A member of the Australian Defence Force taking a breather in the Middle East with a gift donated by Vogue magazine for ANZAC Day care packages

Earlier  this year I sent out a call to my mates in the media asking if they would like to contribute to my inaugural ANZAC Day care package drive for our 3000 soldiers, sailors and airmen and women currently deployed overseas in Afghanistan, East Timor and the Solomon Islands.

Everyone jumped at the opportunity and donated magazines and books and even some treats and toys for the dogs of the Explosive Detection Dog Section, the highly-trained hounds who are saving lives in Uruzgan Province by sniffing out dangerous improvised explosive devices and roadside bombs – the Taliban’s weapons of choice.

The editor of That’s Life! magazine, Linda Smith, donated dozens and dozens of puzzle books that kept the Australian Defence Force personnel in crosswords and Sudoku for months.

Lizzie Renkert, Jackie Frank and Kirstie Clements – the stylish editors of fashion magazines, Madison, marie claire and Vogue donated the latest editions of their glossy monthlies, as did top bloke Stephen Corby, the editor of the top-selling Top Gear magazine.

Helen McCabe, who helms The Australian Women’s Weekly and her team contributed several boxes of magazines and puzzle books, as did Felicity Harley from Women’s Health. GQ did its bit – obviously for the more stylish soldier!

The Australian book publisher of the year, Allen and Unwin, (who also publish my latest book, Saving Private Sarbi, donated a pile of books a metre high, as did my literary agent,  Selwa Anthony.

I have received some of the most moving letters from soldiers in Afghanistan, East Timor and the Sollies expressing how much it means to them that the Australian public is thinking of them, supporting them and grateful for their service overseas. We thank them for making huge sacrifices by being away from home for months at a time, particularly at important times of the year such as ANZAC Day and Christmas.

Here’s a selection of their comments.

Phil, Warrant Officer Class Two in Afghanistan:

“You would be surprised at how much a boost it gives each and everyone of us to receive mail and gifts from home. We are currently very busy here as this is the peak time of year for the Taliban due to the good weather (they don’t like to be out and about in the cold weather), but that said, we will always have time for a good read and you can be sure the magazines and books will get read from cover to cover and many times over.”

Some of the sailors with their ANZAC Day care package treats donated by my media mates

And this, from Able Seaman Julie;

“I’m emailing as I was the lucky recipient of one of your ANZAC Day Packages. Thank you very much, it was much appreciated! Both myself and the other girls were glad to receive some feminine reading material. It was also humbling to know that people appreciate our work over here.”

This one in particularly poignant and moving, from a female RAAFie, Middle East:

“Thank you so much for your package. We appreciate it. Everyone had a flick through them, I even found the boys reading the Women’s Health mag I especially loved the girly ones as they were a reminder of all the fashion, makeup and girly things back home I am missing out on!

“As I am only young, I know I haven’t had a great deal of experience in many jobs, but from what I have seen over here, I doubt you would find this sort of support in any other organisation, my experience here has allowed me to see this, and definitely makes me proud of being part of it. Let me set the scene for you……

“Its 9pm, I have no idea what day it is because you lose track of what day is which. We had plenty of work on the planes as the major maintenance team had a long 12 hour shift ahead to get them fixed to fly at 6am the following morning. If all went well, we would have one fixed and good to continue with missions over Afghanistan. Normally up our end of the tarmac it’s pretty empty and apart from the firies, not many people around. Tonight, there is a large gathering of Army personnel  just waiting. About an hour later, a C17 lands. This is nothing unusual, there are planes coming and going 24 hours a day here, but then something out of the ordinary happened. The C17 shut down its engines, and the group of Army personnel started to move towards the aircraft.

“It’s now almost 11pm, the temperature is about 38 degrees and more humid than Darwin. The Army have all grouped quietly around the edge of the tarmac and begun practicing for the Repat Ceremony the following day. This had to be the most respectful thing I have ever witnessed. For hours, the group of Army boys marched around stood at attention, carried out drill until it was nothing but 150% perfect. Never have I witnessed such a sense of honour and brotherhood among a group of Military personnel.

