A soldier's heroic journey from Waratah to Windsor

MARK Donaldson never dared to dream he would one day be the boy from the Australian bush who went to England to meet the Queen.

Good policy wielded with a big stick

Muscling up to Telstra is a much-needed victory of substance over spin.

TOP SHELF

SUMMER HILL 6 HENSON STREET $1.9 million+

Theatre

WHAT Quartet: The Razor WHERE J-Studios, Drama Studio, 100 Barkly Street, North Fitzroy WHEN Today and tomorrow at 7.30pm COST $25/$15, 9639 0096, www.easytix.com.au

Here's to a long, unhurried life

AS A longevity expert, Dr John Tickell thinks in the long term. He and his wife, Sue, have lived for 30 years at 53-55 Wills Street, Kew, and raised five children there. The plan was to stay until the youngest finished school, then downsize.

French recreation

LINDENBURY, one of Mount Macedon's exquisite garden properties, is on the market.

Changing of guard made to look like child's play

MAXINE McKew was reflecting on changing fortunes over a cup of tea with Quentin Bryce.

TV previews

Flight Of The Conchords SBS1, 9pm Scrubs Seven, 8pm French Open Tennis Nine, midnight Living On The Coast TVS, 7.30pm

From Boy's Own Thriller To Farcical Comedy In Just 39 Steps

Steve Dow meets the British actor who found a calling as a playwright.

Drawing A Blank

ON a wall of my home is a painting of a goldfish swimming between two green things. There might be a coloured rock as well. I forget.

Tv Previews

Rex In Rome SBS, 7.35pm Everest ER ABC1, 8pm The Waiting Room Nine, 8pm

A Rush Of Bonhomie All Labor But Unlaboured

IT WAS under the chandeliers in the opulence of a grand drawing room that Labor's leaders gathered to reflect on Kevin Rudd's vision of new federalism.

Wait For Seal Of Approval A Cosy, Family Affair

THE ceremony might have taken place in the formal state dining room at Government House, but the swearing-in of John Brumby's cabinet was a fireside and family affair.

Macrob Girls Reflect On Classes In The Drawing Room

FORMER hospital matron Joan Wicks was at a nurses' function this year when she struck up a conversation with Jan de Kretser, wife of the new Victorian governor. "I asked her what did she think of her new home and she went into raptures about it, especially the ballroom."

Creating A Play Room

AMY DELORE can't get the play room theory right, so she asks for help from an expert.