Beau Riffenburgh (born 1955) is an author and historian specializing in polar exploration. He is also an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

coach and author of books on football history.

Early career

A native of California, Riffenburgh was the Senior Writer and Director of Research for National Football League Properties in the eighties and early nineties. While there, he wrote or edited seven books, including the NFL's official encyclopedia. He served briefly as Editor-in-Chief for Total Sports Publishing.

Polar research

Riffenburgh earned his doctorate degree at the

Scott Polar Research Institute The Scott Polar Research Institute (SPRI) is a centre for research into the polar regions and glaciology worldwide. It is a sub-department of the Department of Geography in the University of Cambridge, located on Lensfield Road in the south ...

at the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

. He has written or edited numerous books on polar exploration, including ''The Myth of the Explorer'', a scholarly examination of the relationship of the popular press with exploration; ''Shackleton's Forgotten Expedition'', the story of

Ernest Shackleton Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton (15 February 1874 – 5 January 1922) was an Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer who led three British expeditions to the Antarctic. He was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age o ...

's Nimrod Expedition, which almost attained both the South Pole and the South Magnetic Pole; and ''Racing with Death'', the story of

Douglas Mawson Sir Douglas Mawson OBE FRS FAA (5 May 1882 – 14 October 1958) was an Australian geologist, Antarctic explorer, and academic. Along with Roald Amundsen, Robert Falcon Scott, and Sir Ernest Shackleton, he was a key expedition leader duri ...

's Antarctic expeditions. He was the editor of the ''Encyclopedia of the Antarctic'', a two-volume work that is the most comprehensive reference work ever produced about the Antarctic. From 1992 to 2005, Riffenburgh served as the editor of ''

Polar Record ''Polar Record'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering all aspects of Arctic and Antarctic exploration and research. It is managed by the Scott Polar Research Institute and published by Cambridge University Press. The journal w ...

'', the world's oldest journal of polar research. He has served as the head of the Polar History Group at the

and as a lecturer in the history faculty of the

Coaching career

While at Cambridge he put his expertise in

to use as the head coach of Cambridge's team in the British Collegiate American Football League. He was named National Coach of the Year twice in his five seasons (1991–1996). After Cambridge dropped their team, Riffenburgh spent one season as head coach of the University of Hertfordshire Hurricanes. The team went undefeated and won the National Championship during the 1997–1998 season, and he was again named National Coach of the Year

Riffenburgh was the first head coach of the Great Britain Bulldogs, the national university American football team, which won the first two European Championships in 1994 and 1996. He was inducted into the BCAFL's Hall of Fame in 2000 as part of the Hall's founding class.

Detective novels

Riffenburgh writes detective novels with his wife, Liz Cruwys, under the pseudonym

Simon Beaufort Susanna Gregory is the pseudonym of Elizabeth Cruwys, a Cambridge academic who was previously a coroner's officer. She writes detective fiction, and is noted for her series of mediaeval mysteries featuring Matthew Bartholomew, a teacher of medic ...

Partial bibliography

Books on exploration

* ''Encyclopedia of the Antarctic'' (2006) * ''Shackleton's Forgotten Expedition : The Voyage of the Nimrod'' (2005) * ''Nimrod: Ernest Shackleton and the Extraordinary Story of the 1907–09 British Antarctic Expedition'' (2005) * ''With Scott to the Pole: The Photographs of Herbert Ponting''. (1998, with

Elizabeth Cruwys Susanna Gregory is the pseudonym of Elizabeth Cruwys, a Cambridge academic who was previously a coroner's officer. She writes detective fiction, and is noted for her series of mediaeval mysteries featuring Matthew Bartholomew, a teacher of medici ...

) * ''The Myth of the Explorer : The Press, Sensationalism, and Geographical Discovery'' (1994)

Books on football

* ''20th Century Sports : Images of Greatness'' (1999, with Mike Meserole) * ''The American Football Almanac'' (1992) * ''NFL : Official History of Pro Football'' (1990) * ''Great Ones: NFL Quarterbacks from Montana to Baugh'' (1989) * ''Official NFL Encyclopedia'' (1986) * ''Running Wild: A Pictorial Tribute to the NFL's Greatest runners'' (1984)

Mystery

* ''The Watchers of the Dead'' (2019) * ''Mind of A Killer'' (2017) * ''The Coiners' Quarrel'' (2017) * ''The King's Spies'' (2017) * ''The Bishop's Brood'' (2016) * ''The Killing Ship'' (2016) * ''A Head for Poisoning'' (2015) * ''Murder in the Holy City'' (2014) * ''The Murder House'' (2013) * ''Deadly Inheritance'' (2011) * ''A Dead Man's Secret'' (2010) * ''The Bloodstained Throne'' (2010)

References

External links

Riffenburgh bio from publisher

Riffenburgh's Entry at BCAFL Hall of Fame
{{DEFAULTSORT:Riffenburgh, Beau Living people 1955 births Exploration of Antarctica History of the Arctic Alumni of the University of Cambridge American male writers People of the Scott Polar Research Institute