“I was more amazed and proud of the way in which that soldier was being escorted home. What was important was that the body of our fallen soldier would be returned home respectfully. Our fallen soldier would return home a hero, he would return home in the most honourable and respectful way. It was at that point that I realised how proud I am to be part of the Australian Defence Force, and it is such a comforting feeling to know that if anything were to happen to me, no matter where I was, or what I was doing, I would not just be forgotten about, I would be returned home to my loved ones honourably, and they would be offered all the care and support they needed during that time.”

Now that’s something to think about.

A loyal mutt guards the piles of ANZAC Day care packages to be sent to her hero-hounds from the Explosive Dog Detection Section

As the festive season approaches, the same generous editors and publishers have come to the party again for the Christmas Day care package drive, and this time the talented writer Tara Moss has sent a pile of her books, as did prolific authors Sue Williams and Jimmy Thomson and broadcaster and all-round great girl, Libbi Gorr. Men’s Health have sent copies of their mags for the boys in uniform, and Harper Collins (who published my book about an SAS war hero in Afghanistan, 18 Hours) have donated a stack of books.

One of my favourite Australian singers, David Campbell, has donated a couple of signed copies of his newest CD, Let’s Go, which was released this week. And super prolific Aussie author, sports commentator and all-round good bloke, Peter FitzSimons delivered 10 signed copies of his best-sellers.

Another great friend, Alex Olsson, has also donated a pile of her absolutely glorious body products from her OP Therapy range for our female soldiers. And Australia’s best columnist, Miranda Devine from The Daily Telegraph and Melbourne’s  Herald Sun – the biggest selling daily newspaper in the country – donated two huge boxes of lollies as a Christmas treat.

The Christmas Day care packages will be sent in early December to make it to the troops who will receive them at random on Christmas Day. It’s the least we could do to let them know we are thinking of them at this special time of year.

For more information about how you can thank our brave men and women of the Australian Defence Force, visit the ADF website or go here to the direct link.

Lest we forget.

UPDATE: Thanks to the generosity of all of the above, we managed to send 205 individual Christmas Day care packages to our soldiers, sailors and airmen and women serving in Afghanistan, East Timor and the Solomon Islands.

She spent 14 months missing in action and seven more in quarantine but finally Australia’s most beloved pooch has made her way home.

On Saturday, the highly trained explosive detection dog Sarbi was released to her original trainer Sergeant D*, from whom she was separated when they were ambushed by the Taliban in southern Afghanistan in 2008.

Woof, you Sgt D, I really love you

Today, the bomb dog made her first “appearance” and stole the show, proving there was nothing (well, perhaps a slight scent  distraction) that could deter her from her duties. Sarbi leaped, bounded, climbed and tunnelled through, up and over an obstacle course to show off for the cameras.

But, she only had eyes for her trainer and handler, Sergeant D, who, like Sarbi, was injured in the ambush.

Sarbi has spent the past seven months waiting to prove her medical clearance. She passed with flying colours.

Dianne Brimble

Finally, the NSW Coroner has published her report on the tragic death of young mother of three, Dianne Brimble - four and a half years after she began investigating the sordid events that lead to an innocent woman dying alone on the floor of a cruise ship while on a family holiday.

The report is heartbreaking in every respect (you can read more about it here) and highlights the callous way in which Ms Brimble was treated by a group of men, one of whom admitted having sex with her just before she died.

As Coroner Jacqueline Milledge said: “She was a person who lived a decent and innocent lifestyle. She had embarked on her holiday with her 12-year-old daughter and other family members, hardly indicative of a woman who intends to cruise, party and engage in a sexual free-for-all.”

