Ian Hancock

Ian Hancock is the biographer of Tom Hughes QC, a hero of the Sydney bar ... He has submitted to Justinian's probing, intimate questions on the eve of the book's publication ... Biographing a biographer  

Ian Hancock is an editorial fellow at the Australian Dictionary of Biography, within the Australian National University and for 10 years he was the historical consultant to the National Archives. 

Notably he has a brace of biographies of Liberal Party politicians under his belt, including John Gorton and Nick Greiner, along with learned articles on Robert Askin, John Carrick and Roden Cutler. 

The Hughes biography is his latest work and takes us into the Sydney bar from the post-war period and Canberra politics of the 1960s and 70s, with access to fee books, diaries, jottings and private correspondence.

Ian Hancock is on Justinian's couch ... 

Ian Hancock: Hughes biographer and cauliflower haterDescribe yourself in three words.

A Carlton supporter.

What are you currently reading? 

Zachary Leader's biography of Kingsley Amis.

What's your favourite film?

For now, "The Dressmaker".

Who has been the most influential person in your life? 

My mother: she introduced me to books. 

When were you happiest? 

When Carlton won the Preliminary Final in 1999.     

What is your favourite piece of music?

A toss-up between tastes: Beethoven's Ninth and Janis Joplin, "Me and Bobby McGee".

Why write biographies of Liberal Party politicians?

Someone has to do it, and better if that someone is sympathetic.

What is in your refrigerator?  

Hard to tell: the light is broken.           

What makes you frightened?

The fear of not being able to write.

Who would you most like to be with in a lift that has broken down? 

Paul Keating.

Why did you study history?

I was hopeless at maths, science, languages and law, and there were peoples and people I wanted to understand.

What is the work of which you are most proud?

"Rhodesians Never Die", written with Peter Godwin.

What book did you find most interesting to research and write?

"Rhodesians Never Die", because of the infinite capacity of mostly decent and often courageous individuals and of their small white society to engage in self-delusion - at a terrible cost to a whole country.  

What was the most important opportunity you didn't take? 

Applying to return to Oxford in 1969.

If you were on death row, what would you request for your last meal?  

A good red.

If you were a foodstuff, what would you be?

A cauliflower: I might then find out why I have always hated them.

Who do you most admire professionally?

"Jack" Gallagher, co-author of "Africa and the Victorians": challenging tutor, arresting writer, wicked wit, original and quirky mind.

What is your favourite book?

R.H. Tawney, "Religion and the Rise of Capitalism": I could once recite paragraphs on end - the words and the images if not the message captivated me.

What would you change about Australia?

Bullying and suffocating correctness.

What would your epitaph say?

He meant to try harder.

What comes into your mind when you shut your eyes and think of the word "law"? 

Nothing.

Tom Hughes QC - A Cab On The Rank, by Ian Hancock, published by The Federation Press