Drive with Derryn
Weekdays 4 - 6pm
Derryn Hinch used to threaten that he would eventually write an autobiography and call it Famous People who have met me. He was joking. Eventually he did write a kind of personal biography about the private thoughts of a public person but he used his catchphrase as the title: That’s Life. And in his case what a life it has been. A national magazine once referred to him as “the former Derryn Hinch”.
And there have been a lot of “former” situations in Derryn’s life. He is a former police rounds reporter, former foreign correspondent, former newspaper editor, former host of national current affairs shows, former novelist, former radio host in Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide, former MIDDAY host and former jailbird.
Yes, Derryn spent 12 days in jail over a contempt of court charge when he revealed the name of a convicted child molester.
For 11 years Hinch covered both North and South America for the Sydney Morning Herald and other Fairfax papers as well as the Macquarie Radio Station. He was there on the spot when man first went to the moon. He was there for such turning points in history as the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr and Bobby Kennedy.
He was there when President Nixon resigned at the peak of the Watergate scandal.
In politics Hinch has met every Australian Prime Minister from Bob Menzies to John Howard. He has been in the Oval Office at the White House and interviewed such diverse politicians as Senator Edward Kennedy and Andrew Peacock.
In entertainment Hinch has interviewed such big names as Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Sophia Loren, Harrison Ford, Catherine Deneuve, Mae West, Peter Finch and Rod Taylor.
At home here in Australia he has interviewed every major male and female star over the years — and was also married to a national icon, Jacki Weaver, for 14 years.
He remains the first person in a decade to interview fugitive businessman Christopher Skase in Majorca since he fled Australia.
In 2004 Hinch wrote a bestseller called The Fall and Rise of Derryn Hinch. In 2005 he published Human Headlines – My 45 years as a frontline journalist.
In November 2006 Hinch will publish his latest book called You Are So Beautiful – The passion and the pain of relationships. Also in the works is a movie being written in conjunction with Hollywood scriptwriter Colin Dangaard and his media tome Human Headlines – My 47 years as a frontline journalist.
Hinch has a unique opinionated, often controversial view of history. And he can talk about it lucidly, colourfully and entertainingly.
Despite the sometimes gruff exterior that beamed out of the television set into your living room in prime time for all those years he does have a sharp, sometimes shrewd sense of humour.
His appeal apparently bridges the so-called generation gap.
Derryn Hinch first joined 3AW in 1979. He went on to become the undisputed King of Melbourne radio – with the highest morning ratings ever achieved then or now - before leaving to start the top rating HINCH on the Seven Network. He rejoined 3AW for the third time (after a year doing Nightline in 2000) in February 2003 and has been number one ever since.