Yesterday, journalist, blogger and herself a young mum, Mia Freedman Tweeted that she couldn’t stop thinking about Ms Brimble’s daughter who was about to start the holiday of a lifetime with her adored mother. Me too, and yet, at the end of the long inquiry I was uplifted to see something else though, to be honest, I wasn’t surprised.

The two men who have stood by Ms Brimble all the way through the recounting of the grotesquery that occurred on the ship were there again – her ex-husband Mark Brimble and her partner David Mitchell, both decent, honourable, kind, caring and just so very, very good.

Outside the court they were measured, solemn, dignified, as they always have been. They stood shoulder-to-shoulder, man-to-man, united in their grief and concern for Ms Brimble, the very models of how real men behave. “The way in which her life finished has finally been told,” Mr Brimble said of the findings.

Of the man convicted of supplying Ms Brimble with the illicit drug ‘fantasy’, Mr Brimble said; “He’s got to live with that for the rest of his life, no matter what he does or where he goes. I hope that he teaches and raises his children in a decent and respectful way.” (For more, go to this story from the ABC’s court reporter Janelle Wells).

Mr Brimble and Mr Mitchell are everyday Australian men, and they are beacons of decency. I prefer to focus on their goodness and what it says about the woman they loved, rather than dwell on the despicable behaviour of the men with whom the coroner has dealt.

Sandra Bullock and her new baby, Louis

It’s no wonder the talented Sandra Bullock has been keeping a low profile in the aftermath of her husband’s despicable cheating – she’s been bonding with a new man.

The Oscar winner adopted a son, Louis, in January and has been doing her best to keep the baby away from the prying paparazzi which has been desperate to snap her in her post-separation pre-divorce blues.

But the 45-year-old had a great secret – she was actually focused on something more important than herself, the baby who was born in New Orleans.

Bullock spilled the beans to American celebrity Bible, People magazine, and is featured on the cover of the latest edition holding the darling little boy aloft, looking every bit the infatuated and devoted mother.

According to the People mag website: “Bullock, 45, and husband Jesse James, 41, began the adoption process four years ago and brought Louis home in January but decided to keep the news to themselves until after the Oscars. Their close friends and family – including James’s children Sunny, 6, Jesse Jr., 12, and Chandler, 15 – were essential in keeping the adoption a secret.”

Despite Bullock and her estranged husband beginning the adoption together, Bullock is now a new and proud single mother. “It’s like he’s always been a part of our lives,” she tells People.

Congratulations to the lucky new mum – she deserves this happiness and baby Louis is lucky to have her – and she him.

]]> http://www.sandralee.com.au/2010/04/people-magazine-reveal-sandra-bullock-adopts-a-baby-and-files-for-divorce/feed/ 0 http://www.sandralee.com.au/2010/04/why-nikes-new-ad-with-tiger-woods-fails/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=why-nikes-new-ad-with-tiger-woods-fails http://www.sandralee.com.au/2010/04/why-nikes-new-ad-with-tiger-woods-fails/#comments Thu, 08 Apr 2010 15:15:14 +0000 Sandra Lee http://www.sandralee.com.au/?p=917

Tiger Woods in the new Nike ad

Here’s why Nike’s new 30-second advertisement featuring a robotic-looking Tiger Woods and the voice of his late father, Earl, is wrong on so many levels.

Here’s what the late Earl says:

“Tiger, I am more prone to be inquisitive to promote discussion. I want to find out what your thinking was. I want to find out what your feelings are, and did you learn anything?”

And here’s why I think Nike have totally missed the point. The advertisement cements Woods’s reputation as a cold-hearted, self-centered man. It’s not cutting edge. It is pure exploitation.

Sure, Woods has generated hundreds of millions of dollars for Nike since the sporting goods company signed the golfer as a name years ago, but this is no way to resurrect his thoroughly (self) ruined reputation.

It is impossible to ignore what Woods has done. Golf nuts and men have tried to ignore it, but women and all sports fan with a moral compass pointing north can’t. And already the ad has been called creepy. I agree.

