00:00 (DRAMATIC MUSIC)
00:04 Start the interview with a clap.
00:06 Oh, with a clap. Yeah.
00:08 (LAUGHS)
00:09 Did you get it? Yeah.
00:10 Hey!
00:11 Yeah, do it again. Nailed it. Perfect.
00:14 Someone the other day, I asked, I said, "How old do you think I am?"
00:19 She says, "53."
00:20 (LAUGHS)
00:21 53?!
00:23 You look very good for 100, but I don't think that you look 53.
00:26 Is that OK? (LAUGHS)
00:28 It was a big year in 1924.
00:31 The Sydney Harbour Bridge was starting to go up
00:34 while Canberra held its first Cabinet meeting.
00:36 We sent our first ever international wireless message
00:39 and, just across the pond,
00:42 my dear friend Reg was born in England.
00:45 What's your earliest memory?
00:47 The year was 1929,
00:51 the age of the Great Depression.
00:54 And when I went to school,
00:55 there were kids who couldn't afford boots and shoes.
00:59 Well, we had a hole in them,
01:01 and so we used to shove a paper in there
01:04 to stop the water coming in.
01:06 (EXPLOSION)
01:09 World War II followed the Depression.
01:13 Reg spent 12 months in Naples on the front lines as a Marine.
01:18 It changed his world forever.
01:20 (EXPLOSION)
01:22 Naples, it was these little kids,
01:25 wandering around, who'd lost their homes.
01:29 "What's happening now in bloody Gaza?"
01:32 And it comes back to me.
01:34 It must happen to every person that served in the Second World War.
01:40 It taught me to be interested in politics,
01:45 to query the people who send us to war.
01:49 Every week, the former Wollongong Communist Party leader
01:54 puts pen to paper, or rather, fingers to keys,
01:58 writing about the issues of the world in the local paper.
02:02 Would you like younger people to write more letters?
02:04 Well, that's right. I mean, they don't seem to be interested.
02:08 They don't seem to be interested.
02:10 They've got to stay interested.
02:11 That's the secret to getting to 100.
02:13 But it's not just letter writing that keeps Reg sharp.
02:17 He's also a member of a weekly coffee club
02:19 where the average age is 87.
02:22 You've got to keep learning.
02:23 What do you and the old codgers talk about?
02:26 Well, first of all, I have a long black.
02:29 Yes, that's very healthy of you.
02:31 We talk a few jokes and the rest of it.
02:34 And then we'll discuss the main issues of the day.
02:38 So keeping in touch with friends, discussions,
02:44 I think that's what's keeping me on.
02:46 You want to lift 100, swim every morning.
02:51 Because it's good for your body and your mind.
02:53 There's a sort of a camaraderie amongst the swimmers.
02:57 They're doing something that other people are not doing.
03:00 It's been connecting with other people.
03:03 What do you make of kids these days?
03:06 Coming back to my childhood, we all walked to school.
03:11 The children now should become more independent.
03:16 What advice do you have for young people?
03:19 To get interested in political affairs
03:23 and question the bureaucrats.
03:26 You obviously have such a great love for letter writing, poetry.
03:31 What do you make of modern music?
03:33 Rubbish.
03:36 (LAUGHS)
03:37 OK.
03:39 I've got these little kids there, all roaming out,
03:42 like shouting at them, shouting back.
03:46 I was brought up in a big band area, you know.
03:49 Hey, Reggie, this is your world. We're just living in it.
03:52 It's a world according to Reggie.
03:54 It's been a very good chat.
03:56 I've thoroughly enjoyed it.
03:58 I thoroughly enjoyed it. You must come down again.
04:01 Well, about the same time next, same place, when you're 101.
04:04 Let's cheers. Cheers.
04:05 You've got whisky in there.
04:06 (APPLAUSE)
04:07 (APPLAUSE)
04:08 [BLANK_AUDIO]
