Notes from Down Under

Bill Bryson talks to BBC Sport's Jonathon Moore

BBC Sport's Jonathon Moore shares a drink and an afternoon with best-selling author and sought-after columnist Bill Bryson.

For someone who grew up one thousand miles from the ocean, Bill Bryson is passionate about a country dominated by its shorelines.

Indeed, Bryson is passionate about all-things Australian, as anyone who has read his latest best-selling offering on the country will testify.

According to Britain's favourite American, Australia's thus far successful hosting of the Games is by no means an accident.

"I've spent a lot of time in Sydney over the past year," he said. "It's been one great construction site with new roads appearing, new newspaper kiosks - everything.

"Now it's all completed it's dazzling and Sydney looks great."

Scathing

Bryson: "This is an extremely agreeable country"

Bryson is scathing about the US press coverage of the event and uses Atlanta in 1996 as a prime example of the differing attitudes towards hosting the Games.

"I've read many American newspapers since I've been here," he said. "And not one has paid any attention to Australia as a place. That disappoints me. Instead they go straight to the US athletes. It's wrong."

Bryson did not travel to the Games in Atlanta, but he remembers the resulting chaos well enough: "The Olympics is running so smoothly here and it's a perfect example of the Australian psyche.

"Australia have worried about this for a long time. As a result they have got everything covered. In the US we have a much more optimistic attitude and we didn't imagine there would be a problem. But, of course there were and we weren't ready."

Bryson described one particular story with a wry smile.

Wonderful tale

"The most wonderful tale to come out of Atlanta," he said, "was the security guard who by chance walked past a man with a loaded gun on his lap. This guy had walked through two or three metal detectors and was waiting patiently for President Clinton and other dignitaries to arrive.

"It's a perfect example of what a cock-up it was."

Despite its relatively isolated position, Bryson is adamant that Australia is the perfect venue for the Olympics: "This is an extremely agreeable country," he said.

Favourable

"And Sydney starts from a very favourable position. As a nation too the Australians are incredible - they're so good at everything. They crack out athletes in every direction and the climate invites participation. But they are also very motivated. They'd rather win gold than the Nobel Prize and why not?"

The Olympics is running so smoothly here and it's a perfect example of the Australian psyche

  Bill Bryson

He recalled an Australian joke, which, he felt, perfectly illustrated the nation's sporting passion.

"There's a story about a man who attended a final of some kind at the MCG," he said.

"Someone sits next to him and notices there is an empty seat. The place is packed to the rafters so the chap enquires why no-one is sitting there.

"'It's my wife's seat', he replied, 'she comes all the time, but she died recently. The other man apologises of course, but then asks why he couldn't have given the ticket to a friend or family member.

"'I would have,' he said. 'But they're all at the funeral'."

Bashful

As those who have snorted aloud in public whilst reading his books will tell you, Bryson makes people laugh. But he is also extremely bashful.

He is a keen spectator of sport, but blushes when asked if he ever participated.

"Once," he said. "But no longer.

"The last time I came to Sydney I tried boogie-boarding. I was taken to a place in Manly, called Freshwater Bay.

Hostile

"Growing up so far from the ocean I regard it as a hostile environment. The furthest I got was about six inches, although I went for a fair distance underneath the surface. It wasn't at all successful.

"In any case I don't really enjoy baring my body to the public. I tend to scare people."

Bryson lived, for over a decade, with his wife and four children in north Yorkshire. A self-confessed fan of the United Kingdom, he nevertheless hesitated when asked if Manchester - one of the cities who lost out to Sydney - could have hosted the Games with equal success.

"With no disrespect to Manchester," he said. "I think not.

"Here they have a 70,000 strong army who have given their time and energy for free. Can you imagine the same thing happening in Britain?"