Article: Brisbane News, September 6th, 2006
Bowling for Redcliffe
A guest appearance at the Brisbane Writers Festival is a chance for
author and actor William McInnes to catch up on old times, his
old bed and his Mum's chicken soup
"A friend said to me, 'You could be in Alaska for 90 years and you'd
still be calling yourself a Queenslander.' I still get a bit feral
around State of Origin time"
The choice between a five-star hotel and his bedroom at the family
home in Redcliffe is an easy one for William McInnes. "I'm staying
with my mum," says the actor and author. "I turned down a bed
at the Stamford Plaza for my old one at home and chicken soup for
dinner." So as we start chatting over morning tea at Mary Ryan's
Books, Music & Coffee at Milton I have, in my mind's eye, this indelible
picture of the tall lanky star's feet sticking out the end
of his old bed.
William, 42, was recently dubbed Australian Star of the Year at the
International Movie Convention on the Gold Coast and is well known
for his roles in TV series including Blue Heelers and SeaChange
and movies such as Look Both Ways, an Australian production written
and directed by his wife Sarah Watt.
He will soon be seen as wartime Prime Minister John Curtin in the
telemovie Before Dawn and in a rural romance called Unfinished Sky,
which starts shooting around Beaudesert in October. But he's in
town wearing his other hat as an author on this visit, ostensibly
talking up his latest book, Cricket Kings. He will be a guest
at the Brisbane Writers Festival this month and his sessions are
sure to be packed, given his popularity. His literary debut, A Man's
Got to Have a Hobby, an endearing memoir about growing up at
Redcliffe, did very well. It was an honest book by a celebrity who
happens to be a bit of an anti-celebrity.
McInnes seems a tad shambolic (in the nicest possible way) and rather
a handful for his publicist, one imagines. Rather than being
chauffeured around town like most visiting celebrities, he insists
on driving himself. This sounds admirable but somehow he manages
to get lost while travelling several kilometres from Toowong to
Milton.
He arrives flustered and instead of launching into a PR blurb about
his new book wants to talk about old war movies after discovering
we share a mutual love of them. In the process he does fine impressions
of Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood from Where Eagles
Dare and soon moves on to The Dam Busters, a classic from our boyhoods.
"Who wants to be blown up by red hot Ack-ack at 40,000 feet?" he jokes
in his best pucker British squadron leader's voice. "I'd love
to sir, take me, take me ... ," he answers himself as an eager
young airman.
He talks fondly of Sunday afternoons on the couch at home watching
reruns of World War II flicks, or Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis comedies.
Such nostalgia is a big part of what William McInnes is all
about. His novel Cricket Kings is not quite as nostalgic as his
first book but the sentimental attachment to the past is still
strong. It's a story about men rekindling their boyhoods playing
in a suburban cricket team, the Yarraville West Fourths.
Chris Anderson the protagonist may not be a legend like Bradman or
Waugh, but he loves his cricket and revels in the camaraderie he
enjoys with the motley crew he has assembled for a match on the
Cec Bull Memorial Oval, a ground which could be anywhere in Australia.
The team is a cussing, drinking, wind-passing bunch that may
or may not resemble William and the fellows he has played with
in similar cricket teams.
"I played as a kid in Redcliffe and the year before last I had a full
year playing fourth-class cricket," says William, who describes
himself as a bowler primarily. "Actually, I think I've played
cricket in just about every state." So he doesn't get too typecast
as a professional Queenslander, William set the book in Melbourne's
western suburbs.
"After all, I have lived in Melbourne for about 14 years," he says.
"But where I come from is still important. A friend said to me,
'You could be in Alaska for 90 years and you'd still be calling
yourself a Queenslander.' I still get a bit feral around State of
Origin time.
And if my 13-year-old son Clem has done something wrong, I say to
him 'you Victorian!'" How cruel.
Cricket Kings by William McInnes (Hodder, $32.95).
