Simon Wickham-Smith

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Simon Wickham-Smith is a British musician, academic and sometime astrologer. Born in 1968, he first came to the attention of the experimental music underground with the release of Lake, a collaboration with Richard Youngs issued under the slightly odd moniker R!!!S!!!. He and Youngs would go on to make many more albums including Ceaucescu, Pulse Of The Rooster and Metallic Sonatas for labels such as Forced Exposure, Majora and VHF. He has also released a handful of solo albums, including one for Campbell Kneale's Celebrate Psi Phenomenon label but he is not as prolific in this regard as his erstwhile partner. He is an occasional member of the Helsinki Computer Orchestra, an indication of his move towards computer based music during the late 90's and early part of this decade. A new collaboration with Richard Youngs was released in 2006, the product of a five-year plan in which the duo recorded just 10 minutes of music each year. The album was titled 5 Years.

In addition to his musical activities, Wickham-Smith is a member of the Association Of Professional Astrologers and, since 1998 has been researching the astrology of the transgendered and intersex community. He intends to publish a book on this subject. He was also a Tibetan Buddhist monk for some years and has extensively researched the life of Tshangyang Gyatso, the sixth Dalai Lama (1683-1706/46). In 2006, he published a translation into English of the complete poetry of Danzanravjaa, the fifth Noyon Khutughtu of the Gobi (1803-1856) and is at present working on translations of contemporary Mongolian literature, including Khökh Sudar by Injanashi.