William McInnes

A tail-end baby boomer better known for his on screen presence, William McInnes is a talented author and a natural storyteller. This is part memoir is both funny and insightful- a biographical trip told through the author’s own experiences. His laconic voice and easy style added greatly to my enjoyment of this collection of conversations on a broad range of subjects related to communication. Warm, nostalgic, funny and undeniably Australian. There are plenty of laugh-out-loud moments, but show more also a respectful celebration of an Australia that sadly seems to be fading into the past. show less

You’ll hear this phrase “yeah, nah” at least twenty times a day if you visit Australia!

William McInnes writes a great book and he could easily be your best mate or your favourite uncle! His writing is warm and funny and has that, wear on your sleeve, typical Aussie honesty to it. He’s the proverbial larrikin! If you want to know how we speak, what it means to be a mate or just join in and have a chuckle on us, read Yeah, Nah or pretty much anything by William McInnes. You’ll even show more find him in some successful television series! show less

William McInnes' best-selling memoir, A Man's Got to Have a Hobby, takes us back to the long summer holidays of the 1960s and '70s and the last of the baby-boomer childhoods. William narrates with humour and affection about his family and especially his mum and dad, who talked to the TV set and enjoyed life in their house near the bay.

William McInnes is a talented author and a natural storyteller. A tail-end baby boomer, he recalls summer holidays that seemed to go on forever, when he and show more his mates would walk down to fish in the bay; a time when the Aussie battler stood as the local Labor candidate and looked out for his mates; and a time when the whole family would rush into the lounge room to watch a new commercial on TV.

He talks about his father, a strong character who talks to the furniture, dances with William's mother in the kitchen, and spends his free time fixing up the house and doing the best for his family. In A Man's Got to Have a Hobby, you can hear his father speaking and listen to his mother singing.

This is a story about people who aren't famous but should be. It's about cane toads and families, love and hope and fear, laughter, death and life. Most of all it is a realistic, down-to-earth story by a man who had a great time growing up. His warmth and humour come through in every word.

This Australian memoir tells of a time that will be familiar to many readers and a delight for all. Having McInnes read it adds to the authenticity of the stories - and is the icing on the cake for me. show less

Both funny and insightful, ‘That'd Be Right’ is William McInnes’ third book. It is part memoir, part a personal view of the history of Australia over the last thirty years - a biographical trip told through the author’s own experiences, weaving in and around many events that have held a fascination for Australians of all ages.
Some of these events would be considered momentous, some small and personal. They range from a day at the Melbourne Cup with his mother where too many show more champagnes and too few winners were picked; a swimming carnival early in the morning after a gloomy and long federal election the night before; watching truly surreal Grand Final moments in a pub with a group of odd and unknown bar companions; and sailing on a massive yacht during the Sydney Olympics while listening to the conversation of an elderly lady from Texas in the cabin below. William also writes about a night at the cricket with his son, which shows how things can come full circle.
McInnes’s laconic voice and easy style added greatly to my enjoyment of this collection of memories filled with politicians, cricketers, Olympians, politicians, media moguls, greenies and dams, elections, action figures, lawn mowing, politicians, blind dates, politicians, elections, Anzacs, cricket wars, swimmers, yacht races and turds. Through it all, we are treated to his father Colin’s comments (and usually his mother Iris’s retorts) on a broad range of subjects. Plenty of laugh-out-loud moments, but also a respectful celebration of an Australia that sadly seems to be fading into the past. show less