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April 2003

A book not to be judged by this year's cover

Sitting on my desk at this minute is the 1970-71 edition of the New South Wales Cricket Association yearbook. The cover design features a bright orange background with the text "Cricket Year Book. 34th Edition. NSW Cricket Association. $1.40" on it, and a black-and-white action photo of Kerry O'Keeffe bowling a leg-break. By today's standards it looks drab and tacky.

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J Paul Getty Jr 1932-2003

It would be nice to be so filthy rich that you could give untold amounts of inherited wealth away and still live the most extravagant life of reclusion yourself.

John Paul Getty Jr, who died the day before Good Friday at the age of 70, was a classic case. One of the richest of rich kids who almost wrecked his health through the drug addiction that eventually killed his second wife, Getty reinvented himself as a British gentryman and generous philanthropist. He even became a cricket fan.

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