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FEBRUARY NEWS
February 1, 2012
Ken Fletcher was inducted into the
Australian Tennis Hall of Fame on Australia Day -- 26
January 2012 -- during the Australian Open in
Melbourne just before the semi-final match where Rafa Nadal defeated
Roger Federer.
The
Induction Ceremony was broadcast
later that night
on Channel 7 nationally during
the break in the Nadal/Federer match (along with Melbourne’s
Australia Day fireworks).
It
all took place in Rod Laver Arena, and Rod Laver himself,
Kenny's old friend and nemesis, was there in the audience
in the President’s
Reserve -- sitting with his old doubles partner Jimmy
Shepherd -- to witness Fletcher's Induction. And Rod made an
appearance in the video presentation screened as part of the
ceremony. They
closed the roof of Rod Laver Arena for the Induction
Ceremony at 7 pm and a giant photo of Fletch in action
was projected over the entire court. On the big screens
above the crowd, Tennis Australia played a video
presentation of Ken’s tennis life showing old b&w footage:
Ken and John Newcombe winning the Wimbledon doubles; Ken and
Margaret Smith when they won the Grand Slam of Mixed in
1963. And lots of photos of Ken – while singer Beven Addinsall
belted out I Did It My Way. He did it better and
louder than Frank Sinatra himself and later he performed
Advance Australia Fair so magnificently he made our
national anthem actually sound stirring for the first time.
Beven did such a rousing rendition the whole crowd stood
applauding.
Earlier in
the evening, before the Ceremony, the Tennis Australia
president, Steve Healy, hosted a dinner in the President's
dining Room next to the glass cabinet holding the Cup. I sat
at a table with tennis legend Roy Emerson and his sparkling
wife Joy. Until then I had no idea whether Roy -- who beat
Fletch in the 1963 Australian Open final and who now lives
in America -- had read The Great Fletch. But he told me it
was a good book about the amateur days. He said he was very
pleased at Fletch being honoured. Also at our table were
Kenny's girlfriend Cathie Creagh with Chuck and Helga
Feeney. When Roy was introduced
to Chuck, he exclaimed: “You’re the bloke from the Fletch
book!” Sitting at the crowded round tables circling the
arena I spied various people from the tennis world: There
was Rod Laver’s old doubles partner, Jimmy Shepherd, once of
Moorooka, who has just returned to Brisbane to coach tennis
after 43 years in America. Jimmy was very close to Fletch's
old mate Frankie Gorman who as a young man was
tragically
killed in a car accident. Also
there were Jimmy Moore, a former Wimbledon player and now
international tennis referee, originally from the Atherton
Tableland; dentist Lance Mesh who flew down from Buderim on
Queensland's Sunshine Coast; and Billy Lee Long who flew
down from Cairns in Far North Queensland. Also from the
Fletch book was "Concentrate Susan" -- Sue Baker (nee
Cameron) whose late father Nugent, of Sherwood in Brisbane,
mentored Ken as a boy and took him to be coached by Harry
Hopman. Nugent Cameron’s granddaughter Victoria Baker flew
in from Sydney. Susan wore jewellery given to her by the
Sung family who had sponsored Fletch in 1965 Hong Kong.
Also at the
tables were sports greats like Ashley Cooper and his wife
Helen Wood; Ken Rosewall and his wife (former Brisbane girl)
Wilma; Greg Chappell; Neale Fraser. The former BBC Voice of
Tennis, John Barrett, was at the dinner (and said how much
he loved the Fletch book, as did the two gentlemen with
him)… before all the guests all filed out to watch the
Induction on centre court.
Ken’s two
children Julien and Jenni unveiled the bronze bust on the
court while Federer and Nadal waited to enter and play.
Julien told the crowd it was a pity it didn’t happen while
Ken was alive, but now it had happened and that was the
important thing. And he thanked Tennis Australia.
The
video presentation (which was later broadcast on Channel 7)
included interviews with Rod Laver, Roy Emerson, Ashley
Cooper and Alan Jones (who was unable to attend because he
is appearing on stage in "Annie the Musical"). Among
other things, Ashley said that, “at his top Fletch had the
best forehand in the world”. Rod Laver said Ken was very
talented but didn’t train much or prepare for matches
(true). And Emerson said all he could say was Fletch had "a
hell of a forehand" and was “a real character and he
always made me laugh”. The clip finished with Emerson saying
“… Ken was a character, read his book”!
