DIE LAUGHING _ _ _ Join Fred Pawle and John Stapleton in the Cafe

Cafe’s Locked Out Mailing List · May 17, 2026 · 1h 45m

Sunday 17 May, 2026.

We sit down with Fred Pawle, one of Australian journalism’s great characters, to discuss his recently updated book Die Laughing: The Wild Life of Bill Leak.

Though an ill-fit in corporate journalism, Pawle worked at The Australian for many years as a reporter and feature writer, alongside Bill Leak, the paper’s cartoonist.

Leak was often called the most talented Australian artist never to win the Archibald Prize, while Pawle diplomatically describes his years at Murdoch’s News Limited as “formative” — one of the politest things anyone has ever said about their time at…