I only met Thelma Hawks after she died. Her brother Paul Anderson, ‘The Mighty Apollo’, introduced us. To tell their story, I have to tell some of mine. Apollo, the ‘Iron Jaw King of Strength’, ‘Australia’s Indestructible Man of Steel’ and sometimes billed as ‘The World’s Strongest Man’, became my favourite client when I was a baby lawyer. The Estate of Thelma Cecilia Hawks kept me busy on and off for years. Because of Apollo, I learned to never forget that the files on my desk were not only about the law, not just about the money, nor solely about the documents or corporate structures or old deals gone sour. Fundamentally, each bulging file on my
desk was about people, in all their vanity and weirdness, their bewildering irrationality, their naivety, their flaws and failings. Files were people – and to represent them properly, you had to learn their stories.
The inescapable contradiction was that in order to hear those stories, you had to charge for the time it took to listen to them. To sit enthralled for an afternoon to listen to Apollo while I charged him $350 an hour was plainly wrong. Trying to filter out what was work and when yarns became pleasure was not just awkward – it
was nigh on impossible. He did not organise his thoughts in neat stacks with labels attached. People never walk into your office with all the legal issues packaged and flagged for attention. They tell a story, and the legal knot to be unravelled is buried somewhere within…
Review by Apollo’s Eldest Son: Paul Anderson
This book is Fictional especially in regard to Apollo, written by an unknowledgeable writer who was lucky to meet my father a handful of times in his youth, relying on our archival input.
The family was assured by Faine at the start of the project that the book was to be factually correct through our full inclusion in draft checking, the only reason we would contribute to it’s creation. This was removed after final draft, the family almost totally blocked from editing, despite Faine’s Trust me promise.
Faine had created a Tall tale, which was withheld to our disgust & surprise until publication. There are embellishments on many levels to suit his ill qualified narrative, despite the verified facts supplied by the family.
Apollo’s gym, living conditions, character, mind set, retrieval of items, elderly visit, funerals, author’s many interactions with Apollo; all fictional story creation.
There are numerous misquotes, time line mistakes & Apollo performance description errors. Additionally family accounts regarding Thelma were totally ignored. Yet her disgraceful death description was included, the sons totally unaware of this inclusion until the book reading! Apollo’s struggle with the closed social welfare system to regain & visit his children also disregarded.
The True story of Apollo, not present in the book, will be posted, supported by archival evidence. Our betrayal in the book creation process is also verifiable in emails & voice memos. This is not the book Faine promised our Family, one that we would be proud of, fair & accurate. At least he was honest changing the sub title from an ‘Incredible True Story’ (shown to us), to ‘A True Tall Tale.