Talbot Duckmanton

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Sir Talbot Duckmanton (25 October 1921 - 12 June 1995) was General Manager of the Australian Broadcasting Commission from 1965 until 1982.

The son of Sidney James Duckmanton and Rita Margaret Hutchins, he married Florence Simmonds in 1947 and had four children, Christine, Susan, Craig Talbot and Kim. ^[1]

He was educated at Newington College (1934-1938) ^[2] and began his career as a cadet announcer at the ABC in Brisbane in 1939 and from 1952 until 1954 was the Assistant Manager of the Brisbane office.

It was rumoured and is widely believed that Sir Talbot Duckmanton was responsible for choosing the ABC post office box number of 9994 in recognition of Sir Don Bradman's batting average of 99.94. However this only became the ABC's box number in 1983, after Duckmanton's retirement. There is as yet no published evidence that the connection between the box number and Bradman's average was intentional.^[3]

[edit] Mascot of ABC Brisbane 612AM

In a story published the 4th of October 2004 on the ABC Brisbane (612AM) website^[4], the task was set to find a name for the mascot of ABC Brisbane. In an article on the same website published on the 27th of October 2004^[5], Talbot is declared the winner over the other favourite Gabba (a reference to the nick name of the Brisbane Cricket Ground found in the suburb of Woolloongabba). This is in reference to the ABC's Talbot Duckmanton.

[edit] References

• Inglis, Ken S., This Is the ABC 1932 – 1983, Black Inc 2006
• Inglis, Ken S., Whose ABC? 1983 – 2006, Black Inc 2006

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Talbot Duckmanton. The Duckmanton Family Website.
2. ^ Newington College Register of Past Students 1863-1998 (Syd, 1999) pp55
3. ^ Inglis, works cited
4. ^ Name 612 ABC's New Mascot. 612 ABC Brisbane (2004-10-04). Retrieved on 2007-05-28.
5. ^ Would the real Talbot Duckmanton please stand up. 612 ABC Brisbane (2004-10-27). Retrieved on 2007-05-28.