Gideon Clifford Jeffrey Davidson Haigh (born 29 December 1965) is an English-born Australian journalist and non-fiction author who writes about sport (especially

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

), business and crime in Australia. He was born in London, was raised in

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River, ...

, and lives in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

Career

Haigh began his career as a journalist, writing on business for ''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

'' newspaper from 1984 to 1992 and for ''

The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition, ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964.Bruns, Axel. "3.1. The active audience: Transforming journalism from gatekeeping to gatew ...

'' from 1993 to 1995. He has since contributed to over 70 newspapers and magazines, both on business topics and on sport, mostly cricket. He wrote regularly for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' during the 2006–07 Ashes series and has featured also in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' and the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...

''. He is the senior cricket writer for ''The Australian''. Haigh has authored 19 books and edited seven more. Of those on a cricketing theme, his historical works includes ''The Cricket War'' and ''Summer Game''. He has written two biographies, ''The Big Ship'' (of

Warwick Armstrong Warwick Windridge Armstrong (22 May 1879 – 13 July 1947) was an Australian cricketer who played 50 Test matches between 1902 and 1921. An all-rounder, he captained Australia in ten Test matches between 1920 and 1921, and was undefeated, winn ...

) and ''Mystery Spinner'' (of

Jack Iverson John Brian Iverson (27 July 1915 – 23 October 1973), was an Australian cricketer who played in five Test cricket, Test matches from 1950 to 1951. He was known for his unique "bent finger" grip, with which he briefly perplexed batsmen across ...

); the latter was

The Cricket Society The Cricket Society is a charitable organisation founded in 1945 as the Society of Cricket Statisticians at Great Scotland Yard, London. It has grown steadily to be the largest body of its kind in the cricket world. The Cricket Society now has mor ...

's "Book of the Year", short-listed for the

William Hill Sports Book of the Year The William Hill Sports Book of the Year is an annual British sports literary award sponsored by bookmaker William Hill. The award is dedicated to rewarding excellence in sports writing. It was first awarded in 1989, and was devised by Graham ...

and dubbed "a classic" by ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

''; anthologies of his writings ''Ashes 2005'' and ''Game for Anything'', as well as ''Many a Slip'' (the humorous diary of a club cricket season) and ''The Vincibles'', his story of the South Yarra Cricket Club of which he is a life member and perennial vice-president and for whose newsletter he has written about cricket the longest. He has also published several books on business-related topics, such as ''The Battle for BHP'', ''Asbestos House'' (which details the James Hardie

asbestos Asbestos () is a naturally occurring fibrous silicate mineral. There are six types, all of which are composed of long and thin fibrous crystals, each fibre being composed of many microscopic "fibrils" that can be released into the atmosphere b ...

controversy) and Bad Company, an examination of the

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

phenomenon. He mostly publishes with

Aurum Press The Quarto Group is a global illustrated book publishing group founded in 1976. It is domiciled in the United States and listed on the London Stock Exchange. Quarto creates and sells illustrated books for adults and children, across 50 countri ...

. He has won the annual Jack Pollard Trophy for the best Australian cricket book six times. Haigh was appointed editor of the ''

Wisden Cricketers' Almanack Australia {{italic title ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack Australia'' (also known as ''Wisden Australia'') was a cricket annual and reference book, the Australian version of ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', generally known as ''Wisden''. The Australian editio ...

'' for 1999–2000 and 2000–01. Since March 2006, he has been a regular panellist on the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

television sports panel show ''

Offsiders ''Offsiders'' is an Australian television sport program hosted by AFL commentator Kelli Underwood. The show airs live on Sunday mornings at 10:00 am on ABC TV and ABC News. History The show began airing in 2005 (alongside '' Insiders'', its ...

''. He was also a regular co-host on ''The Conversation Hour'' with

Jon Faine Jonathan Eric Faine (born 21 September 1956) is an Australian former radio presenter who hosted the morning program on ABC Radio Melbourne in Melbourne. Faine is recognised as a prominent and influential member of the Australian Jewish communi ...

