Peter FitzSimons explained

Peter FitzSimons
Birth Name:Peter John FitzSimons
Birth Date:29 June 1961
Birth Place:Sydney, Australia
Years Active:1987–present
Genre:Non-fiction
Education:Knox Grammar School
Findlay High School
Alma Mater:University of Sydney
Module:
Embed:yes
Ru Position:Lock
Repyears1:1989–1990
Repcaps1:7
Repteam1:Australia
Amatteam1:Sydney University Football Club
Amatteam2:Manly RUFC
Amatteam3:CA Brive
Amatyears3:1985–1989

Peter John FitzSimons (born 29 June 1961) is an Australian author, journalist, and radio and television presenter. He is a former national representative rugby union player and was the chair of the Australian Republic Movement from 2015 to 2022.[1]

Early life

FitzSimons grew up in Peats Ridge,[2] in the Central Coast of New South Wales. He was one of seven children. He attended Peats Ridge Public School and Knox Grammar School before going in 1978 to Findlay High School, Ohio,[3] for a year as an exchange student on an American Field Service Scholarship. He then completed an arts degree at the University of Sydney,[4] residing at Wesley College from 1980 to 1982.[5]

Career

Rugby

FitzSimons first played club rugby with the Sydney University Football Club and then with the Manly RUFC in Sydney in the 1980s under the coaching of Alan Jones.[6] Between 1985 and 1989 he played with CA Brive in France for four seasons as the club's first foreign player. He played seven test matches at lock for the Australian national rugby union team between 1989 and 1990, debuting against France in Strasbourg in November 1989, on the Wallabies 1989 tour of Europe. His final Test match was against the All Blacks in Christchurch.[7]

In On a Wing and a Prayer, former Wallabies winger David Campese criticised FitzSimons for starting a brawl in Australia's first Test against France in 1990. Campese labelled FitzSimons' actions "a disgrace to the good name of rugby"[8] and asserted that "he was doing the game and its reputation enormous damage."[8] Campese cautioned that if such fights "turn even one family away from the game, then they have been too costly".[8]

Former Wallabies backrower Willie Ofahengaue said of FitzSimons: "He's a big character. Funny guy. Talkative. One thing I remember about rooming with him was he used to get his suitcase, tip it up and pour everything out on to the floor. When it was time to go home he would chuck everything back in any old way. Fitzy was a real roughie, but he is married now so he must have changed."[9]

Journalist

FitzSimons has written for The Sydney Morning Herald since 1988,[10] and has been a sports columnist for that publication since 1987.[11] He regularly appears on the Australian Foxtel program The Back Page, formerly hosted by rugby league journalist Mike Gibson and now Tony Squires. For the Saturday edition of The Sydney Morning Herald, FitzSimons writes a column titled "The Fitz Files" which looks at all the happenings over the past seven days in sport. He writes a more general version of "The Fitz Files" in The Sun-Herald on Sundays, focusing on community activities and events in Sydney. Andrew Denton has called him "Australia's finest sports journalist".[12] On 25 September 2001 he wrote a thought-provoking opinion editorial piece titled Memo world: try saying sorry to avoid a sorry end.[13]

In August 2022 FitzSimons threatened to sue Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price for defamation when she said that he had been rude and aggressive in a telephone interview. Price urged FizSimons and The Sydney Morning Herald to release the recording of the interview but they declined to do so.[14]

Radio

In January 2006 FitzSimons began co-hosting a breakfast radio program with Mike Carlton on Sydney radio station 2UE. He was brought onto the 2UE breakfast show in an attempt to boost the program's dwindling ratings.[15] However, the Mike and Fitz Breakfast Show still trailed a long way behind the number one program on 2GB, hosted by FitzSimons' former coach Alan Jones.[16] After two years, FitzSimons quit to become a stay-at-home dad and focus on his writing.[17]

Author

FitzSimons is a prolific writer and is one of Australia's best-selling non-fiction writers.[18] He has written books about subjects such as Nancy Wake, the shipwreck of the Batavia, Sir John Monash, Breaker Morant, Charles Kingsford Smith and John Eales.[19]

Selected books

Community and political activism

FitzSimons is or was involved with a range of community organisations. At the University of Sydney he was a fellow of the Senate from 2009 to 2013,[30] as well as Pro-Chancellor,[31] a patron of The Russell Prize for Humour Writing, State Library of New South Wales, since 2015[32] and chairman of the Australian Republic Movement from 2015 to 2022.[33] [1] Additionally, he served on the council of the Australian War Memorial[34] and founded the Cauliflower Club with Nick Farr-Jones.[35]

