But in practice Australia - the pluralism of Australia - sorry the sectarianism to an extent stopped at the time you took your uniform off after coming home from school.

And I found both literature and the church very dramatic presences in the world of the 1950s.

The List is Life.

Thomas was my true name but everyone knew me as Mick, except my mother, who knew me as definitely Michael.

Personal finances are like people’s personal health, crucial and tragic to the sufferer but tedious to the listener.

You know, so I was a weird eccentric kid but I did believe in the power of the word and of the word being made flesh I suppose, which again I suppose came from my temperament as well as my upbringing.

So nonetheless given the importance that was placed on sport in Australia, I wanted to be part of that scene, particularly since I had felt very strongly in my early schooling being marginalised even in the Catholic school.