774 ABC Melbourne ABC Radio Melbourne (official callsign: 3LO) is an ABC Local Radio station in Melbourne, Australia. It began transmission on 13 October 1924, and was Melbourne's second licensed radio station after 3AR. Most Local Radio stations in Victoria sim ...

until near the end of 2006. Haigh has been critical of what he regards as the deification of Sir Donald Bradman and "the cynical exploitation of his name by the mediocre and the greedy".Easom, p. 184. He did so in a September 1998 article in ''

Wisden Cricket Monthly ''Wisden Cricket Monthly'' (WCM) is a UK-based print and digital cricket magazine available to buy worldwide. The original version ran from June 1979 to September 2003. The magazine was revived in November 2017, launching with an Ashes Special whi ...

'' entitled "Sir Donald Brandname". Haigh has been critical of Bradman's biographer

Roland Perry Roland (; frk, *Hrōþiland; lat-med, Hruodlandus or ''Rotholandus''; it, Orlando or ''Rolando''; died 15 August 778) was a Frankish military leader under Charlemagne who became one of the principal figures in the literary cycle known as the ...

, writing in ''The Australian'' that Perry's biography was guilty of "glossing over or ignoring anything to Bradman's discredit". Haigh won the

John Curtin John Curtin (8 January 1885 – 5 July 1945) was an Australian politician who served as the 14th prime minister of Australia from 1941 until his death in 1945. He led the country for the majority of World War II, including all but the last few ...

Prize for Journalism in the

Victorian Premier's Literary Awards The Victorian Premier's Literary Awards were created by the Victorian Government with the aim of raising the profile of contemporary creative writing and Australia's publishing industry. As of 2013, it is reportedly Australia's richest literary p ...

in 2006 for his essay "Information Idol: How

Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...

is making us stupid", which was published in ''

The Monthly ''The Monthly'' is an Australian national magazine of politics, society and the arts, which is published eleven times per year on a monthly basis except the December/January issue. Founded in 2005, it is published by Melbourne property developer ...

'' magazine. He asserted that the quality of discourse could suffer as a source of information's worth is judged by

according to its previous degree of exposure to the ''status quo''. He believes the pool of information available to those using Google as their sole avenue of inquiry is inevitably limited and possibly compromised due to covert commercial influences. Haigh blogged on the

2009 Ashes series The 2009 Ashes series was that year's edition of the long-standing and storied cricket rivalry between England and Australia, and was part of the Australian cricket tour of England in 2009. Starting on 8 July 2009, England and Australia played fi ...

for ''

The Wisden Cricketer ''The Wisden Cricketer'' was the world's best-selling monthly cricket magazine. It was created in 2003 by a merger between ''The Cricketer'' magazine and ''Wisden Cricket Monthly''. It is now no longer connected to Wisden and is called ''The Cri ...

''. Haigh addressed the tenth

Bradman Oration Sir Donald Bradman Oration is an Australian Cricket calendar event which honours the career, contribution and memory of one of the proclaimed greatest-ever cricketers, Sir Don Bradman. The function provides a platform for a prominent national or i ...

in Melbourne on 24 October 2012. He delivered the inaugural Jack Marsh History Lecture in 2015 at the

Sydney Cricket Ground The Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) is a sports stadium in Sydney, Australia. It is used for Test cricket, Test, One Day International and Twenty20 cricket, as well as, Australian rules football and occasionally for rugby league, rugby union and as ...

on "How

Victor Trumper Victor Thomas Trumper (2 November 1877 – 28 June 1915) was an Australian cricketer known as the most stylish and versatile batsman of the Golden Age of cricket, capable of playing match-winning innings on wet wickets his contemporaries found ...

Changed Cricket Forever".

Personal life

While at the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...

, Haigh was a resident at

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

from 1984. Haigh lives in Melbourne with his family. Haigh's partner from 2002 to 2005 was Sally Warhaft, who edited ''The Monthly'' until April 2009. Haigh stated that he would not write for ''The Monthly'' after Warhaft's controversial departure. The writer

Caroline Overington Caroline Overington (born 1970) is an Australian journalist and author. Overington has written 13 books. She has twice won the Walkley Award for investigative journalism, as well as winning the Sir Keith Murdoch prize for journalism (2007), th ...

is his partner now.

Bibliography

References

External links

*
South Yarra Cricket Club website

Libraries Australia "The cricket war : the inside story of Kerry Packer's World Series Cricket"

Libraries Australia "The Border years"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Haigh, Gideon 1965 births Living people Cricket historians and writers Journalists from Melbourne The Australian journalists People from Geelong People educated at Geelong College People educated at Trinity College (University of Melbourne) Australian non-fiction crime writers English emigrants to Australia