Sandy McCutcheon
Encyclopedia
Robert Hamish McCutcheon (born 1947), known as Sandy McCutcheon is an Australia
n author, playwright, actor, journalist and broadcaster.
, New Zealand
, as Brian David Parry. However, he did not learn this until he was fifty years old, in 1997, when his adoption papers were discovered. When he was nearly three, his parents divorced and he was adopted out to another family, who renamed him. When he did not answer to the name Robert, they nicknamed him Sandy. They denied his former life and always told him his early childhood memories were the product of an overly fertile imagination. As an adult, he spent several years looking for traces of his family around Europe, before finding relatives living in New Zealand
. In that search, he met for the first time his 30-year old daughter Yvonne. He was aware that he had fathered a child in London when he was 20, but he knew nothing about her. He also discovered that his birth mother had been adopted.
He moved to Australia in 1970 and now lives in Brisbane
. He spends time each year in the city of Fes
in Morocco
where he owns a house with his third wife, the photographer Suzanna Clarke
. He is actively involved in the Woodford Folk Festival
, The Festival of Sufi Culture (in Fez) and the Festival of World Sacred Music (in Fez). He has had four children from his three marriages, as well as Yvonne.
McCutcheon was till late 2006 the host of a popular talkback radio
program Australia Talks Back, since renamed "Australia Talks" on ABC
Radio National
. Australia Talks Back is the only whole-continent talkback radio program. It has also gathered listeners from around the world through the internet and Radio Australia shortwave broadcasts. It runs for an hour every weekday and attracts a wide variety of audiences, who discuss a particular topic every day, reviewing the week's topics on Friday. Since leaving the ABC he has returned to his career as a writer and public speaker.
Before Radio National, McCutcheon has been a presenter on ABC's Double Jay, later Triple J
, now an Australia-wide radio station. Before that he worked at radio stations in Townsville
and Hobart
.
McCutcheon has produced many documentaries for the radio in countries around the world, including Bosnia
, China, Finland
, Malaysia, Mozambique
, Singapore
, South Africa, Sudan
(North and South) and Yugoslavia
.
McCutcheon is a very energetic radio presenter, having been awarded Australian radio awards and recognised at the New York International Radio Festival.
McCutcheon has been awarded the International Kalevala Medal for services to Finnish culture (for his work on the Kalevala
). He has worked in Finland on a scholarship, and in particular, at the Finnish Broadcasting Company
.
McCutcheon has written 22 plays (at least) for the theatre
. He won the Samuel Weisberg Playwriting Award in 1991 for the best Jewish play of the year for Night Train, as he had for a long time believed himself to be Jewish, prior to finding out the truth about his ancestral past.
McCutcheon has founded the Illusion Farm, based in the Tasmania
mountains. It is a Buddhist
centre providing care for people in need, free of charge. It has accommodated for more than 3000 people during its operation. The Illusion Circus Theatre Company has also been based on the farm.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n author, playwright, actor, journalist and broadcaster.
Biography
He was born in ChristchurchChristchurch
Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the country's second-largest urban area after Auckland. It lies one third of the way down the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula which itself, since 2006, lies within the formal limits of...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, as Brian David Parry. However, he did not learn this until he was fifty years old, in 1997, when his adoption papers were discovered. When he was nearly three, his parents divorced and he was adopted out to another family, who renamed him. When he did not answer to the name Robert, they nicknamed him Sandy. They denied his former life and always told him his early childhood memories were the product of an overly fertile imagination. As an adult, he spent several years looking for traces of his family around Europe, before finding relatives living in New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
. In that search, he met for the first time his 30-year old daughter Yvonne. He was aware that he had fathered a child in London when he was 20, but he knew nothing about her. He also discovered that his birth mother had been adopted.
He moved to Australia in 1970 and now lives in Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
. He spends time each year in the city of Fes
Fes
Fes or Fez is the second largest city of Morocco, after Casablanca, with a population of approximately 1 million . It is the capital of the Fès-Boulemane region....
in Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
where he owns a house with his third wife, the photographer Suzanna Clarke
Suzanna Clarke
Suzanna Clarke is an author, photographer and journalist. She was born in New Zealand in 1961 and now lives in Brisbane, Australia.She worked as a photographer, reviewer, travel and feature writer for The Courier-Mail in Brisbane Australia where she is now the Arts Editor. Suzanna Clarke has been a...
