Derryn Hinch

One of four children, the opinionated, sometimes controversial journalist, newspaper editor, writer, radio announcer, current-affairs TV host, Derryn Nigel Hinch, grew up in New Plymouth on the North Island of New Zealand. He has always dreamed of one day becoming a journalist. And so it was that, at the age of 15, he landed his first job with the local Teranaki Herald. The teenager loathed school and couldn't wait to be grown up. In 1963, Hinch sold his first car, a pink 1948 Morris Series E to finance his trip across the Tasman to Australia. The youngster joined the Sydney Morning Herald and became a foreign correspondent of the Fairfax Group in 1968. He was later promoted to the post of New York bureau chief. Upon his return to Australia, Hinch signed on as morning announcer at Radio 3AW in Melbourne in 1979. Almost immediately he set the industry alight by sky-rocketing to the top of the morning ratings, becoming the undisputed King of Melbourne radio. Married three times, one of his most famous former wife was the actress Jacki Weaver who had starred in the 1975 Peter Weir Australian classic 'Picnic at Hanging Rock'. There was a change in medium in 1988 when he began hosting the top-rating, current-affairs TV programme 'Hinch' on the Seven Network for the next five years. A tireless crusader of the voiceless & a nemesis of criminals, his brush with the law came in 1987, when he was found in contempt of court and jailed for 12 days for revealing the identity of a convicted child molester in the midst of a criminal trial in which identity was an issue. TV chat show beckoned in 1994 when Derryn replaced Ray Martin as host of Nine's Midday. His career probably peaked in 1996 when Sydney radio station 2GB enlisted him reportedly for $500,000 a year. The Human Headline, as he is known throughout Australia got his nickname not without a reason. Seven month after being hired by 2GB, he was unceremoniously sacked for the eighth time (alledgedly for confronting his boss over lewd behaviour during dinner). This time though, the roller-coaster ride drove him to alcoholism & nearly left him penniless. Hinch was forced to sell his Toorak (Melbourne) & Hawaiian homes as he retreated to his Mount Macedon farm. Forever a survivor in the media industry, the broadcasting legend however, held on and presented 'Nightline' on the Nine Network in 2000. The light at the end of the tunnel brightened further when he re-joined 3AW for the third time in February 2003. But surely as night follows day, the broadcaster's career once again was hanging by a thread. Less than 12 months after re-joining 3AW, he became embroiled in controversy by revealing on air, the marital status of a famous Victorian cricketer who had just died. Job security doesn't seem to rank high on his list of vocabulary. And as he would candidly admit to anyone that his next sacking might just be around the corner. "Mistakes are a part of life" says Hinch. '"That's life.'"