Richard Fidler

This is the extraordinary bit.

And...

No one's ever fully made sense of it.

His kids were astonished by it.

And they say, oh, look, it was on the rebound from his wife's death.

Look, there's a four-year gap between his wife's death and him going to England to train for the clergy.

So that's a long rebound in my books.

It's not an impulsive decision.

It's thought through.

It's thought through so much that he teaches himself Hebrew, Greek and Latin on board his ship.

So where does he go to study theology then, to become a clergyman?

So he goes back to England and he studies at Durham University in the north.

Right.

And how does he get on at Durham University, this sailor?

Quite well.

So he's in the older bracket of students and he quickly becomes a leader amongst the students, leading debate teams.

He was a very impressive public speaker.

He got involved in sports, particularly rowing, as you'd expect for a sailor, and quite a scholar.

His performance at the end of his first year was so great that he was awarded a scholarship for his second year.

His favourite port in all the world was Melbourne.