Sunday 19 November. Flew to Brisbane - four and a half hours; more bad movies, another time change. Had dinner with Philip Bacon one of my oldest friends who owns the Philip Bacon Galleries and advises me on my art collection, particularly the Australian artists Glover, Bunny, Boyd and Nolan. He had a large Arthur Boyd he wanted me to look at, but because of my itinerary, I won't be able to see it untill Wednesday.
Monday 20 November. Woke in time to read the morning papers and have breakfast in my room. I have never seen so much cricket coverage in any British newspapers as in the broadsheets here; they devote five or six pages to the upcoming match on Thursday. Four radio shows to do this morning, and straight after lunch an appearance on the Paul Holmes show for Newstalk ZB - Paul is the Jeremy Paxman of New Zealand. The interview lasted for an hour, and because no other New Zealand press have yet interviewed me, it was more about prison than the book. When I left the studio, I bumped into four former England captains - Botham, Gower, Hussain and Atherton - all checking into the hotel. Had a long chat with Ian, who, despite the loss of Trescothick, is still convinced we can win the Ashes. I also remain optimistic. A nice way to end the day.
Tuesday 21 November. Signed stock at Macmillan's office this morning, followed by an official signing session at Angus & Robertson. The Australians always turn out in great numbers at these events, and I thought I was past being surprised by anything. However, one lady asked me to sign her book which I duly did, and then she fainted. Jeannine (my estimable publicity lady) and Rose (who runs the store), took the lady off and revived her. I was not allowed to see her again. The next person in the queue was a Japanese lady who looked very distressed, and it was some minutes before normality returned.
Off to a Dymocks literary lunch where I was delighted to find that the average age was about 30, rather than the usual 50. Had a fun lunch with a nice group of people, in particular Frances Whiting, a journalist, who reminded me that when she last interviewed me for over an hour, recording every word, she arrived home to find the tape-recorder hadn't been switched on.
Had dinner that evening at Philip Bacon's home - he had the usual dazzling array of guests: a high court judge, a cabinet minister, a political lawyer, a leading journalist and one of Australia's most distinguished artists. The company was sparkling and witty. The general consensus was that John Howard will win yet another election, because Kim Beasley is not a convincing leader of the opposition.
John Howard is a remarkable man. I first met him almost twenty years ago when he had just been sacked as leader of the opposition. The Liberals (conservatives) then chose another leader who also managed to lose the next election, so they somewhat reluctantly elected John Howard back as their leader. He was repeatedly told that he was a stop-gap until they found someone who could beat the Labour party. If John manages to win the next election (his fifth), he will become the longest serving Australian Prime Minister since Sir Robert Menzies, the great war-time leader.
Monday 20 November. Woke in time to read the morning papers and have breakfast in my room. I have never seen so much cricket coverage in any British newspapers as in the broadsheets here; they devote five or six pages to the upcoming match on Thursday. Four radio shows to do this morning, and straight after lunch an appearance on the Paul Holmes show for Newstalk ZB - Paul is the Jeremy Paxman of New Zealand. The interview lasted for an hour, and because no other New Zealand press have yet interviewed me, it was more about prison than the book. When I left the studio, I bumped into four former England captains - Botham, Gower, Hussain and Atherton - all checking into the hotel. Had a long chat with Ian, who, despite the loss of Trescothick, is still convinced we can win the Ashes. I also remain optimistic. A nice way to end the day.
Tuesday 21 November. Signed stock at Macmillan's office this morning, followed by an official signing session at Angus & Robertson. The Australians always turn out in great numbers at these events, and I thought I was past being surprised by anything. However, one lady asked me to sign her book which I duly did, and then she fainted. Jeannine (my estimable publicity lady) and Rose (who runs the store), took the lady off and revived her. I was not allowed to see her again. The next person in the queue was a Japanese lady who looked very distressed, and it was some minutes before normality returned.
Off to a Dymocks literary lunch where I was delighted to find that the average age was about 30, rather than the usual 50. Had a fun lunch with a nice group of people, in particular Frances Whiting, a journalist, who reminded me that when she last interviewed me for over an hour, recording every word, she arrived home to find the tape-recorder hadn't been switched on.
Had dinner that evening at Philip Bacon's home - he had the usual dazzling array of guests: a high court judge, a cabinet minister, a political lawyer, a leading journalist and one of Australia's most distinguished artists. The company was sparkling and witty. The general consensus was that John Howard will win yet another election, because Kim Beasley is not a convincing leader of the opposition.
John Howard is a remarkable man. I first met him almost twenty years ago when he had just been sacked as leader of the opposition. The Liberals (conservatives) then chose another leader who also managed to lose the next election, so they somewhat reluctantly elected John Howard back as their leader. He was repeatedly told that he was a stop-gap until they found someone who could beat the Labour party. If John manages to win the next election (his fifth), he will become the longest serving Australian Prime Minister since Sir Robert Menzies, the great war-time leader.
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