1. EachPod

1: Robert 'Crash' Craddock

Author
Sam Ferris
Published
Sun 07 Jun 2020
Episode Link
https://shows.acast.com/the-writers-hour/episodes/1-robert-crash-craddock

Find us on Twitter @TheWritersHour


[4:30] Biggest changes in journalism between then and now

[12:10] Deep dive into the "Biggest story I ever covered" | Read Crash's story on Hansie Cronje here 

"We ended up in the middle of it. I was going for nine days and I ended up staying for two months."

[17:15] "It was a journalist who worked for the SMH in Greg Growden … he once said to me, 'People love trivia … if you can't hit them with the really big thing, hit them with the really, really small thing – the thing that personalises them'."

[18:45] Crash and Steve Waugh, and asking the hard questions

[25:00] Establishing contacts

[29:00] Advantages of being on the scene

[30:10] Use of analogies | "Sometimes analogies are a good way of brightening up a piece if you're not a great writer. Pete Lalor … Malcolm Knox, Greg Baum, they don't need to analogies in their stories because they've got such a beautiful way with words."

[32:00] Impact of putting yourself on the scene within the story

[36:20] Why the Cronje story was so significant for Crash. 

44:00 | "One of the biggest regrets I have is that there's no way we cracked the match-fixing story in cricket to anywhere near its true depth … if I could walk into a room where every match-fixing transaction was written on a wall, if I could take you into that room, we'd both faint."

[39:30] Inserting yourself in the story

[41:55] Preparing for interviews | "So often the best information about a person comes from other people."

[44:30] Who and what inspires Crash nowadays 

[47:01] The most nervous Crash has been before an interview

[49:55] The one person, living or dead, Crash would like to interview



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