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I have accepted your challenge, Steve! My 100 things.....


Mitch04

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OK, Steve Mallory! I have accepted your challenge! :-)

 

1. I was a choir boy at the age of 10-13.

2. I went to Adelaide's oldest private school, Pulteney Grammar School.

3. I was a Cub, a Scout, a Senior Scout and a Rover.

4. I was a Queen's Scout.

5. In my youth I was a bush walker (hiker to the Yanks) and knew the local hills like the back of my hand.

6. I have twice walked the west and southern coasts of Kangaroo Island on multi day walks.

7. I once represented, at the age of 15, South Australian children and youths in the wreath laying ceremony on ANZAC Day.

8. I worked for three Christmases as a shop assistant during school holidays.

9. My favourite Australian hoIiday venue as a youth was Victoria's Grampian mountain ranges.

10. I never went to university, instead preferring the school of hard knocks.

11. I was a copy boy on The Advertiser, South Australia's major daily newspaper.

12. I undertook a 4-year cadetship in journalism at The Advertiser....but completed it in 3 years.

13. I spent 12 months representing The Advertiser in the state's South East, and was based in Mount Gambier.

14. I was press secretary to the state of South Australia's premier, the Hon. Don Dunstan...a real statesman, and someone whose ilk is needed to lead Australia in today's troubled times.

15. I was a foreign correspondent in London for AAP-Reuter.

16. Jules, my wife, and I drove a battered old Bedford van from London to Istanbul and back via Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, the then Yugoslavia, Greece, Turkey, Greece, Italy, Switzerland, and France during 4 month holiday.

17. I was the only European journalist on a now defunct Hong Kong newspaper called The Star.

18. I was the South Australian government's senior journalist.

19. I worked as media liaison officer for more than a dozen royal visits to South Australia.

20. I have worked during their visits to South Australia for the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Charles and Princess Diana (she was truly a wonderful young woman), Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips (he was as thick as a brick) and numerous lesser royals.

21. I was a key person in bringing the World Formula One Grand Prix to Australia and particularly to Adelaide.

22. I was possibly the first person in Australia to speak to Formula One's infamous Bernie Ecclestone, and found him to be an absolute pig of a man with an exceedingly foul mouth.

23. I played a major role in masterminding and conducting South Australia's year-long 150th anniversary of European settlement throughout 1986.

24. I established John Mitchell Public Relations in 1987.

25. I worked as a consultant for two years to the Australian Bicentenary Authority.

26. I have undertaken a cruise up the Mekong River from the delta in Vietnam to the Cambodian city of Siem Reap.

27. I have explored Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Hoi An.

28. My wife and I had to abandon ship on the first night of a cruise on the Irrawaddy River in Burma after we were struck by a freak cyclone.

29. Jules and I have cruised along India's Brahmaputra River.

30. Jules and I have walked from Assam into Bhutan.

31. Jules and I have seen the Taj Mahal.

32. In my youth I used to love rock climbing.

33. The Queen awarded me membership of her personal order, the Royal Victorian Order, so I am entitled to used the post nominals MVO after my name.

34. I was awarded an Australian honour in 1987 for my work in promoting South Australia, so I can also carry the post nominals OAM after my name.

35. I have camped in Yosemite National Park.

36. I have camped along California's Big Sur.

37. I have made breakfast on the steps of Melbourne's Flinders street railway station using a Primus hiking stove.

38. As a 12 year old I climbed the local church steeple to see what was inside ....and discovered it only contained some 120 years worth of pigeon pooh!

39. I played schoolboy football for four consecutive years and always in the back pocket position.

40. My first car was a red 1950 Vauxhall Wyvern convertible...and our cat jumped through the roof the first hour I had it home...which meant I had to have a new roof made for it.

41. My second car, a VW, was smashed beyond repair when a cab ran into the back of it while it was parked on the roadside.

42. My fourth car was an MG TF, and the axle broke while I was driving it home from the place where I had purchased it. Oh, and my third car was blue VW.

43. I have had three speeding fines in my life.

44. The first story I ever wrote as a young journalist was a report on a local beauty contest.....so I managed to avoid the cat show that most senior journalists said it would be.

45. I visited New Guinea in 1970.

46. My favourite holiday destination in Australia is anywhere in Far Northern Queensland.

47. My favourite authors are Gerald Seymour, Fredrick Forsyth, Michael Robotham, Nelson de Mille, and the Late Robert Ludlum and Craig Thomas.

