Chapter 43: Forgotten star interviews

My bafflement at not remembering interviews with the famous comedian Rod Hull, with or without Emu. Also a number of unrelated stories.

As indicated in previous chapters, I did a great many freelance radio interviews and print journalism articles in the 1970s and 1980s. This was when I was down the food chain at BBC World Service and had lots of spare time. But I didn’t realise just how many I had done until I recently began going through my tear sheets and recordings. I was surprised to discover that I’d forgotten a number of the interviews, even with some well-known celebrities. Among them was the hugely-popular Rod Hull and his aggressive emu puppet. It is clear that I interviewed him at least twice because there are articles I wrote for TV Week (Australia) years apart. I assume I also provided Radio 3DB Melbourne with recordings of the interviews. Should anyone be tempted to suggest the interviews took place only in my imagination, the answer is “definitely not, as it would have destroyed my career as a journalist”.

Here’s one of the “Bruce Conway” articles I wrote about Rod Hull in July 1972. It also features the Australian entertainer Rolf Harris before he was exposed as a paedophile:

The article summarises his early days in Sydney, moving from his work as a TV lighting engineer to appear on-screen, mostly with his emu puppet. He returned to the UK in 1971 and gained national recognition with his appearance on the Royal Variety Show the following year. Here’s a photocopy of a TV Week article I wrote in July 1974 as he was breaking into the American market:

Rod’s showbiz career began fading in the 1990s, not least because of his use of Emu to physically attack chat show hosts. Perhaps the most known one was when the puppet was used to attack Michael Parkinson seen HERE.

Rod died in March 1999 when he slipped and fell off the roof of his house while trying to adjust the television aerial. He suffered a severe skull fracture and chest injuries, and was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital. The coroner recorded a verdict of accidental death.

What would Rod have thought if he had known that meeting him had had so little impact on me? Mind you, I grew used to discovering that entertainers claimed not to remember other entertainers they’d worked with. Here’s a typical conversation between me and an actor I will call Fred as I was setting up an interview:

Me: “I interviewed your friend Bill Smith last week and he sent his best wishes.”

Fred: “Oh, Bill Smith? Do I know him?”

Me: “You should. You were in a play together for all of last year.”

“Oh, yes. I think I remember now. Yes, lovely man. Lovely man.”

I suppose Rod Hull would have drawn some comfort from the fact that our younger son, Niall, was so impressed by him that he requested his own Emu. Here he is aged four with the puppet which was not at all aggressive, unlike Rod’s one:

On the subject of memories, I also found this TV Week article from 1972 in my file:

AND NOW SOME OTHER STUFF:

From a family letter dated November 21, 1974:

CENTRAL HEATING

The central heating radiators have been installed in our new house in Wilfrid Gardens and they are working perfectly. What a wonderful change the installers were from the rotten Australian mob that did the disastrous installation in Little Ealing Lane.

FURNITURE SURPRISE

When we bought this new place there was an antique dining suite included in the deal. We thought it might be valuable — say around the £300 mark — so got it valued for insurance purposes. We were astounded and delighted to discover that it was worth just under £1000. I bet the fellow who sold us the house had no idea it was so valuable.

AWESOME BEAUTY

Last Sunday I went along to a news conference for the Miss World Contest to interview the Australian contestant, Gail Petith. I took Rosemary’s father along, smuggling him in as “my recording engineer”. Jim was overawed by the experience and kept giving the game away. He couldn’t resist telling Gail that he was also from Australia and asked if she knew anyone from Bendigo etc etc. I don’t think Gail was left with any illusions about Jim’s abilities in the recording field.

I was quite impressed by Gail. She had more brains than most contestants. I can remember interviewing a couple of previous Australian entrants and having to supply both the questions and the answers.

From a letter dated December 31, 1974:

CHRISTMAS ILLNESS

Christmas has come and gone. Frankly it was a bit of a disaster. Rosemary spent most of the day in bed with bronchitis (or something similar) and barely had the strength to get up long enough to eat a small portion of the Christmas dinner. Both the kids were recovering from very heavy colds which had required help from our doctor — and ditto for Val. Jim and I were the only ones in the house in good physical condition.

DARWIN STORM AND WHITLAM

Tropical Cyclone Tracy which devasted much of Darwin was a big story here. [Prime Minister] Gough Whitlam was on an official visit to Britain and when I rang his hotel for a reaction to the disaster, no-one in his party seemed to know anything about it. The PM’s decision to fly home was made at the last minute. Two hours before his departure there was no hint of his plans because I was in touch with his hotel several times.

Gough was at his arrogant best (or worst) during his visit here. His abrupt manner rather stunned the British press at the big news conference at Australia House. I got into a bit of an argument with him over whether he was anti-British. He kept on demanding proof that he was anti-British and I kept replying that proof wasn’t needed because the British people were convinced that he didn’t like them much. Was he doing anything to set their minds at rest? In the end we called it a draw.

From a letter dated January 28, 1975:

HARLEY IN HOSPITAL

Harley has been in hospital for three days because of a bladder infection that had him going to the toilet every few minutes. Fortunately, he didn’t seem too bothered by the complaint and was quite enthusiastic about going into hospital. He got a bit bored but overall quite enjoyed himself. He soon had the ward organised to his liking. He had a great many tests without finding the infection and it cured itself, Harley returned to school the day after leaving hospital and is his usual happy, if somewhat mischievous, self.

SLEEPLESS NIALL

Niall continues to be as lovable as ever during the day, but has slept right through the night on just four occasions this month. He doesn’t appear to suffer any ill effects, but it is no fun for us being in and out of bed in the wee hours, night after night. [We found the solution by accident one night when he slept right through with just a sheet over him. He had been waking up frequently because he had been too hot. Once the blankets were not put over him, he slept through the night, every night.]

GRAFFITI

Harley, with some assistance from Niall, drew a large abstract mural in black crayon on the feature wall in the hall. Fortunately, for their well-being, Rosemary and I were not there at the time and Jim managed to remove most of the work of art by the time we got home. A repaint job will still be necessary and as punishment, we have cut off Harley’s sweets supply for a week. But the kid is as cunning as a dozen church rats and didn’t ask for any for the entire period. I’m sure he did that just to stop us savouring the joys of revenge.

CHARITY CONCERT

There’s a big concert being staged here for the people of Darwin. It’s being organised by Ruth Nye, the professional pianist and former hostess in the early days of ABC television in Melbourne. Her husband runs the horse riding school on Hyde Park. Ruth asked me to help out by recording some commercials for the concert. They were done by actor Derek Nimmo and drag artist Danny La Rue. Nimmo visited Australia a year or so back and loves the place. We had quite a chat about Bendigo which impressed him greatly because of its architecture. He is going out to Australia again later this year.

TV DETECTIVE

One interview I definitely remember doing — even though it had to be over the telephone — was with actor Stratford Johns who played the lead role of Charles Barlow in the BBC police series Z Cars, then later Softly Softly. Rosemary and I loved the character, so I really enjoyed talking to Stratford. Our actor friend, Jim Smillie, knew Stratford quite well and described him as “a very direct, straight-forward guy, rather like Barlow, but not so aggressive”. Here’s the article I wrote for TV Week:

Stratford (full name Alan Edgar Stratford Johns) died on January 29, 2002.

That’s it for now.

---

Earlier chapters can be found HERE