Book description
Andrew  Boy Charlton is one of our all-time greatest swimming
champions. With a Foreword by Grant Hackett. Andrew 'Boy' Charlton set
his first world record as a school boy. He became an Olympic and World
Champion in the 1500m swim, and like Grant Hackett, in a number of
shorter distances. He medalled in the 1500m in 1924, 1928 and 1932. In
between each Olympics he retired and stopped competing to either
complete his studies (he was only 16 at his first Olympics), or work as
a jackeroo. Only taking up training, if at all, in the months prior to a
competition. He loved the ocean more than the pool and was an Australian
Surf Champion in 1931/2 and 1934/5. He was, and remains, admired by
swimmers and lovers of sport past and present. The son of a bank manager
Boy had expected to inherit a farm from his beloved Grandfather. When
this dream faded Boy smoothly moved on from the expectation of an
inheritance to a life of working for others until he could purchase his
own farm near Goulburn. He lived a simple and humble life - interrupted
by visits to Paris, London, Amsterdam and Hollywood where he was feted
and had a grand old time! There is much to learn from the story of this
young man who prepared for his second Olympics - after two and a half
years break - by swimming against the current in the Namoi River in
northern New South Wales. When Grant Hackett won the fifteen hundred
metres freestyle at Athens in 2004 his was the eighth Australian victory
in this distance in the past nineteen Olympics. This remarkable
tradition began with Andrew 'Boy' Charlton. Peter Fenton is a punter,
poet, raconteur, aging coach and writer who is a regular speaker at
sporting and corporate functions. He also writes for Inside Sport
Magazine and writes the Super 12 and Test Match programs for the ARU. In
his previous career he was chief sound mixer on 150 Australian feature
films including Newsfront, Caddie, Sunday Too Far Away, Picnic At
Hanging Rock, My Brilliant Career, The Devil's Playground, Gallipoli ,
Phar Lap, The Russia House, Paradise Road. He wrote/ and co-produced two
documentary films on The Wallabies and a one hour documentary on boxer
Les Darcy for the ABC. Peter has written 6 books on Australian sport
including biographies on boxer Les Darcy and jockey Wayne Harris and the
story of the 1927/28 Waratahs rugby tour of the British Isles. His most
recent book was a biography on WW2 Nurse entitled Olive Weston. He has
been a Rugby coach for 20 years and has a couple of premierships under
his belt. He was awarded Australian Sports Medal 2000 for service to
Rugby.
