I met Brian Henderson long before I got a start in the Sydney media, and on the occasion in question I was scared stiff. It was early 1959 and I hadn’t long turned seventeen. My appreciation of country music had started to emerge fuelled by the unique sound of a rising Memphis superstar called Johnny Cash.
I had recently acquired my very first guitar upon which I had laboriously taught myself to play six or seven very basic chords - the same six or seven I’m still using today. Those chords enabled me to create a third rate version of Cash’s latest hit “The Ways Of A Woman In Love”. To this day I don’t know how I mustered the courage to turn up at Channel Nine’s Willoughby studios to take part in auditions for a smash new show called Bandstand.
The soon to be legendary variety programme had been running for just a few months, but was already getting rave reviews and had become the target of dozens of aspiring young hopefuls. Studio One was like a rabbit warren on the night of the auditions, with floor crew, producers and aspiring young talent scurrying in all directions. They had a small stage in one corner of the huge studio and a black and white monitor used for the assessment of one’s photogenic qualities or lack of them.
Suddenly there he was! Bandstand host Brian Henderson standing right in front of the little stage - switching his gaze from the performer to the monitor. It’s doubtful that Johnny Cash’s famous song ever got a worse interpretation, nor was an acoustic guitar ever more mistreated. My knees were still knocking when I fled the studio. At least they were gracious enough to advise by letter that my audition had been unsuccessful. Many years later I told Hendo about the night he watched my audition in Studio One. Not surprisingly he couldn’t remember the singer or the song.
Brian was already established as Channel 9's chief news reader when Bandstand began its 14 year run.
Hendo must have been on holiday when I ran into him at Kembla Grange races one day in 1969. I’d been doing a few things on Channel 9 including a Saturday morning trotting programme in which I presented replays of all races from Harold Park the previous night and introduced a studio guest. I was still very green and coming to terms with the intimidating presence of the TV camera.
We sat in the grandstand and chatted for a short time between races. When I told him about my uneasiness in front of the camera he gave me a piece of advice that I still convey to newcomers in the business. “When you look at the camera lens try not to imagine the faces of a thousand strangers sitting in judgement,” said the maestro. “Imagine instead the face of your mother, brother or best friend. You know they won’t be judging you.”
By the time this one was snapped in the 1990's Hendo was the doyen of Australian newscasters.
Hendo’s passion for racing and punting heightened in the late seventies to the extent that he rarely missed a Saturday meeting. He also got to the occasional midweeker for at least half the programme before having to dash off to Channel 9 to prepare for the evening news bulletin. He would always give us a wave whenever he walked past the broadcast box. His wife Mardi needed little persuasion to accompany him to the track. She had an inherent love of racing handed down from her father and earlier generations on both sides of her family.
There was a funny incident one Saturday morning in the early seventies when the news division decided on an outdoor location for the filming of their new year publicity promo. I joined Hendo, Ron Casey, Alan Wilkie, and several news reporters at the Botanical Gardens on a glorious Sydney morning. I was keeping a close eye on the time because I had to head to Rosehill the moment I could get away. They lined us up in two rows and the photographer was just about to snap the picture when Hendo suddenly called a halt and demanded a kleenex or towel. A low flying seagull had left its calling card on the sleeve of his beautifully tailored jacket. Several minutes passed before the fashion conscious Hendo was ready to try another “take”. The story got a few laughs in the Rosehill press room later in the day.
Such was the iconic presenter’s interest in racing that he was always on for a chat whenever my commitments took me to the Channel 9 news room. On many occasions when working on a racing news story in one of the edit suites, I’d respond to a tap on the shoulder to see the familiar dark rimmed glasses and smiling face of the ever affable Brian. The ensuing conversation was usually about the winners he’d backed, or the horses he’d backed that should have won.
This was the trusted face welcomed into millions of homes at 6pm on week nights.
I had the pleasure to host a Saturday night racing round up on Nine News for more than twenty years but never on a Henderson shift. Brian of course presented the news Monday to Friday with Ron Casey joining him for the sports report. I was tickled pink in the early eighties when news director, the late Ian Cook told me he was introducing a very short racing review on Wednesday nights. It didn’t last long but for some months I got to work alongside the doyen of all newscasters. He’d ‘“throw” to me for my short piece after which I’d hand back to him - a trifling matter perhaps, but a memory I cherish.
The last time I enjoyed the pleasure of his company was at a wake following Ron Casey’s funeral service in late 2018. I thought Brian looked a little frail as he walked into the function room with the aid of a stick and a supportive arm from Mardi. There was nothing frail about his conversation, his recall or his legendary sense of humour.
It’s largely forgotten that Nine’s current news anchor Peter Overton had a stint with Sky Channel before being invited to join the Nine News Sports team. In a short stay with the satellite station, Peter made many friends who got together to give him a heartfelt farewell dinner at a local restaurant. It wasn’t widely known that Brian Henderson had been Peter’s idol and inspiration for most of his formative years. It was Graham McNeice who asked me to approach Hendo regarding the recording of a video message welcoming the young journalist to the Nine Network.
Brian was happy to record a short but touching message immediately after a News broadcast, and I was delighted to pass it on to Graham who was planning this special surprise. I happened to be watching Peter’s face the moment the video appeared on the screen and I’ll never forget his reaction. The emerging television legend burst into tears. The depth of admiration he held for his boyhood idol triggered an unabashed show of emotion. It was indeed a lovely moment.
It was Peter Overton who accompanied a news team to Brian and Mardi’s home early in 2020 when the iconic broadcaster made public his intention to refuse treatment for kidney cancer - his fifth battle with the disease over a lengthy period of time. It was an enormously courageous decision, but one with which he was completely at ease. He frequently reminded family and friends that he was 89 years of age and had been blessed with a long and wonderfully rewarding life.
Hendo was still smiling despite a gloomy prognosis early in 2020.
This man set the benchmark for his contemporaries and future generations. Slick, professional, confident and the possessor of a voice which had the smoothness of honey from the barrel - a voice he used like a musical instrument.
I feel blessed to have been around in Hendo’s time. I’ll be forever grateful that I had the good fortune to be one of his million friends, notwithstanding the fact that he frightened the life out of me at the Bandstand auditions more than six decades ago.
Our condolences to Mardi, Jodi, Nicole and Brian’s beloved grandchildren. RIP.
John and Ann Tapp catch up with Hendo at a 50th birthday bash for Channel 9 supremo Sam Chisholm.
(Banner image - At the time of his retirement Hendo was the longest serving news reader in Australian TV history. He anchored Channel 9 News from 1958 to 2002)