Name:
Michael Newton
Chapter:
Mayfield
What is your story?
I am a 52 year old straight, white, middle-class man living in Newcastle. My first car was a 1969 Valiant Regal that had been chopped to make it a convertible. It was white with yellow/orange/red flames and an obnoxiously loud dual exhaust. I met a cute girl at Polish dancing. I was there because my mum's side of the family is Polish, the girl liked dancing but didn't want to do ballet anymore. We became lovers, got married and moved to Melbourne to grow up. We learnt to Lindy Hop there. We moved back to Newy to have two baby girls. I started the Australia Illegal Gravity Racing Federation and blocked off streets at dawn on Sundays to race billycarts en masse. My wife and I learnt how to rockabilly dance, the girls grew up and we had some great holidays together in Borneo, Vietnam and Legoland. I like to ride bikes now: to work, the shops, picnics, wherever! The girls are both old enough to drive, one's at uni and the other's nearly finished school. I'm very, very proud of them and I understand the lyrics to 'Cat's in the cradle' now. With our new-found free time, my wife and I have rediscovered Lindy Hop and are relearning it after a 20 year break. When people ask me what I do, I now answer "whatever it takes." Sometimes I have a beard, sometimes I don't.
How long have you been with TGBC? First Book?
Since May 2022. All Systems Red by Martha Wells
How did you end up coming to TGBC?
Somebody told me about it pre-COVID, but I was busy and forgot. Then in March or April '22 I heard about it on the radio and thought it sounded pretty good. I was too chicken to go myself, but I had a new work colleague who had recently moved to town and I'd met her husband and thought he was a cool dude. They hadn't met many people yet and I thought it might be something he'd be into, so I guess I asked him on a date. I figured if we didn't like it, we could at least have a beer together. Turns out we didn't like it, we loved it! And we've been going ever since and have even both earned two challenge coins!
What is your favourite TGBC book?
Love them or hate them, they've all been good for a discussion. Often my mind gets changed after we've talked. But The Glass Canoe by David Ireland stands out. There was a feeling of nostalgia of a time I was too young to know, but some also characters I felt like I'd met because they were mates of my dad.
Why are you a member of TGBC?
I came for the books and beer, but stayed for the mates and the challenges. And the books and the beer. But the blokes are tops! There are men of all ages, backgrounds and experience that I probably would never have come across otherwise, but I am much richer for knowing. I love the civil difference of opinion. I had a ball at Camp! And the challenges have helped me stretch my comfort zone, learn some new skills and even look after my health.
What do you think a "Tough Guy" is?
A proper tough guy does the right thing not just the easy thing.
What is your favourite library?
I have very fond memories of my primary school library at St Joseph's, Cardiff. Mrs Stevens was the librarian, she lived next to my grandparents and her son went to school with my uncle. She taught us how libraries worked when we started in kindergarten – which section had the books we'd be able to read, where the made-up stories were and where the books about real things like trains were (the school is next to the train line, and we all had a keen interest). Over the next six years, I travelled around that room, progressing through all the reading stages until I was reading 'thick books that didn't even have any pictures in them'. Mrs Stevens stamped the card in every one.
What book have we not read that you'd like to do at TGBC?
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle is hands-down the best book ever written. Ever. It's a story of hope, insects, transformation and food. And the design is AMAZING! It's only only 32 pages and 224 words long (good for a short month), but I reckon we'd have a lot to talk about.
What's the best thing about TGBC?
Aside from the books, blokes and beers, I think the challenges are the best thing and also the part that surprised me the most. Some of them are deceptively easy, but all of them make me think and that makes me better. I've cooked a croquembouche, donated blood for the first time, built a chair out of an old pallet, organised a pub crawl, done a self portrait, had my blood pressure checked and planted a tree where I wasn't allowed to. Without the club, I wouldn't have even thought about any of those things. I bang my challenge coins on the table every month, but nobody has bought me a beer for them yet.
What's your favourite drink?
Coffee in the morning. Water during the day. Beer in the afternoon. Red wine with dinner. Whiskey at night. Tea before bed.
What is something people wouldn't know about you if they judged you by your cover?
They'd figure it all out, the cover is well designed. I worked hard on it.
