Mark Colvin (2) (1952–2017)
Author of Light and Shadow: Memoirs of a Spy's Son
For other authors named Mark Colvin, see the disambiguation page.
About the Author
Mark Andrew Colvin was born in London, England on March 13, 1952. He received a degree in English literature from Christ Church, Oxford. He moved to Australia and became a journalist and broadcaster. In 1974, he got a cadetship at the ABC, and after a short stint in the newsroom he joined the new show more youth music radio station 2JJ in 1975. By the time he was 28, he was a foreign correspondent. He was London correspondent for five years, a documentary film-maker for five years on Four Corners, and the founding presenter on a midday radio news show, the World Today. For 20 years, he hosted the daily radio current affairs show PM. His 1990 Four Corners report on Ethiopia, The Forgotten Famine, won a gold medal at the New York film festival. His memoir, Light and Shadow: Memoirs of a Spy's Son, was published in 2016. He died of cancer on May 11, 2017 at the age of 65. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Works by Mark Colvin
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1952-03-13
- Date of death
- 2017-05-11
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- Australia
- Birthplace
- London, England, UK
- Place of death
- Randwick, New South Wales, Australia
- Occupations
- journalist
broadcaster
memoirist
foreign correspondent
documentary filmmaker - Organizations
- Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Members
Reviews
Light and shadow : memoirs of a spy's son by Mark Colvin
Mark Colvin wrote this very interesting book perhaps in the shadow of a limited life expectancy. Born to an Australian mother and an often absent father who was in one of the English secret services, we grew up in London and then found his way to Australia after his schooling. Picked up by the ABC he spent the rest of his life working for them - covering stories in Iran during the revolution, Africa, Russia, Australia and Europe. The most fascinating part of his story was when as a teenager he travelled to Mongolia via China just as the cultural revolution was coming to an end in the 1970s. It appears that he was the first westerner to travel by train from Beijing to Shanghai after the cultural revolution; and was unknowingly also the conduit for the possible fate of Lin Biao.… (more)
½Enthralling memoir- Mark’s journalist career in Australia and his fathers in MI6 in various international “diplomatic” postings.
Statistics
- Works
- 1
- Members
- 79
- Popularity
- #226,897
- Rating
- 4.0
- Reviews
- 2
- ISBNs
- 18