Miller's Luck

by Roland Perry

A revealing biography of cricket's greatest all-rounder by the bestselling author of The Don and Monash.

Keith Ross Miller was named after two adventurous aviators and went on to be one himself. He was all things to all men, and women. Miller was a person of style, charm and grace, a lover of opera and classical music, yet with the common touch.

Born of a humble Australian background, he was blessed with outstanding looks, a sonorous voice, freakish athletic skills, and attitude. That attitude encompassed courage and character. Miller played Aussie Rules football and cricket for his original State (Victoria), joined the RAAF in 1942 and became a Mosquito night fighter pilot over European skies with the RAF. After the war he developed quickly into the greatest all-round cricketer Australia ever produced. His brilliance as a batsman, bowler and fielder ranked him easily with W.G. Grace, Garry Sobers and Ian Botham in the pantheon of the sport's finest all-rounders. Miller was appreciated by the British even more than Australians for his cavalier approach to war as a pilot, and cricket. He is one of just three Australians to have their portraits hung in the Long Room at Lord's, along with Don Bradman and Victor Trumper.

Miller was loved by the masses and the mighty. He was never far from a bet or a beer, a contest or an attractive woman. One of his innumerable conquests was said to be Princess Margaret, the current Queen's late sister. She was believed to have summoned him for more than tea at Kensington Palace. The anecdotes about this true legend are endless, and as Richie Benaud remarked at his funeral, they are 'all true.' According to myriad mates, Keith Miller was 'larger than life.' There has never been a more talented, charismatic or popular sportsman. He was, as Neville Cardus noted, 'An Australian in Excelsis.'

520 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Professor Roland Perry (born 11 October 1946) is a Melbourne-based author best known for his books on history, especially Australia in the two world wars. His Monash: The Outsider Who Won The War, won the Fellowship of Australian Writers' 'Melbourne University Publishing Award' in 2004. The judges described it as 'a model of the biographer's art. In the Queen's Birthday Honours of June 2011, Perry was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia 'for services to literature as an author.In October 2011, Monash University awarded Perry a Fellowship for 'high achievement as a writer, author, film producer and journalist.His sports books include biographies of Sir Donald Bradman, Steve Waugh, Keith Miller and Shane Warne. Perry has written on espionage, specialising in the British Cambridge Ring of Russian agents. He has also published three works of fiction and produced more than 20 documentary films. Perry has been a member of the National Archives of Australia Advisory Council since 2006.

In late 2012 Perry accepted an adjunct appointment at Monash University as a Professor, with the title ‘Writer-in-Residence’ in the University’s Arts Faculty.

Reviews

[Marco · Rating 3 out of 5]

Before reading this book, to me Keith Miller was a sauve, handsome man who was not only the greatest all-round cricketer Australia has ever produced, but a war hero to boot! But this book also revealed that Miller was a wonderful man to have as a friend, but honestly, a poor husband that was almost never loyal and a father who was hardly ever there to see his children. Its still a very good book, but it may shatter the vision that some people had of him.

[Greg Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

a tremendous story of a real human who lived a full life