The Last Showman

Book excerpt: 'Fred Brophy is a legend - he's one of my favourite real Australians.' John Williamson Son of a sideshow operator and a trapeze artist, Fred Brophy grew up on the road, travelling the length and breadth of Australia. He did time in jail as a teenager before touring his own boxing tent at a time when the tradition was alive and well. With plenty of hardship, adventure, hilarity, tragedy and even a romance, Fred's story is one of living on the smell of an oily rag and staying resourceful to keep his young family together and give his kids the education he didn't have. This is both a snapshot of a fast-disappearing Australia and an inspiring tale of pulling yourself up by the bootstraps. A big-hearted, no-nonsense man who doesn't waste words, Fred uses his tent boxing - the last of its kind on the world - to both entertain and to help troubled youth and battlers. He was awarded an OAM in 2010 for services to charity, boxing and entertainment.