After some time in the wings, Tim Ferguson took centre stage at this year's TV WEEK Logie Awards, in a song and dance routine with Don Lane that won tremendous praise. There's been a lot of talk about Tim returning to television but, while he admits to working on a whole lot of new ideas, he says nothing is on the cards at the moment. Tim does say he'd love to work with Don again.
TV WEEK: Tell us about the astrology show in the pipeline.
TIM: That's a crazy thing. I just called a guy and said, 'I've got this crazy idea - call me with a list of names', and that was it. At this stage, that's not a show I'd look at for four or five years.
TVW: Have you ever had a supernatural experience?
TIM: No - never seen anything or anyone. People have great imaginations and, when the lights go off and the candles come on, they light up. But nobody's ever whispered to me in the dark and turned out to be dead.
TVW: If reincarnated, who or what would you like to be?
TIM: I'd probably like to come back as Chelsea Clinton, because she has the job of a lifetime. She inherits all that power and she doesn't have to do anything. For the rest of her life she'll be the U.S. president's kid, and that's got to have a certain amount of clout - good security and a nice pension.
TVW: When was the last time you were naked in the open air?
TIM: A couple of years ago, at a friend's home in the middle of the night to run to the outdoor dunny. It was a hot summer evening, so there was a bit of a late-night gallop through the scrub, the bush, the snakes and the cows. Funny, only the snakes were scared. The cows just weren't impressed.
TVW: When was the last time you shed a tear?
TIM: When I drove up to our old farm in country NSW, which I hadn't been to for a long time. It was nice to go back and all the memories came flooding back of galloping around on horses and trying to set fire to the house.
TVW: Which historical figure do you most identify with?
TIM: The Duke of Wellington - he did everything with a certain amount of style and, even though there were all those casualties, he never really worried. He just ploughed on, and said some clever things that really had no substance... and that's me all over.
TVW: When you were at school, what did you say you were going to be when you grew up?
TIM: The Pope. I saw the Pope Paul speak at Mascot in 1971 and thought, 'Hey, this is great - you get to dress up, everybody cheers, a big crowd turns up'. But, of course, I never realised that there's a lot of work involved in the job.
TVW: How did you propose to your wife?
TIM: She proposed to me. I think it's much better if girls propose, because it's very difficult for boys. That's why sometimes it can take boys years to propose and then years to get married. She proposed to me about six weeks after we met and then we got married in Paris. That was 10 years, 15 countries and three children ago.
TVW: Would you pose naked for $10,000?
TIM: Yes. Right now?
TVW: What do you do in your free time?
TIM: Run around with kids, chase kids, catch kids and drag them out of trees, screaming.
TVW: What's the most risqué thing you've ever done?
TIM: Sang a song about dogs at the Barcelona Olympics.
TVW: What's the naughtiest thing one of your children has done?
TIM: Set fire to the house - gathered a bunch of sticks together and struck a match. But that's about as bad as it gets really.
TVW: What do you hope to be remembered for?
TIM: I'm not sure. I guess lightening things up a little - for being someone who at least made us smile once in a while.
