Bill Condon was born, which is always a good start.
He became a children's writer after failing the entrance exam for bottlewashing...

Bill Condon was born in 1949 and was still alive when he wrote this. He lives with his wife Dianne (Di) Bates, in the seaside town of Woonona, on the south coast of New South Wales, Australia.

He left school at the first chance he got and worked in an assortment of jobs that did not require much in the way of qualifications.

He mowed lawns, cut down trees, delivered parcels, trained greyhounds, worked in a milk factory, drove a forklift truck, and briefly, before he went broke, was a professional punter.

All that time he longed to be a writer, the only vocation he felt an affinity for.

A chance meeting with Larry Rivera, the editor of a local weekly newspaper, led Bill into a career as a journalist. He was given a one-day trial at the paper, to fill in for someone who was sick, and stayed for ten years. (There is almost no truth to the rumour that he murdered the person who was sick.)

When not writing, Bill plays tennis, snooker, and Scrabble, but hardly ever at the same time. His dream is to receive a wildcard invitation to play tennis at Wimbledon - if nothing else, his knees would provide great comic relief for the spectators.