Christopher Pickard

Christopher Pickard is probably best known as the 'ghost' of the Great Train Robber Ronald Biggs. He helped Biggs to write his best selling autobiography "Odd Man Out: The Last Straw" (published by Bloomsbury / M-Press); "The Great Train Robber" (Bonnier / John Blake); "The Great Train Robbery - The Crime of the Century" (M-Press); and the novel "Keep On Running" (Bloomsbury). Through his own company, Critical Divide, Pickard has produced and developed a number of motion picture and television projects for the international market. These include "Cannes Uncut" with Special Treats Productions; "Ronnie Biggs: No One Is Innocent" with TVZero; "On Parade: Carnival in Rio"; "Rio 50 Degrees: Carry on CaRIOca!" with FAME; "St Helena: Napoleon & the Middle of Nowhere"; and a drama series based around the life and times of Ronald Biggs. He assisted the development and appeared on screen in the two-part documentary "The Legend of Ronnie Biggs" (2002) for Channel Five in the UK, and the 60-minute documentary "Ronnie Biggs: Last Escape?", which aired on Sky One in 2005. Pickard traveled the world for many decades covering the film and television industries as a journalist, and lived for several years in Los Angeles where he was editor-in-chief of Moving Pictures, based in the office of Variety, and attended four Academy Awards. He has edited publications at the Cannes, Berlin, Rio de Janeiro, Sundance, Rotterdam, Panama and Karlovy Vary film festivals, and has written for Variety, Screen International, Pulse, Down Beat, Cash Box, Songlines and Music Week, among other entertainment publications. He is editor of "Cannes: The Guide" and "Oscars: The Guide" and a member of the Chartered Institute of Journalists. He is a consultant to Festival do Rio, Rio de Janeiro's International Film Festival and lived in Rio for over 20 years, being involved with Brazil since the 1970s. He wrote The Insider's Guide to Rio, for many years the largest selling guidebook to Rio de Janeiro, and has contributed to numerous books about Brazil, as well as writing articles in newspapers and magazines, including as the arts and entertainment editor of The Latin America Daily Post. He also wrote and produced a best selling video version of his guidebook to Rio. He is chair of the London based Anglo-Brazilian Society and a founding Trustee of the LATA Foundation.