Gideon Haigh | The Love Of Archives, Cricket & Eclectic Curiosities (Cricket Et Al)

Описание: A probe into Gideon Haigh's worldview, someone I've anticipated interviewing ever since this podcast began.

00:00 - Intro
02:34 - The Primacy of Documentation
07:08 - The Unexpected Value of Archives
08:40 - The Romance of the Hunt vs. AI
10:23 - Discovering Family History
12:07 - A 'Keyhole Look' at Doc Evatt
15:41 - Critique of the Memoir Genre
18:05 - The Problem with Non-Fiction
25:12 - What is Original Thinking?
26:43 - The World's Oldest Prisoner
29:51 - What Makes a Great Historian?
30:15 - Exemplar Historian: Geoffrey Blainey
31:51 - Reflecting on Shane Warne
35:14 - Lessons from Business Journalism
38:41 - Transitioning to Cricket Writing
41:50 - What Cricket Writing Was Missing
42:51 - Inside the Culture of a Bank
47:27 - An Unconventional Media Career
50:25 - The Accidental Birth of Cricket Et Al
54:13 - Freedom: New Media vs. Legacy
56:38 - Creative Freedom and The Murtoa Shed
58:22 - The Greatest Building in Australia
01:00:00 - Future of Cricket Journalism
01:02:14 - Developing a Conversational Writing Style
01:04:55 - Death of a Gentleman Documentary
01:08:08 - Franchise vs. International Allegiance
01:10:33 - Explaining Cricket's Grip on India
01:12:17 - Politics of India-Pakistan Match
01:14:31 - Cricket as Political Weapon in India
01:17:16 - Comparing Legends: Sachin vs. Kohli
01:22:04 - First Impressions of T20
01:30:35 - Saudi Investment & Sports Washing
01:32:45 - Most Fun Job in Cricket
01:36:57 - Writing Process & Uncracked Ideas
01:41:26 - A Cricket Novel Protagonist

Some highlights from the podcast.

On cricket: “Cricket marches backwards into the future — always haunted by its past.”
On Warne: “He had perfect superficiality and the gift of putting everyone at ease.”
On journalism: “Legacy media has become mindlessly negative. If they can’t own it, they destroy it.”
On new media: “It’s amazingly empowering to write something and press publish — no intermediaries, no gatekeepers.”
On India: “India has become the gravitational centre of world cricket — a nation full of gods, and some of them play cricket.”
On memory: “Memory is a slippery thing — journalists are constantly trying to pin it down, trusting it when it suits us, interrogating it when it doesn’t.”


Gideon is a veteran journalist, author and the most eclectic cricket writer alive today. He has prolific output. He’s published more than 50 books and thousands of articles scoping a gamut of topics. Work, bureaucracy, the office, Australian crime, banks, business, scandals, cricket, cricket history, cricket politics, media, journalism, biography, memoir, and too many more to rattle off.

Check out the video of this one (Spotify or Youtube). The decor is a very on the nose projection for Gideon's aforementioned interests. Lining opposite walls are two imposing floor to ceiling bookshelves eyeing each down for Gideons attention. Behind him a shrine to cricket and across from him a shrine to the rest.

Gideon is also the co-host, alongside Peter Lalor, the wonderful Substack and podcast - Cricket Et Al.

If you like Cricket than you’ll love Cricket Et Al.