Scotch College

A Strine original

Australia has lost an eccentric lexicographer with the death of Alistair Morrison ('25). Though he saw himself primarily as a painter and designer, Alistair was better known as the scholarly Professor Afferbeck Lauder. The great-nephew of Scotch Principal Alexander Morrison, Alistair studied at the National Gallery of Victoria School and first came to prominence as a graphic and industrial designer. His first book of Strine, Let Stalk Strine (1965), was an instant bestseller. One of many hilarious examples was Spin-ear Mitch: Much alike, closely resembling one another, as in: "He's the Spin-ear Mitch of his old man". Alistair's painting and design are represented in the National Gallery of Australia, the Art Gallery of NSW, the Powerhouse Museum (Sydney) and the Victoria and Albert Museum (London). Alistair had lived in Fremantle for 15 years, and died there aged 86.

TV news director David Broadbent ('64) is as hard to pin down as some of the politicians he interviewed as a state political reporter. In 1990 he moved from Channel Nine to Seven. After spending 1996 as Seven's national news chief in Sydney, he crossed back to Nine and returned to Melbourne. It is rumoured that he is being groomed to take over from the world's longest-standing news director, John Sorell. David shared a house with a lower-profile Jeff Kennett ('65) while both were studying at the Australian National University in Canberra in the late '60s. We'll be back after this break ...

If you think potters are potty, the internationally acclaimed work of Stephen Benwell ('70) will soon change your mind. Since his days at the Victorian College of the Arts, Stephen has produced some 1500 ceramics shown in all Australian cities as well as Paris, Faenza, Tokyo and Zurich during a 20-year career. Art consultant John McPhee is writing a book about the artist, and any Old Boys or parents who own major Benwell pieces should contact Mr McPhee at GPO 2723, Sydney 2001. Stephen exhibits at the George Gallery (129 Fitzroy Street, St Kilda).

Campbell McComas