Author: John Reid | Starts at 60

John Reid Profile

How chocolate wrappings saved the day when the engine stopped

Back in the late 1960s, I was based in Perth. I drove out to Kalgoorlie, entering a local business....

MS St Louis - the ship to nowhere but dashed hopes

Several years ago I read a sad saga to which I’ve returned on a number of occasions. It was...

Barney Greatrex is the amazing Aussie hero you've never heard of

Half a world away from home, a young Sydney man who’d trained and gone to England to drop bombs on...

Vale, Australian car industry

Car manufacturing was a good – even great – industry for our country but, unfortunately, low build volumes (by world...

'A cold is not the flu, and you can't get flu from the vaccine'

I realise what I’m about to write will bring a certain number of “I told you so” comments, but so...

Uncover the secrets of 'The Girl's' dragon tattoo

There has been great conjecture about another author taking over from the deceased Stig Larsson, someone to continue the...

Come time to wind back the clocks, there will be many complaints

Daylight saving is back again for the 17 million of us who put our clocks forward an hour on...

The drive where everything that could go wrong, did go wrong

It was July 1966. We lived in Wooloowin, an inner northern suburb of Brisbane back then. We worked hard and,...

'P*ss off, you!' and other birdwatching tales

I do a lot of avian photography, taking pride in the end product even if some shots such as these...

Ever wondered why there are no blue roses or how worms breathe?

A title that is as humorous as you may (or may not) make it provides a guide to the relatively...

The emu war: Australia's forgotten battle against bird kind

It was a truly farcical situation, a unit of the Royal Australian Artillery defeated … by a mob of bloody...

Insidious Intent a reminder no one does crime like Val McDermid

I sat there like a stunned mullet. In fact, extending the simile even further, I have to admit my mouth...

Victory for the Australian Light Horse came at a price

Perhaps the best qualities a writer can display in describing a battle long ago in a faraway place are those...

A thriller ripped straight from today's terror-charged headlines

What happens when an experienced political reporter tries his hand at thriller writing?...

Can you imagine commuting in your own private aircraft?

Now you’re flying baby, and don’t come that old Erica Jong ‘Fear of Flying’ fogey on me. How technology changes....

A sad tale of a capital crime in 19th century Scotland

Is it a true story? Is it fiction grounded in fact? Is it pure fiction? His Bloody Project has a...

These Aussies were imprisoned for something that's now a human right

They were young, they were radical, and they were thrown into prison for their student activism. August 4 marks the...

My view on gay marriage as an elderly, Protestant, straight man

Whether it’s right or not, whether it’s wanted or not, may not be the question. A vote on gay marriage...

Remembering the Australians who sailed in WW2 under the American flag

These Australians were too young and too old to go to war, yet served under the Stars and Stripes. The...

How an Aussie became the most decorated British soldier in WWI

A quiet, sensitive Aussie who became the most decorated British soldier in the Great War. Although born to farmers Edward...

Wimmera: A journey into the darker underbelly of rural Victoria

A first offering by a new Australian author, Wimmera by Mark Brandi is set, as its title suggests, in western...