48. I have never played game of golf, but covered the 1971 British Open Golf Championship for AAP-Reuter and all the Australian media. Ah...those were the days.

49. I covered the Hong Kong inquiry into the death of Chinese martial arts expert, Bruce Lee, who died "on the job".

50. I was a president of the South Australian division of the Public Relations Institute of Australia.

51. I have won South Australia's most prestigious public relations award, the Laurenti-Ellicott prize, and remain one of only three sole practitioners to win it (the other winners have all been large consultancies).

52. I have a morbid fear of spiders and sharks.

53. I am a good cook, even after my three strokes, although I need help with some aspects of preparation.

54. My favourite foods are Indian, Chinese and Moroccan. Although I also like Asian and Italian.

55. My favourite beverage is a double shot cafe latte, and my favourite beers are Grolsch and most Asian lagers. I don't like Australian beers.

56. My favourite wines are Shiraz, Reisling and Rose.

57. I prefer the company of women to men.

58. I have two brothers....both of whom are younger.

59. I have been married to Jules more than 45 years.

60. My favourite films are "As good as it gets" and "Ghandi".

61. My favourite books are "The White Spider" and "Conquistadors of the Useless"....both mountaineering books.

62. I have lived in 5 flats, one camper van, and 5 houses since I left home.

63. I believe I wrote the first speech about stroke to be given in the Australian Parliament - by Senator Don Farrell, who was also Minister for Sport at the time. It can be read in Hansard.

64. My first girlfriend I met when I was 13.

65. I "formally" found out about my stroke in 2013 after my Kyneton doctor got hold of my medical notes, and found, to my surprise, that I had suffered not one but three strokes! I'd love to sue the surgeon and cardiologist, but I know how doctors stick together, so I would have a snowball's chance in hell of winning.

66. I am the chairman of the Kyneton Men's Shed.

67. I use to have the most amazing balance.

68. I was a lousy reporter of politics and Parliament, but brilliant at human interest stories.

69. I love the Rolling Stones and Eric Burdon and the Animals.

70. I once danced with Princess Diana.

71. My favourite US president is Bill Clinton, who I met in Adelaide in 2000.

72. My favourite Australian prime minister is Paul Keating.

73. I have always voted Labor (Democrat).

74. I have written a brutal, sexy and sleazy novel of 110,000 words .... which has yet to be published. But if I knew how to convert Word into an iBook language I would self publish.

75. I have never run a marathon.

76. My favourite travel writer is not Bill Bryson but the late Richard Halliburton who died in the early 1930s.

77. My favourite number is 4.

78. My favourite colour is red.

79. While I like wines and lagers, my favourite drink is actually a lemon, lime and bitters.

80. In my younger days I was sometimes mistaken for Jack Nicholson.

81. My favourite current female actor is Sandra Bullock, and my favourite older ones are Audrey Hepburn, Maggie Smith, Dame Judy Dench and Helen Mirren.

82. I like fishing, despite being hopeless at it.

83. My two greatest travel wishes are to live in New York for six months, and Sicily for six months. Oh, and six months in Paris would be most acceptable also! And I would love to write a book about my experiences.

84. If I could have any car in the world it would be either a Porsche Cayenne or a Morgan V8.

85. I devised and held the first Australian Snapper Fishing Championship.

86. I once hitch hiked from Adelaide to Melbourne and Wangaratta and back.

87. I love all outdoor gear and clothing, and while I will never be able to use it, I still love looking at it...especially 4-season tents, sleeping bags and clothing.

88. I reckon my two grandchildren, Jack and Angus, are the world's greatest kids.

89. My favourite footy team is the Adelaide Crows.

90. I love watching cricket on TV.

91. I think the world's most booring sport is motor car racing, followed by boxing.

92. My best male friend and I have known each other for more than 60 years.

93. I can no longer drive a manual car......but I can still walk several kilometres!

94. I can still type, but it takes me forever.

95. I used to be able to write shorthand at 120 words per minute.

96. While I live in the country, I much prefer inner city living.

97. If I had not been a journalist, I'd have love to have been a photographer for National Geographic magazine.

98. I am a lousy sleeper, and generally only get about 3-5 hours sleep per night.

99. While I love travel, the funny things that have occurred to me are hilarious....and most relate to my own stupidity.

100. I did this list to take up Steve Mallory' challenge!!!!!

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