The meeting had been in progress for five hours when Conrad Black strode into Kerry Packer’s sumptuous suite at the Savoy.
It was June 1991 and Packer was in England to play polo. Between chukkas, he was assembling a consortium to bid for the John Fairfax company, which was in receivership. Black, the flamboyant Canadian media tycoon, wanted a piece of the action. So, too, did Malcolm Turnbull, lawyer turned investment banker.
Packer needed partners to get around Australia’s media ownership laws; Black...


