Shy Don was in tune with bat and baton
DESPITE being Australia’s most legendary cricketer, Sir Donald Bradman was deeply uncomfortable with the fame that came along with it.
Refusing media requests and ill at ease with the hero worship of fans, it saw him protect his home life fiercely.
So it’s no wonder that living in the public eye wasn’t on the agenda for subsequent Bradman generations.
But tonight they are finally breaking their silence on living with “The Don” as Bradman’s granddaughter, a classical singer, is on the cusp of international stardom herself.
Fourteen years after Sir Donald’s death, Greta Bradman is being fostered by Dame Joan Sutherland’s husband, conductor Sir Richard Bonynge. And it turns out that her love for music was inspired by Sir Don.
“My grandpa was hugely into music,” she reveals on the episode of Australian Story airing on ABC tonight. “He composed music. He also had a very large record collection and he was really interested in certain soprano and certain conductors. He and I would sit and listen to his record collection and talk about it.”
Both Sir Don and his late wife Lady Jessie Bradman were a huge part of their grandchildren’s upbringing.
But Sir Don’s dislike of public attention meant that he missed seeing Greta perform on stage.
“Grandpa wouldn’t come to school concerts and things like that because he really just wasn’t comfortable with, you know, people kind of staring at him,” Greta told Australian Story.