Here’s why.

1)            Nike and Woods are usng Woods’s dead father. Ewww. Woods clearly has given his OK to use his late father’s voice. Double ewwww.

2)            Tiger says nothing in the ad. He merely stares into the camera. The ad reveals nothing and answers none of the questions his late father asks. Tiger Woods doesn’t discuss; he doesn’t say what he was thinking; he doesn’t express his feelings, nor does he reveal if he’s learned a thing. He simply stares – like a cold-hearted robot. Like the cold-hearted millionaire who tipped cheap on his black AmEx card. He lets his dead father do the talking, and that’s cheap, that’s easy, that’s a major cop out.

Tiger Woods with his wife Elin, children and two dogs - the picture perfect family - or is it?

3)            Woods has been exposed as a) cheap, b) dirty, c) someone who engages is unprotected sex with many women other than his wife, d) a liar, e) an egoist who continues to play by his own rules even when in rehab – remember the individual cabin? and f) a manipulator – the latest woman to come forward says they had a one-night-stand when she was his teenaged neighbour.

And where did he get up to this behaviour? In the family car and in his office next to the baby’s crib. Eww. Eww. Ewww.

Tiger Woods might be good at golf, and he might prove it at the Masters in Augusta this weekend, but he’s bad at everything else, and he’s already proved that.

Adam Scott on the cover of sunday magazine - Australia's most popular weekly magazine

A couple of weeks ago I spent the day with Australian golfer Adam Scott for an interview published last weekend in sunday magazine.

The 29-year-old Queenslander was intent on getting his form back for the final four tournaments of the year, the first of which was the Barclays Open in Singapore where he finished third on the course that’s delivered him victory twice before.

Then Scott tied for 6th at the Australian Masters in Melbourne on November 16, a finish that pushed him up the official world golf ranking chart to number 62. Sure, it’s still a long shot from his top rank of 3rd in 2007 but it is 14 better than his previous rank of 76, and will lift his confidence going into the Australian Open in December.

The thing that struck me about the lanky golfer was his down-to-earth nature and the honesty with which he addressed his form slump in 2009. “It’s been my worst year ever,” Scott told me bluntly, without shying away from the subject.

We spent the day at the gated community of Sanctuary Cove, where Scott lives when he’s not touring the world. He has a house high on the hill with views of the ocean and reminisced about how the neighbourhood has changed since he moved there from Adelaide with his parents, Phil and Pam, and younger sister Casey, while still in his teens.

“I got a shock when I came home this year and saw a McDonald’s on Hope Island,” he said with a laugh. “I thought ‘we have cracked it, Maccas on Hope Island’.”

Scott was a dream to work with and spent hours being shot for the magazine without complaint, apart from a joke “you’re in my personal space” when the photographer got, well, in his personal space for a close-up portrait.

Ana Ivanovic, the Serbian tennis glamour who is also golfer Adam Scott's girlfriend (picture www.anaivanovic.com)

Nothing was off limits. He revealed how he was also happily involved with Serbian tennis ace Ana Ivanovic and spoke about how their relationship began and how it’s been going this year. Great, apparently.

Not surprisingly with such a high profile girlfriend, Scott has become the focus of the paparazzi and gossip magazines, several of which had  him linked with Academy Award winning actress, Kate Hudson, earlier in the year. Not true. Before Ivanovic, he was in a steady, seven-year relationship. He ain’t the playboy some make him out to be.

“When I first started playing I really flew under the radar a lot. When you have no status on the tour anywhere, you are just another one of the guys but as soon as you are successful you are in the spotlight,” he says.

A few things: Scott will take possession of a $36.95 million Gulfstream G450 jet next year as part of a promotional deal with the aviation giant. The plane is not valued at $75 million as has been previously reported.

He is a huge fan of novelist Dan Brown and reckons Angels and Demons is his best book yet. He is currently reading the latest Brown tome but has problems staying awake on flights, which is where he does most of his reading.

