The Last Showman

Author(s): Fred Brophy; Sue Williams

BIOGRAPHY

'Fred Brophy is a legend - he's one of my favourite real Australians.' John Williamson Son of a sideshow operator and a trapeze artist, Fred Brophy grew up on the road, travelling the length and breadth of Australia. He did time in jail as a teenager before touring his own boxing tent at a time when the tradition was alive and well.With plenty of hardship, adventure, hilarity, tragedy and even a romance, Fred's story is one of living on the smell of an oily rag and staying resourceful to keep his young family together and give his kids the education he didn't have. This is both a snapshot of a fast-disappearing Australia and an inspiring tale of pulling yourself up by the bootstraps.A big-hearted, no-nonsense man who doesn't waste words, Fred uses his tent boxing - the last of its kind on the world - to both entertain and to help troubled youth and battlers. He was awarded an OAM in 2010 for services to charity, boxing and entertainment.


Product Information

Fred Brophy is an Australian icon. He's a fourth generation showman who still operates his boxing tent - the last of its kind in the world. He makes an annual appearance at Birdsville Races where the tent is a major drawcard. He was admitted into the QLD Boxing Hall of Fame in 2010, and was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in 2011 for services to charity and to the entertainment industry in keeping old-style tent boxing alive. Fred is now sixty and lives in his pub at Kilkivan, Queensland, with his partner, Sandi. He also has a pub in Cracow. A major two-part documentary about his boxing tent, Outback Fight Club, shows regularly on Qantas flights domestically and all over the world and every time he travels overseas, he invariably meets locals who've heard of him.

General Fields

  • : 9781921901904
  • : penguin
  • : penguin
  • : 0.462
  • : 01 August 2014
  • : 230mm X mm
  • : 01 September 2014
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : Fred Brophy; Sue Williams
  • : Paperback
  • : 914
  • : en
  • : 796.83092
  • : x, 326