Out on a Limb

With special guest:

• Simon Turner
  … in conversation with Bill Kable
  

Simon Turner’s book Out on a Limb is refreshingly plain speaking. To read the book is like sitting down with a mate who has some important, perhaps life-changing, information to share. Using language we can all relate to, Simon takes us through the jungle that confronts a father at the gates of a Family Law dispute with the mother of their children.

Simon discusses what he describes as the three golden rules that were passed on to him informally by a Family Court Judge in an Art Gallery rather than a court room. Based on these golden rules Simon gives some invaluable ideas about how a dad can give himself the best chance of continuing to parent his child after a separation or divorce.

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Man Code

With special guest:

• Carolyn Managh
  …in conversation with Bill Kable
  

Carolyn Managh comes to our program today to lift the lid on what Australian men think about masculinity, women, and brands treating them like idiots. To do this Carolyn interviewed 140 Australian men including influential leaders and role models from diverse aspects of Australian life. These included Australian men in business, sport, men’s brands, military, popular culture, health, hospitality, construction and more.

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Daddy’s OK

With special guest:

• Dean Mason
  …in conversation with Bill Kable
  

In his book Daddy’s OK: Fathers’ stories of separation, divorce and rebuilding author Dean Mason takes us into the world of 14 families that have been through the trauma of separation and divorce. The 2006 Census showed that 50% of children in single parent families never have an overnight stay with the other parent, normally the Dad. But if our eyes glass over when contemplating the tens of thousands of Dads in this situation Dean brings it back to the individual personal level with these real life stories from his days as National Chairman of Parents Beyond Breakup (formerly Dads in Distress Support Services).

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SuperDad SpeedBible: The toolbox for men with young kids

With special guest:

• Ryan Heffernan
  … in conversation with Bill Kable
  

Ever thought about how when you leave the hospital with your new baby you do not receive an instruction manual? Our guest this week Ryan Heffernan has addressed this issue. In his entertaining and informative book Ryan provides a welcome toolbox for any Dad left with the responsibility of caring for a young child in the age range of 0-6. In fact any parent will welcome this no-nonsense source book for handling the challenges of parenting where you get the benefit of learning from a single Dad’s experience. What’s more with Ryan Heffernan giving us the lesson there is a lot of fun to be had which everyone can enjoy.

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Ten Conversations You Must Have With Your Son

With special guest:

• Dr Tim Hawkes OAM
  …in conversation with Bill Kable
  

Parents are all too familiar with the difficulties of relating to their sons in a language that they understand while they grow from boys to men. Our guest today is Dr Tim Hawkes who as Headmaster of The King’s School was responsible for 1500 boys. Dr Hawkes held this position from 1998 to 2017 adding to a wealth of experience gained in England and Australia on how boys can best reach their potential as men.

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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.

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.

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Reservoir Dad

With special guest:

• Clint Greagen
  …in conversation with Bill Kable
  

Our guest today provides us with an entertaining peek into what is still an unusual career in our society. Clint Greagen is a stay-at-home Dad with the skills of an award-winning blogger who tells us about his life in suburban Melbourne with four boy-children and a loving working wife.

There is nothing un-masculine about Clint’s struggles as he is assigned to buy breast pads for his wife and to do the cooking / washing / cleaning for the family. He has to juggle these responsibilities and apply some logic in the middle of the chaos and craziness.

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The Other Glass Ceiling

With special guest

• Charles Areni
  …in conversation with Bill Kable
  

In the news lately there have been frequent references to pay differentials between males and females. This is often put down to the different opportunities available in the workplace because of gender roles that are a hangover from a less-enlightened past. But what about the denial of opportunities to look after the children and get involved in other areas around the home? In brief, Mums have too many roles, Dads have too few.

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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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Treasure and Dirt

With special guest:

• Chris Hammer
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

This is the first of Chris Hammer’s books to be set in the Australian outback.

There is a murder in a fictional opal mining town loosely based on Lightning Ridge in a far corner of NSW.

We go immediately to the gruesome murder scene. The early indications are that so-called “ratters” are involved and that is a story in itself as Chris explains to us what a ratter is in the context of small mining operations.

What a pleasure it is to get the latest book from Chris Hammer. Treasure and Dirt includes new characters each with a flaw that we discover just as the characters in the book do. We have to make a decision about which character we can trust.

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A Bloody Good Rant

With special guest:

• Thomas Keneally
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

In the new book A Bloody Good Rant you might expect from the title that this is going to contain some wild and extremist views.

However on the contrary except for some well-deserved and unapologetic criticism of one group of economists, you will not find in this book that sort of ranting and raving. It is instead Tom Keneally writing with intimacy and insight and an invitation to share his insight and humanity.

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Nancy Business

With special guest:

• R.W.R. McDonald
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

This story can stand alone. But if you have read the first book in the series, The Nancys, you will be even keener to see what happens in Rob McDonald’s new book Nancy Business.

For anyone who loves the British murder mysteries such as Frost, Inspector Linley, Taggart and all the others Nancy Business is a treat. But there are a few twists that you do not often find. The narrator and main character is a young girl in Otago a small town on the South Island of New Zealand whose father died about a year ago. Her name is Tippy Chan and with her uncle Pike and his boyfriend Devon they make a formidable team for solving a mysterious murder mystery.

