A humorous collection of stories from the much-loved broadcaster, Tim Bowden. tim Bowden has been writing and sharing his stories with the public since the early sixties in his home state of tasmania. this quirky and eclectic series of recollections and anecdotes is tim at his best with a wry view on life, his own personal stories and some amusing moments from his life as a reporter and broadcaster. A must for tim Bowden fans.tim Bowden began his radio and television career in tasmania in the early 1960s. His engaging manner and ability to tell stories has seen him travel the globe and front numerous television and radio programs.
John Bowden has much in common with Bert Facey, author of A FORTUNATE LIFE. Bowden deserves to be placed in that company." - THE CANBERRA TIMES tHE WAY MY FAtHER tELLS It is a story of the joys and sorrows of childhood and adolescence, of falling in love, going to war and returning to re-establish a family life. It is filled with wry charm and self-effacing humour and is a wonderful evocation of an Australia now changed beyond recognition."It isn't easy to reminisce, alone, into a tape recorder. Yet that is what I asked my father, John Bowden, to do when, in the late 1980s I suggested he should not only record our family history, but reflect on a life that embraced almost the entire twentieth century. then in 1998, at the age of 91, father 'woke up dead' in his own bed, in his own house (which he never wanted to leave), not long after adding a postscript - a final chapter to his life story published in 1989 and titled tHE WAY MY FAtHER tELLS It".
One Crowded Hour is the bestselling biography of one of the world's greatest combat cinecameramen and an extraordinary Australian. First published in 1987, One Crowded Hour remains a must-read for aspiring photographers, cinematographers, journalists and war buffs. For over twenty years, from the early 1960s, Neil Davis brought enduring images of the horror of modern war directly from the battlefront to the world's television screens. Davis's former colleague, Tim Bowden, tells the life story of this cool and utterly dedicated professional. Davis was a legendary gambler who often relied on his intuitive sixth sense to stay alive. He is best remembered for his eleven year coverage of the conflict in Indo-China, and was the only western cameraman to film with the South Vietnamese army. Having survived so much war, Davis was killed filming an attempted coup in the streets of Bangkok in 1985. He is remembered as an exceptional man and remarkable journalist, equally at home with presidents and street beggars. A sympathetic portrait of a gentle but dedicated and daring war correspondent.' - Melbourne Herald A must among Australian biographies.' - Weekend Australian
It made Changi seem like heaven... This was a place where the deprivations were so extreme that there was a fate worse than death. That place was Outram Road Gaol and this is the story of a bunch Australian POWs who survived the brutality of the feared Kempeitai, the Japanese military police unit that made the Gestapo seem benign by comparison. But Outram Road was not only a place of punishment. Here executions were also common, often by beheading with a samurai sword... Stubborn Buggers is more to this story than suffering and brutality, however. It is also a story of survival through grim determination and larrikin humour. It is very much about the triumph of the human spirit.
Tim Bowden is a larrikin. I want to alert you to the threat posed to this endangered species. There used to be a serious tradition of it at the ABC. Nowadays larrikinism gets pretty short shrift. Yet like Canute, Bowden stands against the tide. I think the secret lies in laughter. Tim Bowden makes me laugh. Out loud. You can't ask for better therapy than that. - Peter Thompson, Radio National Breakfast When Peter Thompson asked Tim Bowden to contribute a whimsical talk to close the breakfast program at the end of each week, Tim asked what he had in mind. "Oh, anything you like," he was told. So Tim's topics range widely, through pet hates like over-loud music in restaurants and pubs, to beach fishing, bad poetry, vexatious letters, demented pigeons, management jargon and communications. (Bowden's grandfather once owned a wooden telephone.) With considerable hilarity, irreverence, a zest for life and talented story-telling zeal, No Tern Unstoned is a wonderfully entertaining collection of Tim Bowden's wry observations of the world around him, past and present.
From recruitment and training and the battlegrounds of Palestine, North Africa, Thailand, Burma and beyond, here are the highly individual stories of Australia's World War II Diggers told in their own voices - warts and all. With a reputation for being hard to discipline, generosity to their comrades, frankness and sticking it up any sign of pomposity, Australian soldiers were a wild and irreverent lot, even in the worst of circumstances during World War II. In Larrikins in Khaki, Tim Bowden has collected compelling and vivid stories of individual soldiers whose memoirs were mostly self-published and who told of their experiences with scant regard for literary pretensions and military niceties. Most of these men had little tolerance for military order and discipline, and NCOs and officers who were hopeless at their jobs were made aware of it. They laughed their way through the worst of it by taking the mickey out of one another and their superiors. From recruitment and training to the battlegrounds of Palestine, North Africa, Thailand, New Guinea, Borneo and beyond, here are the highly individual stories of Australia's World War II Diggers told in their own voices - warts and all.
