With special guest: 

• Keenan Mundine
  … in conversation with Bill Kable 

Dreamer, nothing but a dreamer. That might be where it started for our guest today Keenan Mundine after a beginning in life that really didn’t give him a chance. 

But after Keenan had spent the first half of his life in the criminal justice system he came to a realisation. Keenan either had to change his ways or face up to spending his life behind bars. Fortunately for us and for Keenan he decided to make a worthwhile contribution to society. And so was born Deadly Connections where he is the co-founder along with his wife Carly. 

Keenan established Deadly Connections over a year ago and the charity is officially recognised with DGR status meaning that any donations of $2 or more will bring a tax deduction. 

So what is Deadly Connections? What does “deadly” mean anyway? You can be sure that in this context it does not mean life threatening. In Keenan’s community it means something very good. Keenan and Carly do their work by getting right into the community with several approved programs. They aim to get to the Koori kids at risk and turn them around before they become candidates for entering the criminal justice scene. 

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With special guest:

• Jeff Apter
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

It is hard to discover who the real Lee Gordon was but Jeff Apter provides a whirlwind tour of this extraordinary life in his book Lee Gordon Presents. We know Lee Gordon arrived for the first time in Australia in September 1953. We know he left for the last time in 1963 before he died alone in a London hotel at the age (probably) of 40. Not much is certain about his real name, his date of birth and why this brash American decided on making Australia his home. But in the ten years he lived in Australia he revealed himself as a force of nature.

Lee Gordon must have been a charming personality. He prevailed upon a whole host of the most successful entertainers in America to make the long trip to Australia and perform in sometimes primitive venues such as the Sydney Stadium. Those entertainers who fell under his spell included Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, Johnny Cash, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis and the list goes on.

At first Australian audiences were wary that the stars would not really be performing. They thought that when the time came they would be presented with a film or perhaps impersonators but when the stars kept coming Lee Gordon had some hugely successful tours.

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With special guest:

• Dr Gabriel Weston
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

In her absorbing new book called ALIVE Doctor Gabriel Weston looks in admiration at the incredible work 11 organs of our body do to keep us alive. Gabriel tells us that if the space permitted she would have liked to examine at least another 14 organs but we do get to investigate the most interesting.

Somehow Gabriel manages to talk about body parts without making even the most squeamish feel uncomfortable. This is clear when the book begins with a post mortem description that is very detailed. Gabriel is also able to deal with the genitals in a very matter of fact way that generates more light than heat.

What comes out most strongly in ALIVE is the sense of wonder that Gabriel feels when describing what the organs of the body do. Gabriel first felt this as a child when she was likely to go towards an accident or medical emergency. The feeling grew when she was invited to attend a surgical procedure but seemed thwarted when her maths and science abilities were not up to the standard required for entry into medical studies.

So Gabriel studied the subject she was good at namely English literature. Luckily for all of us she found a way into medicine and found her true calling.

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With special guest:

• Dr Gideon Blecher
  in conversation  with Bill Kable

This is a topic that is not often raised in polite company or even on talkback radio.

Many men would be reluctant to discuss testicular cancer even with their doctor. This is despite about 700 men being diagnosed in Australia every year, and in men aged 18-39 it is the second most common form of cancer.

In this program we go to an expert at Healthy Male (formerly Andrology Australia), Dr Gideon Blecher, to find out what we should know. And there is some good news to pass on. Gideon refers to Lance Armstrong who developed this form of cancer before his later Tour de France exploits. We are told that Armstrong is a great example to show that even when the cancer has spread to other parts of the body modern treatment can lead to a full recovery.

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With special guest:

• Dr Billy Garvey
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

Our guest today is Dr Billy Garvey who is an expert in a field where you do not get provided with a guide book. All parents know the feeling when following the birth of your child you are set free expecting to know how to raise this very complex small version of ourselves.

One of the first things Dr Billy tells us that it is quite normal not to immediately develop the bonding and attachment that we sometimes hear about. Using his own example with his two children we hear that it took some time for this to develop.

