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 st ...

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

Geelong Geelong ( ) ( Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the south eastern 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 ...

, 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 metro ...

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 ...

'' 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'' ( ...

'' 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 matches from 1950 to 1951. He was known for his unique "bent finger" grip, with which he briefly perplexed batsmen across Australia as ...

); the latter was The Cricket Society's "Book of the Year", short-listed for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year 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 James Hardie Industries plc is a global building materials company and the largest global manufacturer of fibre cement products. Headquartered in Ireland, it is a dual-listed company, being listed on the Australian and New York Stock Exchang ...

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 countr ...

. 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 television sports panel show '' Offsiders''. 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 ...

on 774 ABC Melbourne until near the end of 2006. Haigh has been critical of what he regards as the deification of Sir

Donald Bradman Sir Donald George Bradman, (27 August 1908 – 25 February 2001), nicknamed "The Don", was an Australian international cricketer, widely acknowledged as the greatest batsman of all time. Bradman's career Test batting average of 99.94 has b ...

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'' entitled "Sir Donald Brandname". Haigh has been critical of Bradman's biographer Roland Perry, 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 corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...

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 for '' The Wisden Cricketer''. 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 ...

in Melbourne on 24 October 2012. He delivered the inaugural

Jack Marsh Jack Marsh ( – 25 May 1916) was an Australian first-class cricketer of Australian Aboriginal descent who represented New South Wales in six matches from 1900–01 to 1902–03. A right-arm fast bowler of extreme pace, Marsh was blessed with ...

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, One Day International and Twenty20 cricket, as well as, Australian rules football and occasionally for rugby league, rugby union and association f ...

on "How Victor Trumper 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 ...

, 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