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Andrew Tracey, born 5 May 1936, Durban, South Africa, is a South African ethnomusicologist, promoter of African music, composer, folk singer, band leader, and actor. His father, Hugh Tracey (1903–1977), pioneered the study of traditional African music in the 1920s - 1970s, created the International Library of African Music (ILAM) in 1954, and started the company African Musical Instruments (AMI) which manufactured the first commercial kalimbas in the 1950s. Andrew Tracey continued and complemented the work of his father Hugh Tracey in a variety of ways. With brother Paul Tracey, he co-wrote and performed in the world musical revue Wait a Minim which traveled around the world for seven years. With his father and brother Paul, Andrew wrote the first instructional materials for the Hugh Tracey kalimbas which were being sent around the world in the 1960s. Upon his father's death in 1977, Andrew took over his father's role as director of ILAM, which he filled until his retirement in 2005, and his wife Heather Tracey took over the role of director of AMI until 1999.

Upbringing[link]

Andrew was exposed to African music from an early age as he observed his father's research on Chopi xylophone music at the family home in Durban, attended the traditional African dance performances his father arranged on Sunday afternoons for the dock workers, and listened to his father's radio broadcasts which featured traditional African stories and African music. As Hugh Tracey became more devoted to his work on African music, his marriage frayed, and his wife Ursula Campbell Tracey (1910–1987) moved to England with sons Paul and Andrew. Andrew went to Oxford University where he studied anthropology, languages, and informally, folk music. Andrew was especially intrigued by calypso and Brazilian music - rhythmic world music with strong African roots.

Return to Africa[link]

Andrew Tracey returned to Africa, first in the British military, but then later came to South Africa to join brother Paul and his father at "The Farm", the property in Krugersdorp outside of Johannesburg where Hugh Tracey started ILAM and AMI. While Paul Tracey oversaw the production of kalimbas at AMI, Andrew began working with his father, seeking to understand and document the musics of south eastern Africa.

The spiritual center of the African thumb piano world is Zimbabwe. The instrument that Hugh Tracey had fallen in love with when he arrived in Africa in the 1920s was the mbira, a complex 24-note thumb piano used by the Shona people of Zimbabwe. It was a natural homage to this and other related instruments when Hugh and Andrew Tracey helped Robert Sibson found the Kwanongoma College of African Music (now United College of Music), in Bulawayo, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) in 1960. Part of Andrew's job in building Kwanongoma was to scout around in the townships for players of traditional instruments who could come and teach at the new college. Andrew's big find was Jege Tapera, who played the mbira nyunga nyunga, also known as the karimba. This was the first experience Andrew had learning from a traditional player of African music. Without any formal training in ethnomusicology, Andrew wrote several papers on African music for the Journal of African Music, the publication his father started as a means of disseminating the results of research at ILAM and other institutions about Africa and the world. One of Andrew's early papers was a description of the mbira music of Jege Tapera.

Wait a Minim[link]

Starting in 1961, Andrew co-wrote, with Jeremy Taylor and his brother Paul Tracey, the songs for two musical reviews that played in Johanesberg and in Rhodesia. After combining the best material into a single musical review, Wait a Minim, they had a hit on their hands, and they performed in Wait a Minim between 1962 and 1968 in South Africa, Rhodesia, England, USA, Canada, New Zealand and Australia, including 461 shows spanning more than a year on Broadway in New York. With over 50 instruments in the show, many of them African, Andrew Tracey helped educate the world about unique African instruments, including the kalimba. Andrew was on The Tonight Show with Johney Carson a number of times. This musical performance career put Andrew's ethnomusicology research on hold.

Ethnomusicology[link]

When Andrew returned to Africa in 1969, he quickly got back to his research on African music, carrying on as an associate at ILAM under his father. His field research centered on Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia, Uganda, South Africa, and Namibia, focused on the playing technique of members of the mbira and xylophone families. A highlight of Andrew's research was the identification of the lower course of tines on the karimba (i.e., Jege Tapera's mbira nyunga nyunga) as the logical ancestor of essentially all mbiras. Those eight notes can be traced through every mbira and karimba played in the Zambezi Valley, and those eight notes form the core of all kalimba music in that region, which is considered to be the birthplace of the metal-tined kalimba about 1300 years ago. Andrew Tracey asserts that the first written account of the kalimba by Portuguese missionary Father Dos Santos, in Mozambique in 1589, was in essence these eight notes. Other instruments, such as the mbira, or the modern karimba (mbira nyunga nyunga), are based on those eight notes, with other notes and other courses of notes having been added over the centuries. While it is impossible to say when those eight notes first started appearing in kalimbas, Andrew's work convinces that the note layout of the karimba is truly ancient and gave rise to all other kalimbas in the region.

