Roger Took

Roger Florian Took (1944 – 29 July 2011) was a British 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. In 1985 he founded Artangel, an institution within the field of contemporary art. In December 2003, his book Running with Reindeer: Encounters in Russian Lapland, described life on Russia's Lapland and Kola Peninsula, and was shortlisted for the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award. Took was later recognized as an expert on the mediaeval Russian fur trade.

In April 2007, Took was arrested for paedophilia-related crimes, and in February 2008 was jailed for a minimum of four and a half years as part of an indeterminate sentence for 17 crimes relating to child abuse. Early life Born in Macclesfield, Took was the son of George Took and his wife Paula Schischka. He was educated at Haileybury College, Sandhurst, and the Courtauld Institute. Career

Artangel

In 1985, Roger Took founded Artangel, a London-based arts organisation that commissions work ranging from sculpture to film from international artists. It was taken over by James Lingwood and Michael Morris in 1991.

Running with Reindeer: Encounters in Russian Lapland

Following his departure from Artangel in 1992, Took began his trips to Kola Peninsula in Russian Lapland because there was little known about the area. He prepared by taking a crash course in Russian and getting some arms training. Over the years he became fluent in Russian and began to use a Cyrillic keyboard.

In December 2003, Running with Reindeer: Encounters in Russian Lapland was published in hardback. Written in a travelogue style, Took begins the book detailing the events of his first trip to Murmansk (often referred to as Russia's Lapland) as the first traveler to the area in 70 years, A 2004 article in the Canadian Journal of History reviewed it as "quite an extraordinary book", but continued on that "the final sections of the work prove to be ... highly disappointing." The book was shortlisted for the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award in 2004.

Personal life In 1981, Took met a painter, Pat Cleary, who was a rich divorcee with children. Their families had been associated for decades. Despite her father's concerns that the financially struggling Took was only interested in marrying his daughter for her money, the two were married on 12 July 1983 The mother alerted the police and a six-week investigation was launched, during which Took was unaware that his family knew what had been happening.

Took was arrested at Luton airport in April 2007 following a police investigation that uncovered 742 chat room logs in which Took boasted about a child rape and murder.

Took was given an indeterminate sentence by Judge Henry Blacksell QC who believed he "posed a danger to all children." Judge Blacksell had reviewed thousands of pages of evidence, and was visibly shocked when he told the court, "It is unrestrained filth, depravity of the worst kind." His case received little publicity and he enjoyed support from former colleagues. Those who spoke were his older half-brother, John Michael Took; the Reverend Adrian Gabb-Jones; and Matteos Los, a schoolfriend from a Greek shipping family.

Took killed himself in July 2011 while on probation.