From the past:
“The daughter of the minister from Gordon Anglican church taking me into the church amongst the pews was different …”
2004
Well let’ see..I came from Ulladulla via the inner city Annandale to Gordon West Primary ...and I was already a school truant and a pretty wild child.. my parents thought by moving to the North shore might settle me down a bit but my first experience leaving school on the first day was having a fight with Randall at the school gate ...funny how some friendships start.
Growing up on West Pymble was great ....now my first recollection of high school was first Chatswood, then Hornsby tech then the brand new ABHS and being one of the first year boys was pretty special looking back at it.
Now what do I remember.. being a prefect that was a hoot ...I had the best job keeping the boys out of the girls section of the train on the way home....didn’t I make the most of that...this was the time of the St Ives stomps, untold parties, surfing at Palmy and Bilgola ...Duffel bags and Levi Strauss jeans.... the Greengate pub....and babes.
The daughter of the minister from Gordon Anglican church taking me into the church amongst the pews was different,
Chris Hansberry the best kisser I’d ever known , Didi, the infamous JW, and a few others from the neighbourhood ..wow what a place to grow up ...for a boy full of testosterone just wanting to break out.
Oh yeah school, well my most famous recollections, taking the PE teacher up to the headmaster after he told me that I couldn’t do PE because my hair was too long...I think his name was Rigg a big bruiser...who got me back later when we had a school touch footy match teachers against the kids team. ...we were killing them and I was about to score when he crashtackled me from behind ...then it was on ...it started a full-on brawl ..my mates were all over him...punches flying and they had to stop the game.
I got a good role in a school play once as Cinderfella I don’t know how many of you remember that. I know I got a few offers on the night....oh yeah and having to front up to the headmasters office the next day for having a few beers at school...I think there was a few of us .
On the last YEAR...The bonding session down to Stanwell Park with few of the guys and I think the Geography teacher ..a great guy. We carried a couple of cases of beer to some little shack and got well and truly pissed ...and one of the guys going berserk with a knife ...I think he had a few serious problems....ah still a bit of fun ...I remember carrying the shitcan down to the cliff and trying throw it out to sea , the only trouble was the wind was blowing in the wrong direction and we coped a mouthful not pretty. ..
Well after leaving school I cracked a teachers scholarship doing Art ..at the famous East Sydney tech and at Alexander Mackie teachers college...that lasted a couple of years... but the pub at Taylor’s square and the chicks from the art school at east Sydney got the best of me...and I succumbed to a life of partying, drugs and you know the rest ...rock and roll..
Then I landed I job painting sets at Channel Nine for Bandstand and the Sound of Music...in two days working with designers we would bash out these huge sets that sometimes were still wet when they went into the studio to do the recording.
It was a great job sometimes finishing at one on the morning we would hit the only bar open called the VIP bar at the cross. It was above the LES girls nightclub.. our designers were gay so what went on in this club was outrageous.
But then the money was crap so I ended up taking a graphic design job at ACI in Surry hills designing fruit boxes.. then after a year I got a call from Channel Nine to work in their graphics department for even better money ...
I worked for The Packers SIR FRANK and the two brothers ...boys there are stories to tell about them but not here.
Except the one when Sir Frank fired me for miss-spelling one of his mates name wrong..he just rang up the station and told the news director who ever made the mistake was fired ....I thought how can I check this ...their was a big dumpster out the back full of last nights crap so I got into it and found amongst the cream rolls and twisted shit a list with the names on it and discovered the name had been misspelt by the news department.
It gave me great pleasure taking it up to the new directors office and telling him he they should gets their facts right before they fire people and you can stick your job up your arse...
I was offered my job back that same day but by then I had enough of the nine mentality and started at Seven the next week where I’ve been for the last 30 years.. until I retired 6 months ago.
THE YEARS AT SEVEN...have been the most fulfilling of my life ...I’ve directed and produced over the years many on air-spots.
Travelled overseas for work to lots of cities...had some fabulous experiences and picked up numerous international awards ...my last being this year -
The world medal from The New York Festival for my promotion of last years Bledisloe Cup.I can’t figure out what the yanks thought of sheep doing the haka.
I’ve been married to the same beautiful women for 32 years I met at East Sydney Tech... who was a stunning dress designer. I have a wonderful 29 year old daughter Skye who is a promotion producer at Channel Ten...and is married to a audio director Anthony..plus an intellectually handicapped daughter Sasha who is 13 and the pleasure of our lives. I’ve started to paint again after 20 years of not picking up a brush... I have a passion for cooking...which my wife loves.. and golf which my wife doesn’t . I live on the Northern Beaches where god takes his holidays.