The Hugh Tracey Karimba, made by African Musical Instruments.

In the 1980s Andrew made a design for a 17-note karimba, based on Tapera's 15-note instrument, using the same hardware as the Hugh Tracey treble kalimba, and AMI began selling it as the African Tuned Karimba.

While Andrew's seven year stint performing in a Broadway musical did not leave any time for ethnomusicological research, Andrew's studies at ILAM did allow him to perform. In 1969 when he returned to Africa, he started the Andrew Tracey Steel Pan Band, which performed around Grahamstown and South Africa and in festivals such as the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown until 2007.

Director of ILAM[link]

When father Hugh Tracey died in 1977, Andrew Tracey took over his job and became Director of ILAM and editor of the Journal of African Music, roles he filed until his retirement in 2005. Andrew's wife Heather took over African Musical Instruments (AMI), the maker of the Hugh Tracey Kalimbas. In 1977, apartheid South Africa was seen internationally as a pariah state, and funding for ILAM dried up. Andrew was able to arrange support for ILAM from Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa, which resulted in both ILAM and AMI moving from Krugersdorp to Grahamstown.

During the 28 years Andrew headed ILAM, he lectured on African music at Universities in South Africa, Zimbabwe, USA, Germany, Portugal, for various schools and societies, TV & radio. He received his own honorary doctorate in ethnomusicology from the University of Natal in Durban in 1995. David Dargie, a Catholic priest, trained in ethnomusicology under Andrew and obtained a doctorate from Rhodes University in 1986. David used this training to help the Xhosa people of South Africa take pride in their own traditional music, and he pushed to include traditional African music in Catholic mass.

Andrew Tracey retired from ILAM in 2005, but still lives in Grahamstown, South Africa, where he is a well-respected and active member of the community.

Karimba Music[link]

Selected publications[link]

• The 1973 Mgodo wa Mbanguzi and Mgodo wa Mkandeni, two complete performances of traditional music for 'timbila' xylophone orchestra and dance in two Chopi villages in southern Mozambique. Produced by Gei Zantzinger and Andrew Tracey.
• Tracey, Andrew. (1970). How to play the mbira (dza vadzimu). Roodepoort, Transvaal, South Africa: International Library of African Music.

See also[link]

• Hugh Tracey
• Kalimba
• Music of Africa
• Music of Zimbabwe
• Music of Mozambique
• Gravikord

External links[link]

• International Library of African Music (ILAM)
• African Musical Instruments (AMI)
• IMDB
• Kalimba Magic's interview with Andrew Tracey

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2012)

"The Man" is a slang phrase that may refer to the government or to some other authority in a position of power. In addition to this derogatory connotation, it may also serve as a term of respect and praise.

The phrase "the Man is keeping me down" is commonly used to describe oppression. The phrase "stick it to the Man" encourages resistance to authority, and essentially means "fight back" or "resist", either openly or via sabotage.^[1]

History[link]

The earliest recorded use^{[citation needed]} of the term "the Man" in the American sense dates back to a letter written by a young Alexander Hamilton in September 1772, when he was 15. In a letter to his father James Hamilton, published in the Royal Dutch-American Gazette, he described the response of the Dutch governor of St. Croix to a hurricane that raked that island on August 31, 1772. "Our General has issued several very salutary and humane regulations and both in his publick and private measures, has shewn himself the Man." ^{[2][dubious – discuss]} In the Southern U.S. states, the phrase came to be applied to any man or any group in a position of authority, or to authority in the abstract. From about the 1950s the phrase was also an underworld code word for police, the warden of a prison or other law enforcement or penal authorities.

It was also used as a term for a drug dealer in the 1950s and 1960s and can be seen in such media as Curtis Mayfield's "No Thing On Me", William Burroughs's novel Naked Lunch, and in the Velvet Underground song "I'm Waiting for the Man", in which Lou Reed sings about going to Uptown Manhattan, specifically Lexington Avenue and 125th Street, to buy heroin.