In the lead-up to 2019 New South Wales state election, FitzSimons began a campaign to prevent the demolition of the Sydney Football Stadium and Stadium Australia. He began by launching a petition in late 2017 on Change.org that reached approximately 220,000 signatures prior to the election as well as numerous editorial articles decrying the demolitions. The stadium issue became a major element of the campaign with Labor leader Michael Daley calling the election a "referendum on stadiums".[36] On 5 December 2017, FitzSimons remarked on Twitter that the incumbent Gladys Berejiklian government could "bulldoze and rebuild three new stadiums, including Parra, for $3 billion—on no demand—or they can win the next election, but they can't do both."[37]

On 23 March, Berejiklian and her coalition were easily returned to government, with political commentators suggesting that the issue did not resonate with the wider community of the state.[38] The campaign had a minor success, however, as the government changed the original plan for a complete knock down rebuild of Stadium Australia, and instead would go ahead with a billion-dollar refurbishment. The refurbishment would also be cancelled, although no funds were allocated to any grassroots sports facilities as FitzSimons wished, and later had a similar level of funding directed to a new stadium in Penrith.

Personal life

FitzSimons is married to Australian journalist and TV presenter Lisa Wilkinson.[39] They have three children and live in Sydney.[40]

FitzSimons has identified himself as an atheist and a Republican.[41] [42]

Bandana

FitzSimons is well renowned for wearing a red bandana.[43] [44] He has explained his regularly wearing of the bandana due to his children giving it to him to wear, so he wears it for them.[45] [46] He is at times referred to informally as "Pirate Pete" due to his wearing of the headwear.[47]

