Bond. Alan Bond.
Who you probably never heard of but perhaps this will jog your memory (if you’re old enough): He won the America’s Cup yacht race for Australia, breaking a one-hundred-thirty-two year monopoly by America. And he did it with something new and entirely unexpected: A winged keel.
I remember TV coverage of that at the time — even though I otherwise didn’t know who Bond was coming into this two-part drama.
Here’s the real Bond, his wife (redhead), and mistress/second wife (blonde):
And the fictional Bond:
Close enough?
He started out with at least two arrests for burglary (or intent to burgle), dropped out of high school, and was a sign painter.
We went from that to owning a multi-billion dollar empire!
Apparently, his first deal was buying a large piece of property — without having the money! He then went on to charm a banker into giving him a loan to pay for it! Then he turned around and quickly sold it off as plots for housing development to people using a spiel that involved gathering all the potential customers together and giving them just five minutes to decide to buy! This guy was Home Shopping Network’s countdown clock before HSN even existed!
In the end he owned, among other things, beer breweries, a national TV network, mines, and placed satellites in orbit!
How did he start out as he did and end up with all that?
Well, this drama won’t answer those questions. It leaves more questions than answers.
But it’s a brilliant production with a great script filled with memorable lines …
What you don’t realize is, you don’t need money. Money needs you.
… excellent photography, editing, and directing. It’s a must-see.
Of course, everything melted down in the end:
But even after the smash-up, he doesn’t let up on his charm:
But this is an ugly end to a life …
… and while I know business is risk, and investors are adults who should understand that, he left many people financially damaged.
Still, see this. It’s a great production.
Now I want to get and read the book that inspired it.
Additional:
Alan Bond’s kin slam Nine miniseries for ‘demonising’ dad
‘He was an incredible psychopath’: Behaviour expert reveals how Alan Bond’s obsession with money set him apart from other business moguls
Yanchep (you’ll understand this link after watching)
Mike Cane's Atomic Supermen 