The use of this term was expanded to counterculture groups and their battles against authority, such as the Yippies, which, according to a May 19, 1969 article in U.S. News and World Report, had the "avowed aim ... to destroy 'The Man', their term for the present system of government". The term eventually found its way into humorous usage, such as in a December 1979 motorcycle ad from the magazine Easyriders which featured the tagline, "California residents: Add 6% sales tax for The Man."

In present day, the phrase has been popularized in commercials and cinema, featuring particularly prominently as a recurring motif in the 2003 film School of Rock.^[3][4][5][6]

Use as praise[link]

The term has also been used as an approbation or form of praise. This may refer to the recipient's status as the leader or authority within a particular context, or it might be assumed to be a shortened form of a phrase like "He is the man (who is in charge)." One example of this usage dates to 1879 when Otto von Bismarck commented, referring to Benjamin Disraeli's pre-eminent position at the Congress of Berlin, "The old Jew, he is the man."^{[7][dubious – discuss]}

In more modern usage, it can be a superlative compliment ("you da man!") indicating that the subject is currently standing out amongst his peers even though they have no special designation or rank, such as a basketball player who is performing better than the other players on the court. It can also be used as a genuine compliment with an implied, slightly exaggerated or sarcastic tone, usually indicating that the person has indeed impressed the speaker but by doing something relatively trivial.

See also[link]

• Absentee landlord
• Big Brother (Nineteen Eighty-Four)
• New World Order (conspiracy theory)
• Ruling class
• The Establishment
• Power elite
• Corrections officer
• YTMND

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Lighter, J.E. (Ed.). (1997). Random House Dictionary of American Slang. New York: Random House.

Stan Tracey
Background information
Birth name	Stanley William Tracey
Born	(1926-12-30) 30 December 1926 (age 85)
Origin	Denmark Hill, South London
Genres	Jazz
Occupations	Jazz pianist Composer
Instruments	Piano
Website	www.stantracey.com

Stanley William Tracey CBE (born 30 December 1926, Denmark Hill, South London) is a British jazz pianist and composer, most influenced by Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk.

Early career[link]

The Second World War meant that Tracey had a disrupted formal education, and he became a professional musician at the age of sixteen as a member of an ENSA touring group playing the accordion, his first instrument. He joined Ralph Reader’s Gang Shows at the age of nineteen, while in the RAF and formed a brief acquaintance with the comedian Tony Hancock. Later, in the early 1950s he worked in groups on the transatlantic cruise liners Queen Mary and Cardonia and toured the UK in 1951 with Cab Calloway. By the mid-‘fifties, he had also taken up the vibraphone, but later ceased playing it. At this time he worked widely with leading British modernists including drummer Tony Crombie, clarinettist Vic Ash, the saxophonist-arranger Kenny Graham and trumpeter Dizzy Reece.

In February 1957, he toured the United States with Ronnie Scott’s group, and became pianist Ted Heath’s Orchestra in September for two years (1958-59), including a US tour with singer Carmen McRae. Although Tracey disliked Heath’s music, he at least gained a regular income and was well featured as a soloist on both piano and vibes, and contributed fine compositions and arrangements that stayed in the Heath book for many years. The following year he recorded his first album as leader, Showcase, for English Decca (also Heath's label) and Little Klunk in 1959; he had first recorded in 1952 with the trumpeter Kenny Baker. At Decca Records, Tracey met his future wife Jackie Buckland (3 April 1929 – 13 August 2009^[1] ); the couple had two children Clark and Sarah.^[2]

[edit] At Ronnie’s and the Under Milk Wood LP

From March 1960^[3] until about 1967 (some sources give 1968), Tracey was the house pianist at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in Soho, London, and he had the opportunity to accompany many of the leading musicians from the United States who visited the club. Recordings of some of these performances appeared on LP and others have appeared in recent years on the Jazz House and Harkit labels, recorded by the journalist Les Tomkins, but with non-professional sound quality. In this context he gained some very high profile admirers; Sonny Rollins asserted at one concert: “Does anyone here know how good he is?” It is Tracey on piano which film viewers hear behind Rollins on the soundtrack of the Michael Caine version of Alfie.

The experience of working in Scott’s club affected Tracey’s health though; the long hours led to him taking various illicit stimulants, and the low wages also meant that Tracey had to take the workman's bus back home to Streatham at 3am.

