RADIO BROADCASTER
Long live the ABC. In providing me with the opportunity to script and present radio programs. Long live the ABC. In providing me with the opportunity to script and present radio programs the ABC also spurred me on to do more and more research. I was fortunate in the mid-sixties to meet two of the most remarkable men in the ABC's history – Alan Ashbolt was head of what was then Talks and Current Affairs – a peculiar department crowded with radicals and eccentrics. Alan was a well-known 'lefty' and had a loyal band of presenter producers like Robyn Ratlich, Stan Corrie and Stephen Rapley who would get me in to write and present book reviews. I loved these little opportunities. Over in the Music Department Harold Hort ruled the roost and what a strange roost it was! Harold was a charmer of the old school but highly eccentric. He and I lunched regularly at the Woolpack Restaurant or at one of the small Italian restaurants in the Cross. He was a Buddhist of sorts and a vegetarian but he also loved a glass of wine and bawdy poetry and songs. We had a great time and, with his blessing, I churned out program after program of Australian folk material. We never did produce the definitive program on bawdy songs but we talked about it often enough. I suspect Harold used me to shock his old school ABC Music Department staff. I was a very eager pup in those days, fresh from school and already playing at radio. Christopher Lawrence, later to become and important classical presenter, was a young and enthusiastic producer and he teamed up with me to work on some major folk series. We remain good friends to this day. Time has confused my memory of the early ABC folk programs but I certainly remember these key ones. I wrote all the scripts and performed in most productions. Navvy on the Line The Great Australian Legend The Song Carriers A World of Music While The Billy Boils It featured the Larrikins (Jack Kevans, Cathie O'Sullivan, Bob McInnes, Declan Affley plus guest singers and a number of leading actors including Lex Foxcroft. The ABC issued it as a 16 cassette set and, apparently, sold over 50,000 copies. In those days, unfortunately, we didn't receive a royalty. Songs of Animals A Christmas Pudding. Curios of Sydney Streams of Songs Billy Barlow How Mabel Laid the Table The Larrikin Festival of Music TELEVISIONAs they say: "I have a better face for radio". Despite this I managed to get my mug on television.
My most important role was for ABC TV when Dave de Hugard and myself were dressed up as old swaggies and had to have a discussion, around a fake campfire, with Mr Squiggle. In the early eighties I scored a job as Talent Producer for a new TV series that went out at 6pm every Saturday night. It was called That's Australia and hosted by John Derum. It was a drama since the program was really supposed to be a television version of Australia All Over, the popular radio program, and it was also supposed to be hosted by Ian McNamara. Despite the ABC politics the show was hugely successful and ran for two seasons before the ABC decided to axe it. Maybe it was too successful?
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Click on an image to see a larger version The Great Australian Legend This was a very ambitious project – 16 half hour programs tracing the history of Australia through folksong. It featured Peter O'Shaughnessy and Declan Affley and was really successful.
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