Tribute: The danger of a beer with Bill Leak
Mumbrella’s Simon Canning pays tribute to his former News Corp colleague Bill Leak, who died on Friday
There was always a danger in having a beer with Bill Leak, whether or not Bill Leak himself was having a beer. The danger was that much amber would be surrendered to the table, your shirt and over surrounding company as you tried to control the laughter that was an inevitable feature of being in his presence.
Leak’s cartoons might have polarised Australians, but he pursued the time-honoured art of puncturing politics, pomposity and hypocrisy with a rare wit. He had the ability to encapsulate or provoke debate while raising a smile in the reader (if not necessarily the subject) with a few strokes of a pen.
But if his talent with the pen was peerless, it was in person where his pleasantly infectious nature and genuine humbleness somehow melded with that simple Aussie ability to tell a crackingly uproarious yarn.
I first encountered Bill when he was a star speaker at the The Caxtons – that once great and exclusive adland gabfest that is now but a memory.
“Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities because it has been said, it is the quality which guarantees all others.” – Winston Churchill
Bill Leak had courage. In spades.
There must have been a lot of alcohol flowing.
Well enough to misread the Tempus Two label.
Mumbrella paying tribute to an enemy of political correctness is more than a little bit ironic, hypocritical and opportunistic.
But hey, I defend to my death your right to be all those things.
Yes. It is all a bit of a shock, Simon.
I also enjoyed that captivating Caxton’s speech up at Skase’s joint in Port Douglas, After having met Bill several times prior (in my previous live as a cartoonist), it was good to be reminded the only thing more commanding than a Bill Leak stare, was his tongue. Even the few Black and White meetings I attended were punctuated with Bill’s quick and perfunctory wit, as well as ‘whacking out’ quick caricatures of unsuspecting attendees. And, although his detractors are well known, it always appeared to me that Bill’s main enemy was dullness. As any great artist will aspire to, he brought colour, life and thought to any occasion.
Here’s hoping that in the many years to come, Bill’s name will be as highly thought of as his art.
Thank you for this article. I knew nothing of the man other than his work. I see now the joy he brought to his colleagues and friends.