Phillip Adams, Bedtime Stories: Tales from my 21 years at RN ¢â‚¬â„¢s Late Night Live, ABC books, 2012.

Phillip Adams is Australia ¢â‚¬â„¢s #1 auto-didact/ public intellectual. To that add: premier raconteur, acquaintance of more-interesting-people than anyone, kingmaker (eg. during Bob Hawke/Bill Hayden saga), most-listened-to radio interviewer by people who love ideas, rather than wallowing in the superficialties of those who are  ¢â‚¬Ëœfamous for being famous ¢â‚¬â„¢ etc. etc.

There are many things I love about this man: his progressive thinking   of course (Phillip ¢â‚¬â„¢s happy that  ¢â‚¬Ëœaround the world women, gays and lesbians, and other groupings previously regarded as unworthy of full citizenship are now gaining ground ¢â‚¬â„¢ p. 252). The fact that he ¢â‚¬â„¢s been a life-long atheist is OK provided he ¢â‚¬â„¢s well-thought-through his issues with deity. (Which he has: I hope I ¢â‚¬â„¢ve done that too, but ended up a follower of the Galilean carpenter. And we agree on lots of religious things. Including this:  ¢â‚¬ËœNot many in the Vatican follow the pristine principles of Christ ¢â‚¬â„¢). Phillip loved the  ¢â‚¬Ëœconsummate contrarian ¢â‚¬â„¢ Christopher Hitchens ( ¢â‚¬Ëœdied the most famous journalist on earth ¢â‚¬â„¢), and so did/do I.

Phillip Adams is often labelled as Rupert Murdoch ¢â‚¬â„¢s and the ABC ¢â‚¬â„¢s  ¢â‚¬Ëœtoken leftie ¢â‚¬â„¢ (Prime Minister John Howard campaigned  ¢â‚¬“ unsuccessfully  ¢â‚¬“ for the broadcasting network to find a counter-balance from right-of-centre).

I love his conversational speaking and writing style  ¢â‚¬“  ¢â‚¬Ëœchatty ¢â‚¬â„¢ – lots of sentences without finite verbs. And his self-deprecation ( ¢â‚¬Ëœthis little wireless program ¢â‚¬â„¢,  ¢â‚¬Ëœthis little book ¢â‚¬â„¢  ¢â‚¬“ even though it has 274 well-written pages). And he ¢â‚¬â„¢s been everywhere, man.

The book ¢â‚¬â„¢s riveting. I went to the launch a week ago, and then read it in three otherwise-busy days. I have no idea how you do a radio interview with someone  ¢â‚¬“ actually two separate people  ¢â‚¬“ who don ¢â‚¬â„¢t talk back to you: one of them a Buddhist monk who couldn ¢â‚¬â„¢t understand English (did the producer get the sack?).

Because Phillip ¢â‚¬â„¢s by-passed formal academia there ¢â‚¬â„¢s a cornucopia of creative novelties in his thinking (and in his spelling: isn ¢â‚¬â„¢t it  ¢â‚¬Ëœperegrinations ¢â‚¬â„¢ not  ¢â‚¬Ëœperigrinations ¢â‚¬â„¢?). Everywhere there are little gems of both useful and useless information and turns-of-phrase, and stuff that ¢â‚¬â„¢s close to being libellous I ¢â‚¬â„¢ve filed away to ponder.

Like these: *  ¢â‚¬ËœNo matter how old you are you ¢â‚¬â„¢ve a 90 per cent chance of being alive in two and a half years ¢â‚¬â„¢; *  ¢â‚¬Ëœas rare as rockinghorse manure ¢â‚¬â„¢; *  ¢â‚¬ËœBilly McMahon looked like a Volkswagen with both doors open ¢â‚¬â„¢; *  ¢â‚¬Ëœthe Duke of Edinburgh had an affair with a friend of mine ¢â‚¬â„¢;   *  ¢â‚¬Ëœbetter to have continuous teeth  ¢â‚¬“ one upper and one lower – … to eliminate the need for flossing or 90 per cent of dentristry ¢â‚¬â„¢;   *  ¢â‚¬Ëœaside from criticisms of Israel ¢â‚¬â„¢s treatment of the Palestinians and John Howard ¢â‚¬â„¢s resemblance to Mr. Magoo, no other topic has proved too hot to handle. ¢â‚¬â„¢

It ¢â‚¬â„¢s not too late to get a copy for Christmas  ¢â‚¬“ preferably for a loved-one in your home so that you can read and discuss it with her/him.

Rowland Croucher

December 2012