I’ll be catching up with Scott – and a few other top-name golfers including Geoff Ogilvy, Greg Chalmers. John Daly and Freddie Couples - again at a pre-Aussie Open cocktail party at one of Sydney’s best restaurants, Guillaume, in December.

More about that later.

marie claire Australia October 2009 cover

Big question: is the sunburnt country with its lands of sweeping plains littered with red-necks, racists and bigots?

I’ve addressed that question in a new story in the latest edition of Australia’s fashion magazine, marie claire, that hit newstands today – the one with Rachel McAdams on the cover.

In the aftermath of the violent and racist attacks on foreign students from Asia, the words “racist” and “Australian” have been used often in the same sentence, but what does the evidence show?

“When people make snap decisions, they fall back on their prejudices,” says Australian National University Professor Andrew Leigh, who conducted a survey to determine the level of discrimination faced by job applicants of various ethnicities.

The results of his survey might just surprise you.

Meanwhile, it was heartening to realise that Australia has one of the biggest hearts among western countries when it comes to accepting immigrants under the Federal humanitarian Resettlement Program. In the 2007 – 2008 year, the nation welcomed a total of 13,014 people from a variety of countries.

Sure, we could do more, but it’s not a bad start on a per capita basis.

Meanwhile, marie claire closes on a tribute I’ve written about on one of America’s finest and most poised former First Ladies, Betty Ford.

Former First Lady of the United States, Betty Ford, during her days in the White House

Perhaps not surprisingly, the 91-year-old will be remembered for what she did with her years in the White House, as well as afterwards including establishing the respected Betty Ford Center for the treatment of people with drugs and alcohol dependence.

Disarmingly open and unashamedly outspoken, she was a feminist who directed the women’s lib movement to a new audience of conservative stay-at-home women when it was strategically focused on the already radicalised bra-burners and younger women at universities; she was an advocate for people who, like her, suffered addiction to alcohol and drugs – legal and illegal; and she was determinedly honest following the scandalous presidency of Richard Nixon, whom her husband replaced.

But my favourite discovery was when Mrs Ford, in the very early days of Gerald Ford’s presidency, stunned the media and the world when she revealed that – shock, horror – she absolutely would sleep in the same bed as him. At the time, the president a kept a separate bedroom from his wife. What a brazen hussy!

For more on whether our lucky country is a racist country and to discover the wonderful life of an incredible woman, pick up the latest copy of marie claire.

Elle Macpherson on the red carpet in London - apparently, it's not about the mini, it's about the kneecaps. (Getty pic)

Once again the old double standards are in play when it comes to women of a certain age and how they should dress.

The woman otherwise known as The Body has been slagged off in the British press by a female columnist who disapproves of Elle’s kneecaps. My first thought was, ‘kneecaps? How granular can you get?’

According to Claudia Connell in London’s Daily Mail newspaper,  Macpherson had committed the eighth deadly sin for women – she’s aged and she’s showing it.

The 46-year-old one-woman fashion industry turned up to a red carpet event wearing a gold mini-dress with one shoulder fetchingly exposed. It wasn’t the shoulder that got Connell going, though. It was the middle joints of her  shapely legs.

“Unfortunately for her, the focus of attention was not her impossibly long legs or enviably trim bottom but the fact that her knees looked as though she’d spent the morning cleaning doorsteps and used a Brillo pad as an exfoliator,” Connell wrote. “At the age of 46, Elle has fallen victim to saggy knee syndrome, a cruel and distressing affliction that can randomly strike any woman over 40.”

65-year-old Keith Richards doing his best Johnny Depp impersonation

I’m not going to comment on Connell’s age or shape: it’s irrelevant.

Yet, there are plenty of women who bang on about the impossible pressure on women to look a certain way, have a certain body type, and Connell is adding another hyper-critical layer to the fraught body image issue.

So much for the sisterhood.