Ten things I wish you knew about your child’s mental health is there to help all of us who encounter difficulties with children of any age. This extends from having a baby that cries at night too much, right through to sullen teenagers. That includes most of us. Whatever the problem is it is most likely that it has been seen before in Dr Billy’s 20 years of practice and the advantage here is that you do not have to go into a long waiting line, sometimes years long, to get advice from the doctor.

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With special guest:

• Dr Will Davies
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

The battlefields of World War 1 are now mostly beautiful green fields with some still hiding bullets and ordinance from over 100 years ago. To fully appreciate the sacrifices made in the First World War by young Australians from “the Golden Generation” you have to know what you are looking at when you see these fields more than 100 years after the shots were fired. Our guest today Dr Will Davies can help visitors get the most out of a visit.

After hearing the stories from Will, names like Pozieres, Mouquet Farm, Fromelles and Ypres will never seem the same. There are extraordinary monuments representing the countries that participated in the war to end all wars. These include the English, the American, the Canadian, even one from Newfoundland. And there is the Australian monument at Villers-Bretonneux.

There is a daily ceremony at Menin Gate rain hail or shine that should not be missed. And Will has developed his own ceremony on his tours involving gum leaves from home.

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With special guest:

• Marco Renai
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

What comes across very clearly when we speak with Marco Renai is that he is a ball of energy.

After Marco left school he had a path available to him in his family’s catering business. HIs first solo business venture was to set up a gym where members could improve their physical condition and wellness under Marco’s guidance. This was Marco’s first attempt at interacting with the community but alas Covid 19 struck. When the members stopped coming, the business folded.

This is where Marco’s strong family background and personal experience in the field of education shaped what happened next. While Marco had struggled with the discipline and uncompromising system of education he always had his loving and supportive family to fall back on. But when he was asked to volunteer some mentoring to local youth in the Gold Coast region of Queensland he realised that for many young men this safety net was not available. Sure enough, for many of the young men dropping out of the education system led on to big trouble with society and the law.

Having recognised the problem, Marco set about doing something about it. Marco rounded up some 100 local businessmen for an Italian lunch and over a pasta or two came up with a plan to raise $1million to help these young men. Being a force of nature this daunting sum did not pose a problem.

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With special guest:

• Chrissie Foster
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

This is the story of how Chrissie Foster responded and refused to back down when confronted by an all-powerful secretive protected institution. Chrissie Foster’s family tragedies and the tepid response by the Catholic Church changed her from living a life of domestic harmony and peace in a totally unexpected way.

No doubt when the choice of schools had to be made for their daughters there were discussions between Chrissie and her husband Anthony. Because of Chrissie’s background being raised and educated in the Church they chose a Catholic primary school. Years later they discovered what their daughters had endured.

Chrissie tells us how two of her young daughters were sexually abused by a priest in the Catholic Church. This went against generations of religious faith in her family. Fortunately Chrissie’s family were prepared to join her and give all the support they could when the Church failed to respond. Chrissie’s mother had been a lifelong attendee at weekly Mass but she chose to give that practice up as a result.

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With special guest:

• Dr Gregory Smith OAM
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

Now well and truly out of the forest he described in his first book, Gregory Smith has produced his next book called Better than Happiness in which he lets us know how he has progressed in the five years since we heard from him last time.

Gregory’s life story is extraordinary and uplifting. Gregory had a type of epiphany when sitting on a park bench in 1999 when a stranger showed him some kindness. From there it has been one step at a time.

After being told so many times while he was growing up that he was stupid, he slowly began to realise that this was wrong. He found that he could learn more things than just how to survive day to day. In fact he achieved recognition in an academic field. Senior people were coming to him for advice.

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With special guest:

• Sean Turnell
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

It is a special welcome to our guest today Sean Turnell. Sean survived for 650 days in Insein prison under the orders of the military Junta of Myanmar. In Sean’s book An Unlikely Prisoner we hear how this unarmed University Professor who weighs 50kg wringing wet became a dangerous prisoner to a foreign government needing armed escorts wherever he went.

