Book description
The bestselling autobiography of one of Australia's most loved
personalities is now in paperback. Ray Martin tells the story of his
less than stellar introduction to the glamorous world of television.
Before Ray had even got to high school, he had lived in thirteen
different places, in three Australian states, mostly in the bush. His
father was a violent, drinking man who would lash out at his wife and
children. His mother would uproot the family across to the other side of
Australia to escape him. Ray's world was as far away from Hollywood and
movie stars and the bright lights as is possible to imagine. This is the
long-awaited, warts-and-all autobiography of Ray Martin. His exceptional
career, his happy marriage to Dianne, and his lasting love-affair with
the people of Australia. Funny, thought-provoking and inspiring, tthe
most compelling autobiography of the year is now in paperback. Ray
Martin was born in Richmond, near Sydney, in 1944. After an itinerant
childhood, he finally settled as a teenager in Launceston, Tasmania. He
won a scholarship to Sydney University and obtained an Arts degree. Ray
began his career working for ABC radio in Sydney in 1965. He married
Dianne in 1968 and they moved to New York where Ray worked as a
correspondent for the ABC's North American bureau for ten years. In 1978
Ray moved back to Australia to launch 60 Minutes with George Negus and
Ian Leslie. The show was a huge success. After his daughter, Jenna, was
born in 1984, Ray hosted The Midday Show to be closer to home. There he
won five Gold Logies, more than twenty Silver Logies and a handful of
People's Choice awards. His son, Luke, was born in 1990. In 1994, Ray
left The Midday Show for the first of two stints as host of A Current
Affair before hosting The Ray Martin Show. Ray hosted Carols by
Candlelight for twenty years and a number of network TV appeals. He
became deeply involved in a variety of charities, especially those
concerned with Aboriginal disadvantage and children's hospitals. He
spent a decade as Chairman of the Fred Hollows Foundation and was
appointed to the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation. He also became
Patron of the Humpty Dumpty Foundation, which raises medical equipment
for children's hospitals across Australia.
