The Don was our greatest living Australian and national icon. When he retired from playing cricket he became a superb administrator of the game. I'll try and put him in context for our American friends. The best cricket batsmen in the world, both past and present, have a batting average of 50 to 53. The Don's average was 99.94. Nearly 100% better than the next best! Take your best baseball batsman's figures, or the bloke with the most touchdowns, and then add 100%. How about someone twice as good as Jack Nicholas or Tiger Woods, it's unimagineable. But that was The Don. He never got involved with the media and he avoided the sponsorship / marketing frenzy, only gave a couple of interviews since he retired in 1948. He could have got millions to endorse a product but the trait he held as paramount, his integrity, was intact to his death. Australians who lived through the depression talk of The Don as a focal point of optimism that helped them through those miserable times. I don't know of any world figure, past or present, that was/is universally admired by the entire population of the nation. Now that's a legend.

JG / F.M.E.