We hear from Sean that he was summarily arrested in his hotel before being confined to a small cell he shared with an enormous rat. Nothing could prepare a person for this ordeal and Sean did not see it coming. Yet as you will hear in this interview Sean maintained his faith in humanity, his sense of humour and mostly his health.

Perhaps the worst aspect was the uncertainty. Sean first thought that he would not be a priority for the authorities, that he would be fairly swiftly deported. It seemed that detention for a month would be the likely horrible outcome. But as the months went by there seemed to be no progress. Was he ever going to be released?

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With special guest:

• Brett Mason
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

Most Australians have some knowledge of the turning point in the Pacific war when the fear of invasion lessened. Most of us know something of the heroic story of Lieutenant John F Kennedy or JFK as he became known. Brett Mason in his book Saving Lieutenant Kennedy fills in the gaps in this amazing and hugely consequential story. These events literally changed the history of the world because if JFK had not survived it is conceivable that nuclear conflict could have erupted in the years that followed.

The story happens to involve an Australian who was also heroic, namely Lieutenant Reg Evans of the RAN. Reg Evans operated behind enemy lines knowing that if they were to be betrayed he would certainly be tortured and killed. Evans relied on his Solomons Islands friends who faced the same threats in what they were doing.

Evans and JFK were two very different personalities brought together in August 1943 in a way that echoes the discovery of Dr Livingstone in the African jungle. JFK’s words on being discovered on an uninhabited island of the south Pacific? “Man, am I glad to see you!”

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With special guest:

• Dr Michael Molkentin
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

If we are looking for a genuine Australian hero then we need go no further than South Australian Sir Ross Macpherson Smith born in 1892. After he volunteered to enlist for the First World War Ross Smith had a very full but tragically short life.

His first experience of war was to wade ashore at Gallipoli, not in the first wave on 25 April 1915 and not on a horse as he might have expected having joined the 1^st Light Horse Brigade as an excellent horseman. His early experience in the War was mostly as an infantry man although he did have one engagement mounted on a horse.

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With special guest:

• Lorin Clarke
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

The mere mention of John Clarke’s name brings a smile to the faces of Australians and New Zealanders in particular.

The much loved actor/writer/comedian died suddenly on 9 April 2017 but his memory lives on. Now with her book Would that be funny? John Clarke’s daughter Lorin Clarke ensures that we learn some more about the man we all feel we grew up with. Lorin really did grow up with him and she has a unique insight into the man who appeared so often on our radios and televisions.

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With special guest:

• Jeff Apter
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

Jeff Apter has written the definitive story of Neil Finn, one of the Finns, including some remarkable things about this Kiwi icon we claim as an Aussie.

Neil first appeared in our consciousness as a freaky member of the band Split Enz. He was the one up front singing I Got You which he also wrote. The band was not a one hit wonder but there were tensions among the members particularly between Neil and the leader of the band, his brother Tim, which cut short the life of the band.

Ultimately Tim gave his brother good advice, go and form your own band and this led to Crowded House arriving and taking over the world record charts.

Jeff Apter tells us that his book focusses on the music while filling in a lot of the background to the songs and the life of Neil Finn. For many of us a song Neil wrote will have a special meaning because it appeared at an important stage of our lives and the beautiful melody burns the message into our brains.

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With special guest:

• Brendan Watkins
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

The title of this book Tell No One has an ominous ring to it. We can imagine sex offenders threatening their victims should the story ever get out. As Brendan discovered there may also be another reason for this instruction involving a power imbalance.

Brendan knew at a young age that he had been adopted but when he started looking for his biological parents he did not know if his conception may have resulted from a sexual offence or young love or something else. One thing that kept driving Brendan was his desire to know the truth wherever that may lead.

The first part of his story was surprising. His mother had been 27 when Brendan was born so she was not the teenager in trouble who adopts out her child under pressure from her family. Then the shock of finding out that his mother had been a nun, a bride of Christ. Having made this discovery Brendan was mightily disappointed when the Catholic agency acting as intermediary advised that his mother said they must never meet.

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