Friday on My Mind

With special guest:

• Jeff Apter
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

George Young made his name internationally by writing with his best mate Harry Vanda a song we can all sing along to more than 50 years after its release. So it was a natural choice as the title of Jeff Apter’s book Friday on My Mind: the life of George Young.

George managed to get a ticket to The Beatles Sydney performance in 1964. He decided right then that he was going to be in music as a career but it was not going to be a straightforward ride as we learn in Jeff’s book.

We hear from our special guest today about the toughness of all the large Young clan. Eight of them arrived in Australia as Ten Pound Poms. They needed that toughness firstly as they grew up in a dreary part of Scotland. Then when they abandoned their life in Scotland they needed to be tough once again when they arrived in the Villawood Migrant Hostel in Sydney. Villawood was not the land of milk and honey they had seen on the posters. It was after a fight in the hostel that George met Harry strumming a guitar and the nucleus of The Easybeats formed.

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Paul Kelly

With special guest:

• Stuart Coupe
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

Paul Kelly is woven into the fabric of Australia. But it was not always so, as our guest today Stuart Coupe tells us. After first picking up a guitar at the age of 18 and writing his first song at 20, it did take a while and a number of rejections before Paul Kelly was accepted as a performer.

In his book called Paul Kelly: the man, the music and the life in between, Stuart shows that he knows his subject well; so well that he can add this book to the canon on Paul Kelly’s life which already includes Paul Kelly’s lengthy autobiography.

It is exciting to delve into the good and the bad parts of Paul Kelly’s life. From a big and loving secure family, who were motivated on the big issues of the day, Paul has emerged on the national scene. He is our storyteller but he could also have been one of our favourite sportsmen if things had turned out differently. Paul showed a lot of ability in cricket, Australian Rules football and also tennis. All that Australian sporting life as well as a taste of University and hard manual labour has informed what he can tell us about ourselves.

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Being Black ’n Chicken, & Chips

With special guest:

• Matt Okine
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

Matt Okine’s book Being Black ’n Chicken, & Chips is based on his award-winning stand-up show and is at once heart-breaking and hilarious.

Matt provides a bird’s eye view of life as a 12 year old when things start unravelling, just as that boy/child is working out some important stuff. He is working on the relationship with his father that has never really developed; there is a potential heart stopping girlfriend on the fringes; and there is a girl next door who is more of a friend than his male companions. Finally and most importantly he has to negotiate the changing relationship with his mother.

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Surviving Adolescents

With special guest:

• Elly Robinson
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

All parents realise on leaving the maternity ward that there is no manual that comes from the hospital with instructions for a new baby. The parents just strap themselves in for the rapid growth and development of this new and totally dependent child.

Ten years later with the coming of adolescence there is another period of risky growth and development. The age group from 10 to 19 calls upon a whole new skill set to deal with challenges some of which are familiar and some that are new to this century.

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Don’t Dream It’s Over

With special guest:

• Jeff Apter
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

Jeff Apter has written the definitive story of Neil Finn, one of the Finns, including some remarkable things about this Kiwi icon we claim as an Aussie.

Neil first appeared in our consciousness as a freaky member of the band Split Enz. He was the one up front singing I Got You which he also wrote. The band was not a one hit wonder but there were tensions among the members particularly between Neil and the leader of the band, his brother Tim, which cut short the life of the band.

Ultimately Tim gave his brother good advice, go and form your own band and this led to Crowded House arriving and taking over the world record charts.

Jeff Apter tells us that his book focusses on the music while filling in a lot of the background to the songs and the life of Neil Finn. For many of us a song Neil wrote will have a special meaning because it appeared at an important stage of our lives and the beautiful melody burns the message into our brains.

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Ten things I wish you knew about your child’s mental health

With special guest:

• Dr Billy Garvey
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

Our guest today is Dr Billy Garvey who is an expert in a field where you do not get provided with a guide book. All parents know the feeling when following the birth of your child you are set free expecting to know how to raise this very complex small version of ourselves.

One of the first things Dr Billy tells us that it is quite normal not to immediately develop the bonding and attachment that we sometimes hear about. Using his own example with his two children we hear that it took some time for this to develop.