To my eyes, Elle looks sensational and at least she’s starting to show her age rather than be obsessed with transforming herself into a plastic fantastic freak show.

Here’s the other thing: men of a certain age don’t get bagged for looking ridiculous, or not dressing or acting their age.

Witness Keith Richards, 65, from The Rolling Stones in this shot here. What’s he doing – impersonating Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean? But will he be criticised? Forget it. The same standards do not apply to men.

It’s like the old geezers who get the young babes – plus a pat on the back and a wink and a nod. Older women who have younger male lovers get called “Cougars” and magazines treat them as freakish curiosities.

Elle on legs or Keith the pirate? You be the judge.

Robert Redford and second wife Sibylle Szaggars

Iconic actor Robert Redford broke the mould on the weekend and did what few men of his advanced years, elevated status and deep pockets do – he married a woman in her 50s.

Shock, horror! Finally, an actor acting his age. Redford, who is 72, tied the knot with his girlfriend of 13 years, Sibylle Szaggars in a luxury hotel in Hamburg, and depending on which report you read, the bride is either 19 or 20 years younger than the man who broke hearts as Hubbell Gardner in the romantic epic, The Way We Were with Barbra Streisand in 1973 and won an Oscar for Best Director for Ordinary People in 1980.

And proving what an old-fashioned fellow he really is, Szaggars and Redford had been engaged since May last year.

Sure, a generation divides Redford and Szaggars but at least he hasn’t embarrassed himself by marrying a gold-digging careerist doubling as a nymphette 40, 50 or 60 years his junior. The artist Szaggars is in his age ballpark – well, at least on the periphery. And they look chronologically matched, with the march of years etched on both their faces, albeit his with deeper crevasses.

The age debate is a tricky one: there are those who say that age doesn’t matter and it’s usually a seriously younger woman who bangs on about how intelligent and fascinating her seriously older partner is – they rarely mention the mountains of money he has, or the toys or the access to power. Interestingly, the older men more often than not remain silent on the subject or dismiss it out of hand when –  indeed, if – asked. Why should they bother explaining themselves? After all, they know the aphrodisiacal nature of money, fame and power.

Then there are the cynics who look at the match and go, hmmmm.

The not-so-curious thing about it, though, is that men can get away with being decades older than their wives and it doesn’t matter how big the age gap. They’re cradle snatchers, wink, wink. Give the old codger a pat on the back. And yes, there may be some science and biology involved – but how much and what age gap is OK?

Not surprisingly, a glaring double standard exists when women partner/marry/shack up with significantly younger men. They’ve even been branded with an unflattering nickname, cougars, as if they are predatory beasts, and movies and magazines have been devoted to them, casting them as subjects of ridicule and/or fascination.

Demi Moore and husband Ashton Kutcher

Me? I think there’s a bit more dignity in the older woman with a younger man than, say, Anna Nicole Smith with the late octogenarian and billionaire J. Howard Marshall, who was a sprightly (not) 89 when they tied to the knot, or Hugh Heffner with one of his many cookie-cutter blondes.

After all, the relationship is based on more than the obvious superficial attractions of power and money. Just think Susan Sarandon, Geena Davis, Mariah Carey, Demi Moore, Cher, Cameron Diaz, Mira Sorvino and, if you cast your minds waaaaaay back, Linda Evans.

I know who I’d rather see. A cougar not a codger.

Frank Devine judging Miss World in the 60s

Australian journalism lost a true giant yesterday when the ebullient, talented and enormously generous Frank Devine - editor, reporter, columnist, bon vivant and intellectual giant – passed away after a dignified dance with cancer that lasted a year.

He was 77, but don’t let the number fool you. Frank was as vital in his last few days as he was when he was editing The Australian, The New York Post, The Chicago Sun-Times (at the invitation of Rupert Murdoch) and the Australian, New Zealand and American editions of Readers Digest.

