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Just Call Me Bob: Australian Story sneak peek 2:20
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This first ever television biography of Mr Hawke features fascinating previously unpublished family photographs and footage. Courtesy ABC.
- news.com.au
- 08 Nov 2014
- Entertainment
Former Prime Minister Bob Hawke turns 85 next month. Source: ABC
HE IS the leader Aussies think of as the ultimate larrikin, and a guy who loves a beer, a laugh and a good time.
To this day, Bob Hawke, Australia’s oldest living prime minister, remains the most successful and popular Labor leader the nation has ever seen.
But a documentary set to air tonight aims to shed new light on the man who once set a world record of 11 seconds for skolling a yard glass while a uni student in the 1950s.
Just Call Me Bob, which features on ABC’s Australian Story tonight, examines why Hawke remains so popular, as well as some of the most popular myths behind the former PM.
Using archive footage and never before seen family photographs, the documentary delves into the often volatile life of a man whose private and political exploits captivated Australia.
These never before seen photos of Bob Hawke will be revealed on Australian Story. Source: ABC
Tonight’s Australia Story dispels many of the myths including:
Hawke was far from perfect:
The man who ruled Australia from 1984-1990 rose through the ranks of the ACTU to become PM, but his character flaws threatened to derail his career, the documentary reveals.
Journalist Paul Kelly tells Australian Story: “There were the women, and there was the grog, and for a long time people thought this private life meant that his political ambitions would never be realised”.
The PM Bob Hawke with wife Hazel at the piano in 1990 at Kirribilli House in Sydney. Source: News Corp Australia
Hawke likes a drink or two:
Not only did he enjoy a beer, but in fact he had a big problem according to his wife Blanche d’Alpuget.
She talks openly about the extent of her husband’s problems with alcohol and how he would start drinking brandy at breakfast time.
“He would be paranoid about people. He was once paranoid about me, which I found really astonishing,” she said.
Former Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke and his wife Blanche d’Alpuget arrive at the state memorial service for former Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam last week. Source: Getty Images
The former leader didn’t get on with his son:
Hawke’s son, Steven, sets the record straight about his relationship with his father.
According to him, there’s nothing further from the truth than the rumour that he is estranged from his dad.
“There’s a perception that me and Dad weren’t on the best of terms at times,” he said.
“I don’t really know where it comes from to tell you the honest truth. I don’t like a thing being made of the fact that I’m a Hawke and that’s got nothing to do whatsoever with being a rejection of Dad or the work he’s done. We get on fine.”
Stephen Hawke, pictured as a boy with his father. Source: News Corp Australia
His divorce and remarriage caused a family rift:
Not only did Hawke face a backlash from women who loved first wife Hazel, but when he chose to leave her, best mate Col Cunningham warned he would be hated by females everywhere.
His grandson David Dillon also reveals the family rift caused by his decision to remarry telling Australian Story: “When our grandparents split and Bob moved on with Blanche it really tore our family apart.”
Hawke was married to Hazel from 1956 to 1995 and the couple had four children together, Susan, Stephen, Roslyn and Robert Junior.
The late Hazel Hawke pictured with Sue Pieters-Hawke and Sophie Pieters-Hawke Source: Supplied
The Hawkes were one big happy family:
While the remarriage ultimately caused division and tension, daughter Sue Pieters-Hawke reveals how time has healed all wounds.
Ms Pieters-Hawke sparked headlines when she engaged in a fight with d’Alpuget at the Qantas chairman’s lounge at Brisbane Airport several years ago leading to the police being called. She talks for the first time about how the rift has been healed.
“It took a bit of time to come around I think but it’s a matter of deep satisfaction to me that the family has reformed,” she said, revealing that she now considers d’Alpuget to be a great grandmother and stepmother.
Australian Story: Just Call Me Bob, a two-part special airs tonight and on November 17, at 8pm.