Ten things I wish you knew about your child’s mental health is there to help all of us who encounter difficulties with children of any age. This extends from having a baby that cries at night too much, right through to sullen teenagers. That includes most of us. Whatever the problem is it is most likely that it has been seen before in Dr Billy’s 20 years of practice and the advantage here is that you do not have to go into a long waiting line, sometimes years long, to get advice from the doctor.

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The Incredible Life of Hubert Wilkins

With special guest:

• Peter FitzSimons
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

The title tells it all in the latest book by Peter FitzSimons whom we are excited to welcome back to Dads on the Air.

In The Incredible Life of Hubert Wilkins we hear about the life of a genuine Australian hero with so many adventures that a fraction of them would seem to fill the quota to qualify for that description. This man was decorated in World War 1 while not a combatant, described by another hero, Monash, as the bravest man he had ever had under his command, and yet few Australians had heard of him prior to the release of this book by our guest.

Any exploration of this anomaly could start with his name. Wilkins was known through most of his life as George but when he was prevailed upon to accept a knighthood he insisted on accepting the award as Sir Hubert, this being his middle name. The reason? The King’s name was George so this self-effacing man did not think it was appropriate to receive an award in the same name.

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Men of Business Academy

With special guest:

• Marco Renai
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

What comes across very clearly when we speak with Marco Renai is that he is a ball of energy.

After Marco left school he had a path available to him in his family’s catering business. His first solo business venture was to set up a gym where members could improve their physical condition and wellness under Marco’s guidance. This was Marco’s first attempt at interacting with the community but alas Covid 19 struck. When the members stopped coming, the business folded.

This is where Marco’s strong family background and personal experience in the field of education shaped what happened next. While Marco had struggled with the discipline and uncompromising system of education he always had his loving and supportive family to fall back on. But when he was asked to volunteer some mentoring to local youth in the Gold Coast region of Queensland he realised that for many young men this safety net was not available. Sure enough, for many of the young men dropping out of the education system led on to big trouble with society and the law.

Having recognised the problem Marco set about doing something about it. Marco rounded up some 100 local businessmen for an Italian lunch and over a pasta or two came up with a plan to raise $1million to help these young men. Being a force of nature this daunting sum did not pose a problem.

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High Adventure

With special guest:

• Mike Allsop
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

Mike Allsop was worried that marriage would spell the end of the adventurous life he had been living. He also had experienced a difficult family upbringing himself. So when he met the love of his life he certainly did not rush into that long walk down the aisle. But these days he has the “full disaster” with his wife Wendy and three beautiful children. And there are lessons to be learned from Mike’s progress that we can all appreciate.

Talking to Mike makes you feel like you were there with him when he reached the summit of Mt Everest with nobody in front of him. We learn about the setbacks when he was getting ready to run 7 marathons in 7 days on 7 continents starting with his belief that he wasn’t really a marathon runner.

This love of setting and reaching goals started when he was a child and he saw an Air New Zealand jet passing overhead. He had the goal of becoming a pilot and finished up getting his pilot’s licence before he had his motor vehicle licence. By gaining the confidence of some airline pilots he went on to achieve his dream.

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Five Years From Now

With special guest:

• Paige Toon
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

In today’s episode we speak to author and citizen of the world Paige Toon who has written a novel exploring the relationship between two children from opposite ends of the world and their fathers.

We drop in on these lives every five years to see how things have changed and we find there are plenty of surprises as we trace the emotional development of the main characters.

The fathers in the story start from different points. One is close to his daughter and always has been. The other did not get to meet his son until he was seven. Yet both children see the importance of that father/child relationship as they make their way through life. The book is all about relationships and how timing can be all important.

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Christmas Tales

With special guest:

• William McInnes
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

Christmas means……what? The answer is not so easy these days with there being so much commercialisation of the season. What we can say is that Christmas raises lots of emotions in all of us including nostalgia, loss, indulgence, funny presents but most of all family and love.

Our guest today is the very well-known actor and author William McInnes who takes us into his own Christmases over the years in his new book Christmas Tales. William is able to illustrate those Christmas emotions and reactions during this most significant season in the year with lots of stories mostly funny but with a few that tear at your heart.

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Don’t Dream It’s Over

With special guest:

• Jeff Apter
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

Jeff Apter has written the definitive story of Neil Finn, one of the Finns, including some remarkable things about this Kiwi icon we claim as an Aussie.

Neil first appeared in our consciousness as a freaky member of the band Split Enz. He was the one up front singing I Got You which he also wrote. The band was not a one hit wonder but there were tensions among the members particularly between Neil and the leader of the band, his brother Tim, which cut short the life of the band.