That cruel and inhumane disease could attempt its worst, but it could not dent the elegant humour and erudition that he displayed each week in his incredibly popular columns in The Australian (which he had edited for 15 months in 1988 and 1989).

When I saw him a week ago, he was more jolly and voluminous than a man with terminal cancer should be. An eternal optimist, he looked forward to knocking back a dozen oysters that were being delivered the next day, and the cricket tragic in him was anticipating the coming Ashes series. He had an insatiable appetite for news, politics and gossip, but most of all, he wanted to know about family, and friendships – how things were really going.

Frank and his beloved wife Jacqueline, who he married in 1959

You see, Frank really cared about people. Really cared. He could read nuance and gain insight with a few gently delivered questions. He was interested, never judgmental.

For Frank Devine was an exceptionally decent and generous man. He radiated light and life and he did what few modern media giants do: he mentored young reporters and offered morsels of wisdom that would, ordinarily, take years to learn. And he did it in the most good-humoured manner, never imperious, never looking down his nose.

He was a forward-looking man and loved the promise shown by those who chose to follow in his journalistic footsteps; he loved that they loved what he loved – the power of the written word, the smell of newsprint and the fact they were delivering the first draft of history.

He was a superb wordsmith, yet never boastful of his talent; and was wonderfully generous to his friends and colleagues. Frank encouraged; he helped; he offered praise when he thought a story had been written well and if it was really, really good, you thought you’d gone to heaven on earth. He was never critical or cynical.

Frank was a man who lived by the glass-half-full principle: he lived large and long and knew that every moment was meant to be enjoyed and cherished. He had the memory of  a steel trap but miraculously, he could not hold a grudge, or remember a slight, or recall a pain that was dealt him. Life was too sweet for that.

Instead, he saw the good in people and ignored the bad. He sang hymns in a wonderful baritone at Christmas, urging – no, forcing – the rest of us to do the same. One year, he gave my Amazing Grace a standing ovation and then plied me with wine for an encore. You couldn’t refuse Frank.

In the media, he was widely loved by those who had worked with him over six decades.

Frank’s professional history went like this: he was a cub reporter from New Zealand who landed in the big smoke – Perth – in 1953 and took Australian journalism by its throat. For his efforts, he was sent to New York as a foreign correspondent (a prime gig) in 1960 and spent the next decade in the US, London and Tokyo, covering the biggest events of the times.

And he was blessed with a gregariousness that made people want to tell him things and get him involved in their stories. Being a canny young Kiwi, he made the most of the opportunities. He was boxer Lionel Rose’s corner man in a title fight in Japan in 1968; he sat next to Martin Luther King on a plane en route to the Birmingham riots in Alabama and scored an exclusive; and he was a judge at the Miss World competition in Asia. All of which he wrote about with a rare finesse and felicity that makes most reporters weep. From his dispatches, you knew that Frank Devine loved life.

His career was marked by achievement and influence. But that undersells his greater success. His journalistic summits are overshadowed by what he always said was his greatest achievement – marrying the beautiful, dignified and graceful Jacqueline Magee of Perth in April 1959, and the family they subsequently built together. He fell in love with Jacqueline the moment he saw her – wearing an emerald green cheongsam she made herself. He told his daughters that “she was a movie star” and meeting her changed him forever. Theirs was a unique and enduring love story, and in April they celebrated 50 years as husband and wife – toasting each other with Champagne during a hospital visit.

Anyone who came within the Devine family orbit instantly got a crash course in the meaning of love, loyalty, devotion, and respect. Oh, and did I mention fun?

Frank Devine was a gentleman’s gentleman. It was a privilege to know him, an honour to love him, and a delight to be allowed in his company.

Journalism has lost a legend; the rest of us have lost a decent, dignified man and a dear, dear friend.

My condolences to his family who will miss Frank most:- his wife Jacqueline and his daughters, Miranda, Rosalind and Alexandra, granddaughter Emily; and the grandsons, Tom, Conrad, Casey, Frank (his namesake) and Robbie.