Nationality British Name Robert Eagle | Role Writer Education Gresham's School | |
Full Name Andrew Robert Martin Eagle Born April 30, 1948 (age 76) ( 1948-04-30 ) Norwich, England Occupation Writer, director and art dealer Known for Guru Busters; Alternative Medicine; Modern British art Books Taking the Strain, Herbs, Useful Plants, Sun Storm | ||
Robert Eagle (born 30 April 1948), is a British writer, producer and director of documentary and drama for film and television, now working in fine art.
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Early life
Robert Eagle was educated at Gresham's School and Magdalene College, Cambridge.
Work
His documentary Guru Busters, about the campaign to eradicate superstition, religious fraud and quackery in India, provoked controversy with its vivid, occasionally disturbing, depiction of the work of leading Indian rationalist campaigners such as Prabir Ghosh, Sanal Edamaruku and Basava Premanand. Followers of the guru Satya Sai Baba attempted, unsuccessfully, to prevent the documentary being broadcast in South Africa and Australia, complaining about the film's use of previously suppressed video material that allegedly showed the guru using legerdemain trickery. Eagle continued to investigate supposedly supernatural phenomena as series producer of Supernatural Science for the BBC.
Science, medicine, controversy and fraud are recurrent themes in his work. Back in 1980 his book Alternative Medicine - a guide to the medical underground won the Medical Journalists Association's special award. He went on to write and present two series of programmes on alternative and traditional medicine for BBC Radio 4. He was series editor of the innovative Channel 4 television health series Well Being. He also produced many programmes for young people on science and art, including the series Picture This! and Big Questions for Channel 4 and Video & Chips for ITV and a television dramatisation of Jamila Gavin's novel Grandpa Chatterji.
In September 2009, he was severely injured while flying a vintage Auster aircraft, but survived the accident. In 2013 Eagle quit the film and television industry to pursue a new career in fine art, focusing on the work of British 20th century painters. His projects include a study of the "forgotten" British artist, David Rolt (1916-1985).