The
Governor of Victoria and two Victorian university
vice-chancellors were seated at the dinner. I didn’t know it
was going to happen, but, as I ate the Scotch fillet, I was
called out by the MC
Craig Willis (The Voice of AFL)
to tell the dinner guests a bit
about Fletch. I told how during the Wimbledon Mixed
Doubles Final Ken told Margaret Court how to return Tony
Roche’s serve – “Marg, just shut your eyes and belt shit out
of it”. And how he learnt to play as a tiny boy by tucking
the giant racquet under his armpit and hitting the ball up
against the small backboard on the old ant-bed court behind
his parent’s rented Annerley house at 524 Ipswich Rd in
Brisbane. He thus developed the great forehand – but didn’t
hit backhands because if the ball went over the fence Mrs
McQuinny wouldn’t give the ball back. And the Istvan Gulyas
story at Stade Roland Garros when Gulyas (known by
frustrated opponents as the road-runner) got to every
ball and hit it back over. Finally this was too much for
Fletch, and he belted the ball high up into the air and out
into the Bois de Boulogne, yelling across the net: “Get that
one, you Hungarian bastard”.
Click on the link below to read the excellent preview that
Mike Colman wrote in the Sunday Mail newspaper on 16
January 2012.
http://www.couriermail.com.au/ipad/tomic-latest-link-in-great-heritage/story-fn6ck6i3-1226244453910
And
on ABC Radio 612 in Queensland, Spencer Howson interviewed
Hugh Lunn about the ceremony and Kenny's career. you can
listen to an edited version by clicking on the link below.
http://blogs.abc.net.au/queensland/2012/01/fletch-honoured-his-mate-hugh-lunn-remembers.html?site=brisbane&program=612_breakfast
And on Wednesday 25
January, Fran Kelly on ABC Radio National talked to Hugh
about Fletch:
http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/breakfast/
But...
Fletch has not yet been honoured in his home town,
even though he is the best
tennis player ever to have come out of Brisbane (Annerley
Junction).
There is a move on to name a Brisbane park after Kenny. The
park is at our own tennis centre at Tennyson. It would be a
fitting way to honour both his tennis achievements (which
include five Wimbledon titles, the only man ever to win the
Grand Slam of Mixed doubles [with Margaret Court], and his
name is etched on the Davis Cup) but even more so, it would
acknowledge his personal achievement in bringing US
philanthropist Chuck Feeney to Brisbane to give $500million
to medical research and hospitals in Australia, more than
half in Queensland.
_____________________________________ The
Great Fletch Made Great
26 JANUARY
2012
Kenny Fletcher has at last been honoured in the Australian
Tennis Hall of Fame (to read Tennis Australia's official
announcement, click on link below). Fletch was
Inducted in a special ceremony on the Centre Court during
the Australian Open on Australia Day 2012 and his bronze bust
will be put on display on a pillar in the avenue of honour at Melbourne Park.
It is a Great Honour which Ken
earned with spectacular performances on tennis courts in
most countries of the world, and then by bringing the
American philanthropist Chuck Feeney home to Brisbane with
him in 1992 which led to gift-giving and science-building on
a scale Australia had never witnessed before -- so far
$500million worth, which leveraged three times that much..
For the Tennis Australia updated story with a photograph of
the bronze bust of Ken Fletcher, click on this link:
http://www.tennis.com.au/news/2012/01/27/ken-fletcher-inducted-into-australian-tennis-hall-of-fame If
you want to know more about Kenny, you can read the eulogy
on the news page of this site.
SPEECH If you want to see the film of
the speech I made to graduates at the University of Southern
Queensland in 2011 at the Empire Theatre in Toowoomba, the
university put it up on youtube. It's in two parts, the
links are below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMCi4lJI-jA&list=UU4Dr63DZknX3bfVJyVQLhYw&feature=plcp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AX-jgKfemic&list=UU4Dr63DZknX3bfVJyVQLhYw&feature=plcp
State of Origin
-- The Musical
I have written a Musical using all Qld songs
and story that would involve the whole state. Only trouble
is I don't seem to be able to get to anyone in the industry
or govt who makes a decision on something like this. Anyone
know anyone? How do you get something like this discussed in
Qld??? Govt websites tells you nil. Any suggestions to
my email address.
______________________________ August
2011 The play I wrote of OVER THE TOP WITH JIM
was performed in Wynnum, Brisbane, by boys from Iona
College plus girls from three local Catholic schools in
August.
I******************************************
July 2011
My new radio serial was performed live on stage at the
Queensland Music Festival 2011... and was broadcast
on ABC Local Radio throughout Queensland on Steve Austin's evening show. You can still listen to
it podcast at ABC via the link below.
http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2011/07/18/3272095.htm?site=brisbaneµsite=accessallarts§ion=latest&date=(none)
So what is it all about? The crew that does ROCKWIZ on SBS TV on Saturday nights
asked me to write a five-part serial which was performed on
stage in Townsville, Caloundra, Brisbane (twice) and the
Gold Coast as part of their "Queensland Country Comfort Hour
Show". The serial had to be heightened-reality, funny,
contain music and sounds and be uplifting for Queenslanders
everywhere after cyclone and flood. The divine Julia Zemiro was the
star. The serial was just 10 minutes in the second half of a
full evening's concert featuring Brian Nankervis, Julia
Zemiro, the Rockwiz band of James Black, Peter Luscombe and
Mark Ferrie. Plus Brisbane actor Andrew Buchanan, Sydney
actor Bruce Spence and
a four-woman chorus called The Nymphs. Every show featured a surprise guest: one night it was Don Walker from Cold
Chisel, another night Patience from The Grates, Phil
Emmanuel and Christine Johnston from the Kransky Sisters. It
was all part of the Queensland
Music Festival 2011.
