour, and shall continue to do so (if they know what's good for them) unto the end of time! Hahahahahahahahaha! Look, I write... a lot, and I am a geek, so what did you expect? I mean, really...