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Bad Boy Boogie

With special guest:

• Jeff Apter
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

Bon Scott as his name might suggest was born in Scotland but after his parents signed up to be £10 Poms he arrived in Australia at the age of 6 to a new life. That short life was filled to the brim and Bon provided plenty of his own commentary on his wild adventures before and during his time with the world beating rock band AC/DC.

Our guest today is writer Jeff Apter the author of Bad Boy Boogie, a new book published by Allen & Unwin. Jeff is very familiar with the AC/DC story having previously written about other members of the band the Young brothers and original bass player Mark Evans. When we speak with Jeff again today we are able to go behind the scenes to find out how Bon fitted in so quickly and easily with the Young brothers in their closely guarded troupe. We find out more about the real Bon Scott, his wild side where a party could go on for days but also how many women who came into his orbit described his as a real gentleman.

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The Last 100 Days

With special guest:

• Will Davies
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

Surprisingly little has been written about the last 100 days of World War 1.

This is the time when the Australian Imperial Force had some of their greatest victories. It was also the time when Adolf Hitler was wounded in battle before coming to the unshakeable conclusion that Germany had been betrayed in agreeing to sue for peace.

This imbalance in the accounts of the conflict has been addressed by Will Davies in his new book The Last 100 Days: The Australian Road to Victory in the First World War. In his book Will reveals why he has been described as being more than an historian because he has the rare gift of being a story weaver. As with his other books on the events of World War One this story will remain etched in your memory.

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The Platoon Commander

With special guest:

• John O’Halloran
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

John O’Halloran was an unlikely war hero. With the assistance of Ric Teague John tells his story for the first time in The Platoon Commander: The extraordinary story of the man who led Australia’s most decorated platoon of the Vietnam War.

Coming from Tamworth in country NSW John was called up in the first conscription ballot. But before doing his compulsory medical he was involved in a street accident which badly damaged his foot which should have ruled him out as medically unfit. However with a bit of help from a local medico he got over that first hurdle and soon distinguished himself in training.

John was made Platoon Commander and at the age of 21 he was sent to Vietnam. In that war-torn country he now had enemy soldiers shooting at him, trying their best to kill him. And the men under his command were dependent for their lives on his decisions under fire.

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How to Raise a Man

With special guest:

• Megan De Beyer
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

Something many of us wonder about from time to time is what turns a boy into a man. With the title of Megan de Beyer’s new book being How to Raise a Man there was no hiding from this question and Megan dives straight in.

And then there is the most common issue for parents raising young men - how to get more than a grunt in lieu of conversation. In these Covid restricted times as we are forced to spend more time at home this question become even more important. The best approach is to treat this time as a challenge rather than a threat and Megan has lots of suggestions on making this time productive. In brief Megan encourages us to look at ourselves more in this dynamic relationship rather than trying to fix something in our young men.

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FLY

With special guest:

• Jai Hobbs
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

Covid 19 is just one more hurdle for our young people coming out of school. They already have to face up to serious competition to progress in a chosen career. If they can get through University they face a HECS debt and what about the housing market.

Our guest today Jai Hobbs decided to do something practical to help the young people get on top of all that. With his wife Marlies, Jai has written a manual called FLY which stands for financially literate youth. This is what he is striving for.

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The Champagne War

With special guest:

• Fiona McIntosh
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

The beautiful cover of this book gives us a clue. This is a bubbly story thoroughly researched and elegantly told by our guest today Fiona McIntosh. Fiona’s new book The Champagne War takes us to the Champagne region of northern France during the First World War to tell us the story of individuals caught up in the conflict.

Fiona tells us how she came to write the book through a chance meeting with a local winemaker in a village of the region. This gave her the inspiration.

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You Shouldn't Have Joined

With special guest:

• General Sir Peter Cosgrove
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

It is a real privilege when we get to speak with Australia’s 26^th Governor General.

Sir Peter Cosgrove has had several lifetimes it appears as we look at his extensive action packed biography. And it is a measure of the man that not only does he retain an intimate knowledge of all his achievements but that he is so open and candid in looking back on them.

Sir Peter’s career included fighting roles in Vietnam. It also included being the primary assistant to some of the most senior positions in the land. He was Aide de Camp for the Chief of Army and also to the Governor General Sir Paul Hasluck. He rose to attain those same positions himself as Chief of Army and later Governor General.

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Trust

With special guest:

• Chris Hammer
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

Sometimes the world of fiction overlaps our day to day life. In speaking with our guest today Chris Hammer we find out that Chris is interested himself in how the characters in his new book Trust will deal with the real life problem of the Covid 19 crisis. As well as Covid there is reference in the book to the 2019/2020 bushfires that swept the nation in unprecedented fury.

One of the greatest charms in reading Chris Hammer’s best-selling books is that there is authenticity. For Australians that means familiarity with the settings on the coast and in rural areas for previous books. In Trust the setting is Sydney but not the postcard Sydney in the shadow of the Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. This is the real Sydney populated by real people. Overseas readers are also drawn to this picture of the real Australia and Chris is delighted that his work has been translated into other languages so people in other countries can learn about us.

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