At the same time he became active in Michael Horovitz’s Jazz Departures project of mixing poetry readings with jazz, interacting spontaneously with the words.^[4] The Jazz Departures group recorded an album in 1964; not only is it the first of Tracey’s classic albums, but his first recording with saxophonist Bobby Wellins, a partnership which has carried on to this day. Both men contributed original compositions to the album. Wellins’ “Culloden Moor”–its composition predates the contemporary Peter Watkins film on the Battle of Culloden–is particularly memorable.

Tracey’s 1965 album (its full title is Jazz Suite inspired by Dylan Thomas’ “Under Milk Wood”) is one of the most celebrated jazz recordings made in the United Kingdom. Tracey was inspired to compose the suite by hearing the original 1953 BBC broadcast on an LP his wife Jackie had acquired. The track, “Starless and Bible Black”, a quote from the opening monologue, is probably the best demonstration of Wellins' lyricism and the highlight of Tracey’s whole career. Such is the affection with which these pieces are held that Tracey has re-recorded them on several occasions, something that is unusual for British jazz musicians to do. Under Milk Wood was followed by Alice in Jazzland, an album for big band, the next year featruing many of his former Ted Heath colleagues. Later in the decade, Tracey made the arrangements for an Acker Bilk record, Blue Acker and his first album dedicated to Duke Ellington compositions (both recorded in 1968), in this case to commemorate Ellington's 70th birthday the following year.

Experimentation and consolidation[link]

The early 1970s were a bleak time for Tracey. Around 1970, he almost chose to retrain as a postman under pressure from the Unemployment Benefits’ office – “I would have quite a good pension by now” he quips – but his wife Jackie, formerly involved in public relations, took a more direct role in the development of Tracey's career.^[1]

He began to work with musicians of a later generation, who worked in a free or avant-garde style, including Mike Osborne, Keith Tippett and John Surman. Tracey continued to work in this idiom with Evan Parker at the UK’s Appleby Jazz Festival for several years, but this has always been more of a sideline for Tracey, who said that he "took more out of free music into the mainstream than I did from mainstream into free".^[5]

In the mid-seventies he formed his own record label, Steam and through it reissued Under Milk Wood (the major label which held the rights to it had allowed it to fall out of print). Over the next decade he also used the outlet to issue recordings of a number of commissioned suites. These included The Salisbury Suite (1978), The Crompton Suite (1981) and The Poets Suite (1984).

He led his own octet from 1976–85 and formed a sextet in 1979 (later called Hexad), touring widely in the middle east and India. In this context he had a longstanding performance partnership from 1978 with saxophonist (and physician) Art Themen, and his own son, the percussionist Clark Tracey, the latter continuing until this day. He was able to share the billing with arranger Gil Evans in a 1978 concert at the Royal Festival Hall, such was Tracey’s pre-eminence in the UK. In private, he played for Evans, Ellington recordings that he had not previously heard. He continued to record with American musicians on occasion as well, with dates taking place with Sal Nistico in 1985 and Monk associate, Charlie Rouse in 1987.

The Steam label ceased trading in the early 1990s, reportedly because of difficulties caused by the retail trade's need for its inventory to carry the barcode. However, in 1992 he benefited from Blue Note’s brief interest in UK musicians, leading to the Portraits Plus album and the commercial issue of the BBCs recording of the concert commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of Tracey’s first professional gig, as well as Under Milk Wood’s debut on CD.

In 1995 his new quartet featuring Gerard Presencer recorded the For Heaven’s Sake album and also performed gigs together. In 2003 Tracey was the subject of a BBC Television documentary Godfather of British Jazz, a rare accolade nowadays for any jazz musician, let alone one from Britain. Tracey's catalogue from the LP era is being reissued on ReSteamed Records.

Already an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), he was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2008 New Year Honours.^[6]

References[link]

External links[link]

• The Guardian, November 13, 2006
• "Stan Tracey's web site"
• "The Stan Tracey Website"
• "Stan Tracey re-releases"

Andrew Denton
Birth name	Andrew Christopher Denton
Born	Sydney, Australia
Years active	1980s–present
Spouse	Jennifer Byrne 1 child, Connor (born 1994)
Notable works and roles	Blah Blah Blah, The Money or the Gun, Enough Rope with Andrew Denton, God on My Side, Triple M Network

Andrew Christopher Denton (born 1960) is an Australian television producer, comedian, Gold Logie-nominated^[1] television presenter and former radio host, and was the host of the ABC's weekly television interview program Enough Rope. He is known for his comedy and interviewing technique.^[2] He is also responsible for introducing the troupe The Chaser to Australian audiences.

