Roger F. Took was an art historian, museum
curator, author and convicted
child sex offender who lived in London, Ireland, and Russia. In the course of his career, he ran several museums in England, was a fellow of the
Royal Geographical Society, and a former director of the Barbican Art Gallery. He attended
Sandhurst and the
Courtauld Institute. He married in 1983, and in 1985 founded
Artangel, an institution within the field of contemporary art. In December 2003,
Running with Reindeer: Encounters in Russian Lapland, Roger Took's detailed description of life on Russia's Lapland and Kola Peninsula, was published in hardback. This book was
shortlisted for the
Thomas Cook Travel Book Award. Took was most recently acclaimed as an expert on the mediaeval Russian fur trade.