George Blaikie was, at his prime, a well known writer in Australia, with his forte investigations into forgotten moments of Australian history. This collection, on scandals, was partly reprints from newspaper columns he wrote for the "Sunday Sun" and partly on new material. Of course, that matters little to the current reader as the "Sunday Sun" ceased to be in 1953 and Mr Blaikie himself ceased to be in 1995.

Blaikie had a wry sense of humour and manages to bring to life many long-dead characters in fascinating stories of Australia's past. There is the man who played cricket so well bank directors didn't think it was possible he would defraud the bank of thousands, Dame Nellie Melba's unfortunate performance on the Thames and a story from Prime Minister Billy Hughes's past, to name just a few.

No doubt copies of "Great Australian Scandals" are few and far between these days but it's well worth the purchase if you can find it. ( )