Born in London, Saunders studied philosophy at the University of Leicester and travelled to Australia in 1981 to continue research at the Australian National University where he earned his PhD.He joined the ABC in 1988 and has been hosting broadcasts there regularly since. Last Tuesday he felt ill while presenting his radio show and was admitted to hospital.
In 1992 he was awarded the Pascall Prize for critical writing and broadcasting and in 2007 was awarded the Australasian Association of Philosophy Special media Prize. He also the author of a book : A Is For Apple and Alanna.
Alan lived a few doors away from the Shuttle and we often ran into him in the street or at the many foodie shindigs around Sydney. His Radio National program The Philosopher's Zone was required listening and one of the ABC's most downloaded program. Alan's calm, cultured deep voice was very re-assuring in a world gone haywire- as though everything was OK. He'll be deeply missed.
