Lockdown decluttering has led me down a path to the fascinating, well-lived life of a larrikin named Aubrey Hodgson
A recent lockdown clear-out prompted the discovery of a semi-skimmed and long-forgotten letter forwarded to me by my mother some years ago; a piece of correspondence she had chanced upon while doing some domestic decluttering of her own. It had been written by my uncle, a former professor of anatomy at the University of Galway, during his days doing the rounds at a Sydney hospital way back in 1978.
Writing to my father on the flimsiest of airmail notepaper, with a neatness of hand that belied his profession, he revealed that he had been lucky enough to get talking to “a very interesting character” the previous evening. A legendary figure known in Australian rugby circles as the Bull, Aubrey Hodgson had been singing the praises of the Ireland lock Willie John McBride and the Welsh fly-half Barry John, two titans of the northern hemisphere game the former Wallabies forward, then aged 66, hugely admired.
Written by Barry Glendenning
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2020/apr/20/australia-maverick-aubrey-hodgson-rugby-union under the title “Long-lost letter reveals my ineptitude let down an Australian rugby legend | Barry Glendenning”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
