Phillip was – for once justifying the cliché – a true one-off and Jessica and I will always remember him fondly. I first met him in the West Bank in 1995. I would enjoy his lively encounters with Palestinians and Israeli soldiers alike – he was a bit like an Oz Socrates, always questioning, probing – and usually able to defuse a tense situation with a flash of wit. He could give people the hair-dryer treatment if they merited it; I’ll never forget his fiery response to a German student’s ill-advised request to put out his cigarette while on a bus. I remember he came to my magazine office in London sometime in 1995, to check out this “Internet thing”. He took a look at a web page, grimaced, and bluntly informed the office: “It’s like electricity – it’ll never catch on…” Phillip also came over to London in 1997 for our wedding, where he cut quite a dash in his blue pinstriped suit. He had a few female admirers there that night. Later that week (just after Princess Diana was killed) he met Rupert Murdoch in Claridges. Thoughts to all those who knew him well…
I was Phillip's flatmate in Ramallah, Palestine in 1995, when he was studying Arabic at Birzeit University and I was teaching English there, and I have corresponded with him regularly -- always by letter, never e-mail or phone -- since then. I knew he'd been ill, so when I received no reply to my last letter, I checked the SMH and found that he had passed. My condolences go out to his surviving family members. Phillip was a wonderful man with a great wit and a fascinating and quite sensible world view, and he was an extraordinary letter writer. I am honored to have had him as a friend. I would love to hear from his family members at some point. Fond regards from a Chicago comrade. John McLaughlin johngerard@hotmail.com
My memory of Phillip Jack, although I did not know him particularly well was of a laconic, eccentric Australian, never short of a response and seemingly from another age in time . I last saw him about 2 months ago, when a group of us met up at Majors Creek for an inaugural weekend away. (This has been a tradition for some years and Phil seemed to enjoy them). He seemed in good spirits (literally) meeting us with hip flask in hand from which a serious "swig" was taken. When asked what was in the flask, there was just a simple raising of the eyebrows! Typical behaviour for this icon who will be hard to forget. God bless you Phil.
peter purdon
12 years agoAh jamesgood to read yr comments a group of phil's friends are hoping to assemble some memorabilia to create a cd-rom (which he of course would certainly refuse to look at if there's anything you are invlined to send us -please do regards peterpurd@yahoo.com.au