By Kathy Bail - December 1, 2004
“Gavin Dennett, who has been running in front of the pack like an Oakleigh Plater all year, is suddenly shortening stride. Simon Smith and Garry Linnell are closing fast and the winning post is in sight. Can the leader find something? All will be revealed after the next round.
“Last week was a bloodbath and if you got out of it with a score of 4 you did well. Bernie Leo top-scored with a round of 6 and if the upsets continue in the final three rounds, he will finish like Bernborough. That's enough bad turf analogies for one email, so get your tips in by 7:30pm please and good luck.”
Col was such a generous guy, always wishing us luck, wishing us the best. He often sent emails that began: “This may interest you …” with a link to a fascinating story in The Guardian or The New York Times or any number of magazines because he read widely. In the past couple of years he edited the Newsweek section of The Bulletin. When he sent me the feature list there’d often be an extra comment. “This one has you written all over it, KB,” he said on one list that featured a story on muscle cars. Even though we spent hours working together in the office, Col would make the effort to send a note that showed he was thinking of you. He enjoyed making us laugh. Whenever he did one of his cute impersonations, we’d break up. Then wait for a repeat performance.
His emails could be very cheeky. One day one landed that said: “Yo! Maxie’s in da house…” Translation: Max Walsh has filed his column. I can’t remember them all. He dashed off so many. Others he didn’t dash off at all. He’d send considered proposals on how to redesign The Bulletin website with thoughts on the future of online publishing. He had so much to contribute in that field alone and I feel sorry he won’t be here to track how things change over the next few years. And then there were the emails sent to a group of us about errors in the magazine that had slipped through. He was so disappointed when this happened. “Our readers deserve better than this,” he’d say. When we were editing stories, Col would generally hear the warning bells much earlier than the rest of us.
He taught me a lot about editing and writing. Like most of us working in the media, he wanted more and better coverage of the areas that interested him. For Col it was soccer, science, Asia, books, music, wine and food. Well, the list could go on, but these were the recurring ones. He’d get grumpy when he felt space wasn’t given in the magazine to the right subjects. But I have to say he was one of the friendliest, most kind-hearted grumps I’ve met.
I worked with Col for nearly six years. Wish I’d met him much earlier. He was a great bloke, such a gentleman. When he’d leave in the evening, he’d put his head in the door of my office, and say “Have a good one.” Often we’d been in the office so damn long there wasn’t much of the evening left.
In winter he’d set off in his big cuddly woollen roll-neck jumper looking like he was ready to settle in for the night with a good bottle of red and one of Stephanie Alexander’s meat dishes -- he had a list of favourite recipes, of course.
That’s the other thing. It was such a pleasure going out to eat and drink with him. Not only could he identify the really good stuff on the wine list to get things started but also there was so much to chat about, from day-to-day things to the big issues.
His commitment to his friends, his family and his work, as well as his determination and stamina set a fine example. A generous friend, he gave us many tips on how to live well. I’ll miss him terribly.
