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In a chaotic Sydney share-house in the Spring of 1972, a disheveled actor was lying naked on the fraying couch of an inner-city living room. The woman who had paid Jack Thompson $400 was wondering if the actor’s left hand was really big enough to cover his modesty and get her history-making magazine past the conservative censors who’d decide if it would make it to newsagent shelves. The Editor? Ita Buttrose. The magazine? Cleo.

On this first episode of Extraordinary Stories: Magazine Queens, Australian icon Ita Buttrose, historian Bridgette Griffin-Foley and others who lived through it take us back to the birth of a sensation: Australia’s Cleo Magazine.

THE END BITS:

With thanks to Ita Buttrose and Bridget Griffen-Foley

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RESOURCES WE USED:

Australian Story on Kerry Packer https://www.abc.net.au/austory/a-complicated-life-part-1/12858254

Paper Giants: The Birth Of Cleo https://www.abc.net.au/tv/papergiants/

A Passionate Life by Ita Buttrose

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CREDITS:

Host: Emma Gillespie

Writers: Melanie Sauer, Emma Gillespie and Holly Wainwright

Producers: Melanie Sauer and Emma Gillespie

Audio Production: Elissa Ratliff and Madeline Joannou

Executive Producer: Holly Wainwright and Elissa Ratliff

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