When Tim Bowden went back to Tasmania to explore his state of origin for the first time in many years, he was reminded of his adolescent assertion that "Tasmania is the testicle of Australia, suffusing the mainland with strength and vigor. What a pity there is only one of them." In this cheeky and warm rediscovery of Tasmania and its at-times dark history, Tim and his wife Ros explore some of the quirkier outposts of island civilization (stopping at a winery or three along the way) and travel through landscapes of incomparable beauty and devastating desolation. With a cast of characters as memorable as they are eccentric, this is a generous portrait of the island and its fiercely proud people. A fascinating and humorous account of a rapidly changing Tasmania, told by one of Australia's most infectious raconteurs and highly regarded broadcasters, The Devil in Tim belongs in the suitcase or backpack of every visitor to Tasmania, first timers and regulars alike.
A follow-up to Tim Bowden's Penelope Goes West, this time covering the intriguing adventures of Tim, Ros, Penelope (the car) and The Manor (the caravan) as they travel across the grandeur and spectacle of Broome, the Kimberleys and various points south and west. Bowden's fascination with rarely seen Aboriginal rock art is a major theme in his continuing love affair with Australia. On their journey Tim and wife, Ros, explore the Kimberley by land and sea, where dramatic 12-metre tides guard coastal locations unchanged by time - still as 17th-century buccaneer William Dampier first described them. For three months, Tim and Ros and their trusty four-wheel-drive, Penelope, travelled from the improbably sculptured Bungle Bungles to the Pilbara and the wildflower-filled Mid West.
Ion “Jack” Idriess (1889 – 1979) is recognised as one of Australia’s great storytellers, having published over 50 books including the Outback tales of Lasseter’s Last Ride, Flynn of the Inland, and The Cattle King alongside major histories of Broken Hill, Broome and Cooktown. This book is his last interview in 1975, prompted by the then-young Tim Bowden, for a possible ABC Radio program that did not eventuate due to Idriess's fading voice. Within this book Idriess talks of his early years in Broken Hill, he tells of his earliest writing for the Bulletin, on living and photographing Aboriginal tribes in the Kimberlys and Cape York; on the writing of his books like Madman’s Island and My Mate Dick; his life with the pearlers of Broome and Thursday Island; on the joys of prospecting, living in the Wild, and on Lasseter and his diary. Full of colourful characters and true stories, Ion Idriess allows us into his unbridled enthusiasm for Australian and Aboriginal history.
Tim Bowden's account of his journeys to the Antarctic combine adventure, exploration, social history, human endeavour and humour in the most isolated continent on earth.
Tim and Ros are heading north in their trusty four-wheel drive and camper, doing what they do so well - introducing us to the unique, fascinating and outright bizarre in the Australian landscape, its history and its people. Travelling to all those places that are part of the Australian imagination - Moree, Cunnamulla, Charleville, Rockhampton, Townsville, Cairns, Cooktown, Tennant Creek, Arnhem Land, Darwin, Coober Pedy and, of course, Uluru. Tim and Ros live the dream of going north. This is Tim Bowden at his cheeky and entertaining best."--Provided by publisher.
In THE CHANGI CAMERA, acclaimed author Tim Bowden presents a unique record of one Australian soldier's experience of the fall of Singapore, captivity in Changi, and enduring the hell of the Thai-Burma Railway. George Aspinall was a keen photographer and, even in the very worst of conditions, he managed to take photos, process them, and so preserve for later generations the reality of incarceration. Along with George's own memories of those years, Tim Bowden has written a gripping and authoritative overview of what happened in Changi and on the Railway. This powerful narrative and unique collection of almost one hundred photographs combine to give us a raw and graphic account of just what George and thousands of his fellow Australians endured.
Tim Bowden loves travelling and decided to combine this with his interest in Australian history by taking off to Western Australia with his photographer wife, Ros, in their camping trailer and four-wheel drive, nicknamed Penelope. His journey offers insights into Australia's history and geography.
Excerpts from letters sent to ABC TV's TBackchat' programme with amusing commentary from the show's presenter, Tim Bowden, a well known journalist and radio producer, and author of several books.
It made Changi seem like heaven.' There was a place far worse than Changi - Singapore's Outram Road Gaol. For the POWs who endured it, deprivation here was so extreme that there really was a fate worse than death.Stubborn Buggersis the little known story of twelve Australian POWs who fought and survived the action in Malaya before the fall of Singapore and endured captivity and slave labour, then the unimaginable hardships of Outram Road Gaol. It is a story of how they dealt with the brutality of the Japanese military police, the feared Kempeitai. And it is the story of how they found a way to go on living even when facing a future of no hope and slow death. But Stubborn Buggers is about more than suffering and brutality. It is also a story of grit, determination and larrikin humour. It is very much about the triumph of the human spirit.
The bestselling biography of one of the world's greatest cinecameramen and an extraordinary Australian.For over twenty years journalist Neil Davis covered the conflicts in SouthEast Asia. Always at the battle front, he brought enduring images of the full horror of modern war to the world. Ironically, in September 1985, having survived so much war, Neil Davis was killed filming an attempted coup in the streets of Bangkok.
New in paperback, the comprehensive, illustrated history of the Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions (ANARE) written by one of Australia's most well-known and best-loved media personalities.
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