Ultimately Tim gave his brother good advice, go and form your own band and this led to Crowded House arriving and taking over the world record charts.

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Mothering Our Boys

With special guest:

• Maggie Dent
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

It is ten years since we last spoke to Maggie Dent and in that time the pressure on our boys has only got worse.

Now more than ever we need a consistent voice, a sensible voice backed by extensive research, in fact a boy champion. Fortunately this is recognised in the huge reaction given to Maggie’s new book Mothering Our Boys: A guide for mums of sons and in public forums that Maggie delivers around the nation. It is a privilege for us to be able to share Maggie’s thoughts in this special program.

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Sam’s Best Shot

With special guest:

• Dr James Best
  …in conversation with Bill Kable
  

How many Dads will walk away from their jobs for six months, sell their home and then travel to the wilds of Africa in the hope that it will be good for their son?

We like to think most Dads would do it. Today we get to speak to Dr James Best who did exactly that with his 14 year old son Sam. Sam said he went away as a boy and came back as a person summing up what his parents had hoped for when they embarked on this adventure.

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Men of Honour

With special guest:

• Glen Gerreyn
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

Our guest today is Glen Gerreyn a man by choice as distinct from being born male. This personal development did not happen when he became a champion athlete but rather by some important choices that Glen has made in his life. So what does it mean to be a man, a real man? And what are these choices?

Glen has spoken to groups around Australia and around the world on the topic of men of honour and some of the content probably comes under the heading of “secret men’s business”. In these talks no subject is taboo. Because so many fatherless boys in our community do not have a mentor they can confide in, Glen often finds that no-one else has ever spoken to our young men so frankly in language they understand.

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Working Class Boy

With special guest:

• Jimmy Barnes
  …in conversation with Bill Kable
  

Normally we expect to listen to Jimmy Barnes’s creative output as the lead singer and one of the main songwriters for iconic Australian rock band Cold Chisel. But Jimmy has now produced Working Class Boy which has become an Australian bestselling book.

This is not the story of that well-known band or his more recent exploration of the soul music catalogue. In today’s program we hear about Jimmy’s family upbringing and the influence that had on him in his adopted country.

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Our Boys: Raising strong, happy sons from boyhood to manhood

With special guests:

• Richard Aston & Ruth Kerr
  …in onversation with Bill Kable
  

On this program we get to talk to good people who are making a difference in our society. Our guests today, Richard Aston and his wife Ruth Kerr, fit this category and they speak to us from across the ditch in New Zealand.

For 15 years Richard and Ruth through the Big Buddy program provided fatherless boys with a buddy, someone who can show them the way to manhood. These buddies are volunteer mentors who are carefully chosen by going through a detailed screening. The boys know they can rely on their buddies to turn up when expected and listen to what is happening in the boys’ lives. And they get to do fun things.

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Fight Like A Pro

With special guest:

• Gavin Topp
  … in conversation with Bill Kable
  

Today’s show is a knockout! Our guest is Gavin Topp and he tells us about his training program called Fight Like a Pro which he runs on the Gold Coast of Queensland.

It is not an overstatement to say that the program has changed lives because on top of the physical aspects of training hard with a group of fellow amateurs Gavin looks for the mental changes in his charges. You might not expect to hear life lessons from a professional boxer but as numerous testimonials on the website of Fight Like a Pro will confirm Gavin is a bit of a philosopher as well as a hard physical taskmaster.

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Fathering Adventures

With special guest:

• Darren Lewis
  … in conversation with Bill Kable and Ken Thompson
  

He doesn’t claim to have been the beginning of all fathering adventures but in July 2008 Darren Lewis started an organisation by that name which has made many fathers and their children come alive through adventure based activities. Darren quotes Howard Thurman in recognising that the world needs people who have come alive.

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Flesh Wounds

With special guest:

• Richard Glover
  …in conversation with Bill Kable and Ken Thompson
  

Our guest today is famous.

Richard Glover is the host of the top rating Drive show on 702 ABC Sydney, and the weekly podcast of Thank God It’s Friday. He is the author of twelve books including the bestseller In Bed with Jocasta. His new book Flesh Wounds is in a similar humorous vein but the big difference this time is that it is the real story of his unusual, to say the least, upbringing.

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