Richard Glover has just published his 17th book and says he owes at least some of his success as a writer to Gus' cafe in Canberra.
While he is an icon of Sydney radio as the host of the Drive program on 702 ABC for the last 25 years, Glover grew up in Canberra and his searingly honest, hilariously true memoirs are rooted in the national capital.
But so too are his humorous, observational books, like his latest, Best Wishes, but also his wildly successful The Land Before Avocado, which was a look at the way Australia used to be in the 1960s and 1970s and how far the nation had progressed since then.
And that's where Gus' comes in.
"There's a Canberra connection with every one of my books, I think," Glover, 65, said.
"The Land Before Avocado, which is the most popular book really, starts off with a scene in Garema Place with me telling my son, who now lives in Canberra, 'I was here when Gus put the first chair on the pavement and the police were called' and him not believing me," he said, with a laugh.
The story of Gus Petersilka is, indeed, a reflection of how far Canberra has come as a city, too. Gus in the 1960s did fight bureaucrats in the Department of the Interior to expand his cafe to outside eating and left a lasting legacy while doing it. In 1978, the Austrian migrant was named Canberran of the Year. He died in 1994 but Gus' lives on, the cafe now heritage-listed in a city that couldn't conceive of being without its cafes and outdoor dining.
Glover had to return to the cafe, now called Gus' Place, during his visit to Canberra this week, to speak at a sold-out event at the Kingston library about his latest book Best Wishes, a funny and insightful list of 365 wishes, one for every day of the year, to help make the world a better place.
His trip to Canberra was also a walk down memory lane, with Glover returning to the site of his father Ted's newsagency in Petrie Plaza, just around the corner from Gus'.
"I used to work here all the time and sometimes would deliver the papers at dawn in Canberra," he said.
Glover and his family moved to Canberra when he was 11 or 12 after an early childhood spent in Papua New Guinea. He went to school at Canberra Grammar and studied at the Australian National University for a year where he met his partner Debra Oswald, a writer for film, television and stage who co-wrote the Offspring television series starring heart-throb lead character Dr Patrick Reid (played by another Canberran, Matt Le Nevez) who was killed off.
"Deb just did a one-woman show at The Ensemble talking about her life. It had lots of Canberra stories, actually," Richard said. "It had a very romantic story set in Burgmann College about her first boyfriend, Joe."
She also has a novel coming out soon with Allen and Unwin. But nobody lets her forget Patrick.
"She is still in witness protection, having killed Patrick. She's still hunted by fans of Offspring," Glover said, merrily.
The couple has two sons, Dan and Joe. And two grandchildren. Joe lives in Sydney and Dan in Canberra. The family's life has been chronicled for years in Glover's column in The Sydney Morning Herald.
Glover has also been frank about his own life. His book Flesh Wounds starts with "my mother [Bunty] running off with my English teacher from high school" when he was in Year 8. That would be at Grammar.
"And you can imagine it was a huge scandal at the time. Whenever I tell the story, I always think people must expect me to say the other boys bullied me about it," Glover said.
"I think it was one of those cases where it was just too easy. They suddenly got overcome with sympathy. Even in the '70s, it was possible for boys to have sympathy."
His father was either drunk or took off for long periods of time, leaving his young son alone in the family home at Deakin.
It says a lot about the stubborn optimism of Glover that he still has affection for Canberra, a place of often unhappy times. He is also forgiving of his parents. Not resentful.
Glover's wish No.12 in Best Wishes is "I wish we could hear the love in the words of our fathers". His father used to express his love for his son by asking him if he had "checked the oil in the car".
"Why can't old-style fathers just say, 'It's great to see you?' or 'I love you?'," Glover writes in Best Wishes.
"Only recently have I realised: that's exactly what they were saying. You just need to translate from the language called Fatherlish."
In Best Wishes, Glover's wishes for the world range from the whimsical ("I wish there was a prize for packing a car boot") to the annoying ("I wish people would stop 'reaching out' to me") to the profound (" I wish that anyone who wants to be a parent has the chance").
Best Wishes could see Glover veer towards Grumpy Old Men territory, but it's less a tirade and more a good laugh, a chance to pick up the book and read any page for a bit of humour and, not least, a chance to reflect.
"Obviously the book jumps between serious issues and things that might seem trivial. Wish No.1 is about wealthy people paying the proper amount of tax. You know, the typical billionaire in the United States now pays tax at a rate of 8 per cent, which is half what the typical firefighter pays. So there's issues like that," Glover said.
"Then there are things you could think of as trivial issues. I think one of the advantages of doing talkback radio and having people talk to you all the time about what's really making their lives better and what's making their lives worse, is that you ending up realising there are no such things as trivial issues.
"If you've got slightly arthritic hands and the only available scissors come in those hard plastic cases which can only be accessed with a pair of scissors and if you had a pair of scissors, you wouldn't need to buy a pair of scissors, you realise that's not a trivial issue, that's actually making someone's life miserable."
The book also celebrates what's right with the world - "I wish Australians would stop running themselves down" or "I wish everyone had the sense of humour of a two-year-old".
"Part of making a better world is correcting some of the things that are wrong. And the other part is appreciating some of the things that are right and actually taking joy in some of the things that are really fantastic about life," Glover said.
Like chairs on a footpath.
Glover still repairs to the mud-brick house he built - over 30 years - with media mate Philip Clark and their partners at Wombeyan Caves north-west of Goulburn.
The property's sheds and fences and septic tank and Glover's "little jokey attempt at a vineyard" were destroyed in the Black Summer fires of 2019-20.
"Thanks to the RFS and the neighbours, the house survived," he said.
Glover, who is on long-service leave from 702 and using the time to travel Australia, promoting Best Wishes, says he has no intention of leaving radio any time soon.
"I still think it's the greatest medium," he said.
"I always joke that radio is the greatest medium because it's got the best pictures. I kind of mean it, in a way. You listen to it and it's very intimate and you form your own pictures of what's being described in your own head which are more vivid that any other that could be formed.
"A lot of the ideas in this book have grown out of doing 25 years of talkback radio with ABC Radio listeners."
Glover hasn't been on air for 25 years by chance. His personable approach and sense of humour and willingness to tackle the big and little stuff have held him in good stead. Best Wishes is an extension of his personality, with equal regard for the big and the small matters of life, with not a hint of snootiness about any of it.
"I think people really need a laugh now," he said.
"I think what people have been enjoying [about the book] is the jokes and positivity. It has been a pretty difficult year or two or three or four or five.
"It's got lots of jokes in it and a lot of positive energy and maybe that's what people need."
- Best Wishes is published by ABC Books.
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