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Still Travelling: My Life as a Leyland Brother and Beyond
Next year is the 50th anniversary of the making of the Leyland Brothers' ground-breaking documentary, Down the Darling, which records Mike and Mal Leyland travelling down the Darling. Their film was sold to Channel 9 and later to the BBC. It was shown in 65 countries and selected by the Australian Government to be shown at Expo 67 in Canada.
Unless you were alive and watching Australian TV in the mid-60s through to 1980, when they were at the peak of their popularity, it is hard to convey the impact of these two pioneer outback adventurers and film-makers. In an obituary written when Mike Leyland died, in 2009, their numerous TV programs were described as a “quirky travel show,” watched by more than 2.5 million people at its peak. It featured the brothers in unusual or far-flung places around Australia, which viewers had asked them to visit.
This audiobook will be Mal's memoir, who'll tell tales tall and true from the road, and from their lives during and beyond the iconic show.
Unless you were alive and watching Australian TV in the mid-60s through to 1980, when they were at the peak of their popularity, it is hard to convey the impact of these two pioneer outback adventurers and film-makers. In an obituary written when Mike Leyland died, in 2009, their numerous TV programs were described as a “quirky travel show,” watched by more than 2.5 million people at its peak. It featured the brothers in unusual or far-flung places around Australia, which viewers had asked them to visit.
This audiobook will be Mal's memoir, who'll tell tales tall and true from the road, and from their lives during and beyond the iconic show.
Audio CD
First published March 1, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
May 24, 2021
Passionate, obsessed, addicted… that’s me when it comes to travel and books. So for this prompt the only choice for me was ‘Still Travelling by Mal Leyland’ as I grew up with the TV show ‘Ask the Leyland Brothers,’ a show which I loved, showing us the harshness of the outback but also the stunning scenery and their cool and crazy adventures. I’m sure it was that show that gave my parents the courage to travel parts of Australia with us kids as we were only new to the country and it also started my love of all things travel.
This is Mal’s account of his travelling days past and present and what took place behind the scenes/camera.
A few sad parts and parts which made me angry, I couldn’t help shed a few tears.
I listened to the audio version which was terrific. I’m keen to buy the book as I know hubby would be very interested in reading this story.
POPSUGAR Reading Challenge 2021: #28 - A book about a subject you are passionate about
This is Mal’s account of his travelling days past and present and what took place behind the scenes/camera.
A few sad parts and parts which made me angry, I couldn’t help shed a few tears.
I listened to the audio version which was terrific. I’m keen to buy the book as I know hubby would be very interested in reading this story.
POPSUGAR Reading Challenge 2021: #28 - A book about a subject you are passionate about
October 2, 2018
It took me a long time to get into this book, because I had biases because of news stories from a couple of decades ago. When I finally got into it, I enjoyed it, but I did wonder what Mike Leyland would have said if he had been able to reply. Not that it was bad in any way, but Mal was very disappointed with his brother's attitudes to Mal's wife, especially. Recommended especially for those of us who remember "Off the Beaten Track" and "Ask the Leyland Brothers".
August 15, 2015
Wow, the Leyland Brothers started adventuring so early. I never thought that they'd done so much so early. A good read, and sad how money and distrust split them up.
April 17, 2020
Always interesting.
April 9, 2025
Great to read one Leyland brother still travelling.
October 11, 2015
First thing first. Mal Leyland isn't the best of the narrators,so if you're expecting literary hair-raising experience, you're in for disappointment. That said, the life of this duo of brothers is by itself so enchanting that the sometimes dull narrative still does keep the entire experience warm! There are so many of their experiences from all their adventures undertaken, from the terrains covered, from the people they met...that many a times it seemed a little more details, along with a little depth in the narration wouldn't have hurt. Instead,I found it a little hurried and matter-of-factly. Of course, as I earlier said, there are so many of them, going into the details of each of them might have turned this into one neverending tome.
The story about the Darwin-Sydney open boat expedition is outstanding. The fact that Mal recalls it as the one with life-altering effect on him clearly shows in the writing. The parts about the making of 'Ask the Leyland brothers', I had expected, would be the high-point of the entire journey but sad to state that its not. It's probably because the narrative starts to give a few hints of the eventual rift between the brothers. Of course, its heart-shattering, however it also turns out to be distracting.
All in all, I'd recommend Still Travelling to anyone interested in indulging in some light-reading about adventure trips in far-away contours of the Aussie geography but not to someone who's looking for a fast-paced, fiction-novel-like behind-the-scene of the Ask the Leyland brothers show, unfortunately!
The story about the Darwin-Sydney open boat expedition is outstanding. The fact that Mal recalls it as the one with life-altering effect on him clearly shows in the writing. The parts about the making of 'Ask the Leyland brothers', I had expected, would be the high-point of the entire journey but sad to state that its not. It's probably because the narrative starts to give a few hints of the eventual rift between the brothers. Of course, its heart-shattering, however it also turns out to be distracting.
All in all, I'd recommend Still Travelling to anyone interested in indulging in some light-reading about adventure trips in far-away contours of the Aussie geography but not to someone who's looking for a fast-paced, fiction-novel-like behind-the-scene of the Ask the Leyland brothers show, unfortunately!
March 7, 2016
Having grown up watching the Leyland Brothers TV show, it was interesting to hear the stories behind the scenes about the struggles the brothers went through to do what they were passionate about. I did find it a little hard to be sympathetic to their plight of losing everything, because they seemed to enter every venture with no planning or budgets and just counted on succeeding because they felt they should. For example, having lost everything to the bank because of their theme park venture, some years later they decide (on a whim) to buy a massive house and turn it into a B&B and took out a massive mortgage to do so!
March 5, 2015
A life lived to the full. A risk taker that paid the price of under capitalising his theme park, and banks keen to recoup their money.
The Leylands, were a large part of my life with their ongoing adventures on film and television. Sad that money broke up their friendship. A great read and insight into two icons of their age. Well worth the read.
The Leylands, were a large part of my life with their ongoing adventures on film and television. Sad that money broke up their friendship. A great read and insight into two icons of their age. Well worth the read.
March 14, 2015
Fantastic and inspiring book, well done Mal and Laraine you are 2 great Australians
January 17, 2016
Listened to this book as an audiobook while traveling in outback Australia - a great book to listen to. Inspiring, amusing and interesting that the whole family enjoyed.
February 1, 2016
Well this was a story he had to get off his chest. A lot of very interesting information that I did not know. And an extremely infuriating story about a bank. Well worth the read.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews