Tim Butcher awarded the Society's Mungo Park medal

The RSGS was delighted to present Tim Butcher with the Mungo Park medal in recognition of his outstanding contributions to geographical knowledge through exploration and work of a practical nature of benefit to humanity in potentially hazardous physical and social environments.  Butcher received his award from Mike Robinson and Professor Roger Crofts following a fascinating talk about the subject of his new book, The Trigger, at Stirling University's Logie Lecture Theatre on Thursday 22nd May. 

First awarded to Captain Angus Buchanan in 1930 for his crossing of the Sahara, the Mungo Park medal has a rich history of being presented to some of Britain’s most highly regarded journalists, including Michael Buerk, Kate Adie and John Simpson.

On the award, Tim Butcher said "I am enormously proud to have joined the ranks of former medalists, not east Great Uncle Eric Shipton."  Eric Shipton received the Society's Livingstone Medal in 1951.

Tim Butcher

Tim Butcher worked for The Daily Telegraph between 1990 and 2009, holding a series of positions including leader writer, war correspondent, Africa Bureau Chief and Middle East Correspondent.   After being sent to cover Africa in 2000, he decided to recreate H.M. Stanley’s trans-Africa expedition solo. Four years later he travelled through the Democratic Republic of Congo overland in an assortment of vessels including a motorbike and a dugout canoe, an experience documented in his number 1 bestselling book Blood River: A Journey to Africa's Broken Heart. 

Butcher's second major work, Chasing the Devil: The Search for Africa’s Fighting Spirit, describes a 350 mile trek through Sierra Leone and Liberia following a trail blazed by Graham Greene.  Tim travelled in these countries at difficult times and under constant threat, he even faced a personal death threat from Charles Taylor.

Mungo Park Medal

In his time at The Daily Telegraph, Butcher specialised in covering awkward places at the most difficult times: Kurdistan under attack in 1991 by Saddam Hussein, Sarajevo during the Bosnian War of the 1990s, the Allied attack on Iraq in 2003, Israel's 2006 clash with Hizbollah in southern Lebanon among other crises. His work has helped to shed lights on the real lives of the simple everyday people who live in war zones, and to expose the true stories of conflicts around the world.

His journeys to research his new book, The Trigger: The Assassin that Brought the World to War, took him back to Bosnia, where he had previously covered the War of the 1990s.  He followed in the footsteps of Gavrilo Princip, the young Serb who assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand.

Tim Butcher's latest book, The Trigger

Scotland's First Professional Nature Photographer Laurie Campbell shares his photos of 'Wild Harris'

Photographer Laurie Campbell will share his stunning images from his time working for the North Harris Trust in talks for the Royal Scottish Geographical Society in Inverness, Perth and Stirling between 13th-15th January.

The evening’s presentation will show the results from a recent project where Laurie worked on a photography commission for the North Harris Trust to photograph the wildlife, landscape and a little of the culture of a community-owned 62,000 acre estate in this wild and beautiful part of Scotland.

Working through the seasons over the course of a year on the Trust’s 62,000 acre estate, he will describe his experiences of photographing species such as golden eagles in winter, and then from a tiny camouflaged hide thirty feet away on a cliff ledge overlooking their eyrie where he captured some of the most intimate photographs ever taken of these birds at the nest.

Although the commentary throughout the presentation will occasionally include some technical information about equipment and photographic techniques used, the style is equally aimed to be informative about the various habitats and subjects together with the fieldcraft skills required to get close to them.

This talk is kindly sponsored by Scottish Natural Heritage.

Born in Berwick-upon-Tweed in 1958 and with a life-long interest in the natural world, Laurie Campbell has dedicated over thirty five years to photographing Scotland’s distinctive wildlife and flora. In the beginning his aim was simple, to show what he had witnessed to others who might have neither the time nor the inclination to go out into the field and experience nature in as much detail for themselves.

After graduating from a four year degree course in photography at Napier University he continued accumulating stocks of photographs of wildlife and in 1985 became Scotland’s first full-time professional nature photographer. His imagery is published across a range of media and is widely recognised for its distinctive style and his preference for using natural light and belief in photographing subjects which are neither captive or manipulated but simply as he finds them in the field.

Laurie’s talk Wild Harris will take place at 7:30pm on:

13th January - Inverness - The Highland Council Chamber, Glenurquhart Road, Inverness, IV3 5NX

14th January - Perth - North Inch Community Campus, Gowans Terrace, Perth, PH1 5BF

15th January - Stirling - Logie Lecture Theatre, University of Stirling, Stirling, FK9 4LA

Everyone is welcome. Tickets are £8 for adults, free for students, under 18s and RSGS members.

For more information about the RSGS talks and how to join the Society visit www.rsgs.org, contact us on enquiries@rsgs.org, find us on Facebook or follow the Society on twitter @RoyalScotGeoSoc.

Speaker asks "Do We Really Travel Anymore?"

Dan Kieran, author of The Idle Traveller: The Art of Slow Travel, will speak in Inverness, Stirling and Perth between the 11th and 13th of March

He will discuss the modern approach to travelling. Dan will ask if we really travel any more, or if we just arrive.  Besides extolling the virtues of ‘staycation’ holidaying. Dan argues that we need to bin the brochure, glide rather than fly, embrace disaster, be epic in our travel pursuits, and immerse ourselves in the life-changing experience of true journeying.

Dan Kieran "The Idle Traveller".

Dan avoids flying, preferring to travel slowly to his destination out of the belief that it helps us understand more about ourselves and the places we pass through and visit. 

These talks are part of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society’s Inspiring People talks programme.

Dan is Deputy Editor of The Idler, a bi-yearly British magazine. He is a writer, editor, and CEO and co-founder of the crowd-funding publishing platform Unbound. 

He is Editor of Idler Books' Crap Jobs, Crap Holidays (Crap Vacations in the United States), The book of Idle Pleasures, Co-editor of two volumes of Crap Towns, author of I Fought The Law, Planes, Trains and Automobiles and co-author of Three Men In A Float with Ian Vince.

Dan’s talk “The Idle Traveller” will take place at the following times and venues.

Inverness: Monday 11^th Feb at 7:30pm.

The Highland Council Chamber, Glenurquhart Road, Inverness, IV3 5NX.

Perth: Tuesday 12th Feb at 7:30pm. 

Perth Concert Hall, Mill St, Perth, PH1 5HZ.

Stirling: Wednesday 13th Feb at 7:30pm.

Albert Halls, Albert Place, Dumbarton Road, Stirling, FK8 2QL

Tickets are £8 for adults, (redeemable if buying membership) and free for students, under 18s and for RSGS members. Tickets are available on the day from the venue. For more information about any of our talks this season please visit www.rsgs.org/events/