John Hartigan

From the past:

"hard to forget the old guy who used to launch dusters and chalk in my direction. He should have spent more time practising in sideshow alley as his hit rate was abysmal..."

2004

My recollections of ABHS are a bit like my recall of my studies while sitting the Leaving Certificate - hazy at best -the only upside being the probability that I don’t have Alzheimers, unless of course I contracted it in mid-teens. School was all part of a pubescent blur. Slightly interesting but not the main game.

Born November, 1947, I spent the first ten or twelve years living in Yass, now little more than a truck stopover but then a proud rural centre. My old man ran the local hospital and mum was a theatre sister. Life was pretty good.

It started to go a bit downhill when we moved to Lithgow (needs many more Marjorie Jacksons to put this place on the map although it was home to Laurie Oakes - can’t you tell?) Went to school there with Caspar Ozinga.

Not sure when came to Sydney (the memory loss had begun to kick in) and initially stayed for a brief time in a house at Hornsby before moving to Chatswood. For some reason I caught the train to Asquith despite living only a half wedge from Chatswood High.

Can remember few teachers although hard to forget the old guy who used to launch dusters and chalk in my direction. He should have spent more time practising in sideshow alley as his hit rate was abysmal.

Couldn’t leave school fast enough and in November 1964 started work as copyboy (or copyperson as the PC mob now dictate). Did four-year cadetship of the old Fairfax afternoon tabloid, The Sun, and became a graded journalist after bribing the shorthand tutor with a bottle of scotch.

Offered reporter’s job on Daily Mirror in 1970 and have been with News Ltd ever since. On the way spent couple of years working for our newspapers in London (The Sun, The Times, Sunday Times and News of the World) and then 18 months at the New York Post. Came back and edited Sunday newspaper in Queensland called Sunday Sun, then founding editor of Daily Sun launched in 1982. Back to Syd in 86 to edit Daily Tele and later to be ed-in-chief of Daily Tele and Sunday tele. Later became editorial director of all News’ Australian (plus PNG and Fiji) newspapers (about 130 different mastheads in all states). Then in 2000 was appointed CEO of News, a position I still hold. My responsibilities are the newspapers, management rights of Foxtel, Fox Sports, and NRL. Interestingly, the CEO of Australia’s second largest media company Kerry Packer’s PBL is a guy named John Alexander, an ex ABHS student who was I think 3 years adrift of us.

My private life has been pretty stable (if you can call any marriage stable?) Married Gerri Sutton, a journalist who writes TV for Who magazine in 1970. One child, daughter Jess, now 25, who works as designer in fashion industry.

My social activities mostly involve drinking. But when I’m not I like keeping up my fitness (have recently had to take a break from long distance running because of knee injury). Was a member of Chatswood gold club for 20 odd years (the golf was pretty odd too!)

Now live at Roseville and have a place in Hunter Valley where I spend occasional weekends with the people who best relate to me - cows!