Book Description
For many actors, painters, musicians and writers, leaving Australia seemed to be the only path to personal and professional fulfillment. Drawing on the lives of people such as Dame Joan Sutherland, Jill Neville, Barry Humphries, Germaine Greer and Clive James, this book explores the experience of being an expatriate in London in the creative and performing arts. It is also a cultural history that traces shifts in the relationship between Australia and Britain, as the supposed colonial backwater began to develop its own national identity.
When London Calls: The Expatriation of Australian Creative Artists to Britain FROM THE PUBLISHER
For thousands of young Australians the tearful dockside farewell was a rite of passage as they boarded ships bound for London. For some the journey was an extended holiday, but for many actors, painters, musicians, writers and journalists, leaving Australia seemed to be the only path to personal and professional fulfilment. When London Calls is a collective biography of those who found themselves categorised as expatriates, people such as Leo McKern, Keith Michell, Alan Seymour and Michael Blakemore in the theatre; Dame Joan Sutherland, Sir Charles Mackerras, Sarry Tuckwell, Malcolm Williamson and Don Banks in music; Phillip Knightley, Murray Sayle and John Pilger in journalism; Arthur Boyd and Sir Sidney Nolan in art; the writers Richard Neville, Peter Porter, Jill Neville and Charles Osborne; as well as those who became 'megastars' - Barry Humphries, Germaine Greer and Clive James. The book tells of choices made about career and country, love and work by those who crossed the world. Yet it is also a cultural history, drawing out broader themes of identity.
Art & Photography
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