Wire Whiskers

How does an English farm boy from Kenya end up as a journalist in Australia, Rhodesia and Britain? And then a Presbyterian church minister in New South Wales and Western Australia, where he became the state moderator?

Michael Charles describes how his life dramatically chopped and changed as he discovered who he was and where he should go in a world where he didn't seem to fit.

Along the way, he married a red headed police inspector's daughter with convict ancestry, with whom he produced a family of three sons.

His memoir is honest, but full of humour, giving valuable insights into a tale of triumph over adversity.

Auteur

Knowing God was a foundation that sustained Michael, the Kenya farm boy, from a young age. At boarding school, as a Pommie jackeroo in outback NSW and subsequent trials in marriage, news reporting and finally becoming an ordained clergyman.Praying to God, the Father, was an anchor which repeatedly gave strength to endure many trials. Michael - nicknamed "Wire Whiskers" when he tried to grow his first moustache - was not religious, but instinctively turned to the Almighty when there was nowhere else to go.Whiskers was born in Nakuru, Kenya, six weeks after his father had disappeared to serve his country in World War II. His genteel English mother was left to care for him on a remote cattle farm, surrounded by the Kipsigis, lions, leopards and Alsatian dogs.Being more inclined to be a writer than a farmer, stirred by his mother's creative talents, Whiskers sailed to the Land Downunder, alone, to discover for himself the path he should follow. Having experienced work on a sheep station, riding rough bush horses, he returned to Sydney and an uncertain future. Learning the hard way, he battled his way into a career as a newspaper reporter, starting on the Sydney Daily Telegraph.Sacked repeatedly as he developed the required skills, and marrying his red-headed shorthand teacher - his second wife and the daughter of a police inspector with convict ancestry.Together, Michael and his wife travelled overseas, working in Rhodesia for two years before heading for England where the ambitious young journo dreamed of landing a job in Fleet Street, an international icon of journalistic excellence and achievement. On the way, they visited Jerusalem, bumping into a group of Christian pilgrims, an experience which changed their lives radically. They become born again Christians and Whiskers finally left journalism, after three years of sub-editing in London. He was ordained as a Presbyterian minister in NSW, an unconventional preacher of the Gospel who didn't fit well with conservative traditions.Whiskers and his wife produced three sons, one of whom became a drug addict, dying or a heroin overdose. Faith in God continued to sustain them in their grief and sundry other trials.