Here are some highlights from this 2007 book by Paul Barry:
* Clyde was an intellectual who liked to talk about books. People in Santa Barbara, where he lived, did not talk about books, said one close friend; they did not even have them in their houses.
* [Kerry] seemed, for all his wealth and power, to be a desperately lonely and unhappy man. He liked people around him all the time, and was always ready to sit up and talk till the small hours if he could find someone prepared to listen. In one such late-night conversation with Philip Adams, they got round to the subject of astronomy and black holes. Adams explained what they were and Packer said, ‘That’s what I have: a black hole inside me.’
To keep boredom and loneliness at bay, he needed constant excitement.
* Nowadays the TV networks will tell you that international cricket is ideal for commercial television. It has bright colours, gladiatorial action, Australian nationalism, thumping the Poms and sixty seconds of advertisements at the end of every four-minute over. Best of all it is extremely profitable, because it is tremendously cheap to broadcast and rates better than almost anything on the dial.
