The Monthly, August 2007, No. 26

Frank Zappa was no stranger to Australia and its wildlife. Inspired by a monotreme encountered during his 1973 tour, the avant-rock polymath composed a complex jazz-fusion instrumental entitled ‘Echidna’s Arf (Of You)’. Three years later, he came face-to-face with that even rarer antipodean creature, the little Aussie bleeder, Norman Gunston.

Gunston was then at the height of his fame as a no-holds-barred interviewer and multifaceted television variety-show host. His hugely successful program, The Norman Gunston Show, screened weekly on the ABC,...