About the Author

Les Carlyon was born in 1942 and died in 2019. He was universally admired as a superlative descriptive writer. He was a reporter, editor, historian, educator and mentor. But above all he was a gifted storyteller, combining elegant prose with a laconic irreverence and biting analysis. He was editor of The Age and editor-in-chief of The Herald and Weekly Times. He shone as a turf writer and war historian. He quietly mentored a generation of Victoria's best journalists, won two Walkleys and is the only journalist to receive Lifetime Achievement awards from both the Walkley Foundation and the Melbourne Press Club. In 2014, he was made a Companion of the Order of Australia.