What is the Question - September

For September’s What is the Question, Roland chats with former diplomat and State Member of parliament, Roger Pescott.

What is your name?

Roger Pescott.

What is your occupation?

Former diplomat – ending-up as First Secretary. Postings in New Delhi, UN General Assembly New York, East Berlin, Brussels for three years, and London.

Victorian Politician – Member for Bennettswood, then Mitcham after redistribution.

Now retired.

What brought you to Ballarat?

The great Ewing House after my brother, Euan, was diagnosed as deaf.

My mother had rubella during pregnancy. My father was a doctor and he thought my brother was retarded. In those days there were no proper tests. Euan would tip-up a chair to enjoy the vibrations from the floor.

My mother was remarkable. She took Euan to England as a boarder at Mary Hare Grammar in Berkshire to finish his education to a level higher than available in Australia. It was called oral education.

Euan earned an honours degree in metallurgy from London University.

He worked for British Steel. Later he joined the Defence Department as a research scientist.

He still lives in Ballarat.

Recently, Euan organised a 70th celebration for those who attended Ewing House.

What is your favourite spot in the city?

The lake, because it is nature at its best within a city.

What is the most courageous thing you have ever done?

Fathered six children. I have four daughters and two sons.

What building would you choose to be?

The Opera House in Vienna – so that I would always hear wonderful music. I was 18 when I saw it for the first time. The first production I ever saw there was La Traviata.

If you could ask your pet one question, what would it be?

Why do you stink so much?

What or who inspires you?

The Song of Roland. I study history at university. I speak French and I discovered it in Brussels.

What is your favourite holiday destination?

Bentota Beach, Sri Lanka – or Ceylon, as it was. I was escorting a group of Federal Members of Parliament on a goodwill tour which included Sri Lanka. For reasons I shall never understand, they sent us there for one day. It was unbelievable.

What music and television do you like?

Opera and a Sony 60-inch television.

What was your first job?

Riding a Post Office bicycle to collect mail from pillar boxes. I worked from 10 till 6. I was allocated North Ballarat and Soldier’s Hill.

What did you want to be when you were growing up?

Older. Children always look-up to people who are older than them. If are you accepted into the group of older children you feel you have achieved something.

What historical calamity would you choose to reverse?

For Prince Harry’s sake – his wedding. The smile has gone from his face. I think for him it has been a disaster. It seems to me he is unhappy and he is living with someone who is so self-centred she doesn’t realise what she has done to him.

What was the name of your favourite teacher and why?

Professor Manning Clark – because he made me think. He was an enquiring mind. He loved being close to former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, and poking fun at the monied groups of society. He enjoyed playing on people’s minds, and sitting back and watching the chaos.

What is your all-time favourite book?

The Iron Curtain by Anne Applebaum.

What is your favourite smell?

The Australian bush.

What is something about you which is still the same as when you were a child?

I still barrack for the Melbourne Football Club

What would you do if you could live anywhere in the world and not have to work for money?

Listen to music. I liked singing from an early age which led into a love of music. It’s the beauty of it. I was a choirboy soloist at St Peter’s in Ballarat. I was a patron of the Australian Opera. In East Berlin I attended the opera every 10 days over 18-months!

What would your childhood-self think of you today?

Who are you?

If you were to die this evening with no opportunity to communicate with anyone, what would you most regret not having told someone?

I told you I was sick!