. He is actively involved in the Woodford Folk Festival
Woodford Folk Festival
The Woodford Folk Festival is an annual music festival held near the small country town of Woodford, 72 km north of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is one of the biggest annual cultural events of its type in Australia....
, The Festival of Sufi Culture (in Fez) and the Festival of World Sacred Music (in Fez). He has had four children from his three marriages, as well as Yvonne.
McCutcheon was till late 2006 the host of a popular talkback radio
Talk radio
Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often feature interviews with a number of different guests. Talk radio typically includes an element of listener participation, usually by broadcasting live...
program Australia Talks Back, since renamed "Australia Talks" on ABC
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
Radio National
Radio National
ABC Radio National is an Australia-wide non-commercial radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.Radio National broadcasts national programming in areas that include news and current affairs, the arts, social issues, science, drama and comedy...
. Australia Talks Back is the only whole-continent talkback radio program. It has also gathered listeners from around the world through the internet and Radio Australia shortwave broadcasts. It runs for an hour every weekday and attracts a wide variety of audiences, who discuss a particular topic every day, reviewing the week's topics on Friday. Since leaving the ABC he has returned to his career as a writer and public speaker.
Before Radio National, McCutcheon has been a presenter on ABC's Double Jay, later Triple J
Triple J
triple j is a nationally networked Australian radio station intended to appeal to listeners between the ages of 18 and 30. The government-funded station is a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation...
, now an Australia-wide radio station. Before that he worked at radio stations in Townsville
Townsville, Queensland
Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Australia, in the state of Queensland. Adjacent to the central section of the Great Barrier Reef, it is in the dry tropics region of Queensland. Townsville is Australia's largest urban centre north of the Sunshine Coast, with a 2006 census...
and Hobart
Hobart
Hobart is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Founded in 1804 as a penal colony,Hobart is Australia's second oldest capital city after Sydney. In 2009, the city had a greater area population of approximately 212,019. A resident of Hobart is known as...
.
McCutcheon has produced many documentaries for the radio in countries around the world, including Bosnia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
, China, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
, Malaysia, Mozambique
Mozambique
Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest...
, Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
, South Africa, Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
(North and South) and Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
.
McCutcheon is a very energetic radio presenter, having been awarded Australian radio awards and recognised at the New York International Radio Festival.
McCutcheon has been awarded the International Kalevala Medal for services to Finnish culture (for his work on the Kalevala
Kalevala
The Kalevala is a 19th century work of epic poetry compiled by Elias Lönnrot from Finnish and Karelian oral folklore and mythology.It is regarded as the national epic of Finland and is one of the most significant works of Finnish literature...
). He has worked in Finland on a scholarship, and in particular, at the Finnish Broadcasting Company
Yleisradio
The Finnish Broadcasting Company , abbreviated to YLE , is Finland's national broadcasting company, founded in 1926. YLE is a public-broadcasting organization which shares many of its characteristics with its British counterpart, the BBC, on which it was largely modelled...
.
McCutcheon has written 22 plays (at least) for the theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
. He won the Samuel Weisberg Playwriting Award in 1991 for the best Jewish play of the year for Night Train, as he had for a long time believed himself to be Jewish, prior to finding out the truth about his ancestral past.
McCutcheon has founded the Illusion Farm, based in the Tasmania
Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
mountains. It is a Buddhist
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
centre providing care for people in need, free of charge. It has accommodated for more than 3000 people during its operation. The Illusion Circus Theatre Company has also been based on the farm.
Resources and external links
- Sandy McCutcheon's Moroccan web site
- Australia Talks Back
- ABC Radio National Australia Talks Back Presenter -- Sandy McCutcheon
- Murray Waldren's article about Sandy McCutcheon
- Lily Bragge, Finding Sandy, The Sunday Age, 17 July 2005.