David Astle (born 9 November 1961) is an Australian TV personality and radio host, and writer of non-fiction, fiction and plays. He also co-hosted the
SBS Television
The Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) is an Australian hybrid-funded public service broadcaster. About 80 percent of funding for the company is derived from the Australian Government. SBS operates six TV channels ( SBS, SBS Viceland, SBS Wor ...
Lily Serna
Lily Serna is an Australian mathematician and television presenter, best known for co-presenting the SBS game shows '' Letters and Numbers'' (2010−2012) and '' Celebrity Letters and Numbers'' (2021−), as well as the cooking show ''Destina ...
, a role to which he returned for ''
Celebrity Letters and Numbers
''Celebrity Letters and Numbers'' is an Australian comedy panel game show on SBS which premiered on 2 October 2021. It is a revived version of the game show '' Letters and Numbers'', which aired on SBS from 2010 to 2012, with an altered format ...
'' in 2021.
Career
Astle's cryptic crosswords, appearing under the name "DA" in ''
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, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territo ...
'' and ''
The Sydney Morning Herald
''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...
'' (for which he also writes the "Wordplay" section), have developed a large following which includes musician
Holly Throsby
Holly Sarah Throsby (born 28 December 1978) is an Australian musician and novelist. As a solo artist Throsby has issued six albums. She was nominated for an ARIA Award for Best Female Artist in 2006 for '' Under the Town''; and in the same cate ...
and actor
Geoffrey Rush
Geoffrey Roy Rush (born 6 July 1951) is an Australian actor. He is known for his eccentric leading man roles on stage and screen. He is among 24 people who have won the Triple Crown of Acting, having received an Academy Award, a Primetime Em ...
. Rush called him "the Sergeant Pepper of cryptic crosswords". In 2011, his portrait called "DA" painted by artist Amanda Marburg, was shortlisted for the
Archibald Prize
The Archibald Prize is an Australian portraiture art prize for painting, generally seen as the most prestigious portrait prize in Australia. It was first awarded in 1921 after the receipt of a bequest from J. F. Archibald, the editor ...
.
Astle's 2013 book ''Cluetopia: The story of 100 years of the crossword'' celebrates the centenary of the crossword with a chapter for each year. Astle is a three times winner of the
Banjo Paterson Writing Award The Banjo Paterson Writing Award is an Australian literary award honouring the legacy of Australian writer Andrew Barton Paterson (1864-1941) and is awarded annually in the categories of prose, poetry and children’s writing. The Age Short Story Award in 1990 and his first novel, ''Marzipan Plan'', was shortlisted for the
Miles Franklin Award
The Miles Franklin Literary Award is an annual literary prize awarded to "a novel which is of the highest literary merit and presents Australian life in any of its phases". The award was set up according to the will of Miles Franklin (1879– ...
. In 2001 he won the James Joyce Suspended Sentence Award for short fiction. His play ''Cowboy Humour'' was part of the Short and Sweet play festival in 2008, which has previously featured Astle's plays including ''The Gentleman Had An Axe'' in 2007 and ''The Mercy Kitchen''.
Astle has taught journalism at
RMIT University
RMIT University, officially the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology,, section 4(b) is a public university, public research university in Melbourne, Australia.
Founded in 1887 by Francis Ormond, RMIT began as a night school offering cla ...
and in 2004 was awarded a DSC Teaching Award for best sessional teacher. In 2013, he helped create the word " phub" (a portmanteau of phone and snub), for when someone is ignored in favour of a mobile phone).
From 2015 he was a fill-in host on
ABC Radio Melbourne
ABC Radio Melbourne (official callsign: 3LO) is an ABC Local Radio station in Melbourne, Australia. It began transmission on 13 October 1924, and was Melbourne's second licensed radio station after 3AR.
Most Local Radio stations in Victoria sim ...
News Breakfast
''News Breakfast'' is an Australian news breakfast television program. It is broadcast on ABC TV and ABC News channel from 6:00 am to 9:00 am AEST/AEDT on weekdays and is hosted by Michael Rowland and Lisa Millar. The program is also streame ...
''.
In December 2019, Astle was appointed as host of the ''Evenings'' radio program on
ABC Radio Melbourne
ABC Radio Melbourne (official callsign: 3LO) is an ABC Local Radio station in Melbourne, Australia. It began transmission on 13 October 1924, and was Melbourne's second licensed radio station after 3AR.
Most Local Radio stations in Victoria sim ...
and ABC Local Radio in Victoria replacing
Lindy Burns
Lindy Burns is an Australian radio presenter.
Career
Burns started in radio at 1233 ABC Newcastle co-presenting the Saturday morning sports program "All in the Game" she has been a sports commentator with Triple J and presenting the statewide ...
. Throughout 2019 Astle filled in for Burns whilst she was on long service leave.
Bibliography
Novels
*''Marzipan Plan''
*''The Book of Miles'' (Minerva, 1997) 1-86330-589-0
Non-fiction
* "Rewording the Brain" (Allen & Unwin, 2018)
* "Riddledom: 101 Riddles and Their Stories" (Allen & Unwin, 2015)
* "Cluetopia: The story of 100 years of the crossword" (Allen & Unwin, 2013)
* "Puzzles and Words 1" (Allen & Unwin, 2013) 9781743318546
* "Puzzles and Words 2" (Allen & Unwin, 2013) 9781743318546
* ''Puzzled: Secrets and Clues From a Life Lost in Words'' (Allen & Unwin, 2010)
* ''Cassowary Crossing'' (Penguin Books, 2005) ; (re-jacketed as ''Offbeat Australia'' (Penguin Books, 2007) )
* ''One Down, One Missing'' (Hardie Grant Books, 2003) 9781740661416
For children
* ''Wordburger'' (Allen & Unwin, 2015)
* ''David Astle's Gargantuan Book of Words'' (Allen & Unwin, 2017)
* ''David Astle's 101 Weird Words (and 3 fakes): From Ambidextrous to Zugzwang'' (Allen & Unwin, 2018)
Plays
* ''The Gentleman Had an Axe'' (2007)
* ''Cowboy Humour'' (2008)
* ''The Mercy Kitchen'' (2008)
References
External links
Official siteCryptopia a short documentary on DA and his crosswords Hacronyms an article by David Astle The DA Trippers a blog that pays homage to DA cryptics an essay that originally appeared in
Meanjin
''Meanjin'' (), formerly ''Meanjin Papers'' and ''Meanjin Quarterly'', is an Australian literary magazine. The name is derived from the Turrbal word for the spike of land where the city of Brisbane is located. It was founded in 1940 in Brisban ...
Wheeler Centre
The Wheeler Centre, originally Centre of Books, Writing and Ideas, is a literary and publishing centre founded as part of Melbourne's bid to be a Unesco Creative City of Literature, which designation it earned in 2008. It is named after its pat ...
Wheeler Centre
The Wheeler Centre, originally Centre of Books, Writing and Ideas, is a literary and publishing centre founded as part of Melbourne's bid to be a Unesco Creative City of Literature, which designation it earned in 2008. It is named after its pat ...