Father was no athlete, although he had represented Melbourne University at rifle shooting during his student days there. Although the Victoria Park Racecourse was very close, none of us took any interest in racing, nor in football (Australian Rules was the only game in Adelaide at that time). However, until I went to the University I was an enthusiastic cricketer, and participated in an early morning ‘school’ for young hopefuls, given at 6 am one day a week by former Test player George Giffen in the Parklands, some five kilometres away from our house. I used to walk over and back before breakfast on Saturdays. I was a passable slow bowler, and at one school match notched up eight wickets for 36 runs. However, when I came to play at the University my bowling was too slow and after the first season I gave up the game, although until after the War I went to all Test matches played in Adelaide and was a great admirer of Clarrie Grimmett as a bowler and Bradman and Jackson as batsmen.

At Thebarton Technical High School, I tried playing Australian Rules football, but found that I ran up and down the field and never seemed to touch the ball. Influenced by Norman Dowdy, a teacher who one evening each week conducted gymnasium classes that I attended (along with Lindsay Pryor) at a church building across the road, I tried playing hockey for a team called ‘The Wanderers’. It turned out that I was quite good at that, and quickly gained entry to grade A hockey as soon as I went to the University.

The other game that I learned to play locally, with a friend on the public courts at Victoria Park, was tennis. Although I dropped this during and just after the War, I took it up again as soon as I came to Canberra, and I still play doubles at a court near our house in Canberra every Saturday morning.