Details: www.qmf.org.au
_________________________________________ My
LATEST BOOK is "WORDS FAIL ME:
a journey through Australia's lost language"
WORDS FAIL ME is the sequel to "Lost for
Words". After "Lost for Words" came out, readers inundated
Hughie with more old words and phrases, plus stories, so he
put them together in WORDS FAIL ME.
WORDS FAIL ME revisits the
rich, inventive and roguish language Australians used to
speak before globalism stole it away.
So many phrases arrived, it
was like trying to take a sip out of a fire hose. Some were
so obvious, if they were snakes they would have bitten
Hughie by now. WORDS
FAIL ME intertwines the sayings and phrases of yesteryear
with true stories and anecdotes which recapture what
Australia used to be like back when. These contrast with
modern language madnesses: the road signs, the asterisks,
the gobbledegook, jargon and corporate-speak that have
replaced the way we used to speak. we used to have our own
lingo --- clear, joyful and exaggerated.
________________________________
Forgot to mention
department: Two of my books -- Over the Top with Jim and
Lost for Words -- were named in the "50 books you can't put
down" as part of "Books Alive".
_________________________________
New York TENNIS Magazine said
of "The Great Fletch" -- "Think Russell Crowe in tennis
whites".
The SMH said: "The life of a working-class kid from
Brisbane who, with only his talent and charm, conquered the
world... so compulsively entertaining... imbued with warmth
and charm".
Kris Humphreys wrote in the Sunday Age: "This
book had me wishing I could race out and buy tickets to the
tennis... Ken Fletcher was the James Bond of the tennis
world mixing it up with film stars and royalty, yet worried
that his mum would disapprove of his glamourous life."
Graem
Sims, "Inisde Sport": ..."As good as it gets... you will be
genuinely moved by the mad, magic rollercoaster of his life.
They don't make 'em like The Great Fletch anymore." SPIES LIKE US The talking book of Spies
Like Us has been released by ABC Music. The 5-CD set is
introduced with Macca singing his own song Spies
Like Us, which perfectly captures the James Bond era
in which the story is set.. Ian McNamara wrote the words and
the music. The 48 episodes ~ which were broadcast on
Macca's national ABC Radio show, Australia All Over in
2009 ~ are read by Melbourne actor Peter Curtin, who did the
Over the Top with Jim radio reading. Spies
Like Us starts with arrival in Hong Kong in 1964,
follows Hughie and Ken Fletcher's escapades with girls,
gambling, tennis and journalism, through to Hughie's
dramatic entry into China, Russia, then through Berlin and
on to the swinging sixties in London where Ken once
again tries to conquer Wimbledon. The talking book is for
sale in ABC Shops plus music shops.
ICONS
Six authors were voted Queensland Icons in the vote to
celebrate Queensland's 150th anniversary in 2009. The authors,
including Hughie, were in the influential artists category. Those who have
"left a lasting impression on the people of
Queensland". The authors were David Malouf, Hugh Lunn and
William McInnes plus Oodgeroo Noonuccal, Judith Wright and
Steele Rudd. Some of the other cultural icons were the Bee Gees, Powderfinger, Geoffrey Rush, Keith Urban and Savage Garden.
In other categories the demolition of Cloudland and the
Bellevue, and the Fitzgerald Inquiry were named.
You can check out all 150 winners at www.q150.qld.gov.au
Working for Rupert review
Hypercritically reviewed in The Australian the
memoir Working for Rupert finally
received a good review -- in Mexico!! Washington-based
journalist Ignacio Cruz Herrera wrote an article about
Murdoch's Wall St
Journal take-over in 2008:
'Among the dozens of books written on the most
influential Australian in history there are at least a
couple of biographies instructive, that of Neil Chenoweth
and William Shawcross, but without a doubt the most
instructive, emotional, enlightening and ironic is the
Australian journalist Hugh Lunn's Working for Rupert.'
The book on Kenny Fletcher's dazzling life
ABC Books published my biography on my mate Kenny on October 1
2008.
I have always wanted to write a book about Kenny’s amazing life
because few Australians (if any) have ever done half the things he
did, or ever knew half the people he befriended around the world.
He was unusual in that he literally had hundreds of very close
friends. Such as the revered war hero Leonard Cheshire VC, the
billionaire philanthropist Chuck Feeney, and Australian tennis
legend Frank Sedgman.
He won Wimbledon with John Newcombe and Margaret Smith Court. |