Honours

On 13 June 2011 FitzSimons was named a Member of the Order of Australia for service to literature as a biographer, sports journalist and commentator, and to the community through contributions to conservation, disability care, atheism, social welfare and sporting organisations.[48] [49]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Peter FitzSimons to step down as ARM chair as Abetz attacks republic campaign's 'elitism' Republicanism The Guardian . 2023-01-30 . amp.theguardian.com.
  2. http://mosmanis.info/walloffame/web/sportsperson.php?id=44 Mosman Sporting Wall of Fame: Peter FitzSimons' profile
  3. News: Sorry if I offended anyone, but we're all a mob of bastards. Peter . FitzSimons. The Sydney Morning Herald. 21 May 2016.
  4. http://www.celebrityspeakers.com.au/after-dinner-speakers/peter-fitzsimons Speaker Profile of Peter FitzSimons at The Celebrity Speakers Bureau
  5. News: FitzSimons. Peter. Given time, great colleges learn to fix their problems. 4 December 2014. The Sydney Morning Herald. 9 November 2013.
  6. Web site: Player profile of Peter FitzSimons. ESPN. 3 October 2010.
  7. Web site: Match report: New Zealand Australia, 21 July 1990 . 4 May 2014 . ESPN . 29 April 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140429044110/http://www.espnscrum.com/australia/rugby/match/22297.html . dead .
  8. Book: Campese . David . David Campese . On a Wing and a Prayer . Bills . Peter . Queen Anne Press . 1991 . 0-356-17958-3 . registration.
  9. https://www.couriermail.com.au/ipad/big-o-far-from-the-end-of-the-line/news-story/ae9d9eaba0892d70eade3dc0aacdd189 "Big O far from the end of the line"
  10. His first article as a Herald correspondent was "From the Wilds of France": FitzSimons, P., "The survivors of la Besse still remember", The Sydney Morning Herald, (Tuesday, 22 November 1988), p. 23.
  11. His first article as a Herald sports journalist was: FitzSimons, P., "French give Scots some pointers", The Sydney Morning Herald, 9 March 1987, p. 53.
  12. Web site: Panelist: Peter FitzSimons. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Q&A. 26 February 2012.
  13. News: FitzSimons . Peter . 25 September 2001 . Memo world: try saying sorry to avoid a sorry end . https://web.archive.org/web/20030205060337/http://old.smh.com.au/news/0109/25/opinion/opinion3.html . 5 February 2003 . 20 May 2019 . . en . We accept that such hate as drove the planes into the World Trade Centre towers can only have come from incredible suffering, and we are desperately sorry for that suffering.
  14. News: Meade . Amanda . 12 August 2022 . The Peter FitzSimons interview with Jacinta Price that sparked a week-long culture war . The Guardian (Australian edition) . 17 August 2022.
  15. News: The odd couple. Sue. Javes. The Sydney Morning Herald. 23 January 2006.
  16. News: Mike Carlton quits 2UE radio breakfast slot. The Daily Telegraph. Sydney. 7 September 2009.
  17. News: Radio battle for Fitz vacancy. Fiona. Connolly. The Daily Telegraph. Sydney. 7 November 2007.
  18. Web site: Peter FitzSimons. Hachette. 12 April 2022.
  19. Web site: Peter FitzSimons. Biblio. 12 April 2022.
  20. Review:
  21. Review: Koster . Pieter . January 2013 . Batavia [Book Review] ]. 0314-7525 . Studies in Western Australian History . 28 . 155–157 .
  22. Interview: Web site: Peter FitzSimons Batavia Interview . 2023-01-30 . female.com.au . en.
  23. Reviews:
  24. Review:
  25. Excerpt:
  26. Reviews:
  27. Review:
  28. Reviews:
  29. Review:
  30. Web site: Fellows of the Senate: Peter John FitzSimons. University of Sydney.
  31. Web site: University appoints six alumni to governing body. 26 November 2020. University of Sydney.
  32. https://www.booksandpublishing.com.au/articles/2014/12/17/32004/nsw-state-library-launches-humour-writing-prize/ "NSW State Library launches humour-writing prize"
  33. News: Peter FitzSimons appointed head of Australian Republican Movement. 20 July 2015. The Guardian. 3 September 2015.
  34. Web site: Hawke, FitzSimons appointed to War Memorial council. 22 March 2012. 26 November 2020. The Canberra Times.
  35. Web site: The Wrap: Cauliflower Club a shining light in Australian rugby. 26 November 2020. The Roar.
  36. Web site: 'I will not be bullied': Daley holds firm on stadiums policy . Smith . Alexandra . 3 December 2018. The Sydney Morning Herald. 4 April 2019 . The new Labor leader says the state election would be a referendum on stadiums.
  37. Peter FitzSimons. Peter_Fitz. (untitled). 5 December 2017. 937843739736674304.
  38. Web site: Sydney stadium wars ended by Coalition's NSW election victory as people vote for an upgrade . Hinds . Richards . 25 March 2019 . Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 4 April 2019 . it is possible to say with confidence there was one thing Sydneysiders did not vote against – new or refurbished stadiums..
  39. Web site: Galleries: 1992 Weddings. Perth Now. 5 October 2012. 4. 3 March 2014.
  40. Web site: Today show hosts a perfect match. Richard. Clune. The Sunday Telegraph. Sydney. 25 July 2010. 3 March 2014.
  41. http://www.meetup.com/sydneyatheists/events/68134322/ "Is Religion a Con? A special evening with Peter FitzSimons"
  42. Web site: Peter FitzSimons, the atheist fire-and-brimstone preacher. 15 April 2018.
  43. Web site: Lewis . Charlie . 2021-09-06 . Tips and Murmurs: FitzSimons' approach lacking Grace . 2022-08-26 . Crikey . en-US.
  44. Web site: Peter FitzSimons – Meet Lisa Wilkinson Husband . 2022-08-26 . New Idea . en-us.
  45. Web site: Stewart . Brittany . 2016-06-30 . Lisa Wilkinson on why husband Peter Fitzsimons always wears that red bandana. . 2022-08-26 . Mamamia . en-AU.
  46. Web site: FitzSimons . Peter . 2013-12-31 . Peter FitzSimons: Why I wear the red bandanna . 2022-08-26 . . en.
  47. Web site: Favourite Books of Peter FitzSimons . 2022-08-26 . weekendnotes.com.
  48. Web site: Peter FitzSimons AM. Australian Honours Database. 13 June 2011.
  49. Web site: Australian Associated Press. Former Wallaby FitzSimons honoured. https://archive.today/20120719040442/http://my.rugby.com.au/news/aap/s-786352_former_wallaby_fitzsimons_honoured,147625.html/news/archive/section/21893. dead. 19 July 2012. Australian Rugby Union. 13 June 2011. 22 April 2012.

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