A guest appearance at the Brisbane Writers Festival is a chance for
author and actor William McInnes to catch up on old times, his
old bed and his Mum's chicken soup
"A friend said to me, 'You could be in Alaska for 90 years and you'd
still be calling yourself a Queenslander.' I still get a bit feral
around State of Origin time"
The choice between a five-star hotel and his bedroom at the family
home in Redcliffe is an easy one for William McInnes. "I'm staying
with my mum," says the actor and author. "I turned down a bed
at the Stamford Plaza for my old one at home and chicken soup for
dinner." So as we start chatting over morning tea at Mary Ryan's
Books, Music & Coffee at Milton I have, in my mind's eye, this indelible
picture of the tall lanky star's feet sticking out the end
of his old bed.
William, 42, was recently dubbed Australian Star of the Year at the
International Movie Convention on the Gold Coast and is well known
for his roles in TV series including Blue Heelers and SeaChange
and movies such as Look Both Ways, an Australian production written
and directed by his wife Sarah Watt.
He will soon be seen as wartime Prime Minister John Curtin in the
telemovie Before Dawn and in a rural romance called Unfinished Sky,
which starts shooting around Beaudesert in October. But he's in
town wearing his other hat as an author on this visit, ostensibly
talking up his latest book, Cricket Kings. He will be a guest
at the Brisbane Writers Festival this month and his sessions are
sure to be packed, given his popularity. His literary debut, A Man's
Got to Have a Hobby, an endearing memoir about growing up at
Redcliffe, did very well. It was an honest book by a celebrity who
happens to be a bit of an anti-celebrity.
McInnes seems a tad shambolic (in the nicest possible way) and rather
a handful for his publicist, one imagines. Rather than being
chauffeured around town like most visiting celebrities, he insists
on driving himself. This sounds admirable but somehow he manages
to get lost while travelling several kilometres from Toowong to
Milton.
He arrives flustered and instead of launching into a PR blurb about
his new book wants to talk about old war movies after discovering
we share a mutual love of them. In the process he does fine impressions
of Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood from Where Eagles
Dare and soon moves on to The Dam Busters, a classic from our boyhoods.
"Who wants to be blown up by red hot Ack-ack at 40,000 feet?" he jokes
in his best pucker British squadron leader's voice. "I'd love
to sir, take me, take me ... ," he answers himself as an eager
young airman.
He talks fondly of Sunday afternoons on the couch at home watching
reruns of World War II flicks, or Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis comedies.
Such nostalgia is a big part of what William McInnes is all
about. His novel Cricket Kings is not quite as nostalgic as his
first book but the sentimental attachment to the past is still
strong. It's a story about men rekindling their boyhoods playing
in a suburban cricket team, the Yarraville West Fourths.
Chris Anderson the protagonist may not be a legend like Bradman or
Waugh, but he loves his cricket and revels in the camaraderie he
enjoys with the motley crew he has assembled for a match on the
Cec Bull Memorial Oval, a ground which could be anywhere in Australia.
The team is a cussing, drinking, wind-passing bunch that may
or may not resemble William and the fellows he has played with
in similar cricket teams.
"I played as a kid in Redcliffe and the year before last I had a full
year playing fourth-class cricket," says William, who describes
himself as a bowler primarily. "Actually, I think I've played
cricket in just about every state." So he doesn't get too typecast
as a professional Queenslander, William set the book in Melbourne's
western suburbs.
"After all, I have lived in Melbourne for about 14 years," he says.
"But where I come from is still important. A friend said to me,
'You could be in Alaska for 90 years and you'd still be calling
yourself a Queenslander.' I still get a bit feral around State of
Origin time.
And if my 13-year-old son Clem has done something wrong, I say to
him 'you Victorian!'" How cruel.
Cricket Kings by William McInnes (Hodder, $32.95).
posted by WilliamWatch at 10:08 PM
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