Early life[link]

Born 4 May 1960, Denton is the son of Kit Denton, writer and the author of the novel The Breaker, about Australian soldier and folk hero Breaker Morant. He went to Roseville Primary School in Sydney, before attending Blue Mountains Grammar School in Wentworth Falls NSW. In 1977 he attended Guildford Grammar School. He studied media and communications at Mitchell College of Advanced Education (MCAE) in Bathurst NSW for a Bachelor of Arts in Communication - graduated 1982-83.^[3] He was involved in the campus radio station, 2MCE. Denton has no recorded entries of undertaking services to the community during his years at primary school or high school or while an undergraduate student.

Career[link]

Radio[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

Andrew Denton worked on Australian radio stations early in his media career. Beginning as a writer for radio personality Doug Mulray on Triple M, and later appearing on the show as "Andrew the boy wonder from indoor cricket", he went on to write and host his own show. He had an early involvement in the Sydney Theatresports movement.

Denton had an extended stint as a morning radio host for the Triple M Network in Sydney, with the assistance of Amanda Keller (who had regularly appeared on Denton). Segments included musical challenges. His time on Triple M included the infamous "House from Hell" competition, in which various contestants were placed in a house together and involved in various stunts, tricks and tortures. Denton has said in radio interviews that he regrets being involved in the program, due to the unacceptable level of human manipulation.

Television[link]

Denton made his first television appearance as an extra on ABC television series The Investigators, and progressed to being a member of the team that was runner-up on the Australian improvised comedy show Theatresports in 1987.^[4]

From the late 1980s into the 1990s, he hosted a number of TV shows, including Blah Blah Blah (1988), The Money or the Gun (1989-1990), Live and Sweaty (1991-1995), and a comedy talk show, Denton. The first three of these appeared on the ABC, while the last was on the Seven Network. These shows were talk-based, but often featured other segments. Live and Sweaty focused on sports and was a panel-based television show. Each had comic undertones - even when dealing with serious subjects - such as the Money or the Gun episode dealing with kids cancer sufferers.

Each week on The Money or the Gun, Andrew had a musical guest play a cover version of Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" in a different musical style, usually the genre of the guest's own musical style. The song was played in styles ranging from grand opera to the quirky pop of The B-52's. This resulted in an album with 22 of the covers and a video with 25 (three highly visual covers, including the Castanet Club's "pirate" themed entry, were not included on the album).

Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, musicians from Led Zeppelin, later appeared on Denton to perform a Rolf Harris song (Rolf performed a notable version of Stairway, with wobble board solo). Denton saw the beginning of the Musical Challenge segment, and challenged musical guests to perform a song from a barrel full of well-known songs. This segment evolved during his time on Triple M, resulting in three albums with tracks including Tina Arena singing "Cheap Wine", The Wiggles singing Long way to the Top, Neil Finn performing Sexual Healing, James Reyne performing Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights, Barenaked Ladies performing Prince's When Doves Cry and Paul Kelly performing Prince's Little Red Corvette. Two volumes were released on CD titled Andrew Denton's Musical Challenge.

While presenting Denton (the television series), he launched a public subscription scheme to hire a bounty hunter to capture fugitive businessman Christopher Skase, who was attempting to avoid extradition to Australia at the time. When told that his repeated statements against Skase could expose him to legal action, Denton said, "If he's got a problem, he can come here and sue me". He had a cameo appearance in the Australian film Let's Get Skase.

In 2003, Denton began hosting Enough Rope with Andrew Denton, which became a hit for the ABC. He was executive producer and script editor for ABC's The Election Chaser and CNNNN. In an audience development survey in 2004, respondents named Denton as one of the "most liked and recognisable" personalities on Australian television. Enough Rope ended in late 2008.

Asked about the best skill an interviewer can bring to the job, Denton said: "Research, clearly. Listening, obviously. And leaving myself open to the possibility it won’t go the way I expect."^[5] Asked if there was an interview he wished he could do again, he said: "I did an interview with Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary of Denmark and it was a crap interview because I am not very interested in royalty. Having accepted to do the interview, I should have found a way to get myself interested. If I wasn’t interested, why would the audience be? That was a great kick up the bum for me. It’s a lesson – I’ve learned it many times, but you always have to relearn it – just when you think you’re good at something, you find out what you’re not good at. It just reminded me, you can’t ever be lazy about it."^[5]

In 2009, Denton hosted the second season of Elders, a series of interviews with ageing notable Australians.

