How many jobs have you had? I recently started musing on the question, listing the jobs I’ve had in Notes on my mobile phone, adding to it as memories came back. With the list now more or less completed, particular people and experiences within those jobs have resurfaced, leading to this outpouring. Continue reading
Author Archives: smurph
My six months in Risdon Prison
I’ve thought about writing of my time in Hobart’s Risdon Prison for decades. It was a fascinating and eye-opening experience, and I sorely wish that I’d kept a diary of all the wild tales and shenanigans that went on for six months way back then in 1974. Continue reading
What was the B side to the Pretty Things ‘Don’t Bring Me Down’?
In my wildest dreams, I imagine being in a quiz show. Chasing the big prize on the final question, I’m thrown a curly one: What was the B side to the Pretty Things 1965 hit ‘Don’t Bring Me Down‘? As the host sits back with a supercilious smug, I look her in the eye and fire back ‘We’ll Be Together’. The million is mine. Continue reading
Hitchhiking memories
A recent insightful online article on hitchhiking led me to think back to my youth, when hitchhiking was just a normal part of one’s teenage years. I grew up under pretty favourable conditions in Hobart, Tasmania, with parents who allowed my sister and I a healthy dose of freedom and independence. Continue reading
How to become Chancellor of Oxford University
How does one become Chancellor of Oxford University? Well, it helps to be the UK Prime Minister, but that is by no means a guarantee. The process of selecting a Chancellor is tortuous and perilous, beset by odd events and chance meetings, and is never completed until … Continue reading
Going GoPro
A gnawing need of many surfers is to get a good pic of oneself in action. It’s all very well to share stories of new and past glories (or disasters), but there’s also a yearning to have physical proof that you can do what you claim to do. Over the years I’ve accumulated a few photographs, mostly of me floundering around on the waveski at Point Leo. Continue reading
A special book: Incarceration
I’ve edited thousands of documents (reports, articles, chapters, books, letters, theses, etc.) over the years, probably comprising millions of words. I enjoy it. There’s a great sense of pride and accomplishment in reworking text, spotting errors and typos that others have missed (e.g. see My greatest contribution to Monash University), and offering rewriting suggestions that are welcomed by an author (not always the case, of course). A recent editing task has been one of the most fulfilling and worthy efforts I’ve ever undertaken – Incarceration: My Five Years as a Political Prisoner in Iran. Continue reading
A word on sermons
There is, perhaps, no greater hardship at present inflicted on mankind in civilised and free countries than the necessity of listening to sermons.
That pretty well sums it up, really. In this sentence, and the paragraphs which follow, Anthony Trollope (in Barchester Towers) provides an eloquent and definitive judgement on the topic of sermons. And I should know, for I’ve heard hundreds of them. Continue reading
Fermat’s fiendishly difficult problem
It was a famous unsolved maths problem that had stood for hundreds of years – Fermat’s Last Theorem (FLT) – then along came Andrew Wiles, who solved it in 1994. That’s the beginning and end of it really, though the details of the efforts to solve it provide a fascinating tale. The main reason is that FLT is a seemingly simple problem, easily understood by anyone with a cursory understanding of high school maths. Continue reading
When Trollope met Turgenev
One of the joys of retirement is the time for reading. My reading follows no particular path, comprising a mix of fiction and non-fiction, as I seek out writers who enhance this simple and rewarding pleasure. Authors I’ve enjoyed include David Lodge, Phillip Roth, Amis father and son, Patrick Leigh Fermour, Christopher Hitchins and Hugh Trevor-Roper, plus a few relative ‘unknowns’ who’ve told remarkable stories, such as Carmen Callil (Bad Faith) and Heather Rossiter (Lady Spy, Gentleman Explorer). Continue reading