Actor, writer, and all-round entertainer William McInnes has been beloved by Australians for decades, and his new book Full Bore is packed with musings, anecdotes and reflections told with his warm and wry humour.
He’s written a variety of both fiction and non-fiction before but like 2014’s Holidays, Full Bore is a collection of personal stories and, okay, a ramble or two, on a variety of topics. As well as tales from his life, McInnes touches on sport, TV, board games, music, the startling changes in Australian coffee culture and much, much more. Moving through time and memory, he goes off on plenty of amusing and thoughtful tangents.
A trip to the bottle shop has McInnes reflecting on the popularity of facial hair and remembering people from his past with especially good beards, before thinking about when he jumped off the Centenary Pool high tower, the time when he searched for full cream milk with a stranger in the supermarket, to the enduring appeal of shoes (yes, even the Crocs he’s wearing on the cover). And that’s just in Chapter 9.
This book isn’t a memoir, nor is it a collection of essays. Full Bore is a book of yarns, that makes you feel like you’re sitting back with Will on a Sunday afternoon just having a good, rambling catch-up.
It’s certainly not all random, however. There are a few key threads that run through McInnes’ writing. Often his memories are spurned by everyday objects, like a matchbox, a toy from a cereal box, or even a packet of biscuits in the pantry. Many of the stories McInnes weaves from these things are deeply nostalgic, throwbacks to another era when things were different.
Some of the yarns are very personal, and McInnes speaks with frank honesty, but it’s not just about him. The tangible link between objects and memories ring true for a lot of people, some of whom McInnes has crossed paths with. In Full Bore we meet a meticulously well put-together man at a party, who has a framed Snakes and Ladders game from a Rice Bubbles packet on his wall because it reminds him of his father, a woman mourning her husband as she auctions off his furniture, or even McInnes’ own son with a Little Golden Book called Scruffy the Tugboat.
Full Bore, says McInnes, is a “gentle sort of collection.” It’s about how lives are “made of little moments, and they’re the fun things that connect us all.” The stories are about connecting with others, because for him, sharing stories with other people is one of the ways he finds meaning in life. And the title? That’s just how William McInnesapproaches life in general. To go at something ‘full bore’ means to do it “with a great deal of gusto and endeavour,” but that also means “living life not at a million miles an hour but to embrace it… in all its swings and roundabouts and ups and downs.” You can watch our interview with William McInnes live in Melbourne here.
This book is a throughly enjoyable read, and will have you chuckling along with McInnes and his stories while also reflecting back on your own past, and the ways that everyday moments, objects and memories can take you back.
Click here to watch our interview with William McInnes, or here to purchase a copy of Full Bore!
William McInnes is a well-established actor, appearing in many classic Australian shows and movies, and the author of the memoirs A Man’s Got To Have a Hobby and That’d Be Right, as well as the novels Cricket Kings and The Laughing Clowns. William grew up in Queensland and now lives in Melbourne with his two children.
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