Film[link]

Denton's first feature-length documentary, God on My Side, documents his visit to the National Religious Broadcasters Convention. It was first shown at the Sydney Film Festival in June 2006 with plans to show it as a TV special on ABC's Enough Rope. It was screened in Australian cinemas from 2 November 2006. Denton insists he is not anti-Christian.^[6]

In 2011, Denton served as executive producer on the crowd-funded horror film The Tunnel, which was released on DVD, TV and through BitTorrent online downloading platforms on 18 May 2011, simultaneously. The film was directed by Carlo Ledesma, co-written, co-produced and co-edited by Julian Harvey and Enzo Tedeschi, and produced with Denton's production company Zapruder's Other Films.

Stage[link]

Denton appeared as Malcolm Turnbull in the Belvoir St Theatre production of A Royal Commission into the Australian Economy, written by John Clarke and Ross Stevenson, and participated in the early years of the ABC's World Series Debating.

Production[link]

Zapruder's other films is a production company founded in 1989 by Denton, Anita Jacoby, and Peter Thompson.^[7] The company was named for Abraham Zapruder, the man who famously filmed the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Works produced by the company include:

• CNNNN (2002–03)
• David Tench Tonight (2006)
• Enough Rope (2003–08)
• The Gruen Transfer (2008–Present)
• Elders (2008–09)
• 30 Seconds (2009)
• Hungry Beast (2009–Present)
• Gruen Nation (2010)
• The Tunnel (2011)
• AFP (2011)
• The Joy of Sets (2011–Present)

Denton intends to return to hosting, and still producing, with the game show Randling in 2012.^[8]

Awards / Logies[link]

Denton has been involved in the Logie Awards, hosting the awards ceremony in 1999 and 2000. Denton was nominated for several Logie awards:

• the Gold Logie Award for Most Popular Personality on Australian Television in 2008 and 2009, for his role in Enough Rope
• the 'Most Popular Presenter' award in 2005, 2008 and 2009, for his role in Enough Rope
• the 'Most Popular Comedy Personality' award in 1996, for his role in Denton.

Personal life[link]

Andrew Denton lives in Sydney. He and his wife, presenter Jennifer Byrne have a son, Connor, born in 1994. Byrne and Denton separated for six months in 1997.^[9] Denton is 1.65 m (5 ft 5 in) tall;^[10] he is a supporter of the South Sydney Rabbitohs.^[11] Denton was raised Roman Catholic but is now an atheist.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Andrew Denton at the Internet Movie Database
• Enough Rope official website
• "Zapruder's other films" official website

Jennifer Byrne (born 5 March 1955) is an Australian journalist.

Early life[link]

Byrne was born in Melbourne and attended St Margaret's School as a boarding student.^[1]

Career[link]

She began her career in journalism at age 16 as a cadet at Melbourne's The Age newspaper. At age 23 she became the paper's San Francisco correspondent, and later a feature writer.^[2]

Byrne's television work began as a reporter on Nationwide. After returning to print media as assistant-editor of the The Age's Monthly Review, in 1982 she moved back to television on Nine Network's Sunday.^[2] On Sunday in 1985 Byrne won a Logie for her story on Paul Keating's tax summit.^[3]

From 1986 to 1993 she worked on the Nine Network's current affairs program 60 Minutes.^[4] She has also presented ABC TV's Foreign Correspondent.

In 2005 Byrne narrated the ABC mockumentary television show We Can Be Heroes. Since 2006, also on the ABC, she has hosted First Tuesday Book Club, a panel book review program, alongside regular commentators Marieke Hardy and Jason Steger. A spinoff series of specials from this programme is titled Jennifer Byrne Presents.

In the mid-1990s she worked as a publishing director at Reed Books.^[5]

In 2008 Byrne joined ABC NewsRadio to work as a co-host during the evening drive slot (4 - 7pm).^[6]

More recently Byrne has been a regular panellist on Network Ten's The 7PM Project, and has guest starred on an episode of Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation.

Jennifer Byrne is also an Ambassador of the Australian Indigenous Education Foundation.

Personal life[link]

Byrne is married to ABC presenter and independent film producer Andrew Denton, with whom she has one son.

She is the grand-daughter of the former Governor of Victoria, Sir Dallas Brooks.^[7]

References[link]