Julian Roup

Julian Roup’s professional background combines Writing, Marketing, Journalism and Public Relations.

Born in South Africa he lived in Cape Town for the first 30 years of his life. He has a Journalism Degree from Rhodes University in South Africa and worked subsequently at the Cape Times and the Cape Argus before emigrating to England in 1980.

He founded his own PR Consultancy, Bendigo Communications, in 1993. Clients have included: Virgin Atlantic, Bonhams, Bradford & Bingley, and the Development Agency for the Western Cape in South Africa. He has also created PR campaigns for the British Army, Black Horse Agencies, Christie's, the Government of Malta, the London Underground, British Rail InterCity, NSPCC, and the RSPCA, amongst others.

For 12 years he worked as Director of Press and Marketing for Bonhams International, the fine art auction company. When he joined the company was the fourth largest of its kind in England. When he left it was the third largest fine art auction house in the world.

He is the author of four books: a non-fiction children’s book, ‘A Day In the Life of an MP’; a memoir of growing up in South Africa, ‘A Fisherman in the Saddle’; ‘Boerejood’ which explores the so-called ‘miracle’ of the peaceful change to democratic rule in South Africa; and ‘Life in a Time of Plague’ a memoir of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Boerejood’ also received critical praise by many, including the Financial Times in the UK, which described it as: “Brilliant, engaged, intelligent, personal….and funny”. The FT ran a 2,000-word feature on the book as its weekend magazine front cover story in May 2006. It was selected for the Library of Congress in the United States.