Truth To Tell
Sydney Morning Herald
Wednesday October 8, 2003
Dr Norman Swan has worked for the ABC since 1982 and hosts The Health Report on Radio National. He holds qualifications in medicine and pediatrics and has won many awards, including Australian Radio Producer of the Year, a gold citation in the United Nations Media Peace Prizes, a Gold Walkley Award, the Michael Daly Award for science journalism and an Australian Writers' Guild Award. He was acting head of ABC Radio and head of Radio National in the early 1990s.
What was your first job?
At school I had a job at a plumbers' merchant, selling copper piping, right-angle elbows, P-trap and S-trap toilets.
What did you want to do when you grew up?
I wanted to be an actor but I chickened out, thinking it was better to be a second-rate doctor than a second-rate actor. I had a midlife crisis in my 20s, took time off medicine and started writing fiction. I got writer's block and eventually started writing about medicine and health. A year later, on seeing how little I earned, I decided to return to pediatrics. But that same week I saw an advertisement to make medicine and science programs for the ABC.
What's the strangest thing you've ever done?
I did a series on Middle East politics in 1983. I walked through Hebron in the middle of the night with a gun-toting rabbi.
What's the silliest thing you've ever done?
Not having tape in the machine when recording someone.
What's been a career highlight?
Getting a Gold Walkley and having played a role in saving Radio National.
What's your office nickname?
``Hey you."
What's on your desk today?
The Australian Financial Review, letters, business cards, a cup of tea, my lunch, a computer and a postcard sent to me when I was running Radio National. It's of Psycho star Anthony Perkins , with the caption ``Hi, I'm Norman."
What does this tell us about you?
I'm not very well organised and I can take a joke.
© 2003 Sydney Morning Herald