Terry Lane
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Terry Lane is a radio broadcaster and newspaper columnist based in Melbourne, Australia.
He was born in South Australia and educated at Gawler High School. After studying for the ministry at the Churches of Christ College of the Bible in Melbourne, Lane was a minister for six years before working in the Methodist Department of Christian Education and the ABC's religious department. He began a radio talk-back program for the ABC in Melbourne in 1977, but was controversially sacked after 11 months.
The Monash biographical dictionary of 20th century Australia [1] describes Lane as "a capable and empathetic interviewer, though often expounding controversial views". Geraldine Doogue describes him as "an interviewer’s interviewer; he’s self-effacing, but probing, and these days, certainly not afraid of expressing his own opinions. He’s gloriously unpredictable, offends listeners of both liberal and conservative inclinations, and delights just as many others." [2]
He is probably best known for his daily radio program, which ran from 1982 to 1993, on 3LO, 2BL, 7ZR and 2NC. In 1995, he returned to the ABC's Radio National to present a weekly program, The National Interest, which he retired from in 2005.
He published a collection of his interviews with famous Australians about their childhood experiences in As the Twig is Bent 1979 and is also the author of More than Meets the Ear 1987; Hobbyhorses 1990 and God:the interview (1993 - second edition 2004). In 1993 he also published his first novel, Hectic, which was followed by Tit for Tat 1994 and Sparrows Fall 1995. The First Century, (a chronogical reference to Australia's Federal elections) co-authored with Doug Aiton was published in June 2000.
He continues to write a weekly opinion columns for The Sunday Age, and since 2003 Lane has reviewed digital photography hardware and software for The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald. His reviews are published online at dpexpert.com.au [3]
Lane is secretary of the anti-censorship organisation Free Speech Victoria. He also is the winner of the Wilkie Medal, awarded by the Anti-Football League for doing the least for football in the best and fairest manner.
Lane's credibility was questioned after a column published on 30 July, 2006 in The Sunday Age wherein Lane fell for the Jesse Macbeth hoax. Lane admitted to his mistake in a later article. [4]
