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Celebrate Living History www.celebratelivinghistory.com.au 1
Book: EldersInterviews with Andrew Denton
Edited by Fiona Harari
Examplesof unique interview questions:
Dame Elizabeth Murdoch
When you look into the mirror,whatdo you see?
I hardly ever look at myself,its so displeasing.I forgetI’m looking
old but I do, and so I don’t look often.
Inside what do you see?
I’m not conscious of my age at all. It’s extraordinary. Your mind
and outlook is exactly the same, it never changes.
Are there assumptions thatpeoplemake aboutyou because
they think you’re old?
Yes they think I’m unable to do this or that and they marvel when I
appear. I’m out and about a lot and they seem to be quite
surprised that I seem to manage this. They don’t realise that I still
have the capacity to enjoy life.
After one hundred years on the planet, is it a beautifulworld?
Are you optimistic?
I’m an incurable optimist. I think life wouldn’t be worth living if you
were pessimistic.
Sir David Attenborough
Home environmentobservation
You have a huge collection of classicalmusic.Why does
music mean so much to you?
It’s a mystery isn’t it. I oftenthink about it as a biologist.I once
made a program about music and animals. You can produce a
definition for music, which includes other species apart from
yourself that make music: whales, birds or gibbons.